Judges 8:23

‘ And Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. Yahweh shall rule over you.'

There are good grounds for thinking that in fact this was a speech of acceptance couched in pious terms. He certainly proceeded to behave like a ruling prince (Judges 8:27; Judges 8:30) and the people expected his sons to succeed him (Judges 9:2). But his stress was on the fact that their real ruler was Yahweh Who ruled over the whole covenant people. (In Canaan the word ‘king' (melech) denoted a petty king over a city. It was thus not suitable to describe Yahweh). He did not want to replace the tribal covenant, and wanted the people to recognise that Yahweh was their King. But he was prepared to rule as Yahweh's hereditary prince over this particular area.