Judges, Ruth: Revised Edition (The NIV Application Commentary)

by K. Lawson Younger

Return to the past. Taking the larger structure of the cycles section into consideration, while Gideon obviously does not equate to an Othniel, Ehud, or even Barak, neither is he a Jephthah or a Samson. Thus, in building the first altar to Yahweh, Gideon draws witness to Yahweh’s call through the theophany. Despite fearing the people of his village, Gideon obeys Yahweh’s commands to hack down the Asherah pole, to destroy the Baal altar, and to build an altar to Yahweh (the second altar, 6:25–32). This endangers his life, but his father, Joash, rescues him—albeit through a ploy that questions the divinity of Baal: “If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar” (6:31). While this makes Gideon living proof of Baal’s impotence as a deity, he nevertheless serves with a Baal name (Jerub-Baal), and its frequency is truly ironic. While service to the Lord begins with a break with the past (in religious and moral matters, cf. Phil 3:1–14; Heb 12:1), the dangers of a return to the past are great.