Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it “Yahweh is Peace.” To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Parallel Translations
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Then Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh, and called it “Yahweh is Peace.” To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
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Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.
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Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it 'Adonai-shalom'; unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Judges 6:24 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 22:14 Abraham called the name of that place “Yahweh Will Provide”. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.”
- Exodus 17:15 Moses built an altar, and called its name “Yahweh our Banner”.
- Judges 8:32 Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
- Ezekiel 48:35 “It shall be eighteen thousand reeds around: and the name of the city from that day shall be, ‘Yahweh is there.’
- Jeremiah 33:16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. This is the name by which she will be called: Yahweh our righteousness.”
- Genesis 33:20 He erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Israel.
- Joshua 22:10 When they came to the region near the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great altar to look at.
- Joshua 22:26-28 “Therefore we said, ‘Let’s now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it will be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of Yahweh before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings;’ that your children may not tell our children in time to come, ‘You have no portion in Yahweh.’ “Therefore we said, ‘It shall be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we shall say, “Behold the pattern of Yahweh’s altar, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you.” ’
- Judges 21:4 On the next day, the people rose early and built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
- Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: Yahweh our righteousness.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, the Lord of peace.
Or, the Lord of peace.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jdg 6:24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto…
Jdg 6:24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovahshalom: unto this day it [is] yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
Ver. 24. And called it Jehovah-shalom,] i.e., The Lord of peace, or the peace of the Lord. Christ had said unto him, {Jdg 6:23} Peace be unto thee: he therefore honoureth Christ by this name given to his newly built altar. We should write upon our hearts Jehovah-tsidkenu, Jehovah-shalom - The Lord our righteousness, the Lord our peace. "The Lord of peace himself give us peace always by all means." {2Th 3:16} Such an inscription there would answer all our doubts, and cheer up our spirits above belief.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain There, to wit, on the top of the rock,…
There, to wit, on the top of the rock, as is evident from Jdg 6:20, and especially from Jdg 6:26, where that which is here expressed only in general, and by anticipation, is more particularly described, according to the usage of the Scripture.
Jehovah-shalom, i.e. the Lord’s peace; the sign or witness of God’s speaking peace to me, and to his people; or the place where he spake peace to me, when I expected nothing but destruction.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And it came to pass the same night,.... The…
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 the night: take thy father's young bullock: or "the bullock, the ox" (p); a bullock which was a large grown ox, and was not only his father's property, but what his father designed and set apart for the service of Baal; and though it was his father's, yet having a divine warrant for it, it was sufficient for him to take it without his leave, and especially as it was designed for such an ill use:
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even the second bullock of seven years old; which, according to Hesiod (q) is in its prime and full strength at nine years old, and lives much longer. In Homer (r), one of five years old is said to be sacrificed: this further describes what he was to take, the second that stood in the stall of the bullocks, or that drew in the second row at plough, or the second in age and value, or the second that was set apart for the service of Baal; though the words may be rendered, "and the second bullock" (s); besides that of his father's, he was to take another, which perhaps belonged to the people, and was the second in birth or age with respect to the former, being seven years old; or, as the Targum is, that had been fatted seven years, and had been so long preparing for the sacrifice of Baal; which was as long as the tyranny of the Midianites over them, and was occasioned by the idolatry of the people of Israel; and such a bullock was ordered to be taken with respect to that, and to show that it would end with the sacrifice of this creature:
and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath; upon his ground, in some part of his possessions, and perhaps built at his own expense, though for public use:
and cut down the grove that is by it; or "about it", as the Vulgate Latin version; it being usual with the Heathens to plant groves near or around their altars and temples where religious worship was performed; partly to make them more pleasant and venerable, and partly for the commission of deeds which would not bear the light; or "over it", for they were commonly tall trees which grew over the altar they erected. Some render it, "upon it" (t), and understand by it an idol placed on it: so the Arabic version is,"cut down the female idol Asira (perhaps the same with Astarte), which is upon the same altar;''and so the Syriac version to the same purpose, which calls it the idol Estere, set upon the altar.
(p) "juvencum bovem", Drusius; "juvencum adultiorem", Junius & Tremellius. (q) Opera & dies, l. 2. ver. 54. 55. (r) Iliad. 2. ver. 403. & Iliad. 7. ver. 35. (s) "et juvencum alium", Tigurine version; "et alterum taurum", V. L. "et juvencum secundum", Pagninus, Montanus. (t) , Sept. "super illud", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain There - On the top of the rock, as…
There - On the top of the rock, as is evident from ver. 26, where that which is here expressed only in general, is more particularly described. Jehovah-shalom - That is, the Lord's peace; the sign or witness of God's speaking peace to me, and to his people: or the place where he spake peace to me, when I expected nothing but destruction.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 24. Gideon built an altar - and called…
Verse 24. Gideon built an altar - and called it Jehovah-shalom] The words יהוה שלום Yehovah shalom signify The Lord is my peace, or The peace of Jehovah; and this name he gave the altar, in reference to what God had said, Jdg 6:23, Peace be unto thee, שלום לך shalom lecha, "Peace to thee;" which implied, not only a wish, but a prediction of the prosperous issue of the enterprise in which he was about to engage. It is likely that this is the altar which is mentioned in Jdg 6:26, and is spoken of here merely by anticipation.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Gideon’s naming the altar which he built, in commemoration…
Gideon’s naming the altar which he built, in commemoration of the words of peace spoken by the Angel, is very similar to what we read of Abraham Gen 22:14, and of Moses (Exo 17:15, when he named the altar Jehovah-nissi).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain it came to pass the same night, that the…
it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him--The transaction in which Gideon is here described as engaged was not entered on till the night after the vision.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 24. Jehovah-shalom — That is, Jehovah is peace. He…
24. Jehovah-shalom — That is, Jehovah is peace. He erected this altar both in gratitude to God for his mercy in remembering Israel, and as a memorial and witness of the blessed peace which was in that spot granted unto him. That revelation to Gideon was a sign and pledge that God was about to remove the rod of his anger from Israel, and be again at peace with them. That altar, with its sacred associations, long remained, and when this book of Judges was written, it was yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites, still called by its old name. This altar must not be confounded with the one which Gideon was commanded to build on the top of the stronghold, (Jdg_6:26,) in the place of the altar of Baal.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 24. built an altar there] where the Deity had…
24. built an altar there] where the Deity had appeared; the patriarchs observed this custom, see Gen_12:7; Gen_26:25; Gen_35:1. The altar with its name Jehovah is peace, i.e. well-disposed, commemorated the revelation; cf. the naming of an altar in Gen_33:20; Gen_35:7, Exo_17:15 (all E). For Kittel’s interpretation of the episode see on Jdg_13:19. Perhaps Gideon’s experience conveyed to his mind a new religious idea. According to primitive belief, the Deity dwelt in a sacred tree or stone; but not in the terebinth or rock at Ophrah; the Messenger of Jehovah has no such dwelling; He comes as a traveller from some region that no one knows. Whether the burning of the sacrifice marked a change in religious practice is more doubtful.
