Webb concludes that “Gideon’s request for materials to make an ephod is a logical sequel to his assertion that Yahweh shall rule Israel.” Thus he argues: “If Yahweh is to rule he must be inquired of, and it is apparently with the intention of facilitating such inquiry that Gideon makes an ephod and puts it in Ophrah where Yahweh had appeared to him and an altar to Yahweh now stood.”115 In this way, the ephod became Gideon’s permanent fleece.
