Judges 6:25 - Meaning and Application

Here, God gave Gideon instructions to begin his rule by reforming his father’s house (Judges 6:25, Judges 6:26). After the angel had appeared to him, God spoke again the same night in a dream. This shows that when God’s visits are received thankfully, he often returns with more grace. Welcome God, and he will come again.

Gideon was told, first, to tear down Baal’s altar, which his father seems to have had, either for his own household or for the whole town. This shows both the power of God’s grace, which can raise up a reformer from an idolatrous family, and God’s kindness, which can raise up a deliverer from such a line. Gideon was not simply to stop worshiping there, if he had ever done so. He was to destroy the altar completely, because God first removes the signs of false worship and then calls for his own service.

He was also told to cut down the grove beside it, a group of young trees that likely made the place look beautiful. Some, like Bishop Patrick, think the grove may also refer to an idol image there, likely an image of Ashtaroth, since the word used for grove is close to that name. After that, Gideon was to build an altar to the Lord his God, and it would likely have an inscription showing it was for the Lord, Gideon’s God, or Israel’s God. It would normally have been improper for him to build an altar for sacrifice, because that might seem to dishonor the altar at Shiloh, but God, who is not bound by his own laws in the same way we are, commanded it here.

God told Gideon exactly where to build it, on top of the rock, likely the same place where the angel had appeared to him near the altar he had already made. He was not to do it carelessly, but in an orderly way, as fit a holy act. The rock may have been a stronghold that people thought would protect them from the Midianites. If so, it was no real protection while Baal’s altar stood nearby, but it became truly strong when an altar to the Lord was built on it. That is the best defense for anything we value.

On that altar, Gideon was to offer sacrifice. He was to take two bulls, his father’s young bull and the second bull seven years old. The first may have been for himself, and the second for the sins of the people he was to rescue. He needed to make peace with God before he went to war with Midian. Until sin is forgiven through the great sacrifice, no good result can be expected. These bulls were likely meant for sacrifices on Baal’s altar, but now they were turned to a better use. When the strong man is overcome and stripped of his goods, the stronger one takes the spoil.

Baal’s grove, image, or whatever gave that altar its supposed beauty or holiness, was not only to be burned, but used as fuel for God’s altar. This showed that anything set up against God will be destroyed, and that God’s justice will be honored in its destruction. God ordered Gideon to do this to test his zeal for religion before he went into battle, since he needed to prove devotion before proving courage. It was also a first step toward Israel’s reform, which had to come before their deliverance. The cause, sin, had to be removed if the trouble, which was only the result, was to end. And Gideon’s example, as a man who was soon to become great, might lead others in the towns and tribes to do the same.

Gideon obeyed the heavenly vision (Judges 6:27). The man who would lead Israel had to first submit to the God of Israel, without arguing. And as a picture of Christ, he had to save his people from their sins before saving them from their enemies. He had servants of his own whom he could trust, and we may think they were also faithful to God and had not bowed to Baal, so they were willing to help him destroy the altar. He did not hesitate to take his father’s bull and offer it to God without his father’s consent, because God had commanded it and had a better claim to it than his father did. In fact, it was the greatest kindness he could show his father, because it would keep him from sin.

Gideon knew this would anger his father’s household and his neighbors, but he did it anyway. He remembered the praise given to Levi, who in God’s cause did not even spare father or mother (Deuteronomy 33:9). He was sure of God’s favor, so he did not fear man’s anger. The one who told him to do it would support him. Still, though he did not fear their resentment after the act, he wisely did it by night to avoid resistance while he was working. Some think it was the very night God spoke to him, and that he began at once and finished before morning.

He was soon in danger of losing his life for what he had done (Judges 6:28-30). First, the act was quickly discovered. Gideon did not try to hide it, and in any case it could not be hidden, since the men of the city rose early in the morning, apparently to pray at Baal’s altar and begin the day with their god. What a shame that is for people who claim the true God as theirs, yet do not lift their hearts to him in the morning. Then it was quickly found out who had done it. Careful inquiry was made, and Gideon was already known as someone who opposed Baal’s worship, so suspicion fell on him at once. The people were sure, “Gideon has done this thing.”

