Gideon said to them, I would make a request of you, that you would give me every man the ear-rings of his spoil. (For they had golden ear-rings, because they were Ishmaelites.)
Whatever this ephod was, it became an object of worship and a spiritual stumbling block to the Israelites (Judges 8:27). Thus Gideon became the second official sponsor of idolatry in Israel, as far as we know, Aaron being the first. He was doing what was right in his own eyes (cf. Judges 17:6; Judges 21:25).