The Ancient Idols Have New Names
Judges 6:7-10
Last week we began our walk through Judges chapter 6 and we saw a nation under judgement. We saw the Lord deliver Israel into the hand of Midian because of their national sin. We saw how devastating it was for the Gideon generation — the young men who were vastly impoverished compared to their fathers. We saw the destruction of agriculture, the locust-like swarms consuming everything the people produced, and the total insecurity that drove them into caves. And we saw that the turning point came when the people finally cried out to the Lord.
Today we are picking up in verse 7, because what happens next is not what you would expect. And then we are going to ask a question that will cut very close to the bone: who are the false gods of our day, and are we worshipping them without even realising it?
God Sends His Word First
When the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites, what did God do? Did he send a deliverer? Did he send an army? Did he immediately rush in to fix the problem? He sent a prophet instead. In other words, he sent his word.
We want the fix. We want the solution. We want somebody else to come in and sort the mess out. But God says: before I sort the mess out, I’m going to sort out your thinking. Before I deal with your enemies, I’m going to deal with you, my people. Before I send a deliverer, I’m going to send the diagnosis.
This pattern is repeated throughout Scripture. When Josiah found the book of the law in the temple, the word came first, then the Reformation — 2 Kings 22:11. When Ezra returned from exile, he read the law to the people — Nehemiah 8:8. The word preceded the rebuilding. When John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, his message was: repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand — Matthew 3:2. The word of repentance came before the kingdom broke through. God always works this way.
If you’re impatient for deliverance, if you’re frustrated that things are not changing fast enough, consider that God may be sending you his word right now. So listen.
God’s Track Record and the Hammer Falls
The prophet does not start with the problem. He starts with God’s character and God’s track record. I brought you up from Egypt. I brought you forth out of the house of bondage. I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.
God is saying: do you remember who I am? Do you remember what I’ve done? Am I a weak God? I have a track record of deliverance that stretches back through your entire history. And as covenant people, as members of Christ, this history isn’t just random ancient history — it’s our history too. This is the God who parted the Red Sea, who drowned the chariots of Pharaoh, who fed a nation with manna, who brought down the walls of Jericho.
Is God the same God today? Has he changed? Malachi 3:6 says, for I am the Lord, I change not. So we can reach back into the Old Testament at all these deliverances and take them into our hearts as sure biblical hope for deliverance now.
Then the prophet drops the hammer: but ye have not obeyed my voice. This is the whole problem in one sentence. It’s not that they haven’t felt warm enough feelings or attended enough worship services. No — it’s obedience. That’s the issue. It’s always the issue. 1 Samuel 15:22: to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. God wants obedience.
Baal: The God of Provision and Protection
The specific area of disobedience was the worship of other gods — Baal and Asherah. It might seem irrelevant, but it’s far from it. Who are the false gods of our age?
The word Baal simply means lord or ruler. He was a storm god — the one who supposedly controlled the rain and the fertility of the land. If you wanted your crops to grow, you went to Baal for fertility, security, and stability. And the local Baal shrine was hygienic, convenient, practical, tangible, and the rituals were fairly straightforward. Whereas the God of Israel was demanding, and his law — well, it’s a bit comprehensive, isn’t it?
Now ask yourself: where do we turn for our daily bread? Where does a farmer turn for the stability of his income? Sadly, to the state: agricultural subsidies, payments, grants, schemes. Where does the massive percentage of the population turn for stable employment? To the state: public sector jobs, government contracts, council positions, NHS employment. What about education? The state. Retirement? The state. Healthcare? The state. These are the great pillars of life, and the great majority of the people turn to the state for every one of them.
Now turn that over carefully. What is a god? A god is your provider, your healer, your protector. Who do we turn to today for provision, for healing, and for protection? That’s your functional god.
Asherah: The God of Chaos and Inversion
There was also Asherah — and it gets more disturbing, and perhaps more relevant. Asherah was the consort of Baal. Her worship was connected to fertility and sexuality and was an inversion of the natural order. The pagan mind always believes that power and cultural renewal come not from God, not from the application of his word to every area of life, but from chaos. Ritualised chaos. Deliberate overturning of norms, boundaries, and categories. Male and female blurred. Sacred and profane mixed. The natural order inverted as a religious act.
Does that sound familiar? The inversion of sexuality. The breaking of every norm. What is gender ideology but the deliberate destruction of the most basic category — male and female? Queer theory, which is not a slur but a specific academic movement, is the commitment to permanent sexual revolution. It’s not tolerance or acceptance — it’s perpetual revolution. The cultural engine runs on chaos. Transgenderism today — what’s next? According to queer theory, that too will become old hat. It never stops because it’s not designed to stop. Chaos is the source. Inversion is the source. It’s deeply religious.
Isaiah 5:25 warns: woe to them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness. We see it in a culture where criminals are celebrated and decent people are mocked. It’s all deliberate. And it’s not new — it’s as old as Canaan.
The Sacred-Secular Divide Is Paganism
Now let’s focus on the church, because this is where it gets uncomfortable. The paganism outside is maybe obvious and clearly wrong. But what about the more respectable form of false worship that goes on in evangelicalism?
The sacred-secular divide. The idea that God owns Sunday morning, but the state owns Monday through Friday. The idea that God owns your heart, your religious emotions, but the government owns the economy. The Bible? Well, it speaks to personal morality, maybe. But nothing to say about taxation. Education? Don’t ask. Foreign policy? No. Agriculture or law? No.
But what is that but dualism? Which is a form of idolatry. If we say you can’t go to the Bible for the word on economic prosperity, for how to function in your job, for what the absolute standard of education is — what are we doing by putting bounds and bans around God’s word and God’s jurisdiction? Are we not trying to dress our capital-G God into the clothes of a merely local pagan god?
You open your Bible and read that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof — Psalm 24:1. And then you vote for politicians who say the state is the ultimate authority in education, healthcare, welfare, and law. You pray for revival. But is not the state sovereign over ninety percent of your life? This is functional paganism.
Abraham Kuyper was right: there is not one square inch in the whole domain of human endeavour over which Christ does not cry, Mine. Colossians 1:16-17 makes it absolute — all things were created by him and for him, whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers. These are political categories. Christ created them, sustains them, he owns them.
As with this passage, the cure starts with a diagnosis — Hosea 4:6: my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. So let’s take time to meditate on what the first commandment really means: thou shalt have no other gods before me. What is a god? God is our provider, our healer, our protector. Who do we turn to today for provision, for healing, and for protection?
Next week, we’ll pick up in verse 11 with the calling of Gideon and find out what it really means to be a mighty man of valour.