Let Baal Contend: The Impotence of Idols Text: Judges 6:28-32
Introduction: The Public Square is Never Neutral
We live in an age that is desperate to believe in religious neutrality. The prevailing lie is that the public square can be a godless vacuum, a space where every man does what is right in his own eyes, and from this chaos, order and justice will somehow emerge. But this is a fantasy. The public square is never neutral because the human heart is never neutral. The heart is an idol factory, and every society is simply a collection of those factories, all churning out gods to be worshipped.
The book of Judges is a stark and bloody refutation of this modern delusion. In the time of Gideon, Israel had forgotten the Lord who brought them out of Egypt. They had not created a secular, pluralistic society. No, they had simply swapped gods. They had exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for images of Baal and Asherah. They were not irreligious; they were ardently religious, but in service to demons. Their society was not empty of altars; it was full of them. The central question was not whether to worship, but who to worship.
And this is always the central question. Every town has an altar. Every culture has a god. It may be the god of the state, the god of sexual liberation, the god of materialism, or the god of self. But there is always an altar, and that altar demands sacrifice. The story before us is about the collision that inevitably happens when the claims of the one true God are brought to bear on the public altars of a rebellious culture. Gideon's act of tearing down the altar of Baal was not an act of private piety. It was a public declaration of war. It was a theological statement made with an axe. It was an assertion that Yahweh, and not Baal, is the God of Israel. And the reaction of the townspeople shows us the violent intolerance that always lies just beneath the surface of every idolatrous system.
This is not just ancient history. This is a pattern. When the lordship of Jesus Christ is declared, the idols of the age will be threatened, and the priests of those idols will demand blood. This passage teaches us about the nature of true reformation, the cowardice of idolatry, and the glorious impotence of false gods.
The Text
Then the men of the city arose early in the morning, and behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. And they said to one another, "Who did this thing?" And when they searched about and inquired, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash did this thing." Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it." But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Will you contend for Baal, or will you save him? Whoever will contend for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar." Therefore on that day he named him Jerubbaal, that is to say, "Let Baal contend against him," because he had torn down his altar.
(Judges 6:28-32 LSB)
The Morning After Reformation (v. 28)
We begin with the discovery of Gideon's nighttime work.
"Then the men of the city arose early in the morning, and behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built." (Judges 6:28)
Notice the diligence of these idolaters. "The men of the city arose early in the morning." They are zealous for their false god. They are up at dawn, ready to pay their respects. False religion often has a veneer of great piety. The priests of Baal are not lazy. But their diligence leads them to a shocking discovery. Their world has been turned upside down overnight. The central symbol of their civic and religious life is a pile of rubble.
But Gideon's work was not merely destructive. He did not simply create a vacuum. He tore down, and then he built up. He replaced the altar of Baal with an altar to Yahweh. And on that altar, he offered the bull as a sacrifice. This is the biblical pattern of reformation. It is not enough to be against evil; you must be for righteousness. You cannot just oppose the idols of the age; you must erect the standard of Jesus Christ in their place. We tear down the lies of secular humanism by building up a robust, Christ-centered culture. We don't just get rid of the false sacrifice; we point to the true one.
The sacrifice of the bull was also a profoundly personal and public act. This was his father's bull, and the altar was his father's altar. This was a direct confrontation within his own family. Reformation begins at home. Before Gideon can lead Israel, he must first cleanse his own house. He is putting his own inheritance, his own safety, and his own family relationships on the line for the sake of obedience to God.
The Idolater's Rage (v. 29-30)
The reaction of the townspeople is immediate and predictable. It is not introspection or repentance. It is a hunt for the blasphemer.
"And they said to one another, 'Who did this thing?' And when they searched about and inquired, they said, 'Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.' Then the men of the city said to Joash, 'Bring out your son, that he may die...'" (Judges 6:29-30)
Their first question is not, "Is it possible Baal is not a real god?" Their question is, "Who must we punish?" Idolatry is a blinding pride. When your god is insulted, you are insulted. When your idol is smashed, your worldview is smashed, and the natural reaction of fallen man is not humility, but rage. They conduct an investigation, and the truth comes out. It was Gideon.
And what is the sentence for this crime? Death. "Bring out your son, that he may die." This is the logic of every totalitarian system built on a false god. Whether it is the Baal worship of ancient Canaan or the secular statism of the modern West, the demand is the same: conform or die. Defy our gods, and we will crush you. They demand that the father, Joash, act as the executioner of his own son. This is the test of ultimate loyalty. The mob demands that Joash prove his allegiance to the town's idol by sacrificing his own flesh and blood. This is what idolatry always does. It inverts the created order and demands that we sacrifice our children to our false gods, whether on an altar of stone or on the altar of sexual ideology and godless education.
