“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…”-Judge 6:25
When we last left off, the Lord had ordered Gideon to destroy the altar to Ba’al that belonged to his father and cut down the sacred pole next to it.
Let’s get it straight in our minds exactly what’s going on here.
The Lord had ordered Gideon to commit an illegal act.
It wasn’t illegal from a Torah perspective, but from the world’s perspective, no doubt this was kind of bordering on an act of terrorism.
Because the Lord was ordering Gideon to tear down someone’s personal property.
Property that belonged to his father no less.
Let’s talk a little bit about that pole the Lord asked Gideon to tear down.
In Hebrew it’s called ASHERAH.
Does that name ring a bell?
It should because ASHERAH was known as the fertility goddess that was usually expressed as a tree.
She was also the wife of Ba’al which explains why the ASHERAH pole was standing right next to the altar of BA’AL.
The ASHERAH pole being erected right next to an altar of BA’AL was a commonplace sight in those days.
God told Gideon to not only tear down the ASHERAH but also to chop it up so it could be used as firewood for the sacrifice that was to take place soon after.
This reminds me of the lambs the Lord ordered the Israelites to kill on the night of Israel’s exodus from Egypt.
Because in Egypt, lambs were also worshipped as gods.
The Lord was sending a message to the Egyptians and letting them know their gods meant nothing to Him.
Well, we find a similar thing going on right here.
Gideon obeys the Lord but he’s shaking and quaking in his boots about the whole thing.
He knew darn well what he was about to do would arouse not only the fury of his father and his family but the whole entire neighborhood…both the Israelites and Canaanites combined.
Yo’ash, Gideon’s father, was this Canaanite holy site’s protecter and caretaker.
Yet he was a Hebrew man.
So here we have a Hebrew man taking care of a heathen worship site dedicated to BA’AL and ASHERAH with no outrage whatsoever being expressed from his Hebrew neighbors.
Which means his Hebrew neighbors were totally fine with the situation although it was an abomination to the Lord.
Yo’ash hailed from the clan of Ali’ezer which was part of the tribe of Manessah.
And the territory where Gideon lived was actually his own clan’s village.
In other words, they owned and had full control of the land in that area.
This means out of their own freewill choice, they had decided to adopt the pagan gods of BA’AL, ASHTORETH and probably other elements of the mystery Babylon religions alongside their worship of YAHWEH.
My point is this abomination of mixing the gods of the Canaanites with the worship of the God who had rescued them from Egypt was heartily approved by all the Hebrews in the hood there.
We couldn’t have a more perfect picture of Israel’s tragic state during the era of the Judges.
Israel wasn’t forced to bow down and worship other gods.
They did it because that was their desire.
And because they didn’t wanna offend their Canaanite neighbors.
This idolatry was all for the sake of peace and political correctness.
A narrative which I think PERFECTLY describes the modern church today.
Enlightening
Glad you enjoyed this Elizabeth. Be blessed!
Not only does the narrative fit the modern church today, it perfectly fits modern Israel whose modern leaders (even the kippah wearing PM) fail to acknowledge YHVH as their protector, rather it is the cleverness of the jews – they should not be surprised when that protection is not so forthcoming as they are surrounded by their enemies.