Gideon was found guilty of the deed, and these Israelites had fallen so deeply into sin that they thought he must die for it. They even demanded that his own father, who had helped their idol worship and had given them reason to think he would agree, hand him over: “Bring out your son, that he may die.” Heaven should be shocked, and the earth should tremble at this. God’s law said that the worshipers of Baal should die, but these wicked men cruelly turned that penalty against the worshipers of Israel’s God. How wildly they loved their idols! Was it not enough to give the best of their bulls to Baal, but they also wanted the strongest young man in their city to die as a sacrifice to that filthy false god when they claimed he was angry?

How quickly idol worshipers turn into persecutors. Gideon was rescued from his enemies by his own father, in Judges 6:31. Some opposed Gideon, and they did not only make an initial demand, they kept pressing it and wanted him put to death. Even though they were already under heavy judgments for their idolatry, they still hated correction and acted against God even while he was acting against them. Then Joash stood up for Gideon. He was one of the leading men in the city. People with power can do much to protect an honest man and a good cause, and when they use that power well, they serve God for good.

Joash had once supported Baal’s altar, but now he protected the man who had torn it down. He may have done this out of natural love for his son, and perhaps also because he respected Gideon as a brave, worthy young man, even though Gideon had refused to join in Baal worship. Many people do not have enough courage to stay faithful themselves, yet they still have enough conscience left to admire those who do. If Joash still felt some kindness toward Baal, he felt a greater kindness toward his son. Or perhaps he did it to keep the peace. The crowd was becoming violent, and he feared it would get worse. So he may have stepped in to stop the uproar, as if saying, “Leave this to the judges. It is not for you to pass sentence on any man.” He who brings this charge should be put to death, not as an idol worshiper, but as a troublemaker and one stirring up rebellion. Paul, the apostle, was rescued at Ephesus in a similar way from men who were just as devoted to Diana, the false goddess, as these were to Baal (Acts 19:40). Or Joash may have been convinced that Gideon had done right. Perhaps his son had reasoned with him, or God, who holds all hearts in his hand, had quietly moved him to stand against Baal’s defenders, even though he had once joined them in Baal worship.

This is a good lesson. We should stand for God when duty calls, even if few or no people stand with us, because God can turn the hearts of people we never expected to help us. Let us do our duty, and then trust God with our safety.

Joash then gives two answers. First, it is foolish for them to plead for Baal. “You Israelites worship the one true and living God. Why are you defending Baal, a false god? How can you be so senseless? People whose fathers worshiped Baal and who have never known anything else are more excusable than you are. You are in covenant with the Lord, Jehovah, and have been taught to know him. You have already suffered so much for worshiping Baal, and you have brought all this misery on yourselves by it. Will you still plead for Baal?” It is bad enough to commit sin, but it is far worse to defend it, especially to defend Baal, or any idol that takes the place in the heart that belongs to God alone.

Second, it is needless for them to plead for Baal. If Baal was not a god, as they claimed, then they had nothing to say for him. If he was a god, then he could defend himself, just as the God of Israel had often done by sending fire from heaven or some other judgment against those who dishonored him. This was a fair challenge to Baal to do either good or evil, and the outcome proved how foolish his worshipers were to pray to one who could not even avenge himself. After this, Gideon prospered greatly, and that showed plainly how helpless Baal was to defend his own cause.

Gideon’s father then gave him a new name, in Judges 6:32. He called him Jerubbaal, meaning, “Let Baal plead. Let him plead against him if he can. If Baal has anything to say against the one who destroyed his altar, let him say it.” This name was a standing challenge to Baal: “Now that Gideon is arming himself against the Midianites who worship Baal, let Baal defend his worshipers if he can.” It also honored Gideon, because he had openly fought against that great false claim to power and had won. It encouraged his soldiers too, because they fought under a leader who fought for God against this strong rival for God’s throne. Learned men have guessed that the ancient writer Sanchoniathon’s mention of Jerombalus, a priest of the god Jao, may refer to this Jerubbaal. He is also called Jerubbesheth in 2 Samuel 11:12, where Baal, meaning “lord,” is rightly changed into Besheth, meaning “shame.”