Judges 6:25

In the days when Israel repeatedly turned to idols, the LORD selected Gideon to confront the pagan worship that had taken hold among his own people. Gideon lived around 1100 BC, during a tumultuous era when “the Israelites were in constant violation” of God’s commands against paganism, mingling with the worship of foreign gods (Judges 2:11, 3:7, 6:25 – 32) citeturn0file1. Though Gideon initially had doubts about his calling, God’s choice of him was consistent with a biblical theme where the Lord often empowers unlikely individuals to bring about spiritual renewal citeturn0file8.

In Gideon’s story, Scripture recounts, “Now on the same night the LORD said to him, ‘Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it’” (v.25). By delivering these instructions, the LORD directly challenged the household’s idolatry, which was symptomatic of Israel’s broader disobedience. Gideon’s father had built an altar to Baal alongside an Asherah pole, representing the Canaanite mother-goddess, thus violating God’s covenant commands to have no other gods (Exodus 20:3).

This command to “tear down” the false altar foreshadows the New Testament call to remove every idol that hinders true devotion to God (Matthew 6:24). Gideon would later humbly obey and destroy the pagan altar under cover of night (Judges 6:27), highlighting both his caution and his determination to follow the LORD’s directive. Through Gideon’s faithful, if wary, obedience, God began a process of revival among the Israelites, putting an end to needless fear and reminding them that true righteousness requires trusting and worshiping the one true God alone.

Gideon’s obedience at night became the turning point for leading Israel away from the worship of Baal.