Judges 6:21-25

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.

 

What we have here is a foreshadow of the type of sacrifice Elijah did on Mt. Carmel.  Elijah had the people completely drench the bullock with twelve barrels of water and then he prayed to the Lord and the fire fell from the Lord and completely consumed the bullock without the water being a hindrance.  Here we have Gideon pouring the broth over the meat and cakes and the Lord took the end of His staff and touched the flesh and cakes and fire came out of the rock and consumed the meat and the cakes.  Gideon had prepared a sacrifice meal but did not know this until the Lord made it a sacrifice.  Once the sacrifice was completed, the Lord departed from the presence of Gideon.

 

Judges 6:22

And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.

 

Gideon then discerned that he was not in the presence of a mere man but in the presence of the angel of the Lord.  Gideon probably was concerned that he would die since he saw the angel of the Lord face to face.  It probably startled him to know who he was speaking with.  Then Gideon possibly realized at this point that his appointment to save Israel was a direct command from the Lord Himself with no intermediate bringing the message.  Gideon probably knew this Scripture and that was why he was startled.  Exodus 33:20 (KJV)   And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

 

Judges 6:23

And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

 

The Lord now comforts Gideon because he thought that he was going to die since he saw the Lord face to face.  The Lord assures him that he will not die and peace will be upon him so he calms down and realizes that if he saw the Lord in an unauthorized manner, then he would have been dead already.  In 2 Samuel 6, when Uzzah put his hand out to steady the ark, the Lord struck him immediately but Gideon was still alive and it was probably because of the small sacrifice of the meat and cakes which the Lord accepted.  In the Old Testament, one did not approach God without a sacrifice.  In the New Testament, one cannot approach God unless they come through the sacrifice of Christ.

 

Judges 6:24

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.

 

Then in response Gideon had built an altar unto the Lord calling Him Jehovah-Shalom which is the God of Peace or the Lord our Peace.  The altar had remained in that same place until the times of Samuel or one of his contemporaries who may be the author of the book of Judges.

 

Judges 6:25

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:

 

The Lord wasted no time in beginning to deliver Israel.  The same night that Gideon built an altar to the Lord, the Lord came to him and told him to take a young bullock of seven years old.  This age of the bullock would mean that he was in the strongest part of his life plus the number seven is the number of completion and perfection so the bullock of seven years would also have a spiritual meaning.  Gideon was to take both bullocks and were to use them together to pull down the altar of Baal and after the altar was torn down, they were to cut down the grove where the altar of Baal was located.  The grove was the idol of Asherah which would have been a wooden idol of Astarte.

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