The foregoing narrative presents several difficulties. The inconsistent use of Jehovah in Jdg_6:14; Jdg_6:16 may be accounted for by a lapse from strict dramatic fitness on the part of the writer; but the expressions in Jdg_6:14; Jdg_6:16-17 which imply that Gideon recognized the Angel before Jdg_6:22, cannot perhaps be explained in this way. It has been suggested (1) that these expressions have been inserted by a later editor to emphasize from the first the divine nature of Gideon’s Visitor and the sacrificial character of the meal; or (2) that the confusion is due to a double version, Jdg_6:14 b do not I send thee, Jdg_6:16-17 b being assigned to E, the rest belonging to J. But the distinction between the sources cannot be made out with much success. It is possible to explain the difficulty in Jdg_6:17 b in the way attempted in the note; but we must allow that the present form of the narrative cannot be original.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (24) Built an altar.—Altars, like the altar Ed (Jos_22:34),…
(24) Built an altar.—Altars, like the altar Ed (Jos_22:34), built by the Transjordanic tribes, were not always intended for purposes of sacrifices, but to witness some great event or Divine appearance (Gen_31:48, Gen_26:25; Exo_17:15).
Jehovah-shalom.—“The Lord is peace.” We find similar names in Jehovah-jireh, “the Lord will provide” (Gen_22:14); Jehovah-nissi, “the Lord my banner” (Exo_17:15); and Jehovah-tsidkenn, “the Lord our righteousness” (Jer_23:6). (Comp. Eze_48:35.) See Pearson on the Creed, Art. 2.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For naming altars built in commemoration of particular events…
For naming altars built in commemoration of particular events Gen_22:14 Gen_31:47-49 Gen_33:20 Jos_22:34, etc.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain CHAPTER 6—Jdg_6:24-32
CHAPTER 6—Jdg_6:24-32
THE REMOVAL OF THE BARRIER TO DELIVERANCE
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CRITICAL NOTES.—one thing must be scrupulously gone about, ere a step can be taken to secure the much-needed emancipation of the land. The deliverance itself it would be easy for God to accomplish, were the barrier that prevented it taken out of the way. To remove that barrier out of the way, was, in God’s sight, the great thing to be done. Baal stood where Jehovah alone should stand. That which brought all this misery on Israel, was their preferring to have other gods in place of Jehovah. The first thing to be done, in order to restore peace and comfort to the land, was to clear away all other gods, and make Jehovah supreme. Gideon’s first duty then, as the champion chosen to save Israel, was to deal a deadly blow against Baal. It is at this point where the directions in this paragraph come in.
Jdg_6:25. The same night, the Lord said unto him, etc.] said either by vision or dream (Gen_20:3; Gen_15:4-5; Gen_26:24; Gen_28:12-15; Num_12:6; 2Sa_7:4; 1Ki_3:5; Job_4:13). It was the night following the day of the angel’s visit; while Gideon’s heart was still all aglow with many mixed feelings of wonder, love, and praise, and, while a strange conflict of thoughts was passing through his mind about the very responsible though noble position, which he had just been called by the Angel Jehovah to occupy—it was then he was called upon to take the first step. Delay, in such a case, would beget irresolution. Besides, on general grounds, there was no time to be lost. Now that the people had repented, and sent up a cry all over the land, it was fit that God’s tender mercy should show itself. Let not a tear too many be shed. Bring the axe and cut down the idol. Let an altar to Jehovah rise in its stead. The idol of the district—that which stood within the grounds of Joash, and which served as the point of worship to all the Abi-ezrites, is taken as a symbol to represent all the other images of Baal throughout the land.
This was in keeping with the fact that Gideon was now a public character, chosen of God to represent the whole people of Israel, so that what was done by him was understood to be done in the name of the whole people. When he cut down the Asherah, and destroyed the altar on his father’s grounds, much more was done than merely the demolishing of the idol worshipped by the Abi-ezrites. Being done by him who was now Divinely appointed as mediator between God and all Israel, it must be taken as a blow given to the idolatry of the whole land. The first step in the work of salvation was to abolish idolatry, and what Gideon, the natural leader, now did was to be understood as striking the key-note to be followed by the whole kingdom. His act in erecting an altar to the Lord, in a place different from that chosen for permanent worship, and offering a sacrifice thereon, though highly irregular, judged by the ordinary rule (Deu_12:13-14; Num_18:7; Heb_5:4), was entirely justifiable on this occasion, first, because it was a Divine command that he was fulfilling (Jdg_5:25-26), and next, because it was a necessary part of the special office for which he was chosen—viz., to be a saviour to Israel. To make an atonement for the sins of the people by a sacrifice of burnt offering, was indeed the most essential part of all that was required of Gideon to do, as the saviour of his people. In it Gideon was virtually acting as the high priest of Israel.
