Confusion over an ephod??

by Ben

I read Judges 7-8.

I'm really confused. Gideon seemed to be doing so well. Yet, after defeating the enemies of the Israelites, he asks for a gold earring from each person (that they got as plunder) and makes an ephod of it (yeah, I had to look it up too). This vestment, he places in his hometown. It says that "all Israel prostituted itself there. Gideon and his family, too, were seduced by it." The Interpreter's Bible says this:

"That it was a distinctively cultic object is certain, but whether it was an image, puch, vestment, or the like, cannot now be determined. The amount of material used in making it, the use of the expression put it in his city, and the fact that the Israelites played the harlot after it, are significant factors. The ephod in Ophrah was interpreted as the casue of the misfortune that later overtook the house of Gideon."

Then Gideon dies. What I want to know is WHAT HAPPENED???
Where did Gideon go wrong? He followed God...and yet turned his back!

I guess I shouldn't be surprised; we see this throughout the Bible and in our own lives. Why does this particular story bother me so much?