Judges 8:22

“Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, etc.] Some time after his return, the chief men of Israel having met in a body, and consulted matters among themselves, sent a deputation to Gideon with an offer of the government of them: rule thou over us, both thou and thy son, and thy son’s son also; by which they meant, that he would take the kingly government of them, and which they proposed to settle in his posterity for ages to come; for, as a judge in Israel, he had a sort of rule and government of them under God already, but amounted not to regal power and authority; and this was what the people of Israel were fond of, that they might be like their neighbours; and this they tempted Gideon…”

“the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us . . . Gideon said unto them, the Lord shall rule over you--Their unbounded admiration and gratitude prompted them, in the enthusiasm of the moment, to raise their deliverer to a throne, and to establish a royal dynasty in his house. But Gideon knew too well, and revered too piously the principles of the theocracy, to entertain the proposal for a moment. Personal and family ambition was cheerfully sacrificed to a sense of duty, and every worldly motive was kept in check by a supreme regard to the divine honor. He would willingly act as judge, but the Lord alone was King of Israel.”

“Rule - Not as a judge, for that he was already made by God; but as a king. Thy son's son - Let the kingdom be hereditary to thee, and to thy family. Thou hast delivered us - This miraculous and glorious deliverance by thy hands deserves no less from us. Judges 8:23”

“Rule thou: Jdg 9:8-15; Sa1 8:5, Sa1 12:12; Joh 6:15 Judges 8:23”

“Gideon's Remaining Acts, and Death. - Jdg 8:22, Jdg 8:23. As Gideon had so gloriously delivered Israel from the severe and long oppression on the part of the Midianites, the Israelites offered him an hereditary crown. "The men of Israel" were hardly all the twelve tribes, but probably only the northern tribes of the western part of the land already mentioned in Jdg 6:35, who had suffered the most severely from the Midianitish oppression, and had been the first to gather round Gideon to make an attack upon the foe. The temptation to accept the government of Israel was resisted by this warrior of God. "Neither I nor my son shall rule over you; Jehovah shall rule over you," was his reply to…”