Destroying the Altar to Baal Judges Chapter 6 References - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Destroying the Altar to Baal Judges Chapter 6 References Scriptures/Bro. Russell Comments Reprint 5606 Reprint 4082 Bro. Robert Seklemian 1

The sword of the Lord and Gideon Judges Chapter 7 2

Judges Chapter 6 Judges 6:1 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD : and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. Midianite Marauders 3

The Great Sin of Israel Worshippers offered Baal Worship human sacrifices Judges 2:12-13 And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, …and provoked the LORD to anger. …and served Baal and Ashtaroth. 4

Baal Worship an Abomination • Deuteronomy 18:9-12 When • Or a charmer, or a thou art come into the land consulter with familiar which the LORD thy God spirits, or a wizard, or a giveth thee, thou shalt not necromancer(communes learn to do after the with the dead). abominations of those • For all that do these nations. things are an • There shall not be found abomination unto the among you any one that LORD : and because of maketh his son or his these abominations the daughter to pass through the LORD thy God doth drive fire, or that useth divination, or them out from before an observer of times, or an thee. enchanter, or a witch, 5

Jerimiah 32:35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind , that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. 6

God’s Promise for Obedience Then I will give you rain in due • Leviticus 26:1-6 Ye shall • make you no idols nor graven season, and the land shall yield her image, neither rear you up a increase, and the trees of the field standing image, neither shall shall yield their fruit. ye set up any image of stone • And your threshing shall reach in your land, to bow down unto the vintage, and the vintage unto it: for I am the LORD shall reach unto the sowing time: your God. and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. • Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I • And I will give peace in the land, am the LORD. If ye walk in and ye shall lie down, and none my statutes, and keep my shall make you afraid: commandments, and do them; 7

God’s Promise for Obedience • Exodus 19:5-6 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant , then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: • And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 8

Who were the Midianites? Decedents of Abraham’s son Midian from his 3rd wife Katurah Moses fled to Midian after he killed the Egyptian task master. Married the daughter of Jethro the Priest of Midian. After the Exodus, Jethro gave advise to Moses and the Midianites were helpful to the Israelites 9

Who were the Midianites? Decedents of Abraham’s son Midian from his 3rd wife Katurah So the Midianites at one point we can assume still Over time the nations that held to the teachings of dwelt in Canaan were father Abraham. But now known as Midianites: about a century had passed Midian, Amaleck and Moab they abandoned the And they worshiped the teachings of Jehovah and Phoenician god Baal. became worshippers of Baal. They corrupted the Israelites with the abomination of Baal. 10

Thou shalt have no other gods before me Baal- Master, Lord, Baal is identified with Molech (Jer_19:5). It was known to the Israelites as Baal-peor (Num_25:3; 11

Deuteronomy 12:31-32 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. What thing so ever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it. 12

Judges 6:3-4 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 13

Judges 6:5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. 14

We are told that because of the dominance of the Midianites and the other nation tribes, the Israelites had to hide in caves and fortified places. 15

� When harvest time came. The wheat had to be chopped and taken to an area where it could be threshed to break the seed pods from the stock. � Then it had to be winnowed to remove the chaff. Long and laborious 16

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Broken Covenant- God’s Curse for Disobedience- Calamities • Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, • Deuteronomy 28:33 if thou wilt not hearken The fruit of thy land, unto the voice of the and all thy labours, shall LORD thy God, to a nation which thou observe to do all his knowest not eat up; and commandments and his thou shalt be only statutes which I oppressed and crushed command thee this day; alway: that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: 18

Israel Cries to the Lord for Help Judges 6:6-8 The Israelites cried to the Lord and he sent them a prophet Judges 6:10 And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice. 19

The Lord Encourages Gideon to Deliver the People Judges 6:12 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. Judges 6:14 And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? 20

Lord Encourages Gideon to Deliver the People Judges 6:16 …Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. Judges 6:17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Judges 6:21 Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight. 21

• Judges 6:25-27 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: • And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. • Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. 22

Gideon Takes Action to Restore Israel Destroying the Abomination Set Before God Cutting down The Groves- Totem Poles (generally displaying Creeds and Myths of the subject) 23

So after the idol to Baal was destroyed Gideon Set up an Altar to the Lord and offered up the second bullock of 7 years as directed by the Lord for a burnt offering. Deuteronomy 7:5 …ye shall Thus destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut Reformation/ down their groves, and burn Redemption and their graven images with fire. Atoning begins for Israel 24

Joash’s Repentance Judges 6:31 -32 CEV The crowd pushed closer and closer, but Joash replied, "Are you trying to take revenge for Baal? Are you trying to rescue Baal? If you are, you will be the ones who are put to death, and it will happen before another day dawns. If Baal really is a god, let him take his own revenge on someone who tears down his altar." That same day, Joash changed Gideon's name to Jerubbaal, explaining, "He tore down Baal's altar, so let Baal take revenge himself." Jerubbaal – He who contends with Baal 25

Application And Lessons For Spiritual Israel � The Altar to Baal and the Groves � The Bullock � The Midianites � Gideon and His Example to Us 26

Satan’s Masterpiece Immortal Soul and Hell Fire • Teaching of the endless torment of the immortal soul of the wicked was parallel to the eternal blessedness of the saved, with no sleep of death after this life. • This came at a time when many Christians were being burned for their faith and it was natural for them to accept that their persecutors would at death be consigned to an ever-burning hell for the persecution they had inflicted on others while they went straight to eternal bliss. (Edward Fudge) 27