The Father

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

THE FATHER

Judges 6:28-32

28 In the morning when the men 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 men 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 that day they called Gideon "Jerub-Baal," saying, "Let Baal contend with him," because he broke down Baal's altar.

NIV

The famous fleece story is next, and we already dealt with demolishing the altar to Baal and the Asherah pole, which was torn down, and a proper altar built to God by rock and the offering of the seven-year-old bull. Of course, seven is also a wonderful number as it is the number of perfection, 3 plus 4. The 3 is God, and the number 4 is man. But the story is about the father, Joash. The men of the town were so angry about their altar to Baal being destroyed and their Asherah pole being torn down that they wanted Gideon to be killed. They demanded that Joash bring his son, Gideon, out; that he must die. Oh, how that sounds so much like the story of the angry town people, incited by the chief priests, teachers of the law, and the Pharisees, who demanded that the Son must die. There are two stories here for us to use today. First, it is about the father Joash, who would not offer his son to be put to death, but protected his son, telling the people if their god was real, if he had ears to hear, eyes to see, and a mouth to speak, let him defend himself. We know that Baal could not, but the point is that the father protected his son, Gideon, for doing the right thing in the eyes of the LORD. Are we not under the protection of our heavenly Father? We have broken down the idols we used to worship, and have turned to worship the Living God, by accepting his grace, His Son, Jesus, as our Lord and Savior. Of course, the townspeople, the world demand that we, our faith, the truth, be put to death. The world does not want the truth or the Light, for they expose their evil deeds, worshipping false gods. Yet, our Father protects his sons and daughters. Secondly, the story also shows us the Father did offer his Son to be put to death, although, the reality is that the Son was not put to death by the angry town people, but he gave himself up, committing his spirit unto his Father, and he did that because of us, even when we were one of those angry town people. This whole story is all about the Father.