Judg 6:25-32 | KingComments | STEP | Gideon receives his first command after God has brought him into the right relationship to Him. Now God can start using him. But before He allows Gideon to perform in public, he first has to work in his family. He has to start at home. The same the Lord Jesus makes clear to His disciples when He instructs them to testify of Him and to do so “beginning from Jerusalem” ( ), that is, in their immediate environment, close to home. Then they can go on to “all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” ( ). The mission Gideon receives is clear. He has just built an altar for the LORD and at home there is still an altar of Baal. These two altars cannot go together. He who builds an altar for the Lord, will have to come to pull down every other altar. Only then can a testimony be given in the battle for the Lord. Baal must be removed first, otherwise the victory could be attributed to him. The Asherah, the sacred pole that stands next to it, must also be removed. The sacred pole seems to be a kind of protection of the altar. Both the altar and the pole have to be cut down. Here the name Gideon, ‘one who hews down’, is given its practical meaning. In the altar of Baal we can see the reverence that people can have for all kinds of things in their lives, without God having His place in it. We remember that Baal means ‘lord’. For example, there may be things in our lives that have authority over us that dominate us. We use plausible reasons to delude ourselves that these things should be present in our lives. An example can clarify things. A certain sport can occupy such a large place in our lives that we do everything for it. We delude ourselves that it is useful for our body. To be used by the Lord, we will have to judge both our attitude toward the sport and our utility reasons. By this I do not mean to say that it is wrong to do sport. I just want to point out that it can be an ‘altar’ in our life that needs to be cut down, along with the wrong ideas with which we defend this ‘altar’.

‏ Judges 6:25-32

The First Task: Pull down and Cut down

Gideon receives his first command after God has brought him into the right relationship to Him. Now God can start using him. But before He allows Gideon to perform in public, he first has to work in his family. He has to start at home. The same the Lord Jesus makes clear to His disciples when He instructs them to testify of Him and to do so “beginning from Jerusalem” (Lk 24:47), that is, in their immediate environment, close to home. Then they can go on to “all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The mission Gideon receives is clear. He has just built an altar for the LORD and at home there is still an altar of Baal. These two altars cannot go together. He who builds an altar for the Lord, will have to come to pull down every other altar. Only then can a testimony be given in the battle for the Lord. Baal must be removed first, otherwise the victory could be attributed to him. The Asherah, the sacred pole that stands next to it, must also be removed. The sacred pole seems to be a kind of protection of the altar. Both the altar and the pole have to be cut down. Here the name Gideon, ‘one who hews down’, is given its practical meaning.

In the altar of Baal we can see the reverence that people can have for all kinds of things in their lives, without God having His place in it. We remember that Baal means ‘lord’. For example, there may be things in our lives that have authority over us that dominate us. We use plausible reasons to delude ourselves that these things should be present in our lives.

An example can clarify things. A certain sport can occupy such a large place in our lives that we do everything for it. We delude ourselves that it is useful for our body. To be used by the Lord, we will have to judge both our attitude toward the sport and our utility reasons. By this I do not mean to say that it is wrong to do sport. I just want to point out that it can be an ‘altar’ in our life that needs to be cut down, along with the wrong ideas with which we defend this ‘altar’.

The Second Task: To Build and To Offer

Hewing down the wrong is not the only task Gideon gets. He also has to build a new altar. Then he has to offer his father’s second bull with the wood of the Asherah, the sacred pole. What does all this mean? Something new must take the place of the old. The old has to do with Baal, the new with the LORD.

In Jdg 6:24, Gideon spontaneously builds an altar to express the worship that is in his heart for the LORD. Now God orders him to build a new altar. You could call this the altar of his testimony for God. He has to build it in a place that is visible to everyone. With this he openly shows that he chooses against Baal and for God.

Together with the second bull, the wood of the sacred pole must be sacrificed. That is, all the reasoning we have had so far to justify our service to ‘Baal’ will find its end in the sacrificial death of Christ. We acknowledge that in the death of Christ, all thoughts arising from our flesh are judged.

