(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Judges 6:25–32, “And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: 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. 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. 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. And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing. 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. And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar.”
Gideon seemed to be both cautious and bold. When the angel came to him he wanted to have some kind of proof that the Lord was with them in the difficult times they were experiencing. However, he was courageous this time when the Lord told him to knock down Baal’s altar in the town. The people, in that town, believed in Baal and he was taking the risk of being executed for blasphemy against that local god. However, Gideon went ahead and broke that altar, cut down the sacred trees then offered a sacrifice using the wood for a burnt offering. In the morning the people were upset that someone had desecrated their idol. They decided that the person who had desecrated their idol had to die. When they found out that Gideon was the culprit they decided to execute Gideon and told his father to bring him out. However, Gideon’s father told them that, if their god was real, then their god should be able to look after himself and punish Gideon himself. This was the great difference between Israel’s God and all the other gods of that time. Israel’s God had delivered them from slavery and given them the Promised Land while the gods of the local people had actually lost their lands because their god was unable to do anything for them. The big question we have to face today is the same. Will our god care for us or do we have to care for our god? I we believe in the One True God then we can be sure that He will always do what is good for us.
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