God’s First Command: Tear Down Your Own Altar

Two Offerings, One Man

We’re in Judges 6, and we’ve just seen Gideon offer a mincha — a peace offering — to the Lord. Now he is going to offer something different. Two acts in close succession that would normally be reserved for a priest: first the flour and the goat broth, now a burnt offering. Who is this Gideon? God is calling him to something that has a priestly character about it, even as he is being commissioned as a civil deliverer.

Verse 24 brings one section to a close: So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it The Lord is Peace. That is the summary statement. He has been called, God has accepted his offering, they are in fellowship. Now what?

The First Mission: Not Midian

Here is where it gets instructive. Gideon has been commissioned to save Israel from Midian. You would expect his first action to be military — round up a force and strike. But that is not what God commands.

Verse 25: Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, Take your father’s young bull and the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it.

No mention of Midian. The first mission is to tear down an Israelite altar.

This makes complete sense when we remember why Midian was there in the first place. Midian did not come because they felt like it. They came because the children of Israel had chased after the gods of the Amorites and the Canaanites. God is dealing with the root cause, not the fruit. A lot of people today are getting very exercised about the fruit — about people of a particular skin tone, about foreign religions, about this conspiracy or that one. God is not impressed. He goes straight to the heart of the issue: the religious disposition of the people who are called by his name.

And not in Jerusalem, not in some distant place — next door. In his own household. These idols belonged to his father Joash. The first act of true reform is always the closest and the most personal.

Build, Then Tear Down

Verse 26: And build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement. God is concerned with strict adherence to his word — not just your heart being in the right place, not just sincerity. There are constraints. The altar must be built with uncut stones, as the law required. Gideon knew this. He was not an ignoramus. He was a man of the word.

And he was to take the Asherah pole, chop it down, and use it as fuel for the burnt offering. The very wood of the false religion would be used to offer sacrifice to the true God. This is a man with both the knowledge and the practical capability for the job. Who better to chop something down than a farmer? The Lord chose the right man for the right task.

Night Work and False Courage

Verse 27: So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him. But because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night.

At this point, commentators often pile on Gideon. What a coward. He should have done it in broad daylight. But consider: three verses later, verse 30, the men of the city want to kill him. He knew these people. He knew their devotion. He knew that doing it by day meant being lynched before the job was done. He didn’t disobey the Lord — the Lord hadn’t said do it today. And the Lord did not condemn him. Why then do we?

Abraham deceived Pharaoh to preserve his life. Isaac did the same with Abimelech. Jacob fled in the night from Laban. These are not failures of faith — they are wisdom under pressure. Have the commentators who criticise Gideon ever risked their lives for obedience? Gideon did the thing, and he did it the same night it was commanded. That is not cowardice — that is faithfulness.

Ten Men

Although Gideon called himself the least in his father’s household, he had at least ten servants he could call upon at night for a dangerous task. He was a man of means. And these ten men went with him — tearing down the altar of Baal, which was the religious centre of the community. Think about which ten of your friends you could call tonight to do something that dangerous. Gideon was already a leader, already capable of inspiring loyalty and confidence.

The Root Cause of All External Problems

The pattern here cannot be overstated. God’s strategy for delivering Israel from the Midianites begins with the idolatry of God’s own people. It is the religious disposition of the covenant people — not the power of the enemy — that determines the outcome of history.

If you want to deal with the external problems — the collapsing culture, the hostile institutions, the encroaching foreign powers — the place to begin is your own heart and your own household. What are you trusting in? What does the wider society trust in? The Lord has a man for that. He can raise one up. But the first action will always be to tear down what is closest to home.

And here is the hopeful thing: you cannot change what is at the supranational level. You have no billions, no lobbying firm, no army. But you can make changes here, where you are, in your own household. That is also where the Lord begins. And from that beginning, everything else follows.

God bless you. We’ll see you next time.