The second bull speaks of the Lord Jesus. The second is preferred over the first. This is reminiscent of the “first man” and the “second Man” (1Cor 15:47). The first man, Adam, has failed; the second Man, Christ, has answered God’s wishes in all things. Gideon has to take the second bull because it is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus, Who has always served God with complete dedication, opposite to a constantly failing people.

Gideon Does It at Night

In the company of ten servants, Gideon sets off to carry out his task. In Ruth 4 we also find ten men (Rth 4:2). They propose an adequate testimony, as the law is. What Gideon does, can be confirmed by these men, they can testify what happened and how it happened. When it comes to acting, Gideon is not a loner, someone who does everything alone. He makes sure that he is backed by witnesses. However, he did not yet have the courage to give his testimony in broad daylight. He does it by night.

Who will blame him? I remember very well that for the first time, I was going to spread gospel tracts in the neighborhood where I lived then. I only did that in the evening, when it had become dark. Nicodemus is also such a person. He too does not dare to openly admit at first that he has an interest in the Lord Jesus (Jn 3:1-2). But that has changed. Later in the Gospel according to John we hear how he stands up for the Lord Jesus against his fellow Pharisees (Jn 7:50-51). And later, his love for the Lord Jesus becomes apparent when he comes with “a mixture of myrrh and aloes” when the Lord is buried (Jn 19:39-42). Both in John 7 and in John 19 it is recalled that he “had first come to Him by night”.

In any case, Gideon acts in obedience. And if there is obedience, the consequences can be left to God. If we do what God asks of us, God does for us what we cannot do. God stands up for Gideon against his enemies.

Overcoming the Opposition

The next day, when the inhabitants of the city discover what has happened, there is great consternation. After investigation it appears that Gideon is the culprit. That is why his life is demanded.

There is nothing which arises more enmity than contempt for one’s religion. You will bring down the anger of supporters upon your head when you dare to say something negative about their club. Sport, especially football in the Netherlands, has become religion. Biblical expressions are used to glorify football stars. They are called ‘sons of gods’.

And what about the power of islam? Testimonies from converted muslims state that they are threatened with death, because their faith in the Lord Jesus means that they have renounced islam. This shows to God that their former religion has become worthless to them. The same often applies to a converted Jew. Anyone who chooses the true God in an environment where people have made gods according to their own imagination, and openly expresses this will have to take into account strong opposition.

This public testimony regarding God is the moment when He brings a turn in the events. Behind the scenes, He stands up for Gideon. He uses Gideon’s father for this. Gideon’s boldness by night made his father bold during the day. Gideon’s father makes a call to the minds of the inhabitants of the city with a sober story. He states quite simply that if Baal is a god, he should avenge himself for the irreverence he has been subjected to. This is reminiscent of the challenge Elijah expresses in his confrontation with the priests of Baal on the question of Who really is God (1Kgs 18:24-29).

The men of the city have no reply. They only give Gideon the name “Jerubbaal”, in which they express that they expect Baal to avenge himself on Gideon. This name seems to have become an honorary name when it appears that nothing happens to Gideon.

Through what Gideon has done what is in people’s hearts is revealed. They clearly declare that they acknowledge Baal as their god. When we openly stand up for God and His truth, it also makes clear today what lives in the hearts of those around us.

The people who want to kill Gideon for what he has done are people from his own city. If we clearly testify in word and deed that we have chosen the Lord Jesus, we will meet resistance. Most opposition may come from those who are closest to us, but do not partake in the Lord Jesus, while they feel themselves to be very religious. If we, as children of God, see the wrong in our own lives and remove it from it, it hurts if it is not the world that makes remarks about it, but fellow believers that react negatively to it.

If we choose for God against the wrong, we can count on God to stand up for us. He is on our side. How He shows this is different in every situation. It is certain that He will give an unexpected outcome if we do faithfully and obediently what He asks of us, just as He did with Gideon.