What is the meaning of Judges 6:28? When the men of the city got up in the morning “ When the men of the city got up in the morning ” (Judges 6:28) drops us into a normal dawn that turns extraordinary. • Gideon had acted under cover of night so the discovery breaks only with daylight (Judges 6:27). • God often allows darkness to conceal His servants until the appointed moment of revelation—think of Samuel hearing God before dawn (1 Samuel 3:3–11) or the Philistines finding Dagon toppled at daybreak (1 Samuel 5:3). • The townspeople represent Israel’s compromising culture; their first concern each morning should have been the LORD’s praise (Psalm 5:3), yet their routine centers on Baal. There was Baal’s altar torn down “ …there was Baal’s altar torn down …” • This is the direct fulfillment of God’s command the previous night (Judges 6:25). • The dismantled altar is a public rebuttal of Baal’s supposed power, echoing Elijah’s later challenge on Carmel (1 Kings 18:30–39). • Tearing down idols is a covenant expectation (Deuteronomy 12:3; 7:5); until false worship is removed, true worship cannot flourish. With the Asherah pole cut down beside it “ …with the Asherah pole cut down beside it …” • Baal and Asherah were partnered deities of Canaanite fertility; removing one without the other would leave a foothold (Deuteronomy 16:21). • Gideon’s thoroughness mirrors Hezekiah’s reforms centuries later when he “broke into pieces the bronze serpent” and destroyed the Asherah (2 Kings 18:4). • The single stroke against both idols underscores that God tolerates no rival (Exodus 34:14). And the second bull offered up on the newly built altar “ …and the second bull offered up on the newly built altar.” • Gideon not only destroyed; he rebuilt—constructing an altar “to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold” as ordered (Judges 6:26). • The “second bull” likely represented seven years of Midianite oppression (Judges 6:1), a sacrificial symbol of complete deliverance, just as David’s costly offering halted a plague (2 Samuel 24:24-25). • New devotion replaces old idolatry; Noah set the pattern after the flood (Genesis 8:20), and Elijah rebuilt an altar with twelve stones for a divided nation (1 Kings 18:31-32). summary Judges 6:28 captures the moment Israel wakes to find their false security shattered and a fresh altar blazing for the LORD. One obedient night of courage exposes powerless idols, fulfills God’s explicit word, and re-centers worship where it belongs. Whenever the living God confronts entrenched compromise, He both tears down and builds up, calling His people from morning discovery to wholehearted allegiance. |
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