The Impotent God (v. 31)
Just when the situation seems hopeless, an unlikely defender steps forward. Joash, the owner of the demolished altar, has a change of heart. Gideon's courage has produced courage in his father.
"But Joash said to all who stood against him, 'Will you contend for Baal, or will you save him? ... If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.'" (Judges 6:31)
This is a moment of glorious, Spirit-inspired mockery. Joash turns the entire situation on its head with one devastating question. "Will you contend for Baal?" In other words, "Are you Baal's lawyers? Are you his bodyguards? Does your god need a posse?"
He exposes the fundamental absurdity of idolatry. What kind of god needs protecting? What kind of deity needs a lynch mob to fight its battles? The living God, Yahweh, fights for His people. The false god, Baal, needs his people to fight for him. Joash lays down the challenge that echoes through the ages: "If he is a god, let him contend for himself." Let's see what Baal can do. Let him call down fire from heaven. Let him strike Gideon with lightning. Let him do anything at all.
This is the ultimate test of a god: can he act? The God of the Bible is a God who acts. He speaks, and worlds come into being. He judges, and nations fall. He saves, and sinners are redeemed. The gods of the nations are wood and stone. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; eyes, but they cannot see. They are nothing. Joash's argument is a masterclass in apologetics. He simply points to the manifest impotence of the idol. It has been chopped up, smashed, and replaced, and its response has been nothing but a deafening silence.
A New Name for a New Battle (v. 32)
The confrontation ends with Gideon receiving a new name, a title of honor born from this conflict.
"Therefore on that day he named him Jerubbaal, that is to say, 'Let Baal contend against him,' because he had torn down his altar." (Judges 6:32)
Gideon is now "Jerubbaal." His very name is a taunt. His identity is now forever linked to this act of holy defiance. Every time someone addresses him, they are repeating the challenge: "Let Baal contend." It is a constant, public reminder of the weakness of their god and the courage of God's servant. It is a memorial to the fact that on a particular day, the God of Israel and the god of the Canaanites had a showdown, and Baal was a no-show.
Names in Scripture are significant. They reveal character and destiny. Abram becomes Abraham, father of a multitude. Jacob becomes Israel, one who strives with God. Simon becomes Peter, the rock. And Gideon, the fearful thresher, becomes Jerubbaal, the contender against Baal. God takes our weakness and, through acts of faith-filled obedience, forges it into strength and gives us a new name, a new identity, rooted in His victory.
The Ultimate Jerubbaal
This story is a magnificent picture of our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. For we were all born like the men of Ophrah, diligently serving idols. We had altars in our hearts to pride, to lust, to greed, to self-righteousness. And we were zealous for them. If anyone challenged our right to our sin, our immediate response was rage. We were ready to put to death anything that threatened our autonomy.
Into this idolatrous world came the ultimate Jerubbaal, Jesus Christ. He did not come with an axe at night, but He came to tear down the ultimate altar of rebellion, the power of sin and death. He lived a perfect life in defiance of the god of this world, Satan. And on the cross, He engaged in the ultimate confrontation.
The cross was God the Father's great challenge to all the false gods of this world. It was His declaration, "Let Baal contend." Let Satan, sin, and death do their worst. Let them contend with my Son. And they did. They threw all their fury at Him. They nailed Him to a tree. They put Him in a tomb. The idols had their moment. It looked as though Baal had won.
But the idol was impotent. Death could not hold Him. On the third day, Jesus Christ tore down the altar of the grave and walked out, alive forevermore. He proved that He is the living God who can contend for Himself. All other gods are silent, broken, and dead. Jesus is alive, and He holds the keys of death and Hades.
Through faith in Him, we are now called to be a generation of Jerubbaals. Our task is to tear down the altars of our age, not with physical weapons, but with the explosive power of the gospel. When our culture erects an altar to sexual chaos, we must say, "Let that god contend for himself," and watch as it produces nothing but misery and confusion. When our society builds an altar to the all-powerful state, we must say, "Let that god contend for himself," and watch as it crumbles under the weight of its own arrogance.
Our job is to faithfully tear down and build up. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. We replace the lies with truth, the false worship with true worship, and the fake sacrifices with the one true sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let the Baals of this age rage. They are silent, and they are stone. Our God is alive, and He reigns.