“That very night Adonai said to him, ‘Take your father’s bull and the other bull, the seven-year-old. Destroy the altar to Ba‘al that belongs to your father, cut down the sacred pole next to it…”-Judges 6:25
When we last left off, the Lord had ordered Gideon to take 2 bulls and destroy the altar of Ba’al that belonged to his father.
Okay, right here we run into a translation problem.
I don’t think Gideon took 2 bulls here.
I think he only took one.
Why do I say this?
Because of the wording of the original Hebrew.
If translated literally, it would come to something like “the bull of all the bulls” or “the bull of bullocks” or something like that.
In other words, the root word of the part that’s usually translated as the “second bull” is SHANAH.
And SHANAH means “chief” or “utmost”.
In other words, Gideon was to take the most exalted bull out of all those his father owned.
So I believe there was only ONE bull and not two.
And that the bull that Gideon took was the most valued and the highest ranking bull one out of them all.
See, the value and rank of a bull (and other animals) was determined by its age.
The older the animal, the greater its value.
Therefore, a 7-year old bull would have been HIGHLY valuable.
In addition, the fact that the bull was 7 years old is also significant.
Why?
Because, Israel suffered exactly 7 years of oppression from the Midianites.
Which means the bull would have been born in the first year of Israel’s persecution.
And each year of the bull’s life was to serve as an atonement for each year of Israel’s rebellion.
However, before the bull was to be sacrificed, it would be used to tear down the sacred pole of Ba’al.
And again, I reiterate.
It’s the SAME bull we’re talking about here, NOT 2 different bulls.
So yeah, I’m asserting that pretty much every major English translation in existence is wrong.
Alrighty, what’s the big takeaway for today’s lesson?
It is this.
Just as God ordered Gideon to take the best and most expensive bull out of the bunch to sacrifice, so too are we to offer up our very best to God.
We are to offer up the very best of our time (no matter how busy we are), the very best of our resources (no matter how valuable), and the very best of our lives up to God.
We aren’t to skimp and give the Lord the scraps we have left over after we’ve paid our bills or settled our worldly social obligations.
We give God our best first and when we do that, He’ll take care of everything else in our life.
And that’s all that I’ve got for you to today.
See ya all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Then Yeshua told his disciples,
‘If anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself and
take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever would save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for my sake will find it.
For what will it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and
forfeits his soul?
Or what shall a man give
in return for his soul?'”
-Matthew 16:24-26
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