Take thy father’s young bullock.] Rather, ox-bullock פְּר i.e., a bullock for sacrifice (comp Hos_14:3)—“we will render as bullocks our lips,” i.e, our praises as our sacrifice (Fausset)
Even the second bullock of seven years old]—not and the second bullock, for there were not two bullocks. Mention is made of what Gideon was to do with one such, but if there had been two, we should certainly have had directions given as to the other also. The phrase, the second bullock, is three times referred to, but no mention is made of any other (Jdg_6:25-26; Jdg_6:28). But why is a bullock chosen which was seven years old, for the animal was reckoned at its best state when it was three years? This can scarcely be thought wonderful, when we remember the extreme difficulty felt all over the land in getting animals for sacrifice at all. “The Midianites left to Israel neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.” There was no choice. Besides, in the age of seven years, there was a significant pointing to the period of Israel’s severe punishment, inflicted for their flagrant sin. The phrase, second bullock may indicate its age as compared with others.
Throw down the altar of Baal which thy father hath]. This altar was usually made of stone, though sometimes of wood or earth (2Ki_23:15). Being massive, various materials, besides the axe, would be needed to destroy it and the Asherah. He required to wrench the altar of Baal out of its grooves, and throw it down. His duty also required him to erect an altar to Jehovah, and for this he dare not use the polluted and broken fragments of Baal’s altar. He must bring fresh stones and earth with him, and as the whole must be done in one night, he required considerable help. Accordingly, he took ten men of his father’s servants for this purpose.
Cut down the grove that is by it]—upon it. Not “grove” but the Asherah, or wooden pillar, the Canaanite symbol of the moon-goddess, representing nature’s passive powers, as Baal, the sun-god represents the active powers. This pillar was placed in upright form on the altar of Baal. In Deu_16:21, it is said to be “planted” on it (הִטַּע) covered with all manner of symbols.
Jdg_6:26. Upon the top of this rock]—the top of a fortification, or fortress built as a defence against the Midianites. It would be near to where the altar of Baal had stood—the highest available spot in the district, to make it as conspicuous as possible, and to show that it must be held superior to all other things (Hence Isa_2:1-2). This was reckoned to be honouring to Jehovah. Some think it was on the top of the hill, the highest point at hand, others that it was the castle, or citadel of Ophrah. Baal’s altar must first be cast down, then the altar to Jehovah reared.
In the ordered place.] This is an expression of which many interpretations have been given (בָמַּעַדָכָה) The best, as it appears to us, is that given by Keil, “with the preparation,” i.e., which is necessary for presenting the sacrifice. The specific idea is, the orderly preparation of every thing about the sacrifice, a circumstance to which God Himself, in all offerings, attached the greatest importance. We might indeed translate the sentence thus:—“Build an altar unto the Lord … putting everything in due order,” etc. Thus did Abraham (Gen_22:9). Thus too did Elijah (1Ki_18:33). The word עָרַךְ is often used to express the idea of setting sacred things in order, connected with the worship of God (Exo_39:37; Lev_1:7; Lev_24:3; Lev_4:6). But this orderly preparation for the sacrifice did not refer to his using the materials got from the breaking down of Baal’s altar, for building up the altar of Jehovah. [Speaker’s Com.] The case quoted in confirmation of this view is not in point, viz.: 1Ki_15:22, for in that transaction there was nothing sacred, whereas the sacred character of the erection here was the all-important point. The materials of Baal’s altar must be held to be polluted; Gideon therefore must build with new materials wherever he can find them. The wood of the Asherah, however, might be used as fuel for the sacrifice, implying that it would be consumed. Hence—
With the wood of the grove (Asherah) which thou shalt cut down], i.e., the pieces or blocks of wood got from cutting down the Asherah. That such a command as this should have been given at all, was entirely owing to the exceptional circumstances of the national history, which required a provisional arrangement to meet the emergency. A case very similar occurred in Elijah’s days (1Ki_18:18-41).
Jdg_6:27. Took ten men.] The number required to form a Church, or to perform publicly any religious service, i.e., in name of the Church. Every part of altar service required to be gone through in a very methodical manner. Being now the only son left in the family, and being high in his father’s esteem, as well as his affection, he had probably delegated to him such a measure of authority over the servants, as would secure their obedience to his orders on this oocasion. His own excellent qualities of character, must also have gained for him an ascendency over several of the domestics, as David did at the court of Saul (1Sa_18:14-16). But Gideon, when calling the domestics to such a work, must also have brought forward the far more powerful consideration, that an angel had appeared to him, and given him a commission to deliver Israel from the awful scourge that desolated the land, and that the removal of Baal’s altar was a necessary preliminary to anything being done. Yet with all these arguments to encourage them, it speaks well for these ten men, that they had the boldness to do as Gideon directed them, even if we add the fact, that he would doubtless assure them, that he would take all the responsibility of the iconoclastic deed on himself.
He feared his father’s household, and the men of the city.] This shows what the atmosphere of Joash’s house was, strongly savouring of idolatry. The household must have been large, for after deducting the ten men, Gideon still “feared his father’s household.” We may suppose the ten men to be a fractional part of the entire number, and that, with the exception of that fractional part, the entire number were “wholly given to idolatry,” otherwise, why should he fear them? “The men of the city,” were probably the old Canaanites who still lingered in the townships of Manasseh, and who were naturally special patrons of Baal worship (ch. Jdg_9:28).
He did it by night]—not that be was afraid of doing the work itself, for he knew well that whether done by day or night, it was sure to be known that he did it; but he feared the tumult that would be raised about the doing of it, if he did it in daylight, with all eyes upon him. He felt that there must be an uprising against his doing it at all.
Jdg_6:28. And the grove was cut down that was by it]—upon it. The Asherah (wooden pillar) was cut down. The second bullock was offered on the altar that was built (to Jehovah).] The wood of the Asherah had been used for the burnt-offering, and traces were still remaining. The altar of Jehovah then, must have been built near the site of the altar of Baal.
Jdg_6:29. They said Gideon, the son of Joash, hath done this thing.] Informers are always forth-coming, and Gideon was a man so pronounced for Jehovah, that he could not be hid. From his past proclivities, many would suspect him. It is a noble thing for a man so to live, that he shall be suspected by his fellows, of doing some great thing for the glory of the Eternal God. Some also of the ten men would inform others, that it was Gideon, to save themselves.
