Judges 6:26-30

Judges 6:26

And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.

 

The rock in this verse is the rock where Gideon had laid out all the sustenance which the Lord had made into a sacrifice.  The ordered place would be a place where there was order as if in a battle array.  Then once the wooden statues of Asherah were taken down, then that wood was to be used as the wood whereby Gideon would be able to make a burnt sacrifice of the second bullock which was noted as the one that was seven years old.

 

Judges 6:27

Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.

 

So here Gideon begins his assault against the Midianites by attacking their false gods but Gideon is still in his timid state since he fears his own father’s household which must have been a group of Baal worshippers plus he also was afraid to contend with the men of the city since they would have been Baal worshippers too.  So what Gideon did was to make sure that he and his men were not caught or spotted, they had begun to do the Lord’s work at night.  Gideon started with his own father’s house instead of the Midianites.  This is just like when Nicodemus came to Jesus by night because he also feared the Sanhedrin.  He did not want to be spotted during the day speaking with Jesus.

 

Judges 6:28

And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.

 

It was time for the pagans to come out to the grove and to make their morning worship of Baal and Asherah.  When they came to the place of the grove, they now saw that the image of Baal was cut down including the wooden statue of Asherah.   They also saw that the leftover of the sacrifice of the bullock was upon the built altar.  It was probably not far from the rock where they had erected this altar.

 

Judges 6:29

And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.

 

Since they were all idol worshippers, they wondered who would do such a thing so they began to inquire all around.  They began to ask everyone and probably they also asked in the house of Gideon’s father and possibly someone had known that Gideon was the one who did it and dropped his name to the inquirers.

 

Judges 6:30

Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.

 

Now that they knew who he was, the men of the city wanted to exact revenge on Gideon for what he did to their false gods.  It is not recorded what city this was but it must have been close to the estate of Joash.   So they approached Joash and told him to bring out his son because he must die for what he did by casting down the altar of Baal and using Asherah as a basis for his burnt sacrifice.

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