Judges 6:25

And it came to pass the same night,.... The night which followed the day in which the angel appeared to Gideon as he was threshing: that the Lord said unto him; perhaps in a dream, since it was in

And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath,

Even the second bullock: thus there was but one bullock, which was young, to wit, comparatively, but not simply, for it was seven years old; and of such this Hebrew word is used, ; for these creatures are fruitful above seven years. Or thus, thy father’ s young bullock, and the second bullock: so there were two bullocks. But because there is but one of them mentioned both in the next verse, and in the execution of this command, , it is probable it was but one; and the Hebrew particle vau, and, is put exegetically for even, or, to wit, as is very usual. And this he calls his father’ s young bullock, both because his father was the owner of it, and because his father kept and fed it for a sacrifice to Baal. But because it is likely his father kept divers of these cattle of differing ages and statures for that use, either at his own or at the people’ s charge, therefore he adds, by way of limitation, that he should not take the eldest and the greatest, but the second, to wit, in age, or stature, or goodliness, or in the order of sacrifice, that which was to have been sacrificed to Baal in the second place. And this he singled out because of its age; for being seven years old, it began with the Midianitish calamity, and being now to be sacrificed, did fitly signify, that the period of that misery was now come. That thy father hath; which thy father built in his own ground, though for the common use of the whole city, . The grove that is by it; planted by the altar for idolatrous or impure uses, as the manner of idolaters was. See . This action might seem injurious to his father’ s rights and authority; but God’ s command was sufficient warrant, and Gideon was now called to be the supreme magistrate, whereby he was made his father’ s superior, and was empowered, and authorized, and enjoined to root out all idolatry and superstition, and the instruments thereof.

Judges 6:25 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’ s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that [is] by it:Ver. 25. And it came to pass the same night.] The night wherein the Lord had so comforted him, and whilst "his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord." Throw down the altar of Baal.] He must first reform before he went against the Midianites, or else no good success could be expected. Musselburgh field was won by the English in Edward VI’ s time, the selfsame day and hour wherein the idolatrous images were burnt at London by authority of Parliament. Act. and Mon.

(25) The Lord said unto him.—Luther rightly observes that by such expressions we are not at all meant to understand a voice in the air. It is useless, and therefore undesirable, to speculate as to the exact manner in which the Divine intimation came to him. When God speaks it is not possible for man to mistake His voice. It was distinctly revealed to Gideon that he must be an iconoclast before he could be a deliverer. Even the second bullock.—It has been disputed whether the true rendering is “even” or “and.” Ewald makes it mean “even,” and explains shani (second) to mean “old” (Gesch. ii.498). The LXX., the Vulgate, Luther, &c, render it “and,” as in the margin of our version. This seems to be the right rendering; for (1) the labour of two bullocks would not be too much for the task before Gideon; (2) a bullock (shor) of seven yeàrs old would hardly be called a young bullock: literally, “a heifer (par), son of an ox.” Of seven years old.—The Chaldee renders it, “which has been fattened for seven years,” and there is very possibly an allusion to the seven years of the Midianite oppression (Judges 6:1). The law had not prescribed any fixed age for burnt offerings. Why the bullock is called “the second bullock” is very uncertain, but this minute and unexplained detail shows that we are not moving in the region of legend. The first bullock is said to belong to Joash, and we must, therefore, probably suppose that the second was Gideon’s own. Possibly in this circumstance we may see an explanation of these minute directions, and the significance which they were intended to bear. The first bullock had been intended by Joash as a sacrifice to Baal, and is used in the destruction of his altar; the second had, perhaps, been reserved by Gideon as a sacrifice to the Lord when better times should come—a votive offering, which was being fattened for the longed-for day of deliverance. This bullock is sacrificed to Jehovah, and the fact that it, too, has been used for the destruction of the Canaanite idols is a sign to Gideon that the day for which he had hoped has come. Throw down.—As commanded in Exodus 32:13; Deuteronomy 7:5. The altar of Baal.—Rather, of the Baal, i.e., of that particular Phœnician idol which your father worships. (Comp. 1 Kings 16:32.) That thy father hath.—This shows that Joash had joined with other Israelites in the apostasy, which had provoked the Midianite oppression. The words are literally, which is to thy father, as in the previous clause; and the pointed repetition of these words tends to confirm the conjecture mentioned in the previous note. It is called especially Joash’s altar because, though used by the whole city (Judges 6:28), he was the head of the Abi-ezrites. The grove.—Rather, the Asherah, as in Judges 3:7.

Verse 25. Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock] There is some difficulty in this verse, for, according to the Hebrew text, two bullocks are mentioned here; but there is only one mentioned in Judges 6:26; Judges 6:28. But what was this second bullock? Some think that it was a bullock that was fattened in order to be offered in sacrifice to Baal. This is very probable, as the second bullock is so particularly distinguished from another which belonged to Gideon's father. As the altar was built upon the ground of Joash, yet appears to have been public property, (see Judges 6:29-30), so this second ox was probably reared and fattened at the expense of the men of that village, else why should they so particularly resent its being offered to Jehovah?

25–32. Gideon overthrows the altar of Baal and receives the name Jerub-baal. This story has no connexion with the preceding narrative Judges 6:11-24; for after Gideon had built the altar Jehovah-shalom (Judges 6:24), it is not likely that he would have been told to build another altar at once and in the same place (Judges 6:26). So far as any antecedents of the story exist they are to be found in Judges 6:7-10, which denounce the worship of Canaanite (‘Amorite’) gods.

Even - Rather, as in the margin, and. Two bullocks are spoken of. The labor of both would be required for pulling down and removing the altar of Baal, and for bringing the materials for building the altar of Yahweh.

25. The same night — The same night on which he had seen the manifestation of the Lord. It was probably evening, perhaps after sunset, that Gideon threshed his wheat.