Jdg_6:30. Bring out thy son that he may die.] It is not certain whether Joash was the owner of the altar of Baal, or merely its custodier, in name of the district over which be ruled. Some think the former from the expression in Jdg_6:25—“the altar of Baal which thy father hath.” If so, it shows the extreme intolerance of the Baal party. But the fact that such an outcry should be raised at all in an Israelitish city, shows into what a deplorable stupor the national conscience had sunk, when the rankest possible insult should be publicly offered to Jehovah’s name, without a single voice being raised to frown it down. They ask a father to take the life of his son, because that son had dared to stand up for Jehovah’s interest, and relegate Baal to oblivion in Jehovah’s land!
Jdg_6:31. Joash said to all that stood against him.] עָלָיו before him, i.e., as chief magistrate. Happily, he the father himself was now fairly aroused, when he saw that the life of he only son left to him was in danger. It is probable, from all the circumstances, that, before this, he had had serious doubts in his own mind, as to the propriety of giving any farther support to idol worship, when he saw the sad results in the destruction of his country. He may possibly indeed have had secret desires to see a general return of the public mind to the worship of Jehovah, and now seizes the present occasion to speak out his mind. All this could be greatly strengthened, by the detail which his son would give him of his wonderful interview with the angel, and the Divine command to throw down the altar of Baal. If he had got this information beforehand, doubtless he must have thought very maturely over the question, what was the best answer to give the idolaters, when his son should be arraigned before him in public. God helped him with the answer which he gave. It was most admirable. It was an unanswerable answer.
“What!” he says, rising to the full height of his position as magistrate, “will ye plead for Baal?—ye, and not Baal himself? Do ye presume to come forward to speak on his behalf, as if he could not speak for himself? He who dares to insinuate that Baal cannot help himself, is putting an indelible stigma on his name, and deserves to die. He is the man who ought to be put to death, and that without delay, while it is yet morning. If Baal be really a god, surely he can defend himself, and now let him do it, since one man has cast down his altar” This is really the spirit of the few but energetic words of the very capable ruler of Ophrah. The clamour was hushed in a moment. It was of God that this reply was given; so He threw His shield around the man of His choice. Yet we may also say, Joash was the right man in the right place. “A word spoken in season, how good is it!”
Not a few Commentators (Keil, Cassel, Edersheim, Fausset, and others) would put a full stop at the word “death.” and read what follows thus, “till (next) morning let Baal, if he be a god, plead for himself, for now surely there is need for it, since one has cast down his altar” The A. V. seems more simple and natural—“he who (thinks Baal cannot plead for himself, and therefore) stands up to plead for him, (is doing him an insult, and) ought to be put to death this very morning. If he be a god, let him plead for himself, since one has overturned his altar.”
Jdg_6:32. Galled him Jerubbaal.] Let Baal fight with him, or the man who defies Baal to fight with him, with impunity; as David defied the Philistine. Variations of the name afterwards occur as Jerubbesheth (2Sa_11:21), in which Besheth or Bosheth (shame) is a nickname of Baal. This variation also occurs in Ishbosheth (2Sa_2:8), and in Eshbaal (1Ch_8:33; 1Ch_9:39).
MAIN HOMILETICS—Jdg_6:25-32
I. All genuine obedience is well pleasing to God.
This is the purport of the present paragraph. It speaks of the first test to which Gideon’s obedience was put, and how he stood it. The obedience which God requires of all His servants is, that His command alone be taken as sufficient reason for obedience, apart from any other motive, and that it be regarded as sufficient to overrule all other considerations. If a host of difficulties and objections should stand in the way, the obedient servant has but one simple question to ask, Does my God require it?—if so, he has no other thought but to obey. This is what may be called pure obedience, and is synonymous with the description so often given in Scripture, of “the man who fears the Lord.” The highest expressions of the Divine regard are made to such a spirit of obedience, as being most glorifying to God, and showing that the creature is nearing the true pivot of his being, which is that of instinctive obedience to the will of his Creator, “He that doeth the will of my Father, the same is my brother, and sister and mother.” The whole Book of Deuteronomy is one continued enforcement of the duty of reverential obedience to the commandments, statutes, and judgments of Israel’s covenant God. The example of obedience afforded in Gideon’s case was most beautiful, on whatever side we look at it.
1. It was prompt. There was no hesitation. The command of his God being given, he has no other thought than to obey. That command alone rules him. “Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth” was his motto. He has full trust in his God without inquiring whether there was a rational prospect of carrying through the work. Thus did Abraham. The command being given, “he rose up early in the morning, saddled his ass … and went to the place of which God had told him” (Gen_22:3; Gen_17:23; Gen_21:14). So did David; “I made haste, and delayed not to keep God’s commandments” (Psa_119:60). So did Paul; “When it pleased God to reveal His son in me, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood” (Gal_1:15-16). (Mat_4:20; Mat_4:22; Mat_9:9; Luk_19:5-6; Joh_1:48-49).
2. It was done under great difficulties. He had no sympathy from any around him. His very father, so loving in other matters, he believed, in this case, would only give his frowns, or, at the very best, must withhold his good wishes, being virtually the priest of Baal himself. Even though Gideon might acquaint him with the Divine commission, it could only lead the father to try his best to save his son, but not to assist him in the work. The ten men whom he employed as assistants would, doubtless, also raise many objections, and need strong arguments to induce them to give their aid, and the numerous other domestics, Gideon felt he must also regard as strongly opposed to the very idea of offering such an insult to the deity that had for so many years been worshipped in the district. There was no sympathy at home with the duty he had on hand, and among the population outside there was only an unbroken stream of opposition. Gideon’s obedience was boldly done, for it was done in a strongly idolatrous centre, without a single friend to stand by him in the work. Yet he shows no faltering, or fear of man. His act was like that of Luther when he nailed the Theses to the doors of the Cathedral at Wittemberg, or, on that other occasion, when he burned the Papal Bull in the midst of a people who had been under the influence of Popery for many generations.
