Gideon by night

Judges 6:25-32 - That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering."

So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

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!

They asked each other, "Who did this?" When they carefully investigated, they were told, "Gideon son of Joash did it."

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."

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." So that day they called Gideon "Jerub-Baal," saying, "Let Baal contend with him," because he broke down Baal's altar.

I wonder how the worship of Asherah got started. I could wonder that about any of a number of false gods or goddesses, but I'll just pick on the goddess Asherah for now. Did some self-proclaimed priest or priestess one day say, "I'm going to make up a god...no, goddess and call her Asherah. And then I'll write down some rules for worshipping her. They'll be more interesting and enticing than those I've heard about for any other god or goddess around today. Probably should have some sort of symbol or logo for her too. Easier to market that way -- brand name recognition and all...."

Or was that done by committee? If so, it would have taken a lot longer to create.

I wonder how much making money and gaining power played into Asherah's creation.

The altar to Baal and the Asherah pole that Gideon destroyed both belonged to his father Joash. It appears that they may have been used by others in town too. I wonder if these were the only ones in town.

I wonder why Joash didn't stick up for Baal and Asherah any more than he did. Was it just to protect Gideon? I wonder if Joash didn't really put that much stock in the actual worship of Baal and Asherah but allowed others to "rent" their facilities as a source of income. I wonder if anyone rebuilt the altar and the pole.