Judges 8:23

23. The Lord shall rule over you Your king shall still be Jehovah, not Gideon. By choosing a Gideon or a Saul the nation would be choosing a human instead of a divine sovereign. The people were ever in danger of forgetting the Divine Author of all civil government, and especially so in times of popular excitement and enthusiasm, when the masses either seem, or assume to be, sovereign. At such times all should be reminded that there is a power higher than the civil ruler. It does not appear that Gideon, during the forty years of peace (Judges 8:28) that followed this victory over Midian, performed any of the ordinary duties of a civil ruler. It is not said that he judged Israel at all, though the silence of the history must not be construed into evidence that he never did. He was raised up to deliver the nation from the yoke of Midian, and, having nobly accomplished that work, he retired to his native city and dwelt there till his death.

But whatever the form of a government whether it be a nation miraculously led and instructed, like Israel under Moses, Joshua, or the Judges, or a monarchy like that erected in the days of Saul, or modern empires or republics the Lord is still the Ruler. All civil governments must have their officers, and these may differ widely in their character and powers; but “the powers that be are ordained of God,” and the civil ruler is “the minister of God.” Romans 13:1-6. This is a doctrine of the Old Testament as well as of the New, and it is therefore the duty of all civil governments to know and acknowledge their dependence on the Supreme Ruler.