There are many formidable difficulties ever occurring in the way of religious duty in daily life—difficulties so great that they seem to render the fulfilment of the duty an impossibility. Yet all may be conquered by a strong faith or an ardent love. “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” (Mar_16:3). Yet an ardent love in Mary’s case saw no such difficulty, but, on the contrary, thought that she, a feeble woman, could remove the body itself if she only knew where to find it (Joh_20:15). “Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain?”
3. It was done at the risk of life. Gideon understood the temper of his people and the temper of the times. Notwithstanding their terrible calamities, he knew that they were yet in the mass of them, leavened with the idolatrous spirit, and that to tamper with their God was to commit, in their eyes, a capital crime. It was an unpardonable offence, and all the religious frenzy of the district would be aroused to demand his execution. On this he calculated, and yet he quailed not. The fear of God in him was strong enough to overrule all the fear of man. This pass of mental difficulties which he had to go through greatly heightens our admiration of his heroic resolution. He was willing even to lose his life for the sake of his duty to his God (Joh_12:25; Mat_16:25). His fidelity to his God could stand the severest test (Luk_14:26). All that he counted dear in life, including the love of life itself, he was willing to sacrifice, but he could not disobey his God.
4. It was done without a murmur. We hear of no complaints about the severity of the test. Even Moses complained in similar circumstances (Exo_4:1; Exo_4:10; Exo_4:13). Barak raised objections (ch. Jdg_4:8). But not a murmer comes from the lips of Gideon, when called to do that which was sure to endanger life. He asks no modification of the command. It is all right when his God requires it. Duty is his; to determine results is God’s. It was an unquestioning obedience. Doubtless he saw the necessity of it, for sin must be put away ere deliverance could come, and Baal, he well knew, was the root of the evil. But manifestly it was not his own sense of the fulness of what should be done that was his guiding motive throughout this whole transaction. From beginning to end he regarded the whole proceeding as coming from the Lord, and therefore to His instructions on every point implicitly he gave heed. Oh, for more of this high-toned confidence in God, as our own God, which lifts the soul far above both the smiles and the frowns of a world that knows us not!
II. Gideon’s support in his obedience.
He might, at first sight, have said, “All things are against me.” Yet, on reflection, he might have added, “they that are with me are more than they that are against me.” For—
1. He had a good conscience. He was sure that God had spoken to him and, therefore, that what he was about, was fulfilling a command he had received from God. He realised the fact, that this was the first and necessary step of a plan of action, which God had marked out for him to do. He felt that he was in the service of God in the whole matter, and that all the steps to be taken were marked out by God, and were not schemes of his own devising. Thus he had all that inward strength which a good conscience always gives. Though, in his father’s house, he had no sympathy, in that home of homes, the innermost home of his own heart, all was with him; in the profoundest convictions which he cherished in the sanctuary of his breast, every feeling within was in full support of the action without. The consciousness of righteousness was “the girdle of his loins.” When he broke down the altar of Baal, he felt as if at Mahanaim, and that two companies of the angels of God, in two crescents, were acting as his shield. “His heart was established, and he was not afraid; he was not greatly moved” (Psa_112:6; Psa_112:8; Psa_62:5-7; Psa_57:1). “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good” (1Pe_3:13).
2. He had the assurance of the Divine presence. It was God’s work he was doing, and not his own. That alone was enough to foster the belief that he would have the Divine shield thrown over him. For God is a master who “sends none a warfare on their own charges.” His language always is, “I will be with thee.” It was so now. Gideon was expressly assured that the angel Jehovah had not only sent him (ch. Jdg_6:14), but also that He would Himself be with him (Jdg_6:16). More than that under no circumstances could be needed. For what were all the men of Abi-ezer, or all the hordes of the ruthless invaders, in comparison of the mighty God of Jacob? Gideon felt like David—“The Lord is on my side; I will not fear what man can do unto me. Though the people compass me about as bees, they shall be quenched as the fire of thorns, for in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them.” “If God be for us, who can be against us?” It is because we do not realise how much is included in that—“I will be with thee”—that we get fainthearted and irresolute, in the day of trial. There is a great art in knowing how, when weak in ourselves, to become “strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.”
3. He was sustained by the assurance of success in his great enterprise. He felt it was no doubtful project in which he was engaged, when the hand of God was at the helm. It was a scheme in which God’s own glory was concerned, and now that he was raised up out of His place, Gideon felt convinced that having begun the work, He could accomplish it to the end. And so glorious a consummation it would be, to see Israel entirely free from the heavy incubus, that had crushed all the energy out of the nation these seven years, that this eminently successful God-fearing and patriotic man was willing to sacrifice all his personal feelings and interests in order to its attainment. He had no doubt begun his duties by arming himself with earnest prayer, that God would no longer “deliver the soul of His turtle-dove unto the multitude of the wicked—that He would remember the congregation He had purchased of old—that He would not remember against them past iniquities, for they were brought very low—that He would turn again their captivity as streams in the south—that the Lord would comfort Zion—that He would comfort all her waste places, making her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord.”
4. He had had long gathering thoughts of revenge against Baal. Many strong purposes have their roots deep in the soil of past experiences. Gideon was one of those who had discerned where the true source of all Israel’s misery lay. And long had he mused how the idols could be abolished. Those musings would lead to a deep purpose of revenge against Baal, so soon as an opportunity occurred. It was the thought of many years, matured and strengthened by the ever fresh calamities which occurred at every new visit of the enemy. When at length the call was made in Providence, “Who is the man that shall fight against Baal, and destroy his power throughout Israel?” Gideon replied in his heart—“Here am I, send me!” God knew the state of Gideon’s heart, and therefore selected him as a sort of agent for doing His work.
THE GENERAL LESSONS TAUGHT
1. Religious duty ought to begin at home. When Christ taught His disciples where to commence their great work of preaching the gospel, He said “Begin at Jerusalem.” Begin where you are—at home. All souls are precious alike. Therefore begin at the point nearest you. This, at least, was one reason for doing so. Abraham began at home, and as a matter of fact almost every domestic he had, of whom we hear any account was a fearer of his God (Gen_18:19). Jacob when about to draw closer to God, and to have new manifestations of the Divine love, begins with making a strict religious reformation in his own household. He required, that all his household should “put away the strange gods that were among them” (Gen_35:2-3). And now Gideon is required to begin at his father’s house the important duty, of cleansing their hands and purifying their hearts. The church-office-bearer is required, before entering on his duties in superintending the spiritual well-being of the church, to “rule well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” (1Ti_3:4-5).
