And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said to him, Take the young bullock, which thy father hath, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah that is by it;
The word comes to Gideon on the same night he built his altar to the Lord. It sends him not against Midian but against his own father's household. Before he can face a nation's enemy, he must face the idol standing on his family's land.
The first thing God asks of Gideon is not public bravery but honesty at home:
Here we see that Gideon had to begin at home. God called him to raise the flag of testimony in the very heart of his family — in the very centre of his father's house. This is intensely interesting and deeply practical. Testimony must begin at home. It will never do to rush out into public work while our private and domestic ways are anything but what they ought to be. It is useless to set about throwing down the altar of Baal in public while the very same altar remains standing at home.
The word translated "grove" in older Bibles does not mean a stand of trees. What people did to it shows what it was made of:
The word "grove" naturally suggests a row of trees. But that cannot be the meaning, since people set groves up "under every green tree." Manasseh put a carved image of the grove that he had made in the temple. Josiah later removed it, burnt it, and ground it to powder. That image was no doubt made of metal. But the groves were of wood, as we learn from the fact that people cut them down and burned them. One passage speaks of planting groves, another of making them, and another of building them. They always go together with idols and images.
Gideon had just built an altar to the Lord. That act itself made Baal's altar intolerable:
The altar itself is now a challenge to the idols. The Lord's altar cannot stay in the company of Baal's, and Israel cannot be delivered while its faith is divided. So on the same night — the night of the day when the Lord had appeared — the Lord told him to throw down Baal's altar and cut down the asherah. The asherah was a pillar of wood, the symbol of the Ashtaroth worship that went with Baal's. Then Gideon was to build an altar to the Lord on top of the stronghold where Israel used to retreat from the Midianites, and to offer on it his father's second bull, with the wood of the asherah he had cut down.
Another writer ties the demand to Gideon's own name:
God will not share His glory with Baal. One altar or the other must be thrown down. Gideon is to make good his name, "the cutter down," and to show the vigour of his faith and the reality of his obedience.
God's peace does not leave the idols standing:
There judgment begins. We must "cease to do evil" before we "learn to do good." The Lord comes to us as "the God of peace." Still the call is, "Down with the idols in your father's house." … And what is more, if God says, "Pull down the altar of Baal," He will give strength to do it.
The wood of the felled image became the wood of the sacrifice:
The positive duty of anyone who would be a testimony for God is, before everything else, to cast down his idols. Why are there so few true servants among Christians, walking in the power of a testimony for Christ? It is because they have not the two altars. And why have they not the second? Because they have not provided themselves wood for the sacrifice. The idols are the wood. Let us overthrow them; let nothing of them remain. Let us begin in the innermost circle of the family. If we do not do this, where will our testimony be? The overthrowing of the idols is the secret of power. The Spirit of the Lord only came upon Gideon when he had done this. We do not now have Baals of stone and groves of wood, as he did, but we have many other idols. Unlike him, we often prefer them to the power of a faithful walk with God.
Obedience came, but not yet in daylight:
Gideon obeys, but he does it by night, fearing to do it by day. Here nature breaks in. His faith was not yet strong enough to let him testify openly and boldly; but what his faith did enable him to do, that he did.
- Home first. God sends Gideon against the idol on his father's land before He sends him against Midian.
- Judgment first. God greets Gideon in peace, then tells him to pull the idols down. We must stop doing evil before we learn to do good.
- One altar. God will not share His glory with Baal, so one altar or the other must fall. Divided faith never wins a deliverance.
- Fuel. The wood of the felled image feeds the fire of the new sacrifice. The idols supply what worship burns.
- Then power. The Spirit came on Gideon only after the idols came down. What God commands, He gives strength to do — even to a man who can only manage it at night.
and build an altar to Jehovah thy God upon the top of this strong place in the ordered manner, and take the second bullock, and offer up a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah that thou shalt cut down.
Gideon has just met God and built an altar called "The LORD is Peace." That same night God tells him to tear down his father's altar to Baal and raise the LORD's altar in its place, with the idol for firewood.
God does not send Gideon against the raiders from Midian first. He sends him against the altar in his own yard.
Here we see that Gideon had to begin at home. He was called to unfurl the banner of testimony in the very heart of his family — in the very centre of his father's house... Testimony must begin at home. It will never do to rush out into public work while our private and family ways are anything but what they ought to be. It is useless to set about throwing down the altar of Baal in public, while that same altar remains standing at home.
Another writer asks how far one man's obedience has to reach.
Does he worship and obey God for himself? Then that same obedience must be claimed for the whole circle of his responsibilities. Is a man going to be a deliverer for all Israel, while his own family is in bondage?... How many are tempted to invert this order. They may be jealous enough for God's altar for all Israel, and yet have never set it up in their own homes.
The verse does not ask Gideon to add the LORD's altar alongside Baal's. Tearing down the one and building the other is a single command.
He is to cast down his father's altar of Baal, cut down the wooden image, or column, and offer a bull on an altar to the LORD. After all, this is only the natural enlargement of the worship he had just enjoyed. God will not share His glory with Baal. One altar or the other must be thrown down. Gideon is to make good his name, "the cutter down," and to show the vigour of his faith and the reality of his obedience.
The offering must burn on wood cut from the Asherah — the wooden column beside Baal's altar. Nothing of the false worship survives it.
The positive duty of anyone who would be a testimony for God is, before anything else, to cast down his idols. Why are there so few true servants among Christians, walking in the power of a testimony for Christ? It is because they have not the two altars. And why do they not have the second? Because they have not provided themselves with wood for the sacrifice. The idols are the wood (v. 26). Let us overthrow them, and let nothing of them remain. Let us begin in the innermost circle of the family... The overthrowing of the idols is the secret of power; the Spirit of the LORD only came upon Gideon when he had done this.
God fixes the altar's shape and site, not Gideon. The ESV has the stones "laid in due order"; other translations read "in the ordered place." Writers take that phrase as the end of self-chosen worship.
It is of the essence of self-will to say, "I have a right to worship God how I like." Obedience to God is the saint's rule and liberty. No power in the world has any right to interfere with this. And what is more, if God says, "Pull down the altar of Baal," He will give strength to do it.
But Israel's own altar stood at the tabernacle in Shiloh. So how could a new altar on this rock be right? One writer answers that God's command alone settled it.
Gideon worshipped according to a new revelation of God, despite Shiloh and the tabernacle. His rock became the ordered place, or the anointed altar, only because of this revelation and command of God.
So Gideon obeyed. One writer points out what had to come first, and what could only come after.
Gideon was associated with evil in his father's house. As another has said, "faithfulness within comes before outward strength: evil must be put away from Israel before the enemy can be driven out. Obedience first, and then strength: this is God's order."
What if courage falls short of open testimony?
Though the flesh may hinder testimony, it cannot prevent obedience, if there is faith... The stirrings of the flesh are no excuse for failing to obey what we have faith to do. So it was with Gideon. From the start he learned how hostile his own people were to faithfulness for the truth. The world does not realise that its opposition always draws out of God's witness more than enough power to crush it.
- Home first. The altar you tear down in public is worthless while the same altar stands in your own house.
- One altar. God will not share His glory; Baal's altar must come down for His to go up.
- Idols as fuel. The wood of the cut-down image feeds the fire — the thing removed becomes the means of worship.
- God's order. God fixed the place. Obedience, not preference, is the believer's rule and freedom.
- Then power. Obedience first, strength second — the Spirit came on Gideon only after the idol fell.