"Under normal circumstances the narrative should have proceeded directly from v. 24 to vv. 33-35, and then on to 7:1. But the normal sequence is interrupted twice to deal with a pair of abnormalities. The first is an objective issue, the presence of a pagan cult installation in Gideon's father's own backyard. The second is a subjective problem, Gideon's persistent resistance to the call of God."145
After the Angel had vanished, the Lord appeared to Gideon again the same night. He commanded him to tear down his family's pagan altar and its accompanying Asherah pole, build an altar to Yahweh, and offer his father's bull as a burnt offering of worship. This would constitute a public confession of Gideon's commitment to the Lord. It was necessary for him to take this stand personally before the nation would follow him as its judge.146The real problem in Israel was not the Midianites' oppression but Israel's spiritual bondage due to idolatry.
Probably Gideon used one bull to pull apart the Canaanite altar, which he then offered as a burnt offering to Yahweh.147This sacrifice served a twofold purpose. Burnt offerings of worship made atonement and symbolized the offerer's total dedication to the Lord. Gideon's sacrifice also constituted a rejection of Baal worship since the bull was the sacred animal in the Baal fertility cult.148The fact that the bull was seven years old, strong and healthy, may have symbolized that the current seven-year oppression by Israel's enemies was about to end. On the other hand it may have indicated that the destruction of Baal worship to follow would be an act of God.
Gideon's fear of being observed as he obeyed God (v. 27) was natural since veneration of Baal was strong in his family and town (vv. 28-30).
"How different from Deuteronomy 13:6-10, where Moses commanded that even close relatives must be stoned for idolatry! The heresy had become the main religion."149
"The sentence that should have been imposed on idolators [sic] is pronounced upon the one who destroys the idol!"150
However, Gideon's daring act of faith inspired his father Joash to take a stand for Yahweh (v. 31) even though Joash had been a leader of Baal worship (v. 25). The person Gideon probably feared most, namely, his father, became his most outspoken defender.
"The probability, we think, is that Gideon, perceiving in the morning to what a pitch of exasperation the citizens were wrought, and how seriously they threatened his life, took occasion frankly to inform his father of the visit of the angel, and of all the circumstances of his call and commission, and that this, added to his feelings as a father, had served at once to convince him of his former error and to determine to stand by his son against the rage of the populace."151
"There are some profound spiritual implications in Gideon's assignment. 1. Baal must go before Midian can go. . . . 2. God's altar cannot be built until Baal's altar is destroyed. . . . 3. The place we must start is in our own backyard."152