2. Obstacles to religious duty are sometimes found amid the tenderest relations of life. It is singular that Gideon should have had so little sympathy, and have been even exposed to so much danger, in his own father’s house, for doing his duty to his God. That father was the most influential man in the district, and Gideon was now his only son. That son had a singular combination of good qualities of character, fit to call forth the respect and even the love of all the domestics. Moreover, the work which he was now doing was given him by the God of Israel to do, and it was notorious to all who had eyes to read the signs of the times, that the overwhelming distresses under which the land groaned, were owing to the apostasy of the people from the God, whom they were so deeply pledged to love and serve. Yet it required the greatest heroism on Gideon’s part to fulfil an obviously necessary duty, and one which was divinely commanded, having to run the greatest risk of losing his life. So true is it, that for the sake of fidelity to religious principle, “a man’s foes will sometimes be those of his own household.”
Even Abraham had to contend with an idolatrous opposition in his father’s house, before he left the paternal home. His father and brothers, with probably the whole family circle, at first “served other gods.” This must have led to family differences, if, as we must suppose, Abraham was even then a devoted worshipper of the true God. At length the family circle broke up, God directing Abraham to leave his earthly friends, however dear, and promising, probably as a reward for his fidelity in being found “faithful among the faithless,” to bless him and make of him a great nation. With Abraham there went Sarai his wife, his father Terah, and his nephew Lot. The rest appear to have remained where they were, and we hear no more of them (Jos_24:2-3; Gen_11:27-32; Gen_12:1-3). Jacob had much difficulty in performing his duties to his God while living in the same family circle with an ungodly brother, though it must not be overlooked, that he himself greatly increased the difficulty by some grievous faults of his own (Genesis 27). The same difficulty followed him to Padan-aram, in the house of the old miser, where he passed more than twenty years (Genesis 31). We have a similar example in the case of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who, as members of the Levitical[5] tribe, ought to have succoured Moses and Aaron in every possible way, in the discharge of their onerous sanctuary and other duties, and yet raised a determined opposition to them, while only fulfilling the trust which God had committed to them (Numbers 16). David was often in such difficulties. (1Sa_17:28-29; Psa_41:9; 1Sa_30:3-6; 2Sa_16:11); Job also (Job_19:13-19); and Jeremiah (Jer_12:6; Jer_20:10-11); in the days of Micah there was much of it (Mic_7:6); and the Master Himself leads His disciples to expect it (Mat_10:21-22; Mat_10:34-37; Luk_12:49; Luk_12:51-53).
[5] Properly speaking, Korah only belonged to the tribe of Levi, while Dathan and Abiram were of the tribe of Reuben. But Korah manifestly took the lead in the movement, so that the remarks made above are substantially correct.
3. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. This truth is taught broadly in that Epistle, which professes to interpret the Divine meaning of the whole sacrificial system (Heb_9:22). We find the great truth illustrated in Abel’s days, who brought an animal for sacrifice as his offering to God, in contrast to Cain’s offering, which was merely of the fruit of the ground, and therefore showed no thought of a propitiation for his sins (Gen_4:3-5). Noah offered sacrifices of blood on his altar, “and the Lord smelled a sweet savour,” (Gen_8:20-21). Abram reared the altar regularly, wherever he went (Gen_12:8; Gen_13:4; do 18, etc.). Also Jacob did the same (Gen_31:54; Gen_35:3). Moses by God’s direction laid down the whole system of sacrifice, which was to be sacredly observed by all God’s people down through their history, till the coming of the true Lamb of God, who was for ever to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
As part of this system, we here find Gideon, by God’s special direction, building an altar to God, and on it, shedding blood, as a symbol of that which was needed to atone for the people’s sins. Only thus could God righteously pardon sin. Sin forfeits the life of the sinner (Rom_6:23; Gen_2:17; Eze_18:4; Eze_18:20). But the blood is the life; therefore to shed the blood is to give to sin its wages. This must be done because it is God’s law. It is both just and true—it preserves God’s character as a God of truth. Hence the sinner must die, or a suitable substitute be found for him (Rom_3:25-26; 2Co_5:21; Rom_8:3-4; Eph_5:2; Col_1:20; Heb. passim).
4. God greatly honours faithfulness in a declining time. Fidelity to God’s name and cause, is always a spectacle well pleasing unto God. But when it takes the form of stedfast endurance under sharp sufferings, in the face of stern opposition, without any friendly help, and at serious personal loss, it rises a hundredfold higher in the estimation of Him toward whom it is shown. And a hundredfold greater will be the reward (Mat_19:27-29). The Master will see to it, that no servant be a loser for his fidelity to Him. Hence the greatness of the reward (Mat_7:12). The reward is an hundredfold even in this life (Mar_10:30). And in Paul’s history we see it exemplified in the extraordinary outpouring of the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit, when under the greatest sufferings connected with the carrying on of his great work (Act_13:52; Act_18:9; Act_18:20; Act_21:13; 2Co_1:4-5; 2Co_2:14).
Thus it was with Gideon, while passing through his difficult work, doing it so well, and doing it without a murmur, though Satan stirred up opposition to him on all hands. He whom he served looked on with supreme satisfaction, gave him all needed strength to persevere till it was accomplished, gave him complete success in the result, and prepared for him a great reward in the future. For, conspicuous as a star of the first magnitude, shines the name of Gideon, in the Orion nebula of the New Testament heavens (Heb_11:32). Gideon, by his fidelity, was now making history, one of the brightest pages, where there are so many bright. He was the iron cable that would not break, but kept sure and stedfast, when so many others were snapping asunder at the pitching and heeling of the vessel, as the waves were carrying it right on the rocks. Such a man deserves to be esteemed through all time; and there never, we believe, will come a time, even in the bright ages of New Testament history, when such a man need be ashamed to show his face. Already he has a place among the fixed stars of the Church’s sky. And this motto may be written under his name:—“Blessed is the man that endureth trial, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him” (Jas_1:12).
