Year One, July 7

Peace Be To You. Do Not Fear.1

Judges 6:17-32

17And [Gideon] said to the [angel of the LORD], “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speaks with me. 18Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.” (To one person God refuses to give a sign, and to another he does give one. God works one way with one person and another way with someone else. This demonstrates not only God’s wisdom, but also his sovereignty or absolute power to do as he pleases. In this case, Gideon asked for and was given many signs and was not rebuked for needing them.)

19So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah (or about three gallons) of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. (What Gideon intended for a feast was turned into a sacrifice. It did not matter what the Lord did with Gideon’s gift. What really matters is that the Lord accepted both the gift and the giver.)

21Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. (Gideon is given both a sign that God was with him and a hint of the power God could use. God could bring fiery courage out of Gideon’s heart, as well as fire out of a rock. And he could consume Midian as easily as he burned up the unleavened cakes.)

22Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” 23But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die. 24Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

25That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you cut down.” (Gideon is told to start right away and get rid of everything in his house that is used to worship the false god. Those who want to serve God in a foreign country should begin by serving God at home. He was not commanded to dedicate Baal’s temple to God, but to destroy it. He was not ordered to sacrifice to God on the idol’s altar, but to destroy it. We cannot overdo it when it comes to cleaning out the things that tempt us. The filthy birds of sin will return if we do not destroy their dirty nests. God gave Gideon a wonderful job to do. We should rejoice if he gives us a special assignment.)

27So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night. (If we cannot do our duty exactly as we should, we must do it as we can. One way or another, it should be done. Gideon did a glorious night’s work.)

28When 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. 29And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” 30Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.”

The penalty for idolatry was death. Very often, the people who are the most guilty of a sin are the loudest in accusing others of doing it. They demand that the innocent get the punishment they themselves deserve.

31But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” (He reasoned with them. If Baal is really a god, then he can take care of himself. If Baal is not a god, then those who claim he is should be put to death. That was the penalty God commanded for those who worshipped false gods.) 32Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.

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¹ Judges 6:23