Emperor with No Clothes
Opening Prayer
Most Holy God, grant me grace to listen, patience to wait and strength to continue. I bless Your wonderful name.
Read Judges 6:25–40
25 That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. 26 Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.”
27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.
28 In the morning when the people of the town got up, there was Baal’s altar, demolished, with the Asherah pole beside it cut down and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar!
29 They asked each other, “Who did this?”
When they carefully investigated, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
30 The people of the town demanded of Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he has broken down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
31 But Joash replied to the hostile crowd around him, “Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.” 32 So because Gideon broke down Baal’s altar, they gave him the name Jerub-Baal that day, saying, “Let Baal contend with him.”
33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.
36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— 37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“The dearest idol I have known, whate’er that idol be, help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee” (William Cowper, 1731–1800). Challenging words from a much-loved hymn.
Think Further
Whoever wrote this account of Gideon’s first steps in leadership had a sense of humor. Gideon’s initial act of demolishing the Canaanite idols was extremely courageous, especially since it started in his own home (25), but there are at least three comic elements in the story. First, the way Gideon demolishes his father’s altar is brash. A wooden pole represented Asherah, the goddess worshipped on high places. He hacks her down and uses the wood as fuel for a legitimate offering—making his father pay for it by using his second-most costly bull as a burnt offering. Imagine the conversation the next morning!
Second, when he went to demolish the town’s “newly-built” altar to Baal (28), we learn that he’s all too human. He isn’t really courageous at all, so he takes a gang with him and does it under cover of darkness “because he was afraid” (27). He’s like the little boy standing up to the bully, whose knees have turned to jelly and who’s hoping his big brother will appear soon! We should never mock those starting out in Christian leadership nor expect too much of them, however hesitant they may be.
Third, when the deed is discovered and Gideon blamed, his father defends him with a profoundly insightful riposte. “If Baal really is a god, let him defend himself. He doesn’t need you to stand up for him. Let Baal fight it out himself with Gideon” (30–32). Ideologies that oppose Christianity, especially secularism, are as powerless as Baal and unable to deliver on their claims. Perhaps good apologetics begins with simply pointing out that the emperor has no clothes. By now, secularism should have been able to build wholesome, problem-free societies, but it has spectacularly failed to do so.
Apply
Gideon built an altar and tore one down overnight (24–26). What would you like to “tear down” in your life, if you could? What would you like to build up, to the glory of God?
Closing prayer
Gracious Lord, reveal to me what I need to deal with in my life, whether it needs to be built up or torn down. I need Your help to see things accomplished.
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