Judges 6:28 - Printer Friendly

ESV: When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.

NIV: In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!

NASB: When the people of the city got up early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal had been torn down, and the Asherah which had been beside it had been cut down, and the second bull had been offered on the altar which had been built.

CSB: When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built.

NLT: Early the next morning, as the people of the town began to stir, someone discovered that the altar of Baal had been broken down and that the Asherah pole beside it had been cut down. In their place a new altar had been built, and on it were the remains of the bull that had been sacrificed.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built.

Gideon has thoroughly—if quietly—obeyed the command of the Lord (Judges 6:25–27), under the cover of darkness and with the help of ten servants. He dismantled the altar to Baal and the Asherah pole: artifacts used for worshiping false gods. He has built a new altar to Yahweh and sacrificed a bull on it. It likely took the entire night to complete all of this. This is not an act of petty vandalism. This is a complete destruction of those pagan elements and an attack on the legitimacy of those false gods.

Now morning has dawned on the remains of Gideon's actions. The men of the town emerge from their homes to find the Baal altar in pieces, the Asherah pole chopped down and burnt, and the charred remains of a bull on top of a new altar to another deity.

It's hard to overstate how scandalous this would have been for everyone in town. They worshiped Baal and the other gods of the region. These were also the gods of their frequent attackers, the Midianites. They believed that worshiping those gods helped to protect and provide for them. Now those gods had been insulted, disrespected, and humiliated, as were all those who worshipped them. From their point of view, this act deserved the harshest possible punishment.

Judges 6:28–35 describes what happens when Gideon's neighbors discover he has toppled the Baal altar and Asherah pole and replaced them with an altar to Yahweh. They demand Gideon's father Joash let them kill Gideon. Joash defends his son, challenging Baal to fight his own battles, if he cares to. This earns Gideon the nickname Jerubbaal, implying his conflict with Baal. When the Midianites return on another raid to take Israel's food (Judges 6:1–5), God empowers Gideon and people from several tribes to battle against Midian and her allies from east of the Jordan.

Israel follows the sad pattern of the book of Judges, and once again turns to evil and idols. God turns them over to the Midianites. These foreign raiders spend the next seven years invading and consuming Israel's crops and livestock. Israel cries for help to the Lord. His first step is to send a prophet to remind them of God's goodness and their disobedience. The Lord then appears to Gideon, commanding him to save Israel because God will be with him. Gideon obeys God's command to tear down a Baal altar and build one to Yahweh in its place. He calls his countrymen to follow him and asks for signs from God.

The book of Judges contains a series of stories with a common theme: Israel falls into sin, suffers, and is rescued by God, only to fall once again (Judges 1—2). The next phase in Israel's downward spiral comes after 40 years of peace, won by Deborah and Barak (Judges 4—5). Israel is punished for sin through the Midianites. After seven years, the Israelites cry out for help. The Lord appears to Gideon, challenging the timid man to lead the battle against Israel's oppressors. Empowered by the Spirit, Gideon calls for his people to follow him, but still asks the Lord for signs. Gideon's successful campaigns are depicted in chapters 7 and 8.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).