5. God has all hearts in His hand, and all events at His disposal. However hopeless the web of difficulties with which God’s servant in this matter was surrounded, the great Ruler of Providence found ways and means of extricating him from danger, without any miraculous interposition. We are not to forget that God exercises complete control over the workings of every man’s mind, every moment of his life, and leads him to form this or that impression, this or that purpose, this or that idea, without in the least interfering with the full measure of liberty which belongs to him, as a rational and voluntary agent. It was not in any way, a doing violence to the law of the mind’s free agency, if God should (as we believe He did) turn the minds of Joash’s household to think thus on this occasion. “Well! there is little doubt that the worship of Baal is at the bottom of our great misery, and if it should be reckoned by these old Canaanites, such a terrible affront to their god to do as Gideon has done, still it will be a great step to our much needed relief, and since it has been done, let it so remain, for we cannot lay a hand on the noble young man who is the pride of the family, and himself all but the idol of the district. No, we will rally round him, if any hostile hand should be raised. “To think thus would be not unnatural—and yet it would be all of God’s over-ruling.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain
Judges
GIDEON’S ALTAR
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Jdg 6:24.
I need not tell over again, less vividly, the picturesque story in this chapter, of the simple husbandman up in the hills, engaged furtively in threshing out a little wheat in some hollow in the rock where he might hide it from the keen eyes of the oppressors; and of how the angel of the Lord, unrecognised at first, appeared to him; and gradually there dawned upon his mind the suspicion of who He was who spoke. Then follow the offering, the discovery by fire, the shrinking of the man from contact with the divine, the wonderfully tranquillizing and condescending assurance, cast into the form of the ordinary salutation of domestic life: ‘And the Lord said unto him Peace be unto thee!’-as any man might have said to any other-’fear not! thou shalt not die.’ Then Gideon piles up the unhewn stones on the hillside into a rude altar, apparently not for the purpose of offering sacrifice, but for a monument, to which is given this strange name, strange upon such warrior lips, and strange in contemplation of the fierce conflict into which he was immediately to plunge, ‘the Lord is peace.’
How I think that this name, imposed for such a reason and under such circumstances, may teach us a good many things.
I. The first thing that it seems to me to suggest is the great discovery which this man had made, and in the rapture of which he named his altar,-that the sight of God is not death, but life and peace.
Gideon was a plain, rude man, with no very deep religious experience. Apparently up to the moment of this vision he had been contentedly tolerating the idolatrous practices which had spread over all the country. He had heard of ‘Jehovah.’ It was a name, a tradition, which his fathers had told him. That was all that he knew of the God of Israel. Into this hearsay religion, as in a flash, while Gideon is busy about his threshing floor, thinking of his wheat or of the misery of his nation, there comes, all at once, this crushing conviction,-’the hearsay God is beside you, speaking to you! You have personal relations to Him, He is nearer you than any human being is, He is no mere Name, here He stands!’
And whenever the lightning edge of a conviction like that cuts its way through the formalisms and traditionalisms and hearsay repetitions of conventional religion, then there comes what came to Gideon, the swift thought, ‘And if this be true, if I really do touch, and am touched by, that living Person whose name is Jehovah, what is to become of me? Shall I not shrivel up when His fiery finger is laid upon me? I have seen Him face to face, and I must die.’
I believe that, in the case of the vast majority of men, the first living, real apprehension of a real, living God is accompanied with a shock, and has mingled with it something of awe, and even of terror. Were there no sin there would be no fear, and pure hearts would open in silent blessedness and yield their sweetest fragrance of love and adoration, when shone on by Him, as flowers do to the kiss of the sunbeams. But, taking into account the sad and universal fact of sin, it is inevitable that men should shrink from the Light which reveals their evil, and that the consciousness of God’s presence should strike a chill. It is sad that it should be so. But it is sadder still when it is not so, but when, as is sometimes the case, the sight of God produces no sense of sin, and no consciousness of discord, or foreboding of judgment. For, only through that valley of the shadow of death lies the path to the happy confidence of peace with God, and unless there has been trembling at the beginning, there will be no firm and reasonable trust afterwards.
For Gideon’s terror opened the way for the gracious proclamation, which would have been needless but for it-’Peace be unto thee; fear not, thou shalt not die.’
The sight of God passes from being a fear to a joy, from being a fountain of death to a spring of life, Terror is turned to tranquil trust. The narrow and rough path of conscious unworthiness leads to the large place of happy peace. The divine word fits Gideon’s condition, and corresponds to his then deepest necessity; and so he drinks it in as the thirsty ground drinks in the water; and in the rapture of the discovery that the Name, that had come down from his fathers to him, was the Name of a real Person, with whom he stood in real relationships, and those of simple friendship and pure amity, he piles up the rough stones of the place, and makes the name of his altar the echo of the divine voice. It is as if he had said with rapture of surprise, ‘Then Jehovah is peace; which I never dreamed of before.’
Dear friends, do you know anything of such an experience? Can you build your altar, and give it this same name? Can you write upon the memorial of your experiences, ‘The Lord is my peace’? Have you passed from hearsay into personal contact? Can you say, ‘I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee’? Do you know the further experience expressed in the subsequent words of the same quotation: ‘Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes’? And have you passed out of that stormy ocean of terror and self-condemnation into the quiet haven of trust in Him in whom we have peace with God, where your little boat lies quiet, moored for ever to the Rock of Ages, to ‘Jehovah, who is Peace’?
