Judges 6:32

_THEREFORE ON THAT DAY HE CALLED HIM JERUBBAAL, SAYING, LET BAAL PLEAD AGAINST HIM, BECAUSE HE HATH THROWN DOWN HIS ALTAR._ Therefore ... he called him - not Joash, but the people, so that it is equivalent to 'he was called.' JERUBBAAL i:e., with whom Baal contends; or Jerubbesheth (2 Samuel 11:21), i:e., with whom the idol contends [Septuagint, ekalesen auto Ierobaal, called it, namely, the altar, Jerubbaal]....

25-32 See the power of God's grace, that he could raise up a reformer; and the kindness of his grace, that he would raise up a deliverer, out of the family of a leader in idolatry. Gideon must not think it enough not to worship at that altar; he must throw it down, and offer sacrifice on another. It was needful he should make peace with God, before he made war on Midian. Till sin be pardoned through the great Sacrifice, no good is to be expected. God, who has all hearts in his hands, influenced Joash to appear for his son against the advocates for Baal, though he had joined formerly in the worship of Baal. Let us do our duty, and trust God with our safety. Here is a challenge to Baal, to do either good or evil; the result convinced his worshippers of their folly, in praying to one to help them that could not avenge himself....

Verse Judges 6:32. _HE CALLED HIM JERUBBAAL_] That is, _Let Baal contend_; changed, 2 Samuel 11:21, into _Jerubbesheth, he shall contend against confusion or shame_; thus changing _baal, lord_, into _bosheth, confusion_ or _ignominy_. Some think that Jerubbaal was the same with _Jerombalus_, who, according to _Sanchoniatho_ and _Porphyry_, was a priest of _Jevo_. But the history of Sanchoniatho is probably a forgery of Porphyry himself, and worthy of no credit....

HE CALLED HIM - i. e. “He was called” Jerubbaal, as being the person against whom it was popularly said that Baal might strive. See margin....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 6:25 THE SAME NIGHT, etc. The iron was hot; it was time to strike. As regards what follows, there are two ways of understanding the verse. One, that of the A.V; supposes that only one bullock is spoken of, and that "_the _young bullock" belonging to Joash is further described as "even the second bullock of seven years old;" to which it is objected that a bullock of seven years old is not "a young bullock," "the bullock of an _ox_,"_ _as the Hebrew phrase is, and that there is no explanation of the meaning of "the second bullock;" and that the Hebrew manifestly describes two bullocks: (1) Joash's young bullock, and (2) the bullock of seven years old. The other supposes two bullocks, and instead of has the more natural rendering and. The only objection

THEREFORE ON THAT DAY HE CALLED HIM JERUBBAAL,.... That is, Joash called his son Gideon by that name; who, some think, is the same with Jerombalus, the priest of the god Jevo, or Jehovah; from whom Sanchoniatho, an ancient Phoenician writer, as Philo Byblius says w, received the principal things in his history respecting the Jews: SAYING, LET BAAL PLEAD AGAINST HIM, BECAUSE HE HATH THROWN DOWN HIS ALTAR; giving this as the reason of the name of Jerubbaal he called him by, which signifies, "let Baal plead"; let Baal plead his own cause, and avenge himself on Gideon for what he has done to him, and put him to death if he can. w Apud Euseb. Evangel Praepar. l. 1. p. 31....

4. FOURTH DECLENSION: UNDER MIDIAN AND GIDEON, TOLA AND JAIR CHAPTER 6 _ 1. Israel's suffering from Midian (Judges 6:1)_ 2. Their repentance and the divine answer (Judges 6:7) 3. Gideon, the deliverer, chosen (Judges 6:11) 4. The restored worship (Judges 6:25) 5. The gathering for the conflict (Judges 6:33) 6. The sign of the fleece (Judges 6:36) After Deborah and Barak the land had fifty years' rest, and when again they did

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ALTAR OF BAAL. We have seen that after the Conquest Yahweh was reverently and innocently called the Baal (Lord) of the land, and that loyal Israelites gave their children Baal names. The present section, in which the Baal of Ophrah is _distinguished_ from Yahweh, and regarded as a heathen god, must have been written after the time of Hosea, who was the first to condemn the practice of applying the name Baal to the God of Israel (Hosea 2:17)_._ The point of the story is that Baal, who, if worth his salt, should be able to plead for himself, is challenged to do so, and found to be impotent. Baal has fallen on evil days, when any daring spirit can laugh at him with impunity as Elijah mocked the Phœ nician Baal (1 Kings 18:27)....

JERUBBAAL. Let Baal plead. 1 Samuel 12:11; 2 Samuel 11:21....

_Gideon overthrows the altar of Baal and receives the name Jerub-baal_. This story has no connexion with the preceding narrative Judges 6:11-24; for after Gideon had built the altar Jehovah-shalom (Judges 6:24), it is not likely that he would have been told to build another altar at once and in the same place (Judges 6:26). So far as any antecedents of the story exist they are to be found in Judges 6:7, which denounce the worship of Canaanite (-Amorite") gods....