Some suggest that the destruction of Baal is the main part of these verses. But that is not so, as the destruction of the Baal is the subject of only verses Judges 6:25–27. The second half of the passage, which is longer than the first, contains the main part, as it deals with the fanatical response of the Baalist men of Ophrah, in their search for the transgressor who harmed the Baal and in their eagerness to punish Gideon. In fact, it is not the war against the Baal that the passage emphasizes, but precisely the corruption of the men of Ophrah in their Baal worship…. The object of the passage is to illustrate the critical spiritual situation existing before Gideon began to act as deliverer. In the other judge accounts the deliverer is supported or favoured by the people; Gideon here goes against his family and the men of his town.
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25 That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it