In connection with this rapturous discovery, and to Gideon strange new thought, we may gather the lesson that peace with God will give peace in all the soul. The ‘peace with God’ will pass into a wider thing, the ‘peace of God.’ There is tranquillity in trust. There is rest in submission. There is repose in satisfied desires. When we live near Him, and have ceased from our own works, and let Him take control of us and direct us in all our ways, then the storms abate. The things that disturb us are by no means so much external as inward; and there is a charm and a fascination in the thought, ‘the Lord is peace,’ which stills the inward tempest, and makes us quiet, waiting upon His will and drawing in His grace. The secret of rest is to cease from self, from self as guide, from self as aim, from self as safety. And when self-will is cast out, and self-dependence is overcome, and self-reliance is sublimed into hanging upon God’s hand, and when He, not mine own inclination, is my Director, and the Arbiter of my fate, then all the fever of unrest is swept wholly out of my heart, and there is nothing left in it on which the gnawing tooth of anxiety or of care can prey. God being my peace, and I yielding myself to Him, ‘in quietness and confidence’ is my ‘strength.’ ‘Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.’
II. We may look upon this inscription from another point of view, as suggesting the thought that God’s peace is the best preparation for, and may be experienced in the midst of, the intensest conflict.
Remember what the purpose of this vision was,-to raise up a man to fight an almost desperate fight, no metaphorical war, but one with real sharp swords, against real strong enemies. The first blow in the campaign was to be struck that night. Gideon was being summoned by the vision, to long years of hardship and bitter warfare, and his preparation for the conflict consisted largely in the revelation to his inmost spirit that ‘Jehovah is peace.’ We might rather have looked for a manifestation of the divine nature as ready to go forth to battle with the raw levies of timid peasants. We should have expected the thought which inspired their captain to have been ‘The Lord is a man of war,’ rather than ‘The Lord is peace.’ But it is not so-and therein lies the deep truth that the peace of God is the best preparation for strife. It gives courage, it leaves the heart at leisure to fling all its power into the conflict, it inspires with the consciousness of a divine ally. As Paul puts it, in his picture of the fully-armed Christian soldier, the feet are ‘shod with the preparedness of alacrity which is produced by the gospel of peace.’ That will make us ‘ready, aye ready’ for the roughest march, and enable us to stand firm against the most violent charges of the enemy. There is no such preparation for the conflict of life, whether it be waged against our own inward evil, or against opposing forces without, as to have deep within the soul the settled and substantial peace of God. If we are to come out of the battle with victory sitting on our helmets, we must go into it with the Dove of God brooding in our hearts. As the Lord said to Gideon, ‘Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel, . . . have not I sent thee?’
But, besides this thought that the knowledge of Jehovah as peace fits us for strife, that hastily-reared altar with its seemingly inappropriate name, may remind us that it is possible, in the midst of the deadliest hand-to-hand grip with evil, and whilst fighting the ‘good fight of faith’ with the most entire self-surrender to the divine will, to bear within us, deeper than all the surface strife, that inward tranquillity which knows no disturbance, though the outward life is agitated by fierce storms. Deep in the centre of the ocean the waters lie quiet, though the wildest tempests are raging above, and the fiercest currents running. Over the tortured and plunging waters of the cataract there lies unmoving, though its particles are in perpetual flux, the bow of promise and of peace. So over all the rush and thunder of life there may stretch, radiant and many-coloured, and dyed with beauty by the very sun himself, the abiding bow of beauty, the emblem and the reality of the divine tranquillity. The Christian life is continual warfare, but in it all, ‘the peace of God which passeth understanding’ may ‘garrison our hearts and minds.’ In the inmost keep of the castle, though the storm of war may be breaking against the walls, there will be a quiet chamber where no noise of the archers can penetrate, and the shouts of the fight are never heard. Let us seek to live in the ‘secret place of the Most High’; and in still communion with Him, keep our inmost souls in quiet, while we bravely front difficulties and enemies. You are to be God’s warriors; see to it that on every battlefield there stands the altar ‘Jehovah Shalom.’
III. Lastly, we may draw yet another lesson, and say that that altar, with its significant inscription, expressed the aim of the conflict and the hope which sustains in the fight.
Gideon was fighting for peace, and what he desired was that victory should bring tranquillity. The hope which beckoned him on, when he flung himself into his else desperate enterprise, was that God would so prosper his work that the swords might be beaten into ploughshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. Which things may stand as an allegory, and suggest to us that the Christian warfare, whilst it rests upon, and is prompted by, the revelation of God who is peace, aims in all its blows, at the conquering of that sure and settled peace which shall be broken by no rebellious outbursts of self-will, nor by any risings of passions and desires. The aim of our warfare should ever be that the peace of God may be throned in our hearts, and sit there a gentle queen. The true tranquillity of the blessed life is the prize of conflict. David, ‘the man of war from his youth,’ prepares the throne for Solomon, in whose reign no alarms of war are heard. If you would enter into peace, you must fight your way to it, and every step of the road must be a battle. The land of peace is won by the good fight of faith.
But Gideon’s altar not only expressed his purpose in his taking up arms, but his confidence of accomplishing it, based upon the assurance that the Lord would give peace. It was a trophy erected before the fight, and built, not by arrogant presumption or frivolous underestimate of the enemy’s strength, but by humble reliance on the power of that Lord who had promised His presence, and had assured triumph. So the hope that named this altar was the hope that war meant victory, and that victory would bring peace. That hope should animate every Christian soldier. Across the dust of the conflict, the fair vision of unbroken and eternal peace should gleam before each of us, and we should renew fainting strength and revive drooping courage by many a wistful gaze.
We may realise that hope in large measure here. But its fulfilment is reserved for the land of peace which we enter by the last conflict with the last enemy.
Every Christian man’s gravestone is an altar on which is written ‘Our God is peace’; in token that the warrior has passed into the land where ‘violence shall no more be heard, wasting, nor destruction within its borders,’ but all shall be deep repose, and the unarmed, because unattacked, peace of tranquil communion with, and likeness to, ‘Jehovah our Peace.’
So, dear brethren, let us pass from tradition and hearsay into personal intercourse with God, and from shrinking and doubt into the sunshine of the conviction that He is our peace. And then, with His tranquillity in our hearts let us go out, the elect apostles of the peace of God, and fight for Him, after the pattern of the Captain of our salvation, who had to conquer peace through conflict; and was ‘first of all King of Righteousness, and after that also King of Peace.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.