Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 6:30

Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that [was] by it.

30. Bring out thy son ] If the father gave up his son there would be no blood-feud.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 30. The men of the city said] They all felt an interest in the continuance of rites in which they had often many sensual gratifications. Baal and Ashtaroth would have more worshippers than the true God, because their rites were more adapted to the fallen nature of man.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Then the men of the city said unto Joash,…. The principal inhabitants of the place met together, and in a body went to Joash their chief magistrate, to have justice done in this case:

bring out thy son, that he may die; they do not ask to have the cause tried by him, to hear what proof they had of the fact, or what Gideon had to say in his own defence; nor do they wait for the sentence of Joash, but determine it themselves, and require the delinquent to be given up to them, that they might put him to death; a strange request of Israelites, whose law judged no man before it heard him; and besides, according to that, the worshippers of Baal, and not the destroyers of him, and his altars, were to be put to death, which shows how strangely mad and infatuated these people were:

because he hath cut down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it; they take no notice of the bullock which he had taken and offered, it being his father’s property; and which seems to confirm the sense of our version, that there was but one, Jud 6:25 for had the second been a different one, and the people’s property, they would have accused him of theft as well as sacrilege respecting that.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(30) The men of the city said unto Joash.It is difficult to conceive that these could have been Israelites (see on Jdg. 6:27).

Bring out thy son, that he may die.For the phrase, see Gen. 38:24; 1Ki. 21:10; Luk. 19:27.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

30. That he may die Such sacrilege, in their judgment, deserved immediate death.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘ Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah-image that was by it.” ’

No doubt they had checked up first on the fact that it was not under Joash’s orders. Then they demanded Gideon’s death. He had committed a gross act of sacrilege. This was ironic for according to Israelite law it was they who should have been put to death (Deu 13:6-10).

This and what follows demonstrates that Joash was a leading authority in the town, sufficient to be able to stay the wrath of the townsfolk. That was why the Baal sanctuary had been on his lands. The final decision was his. The whole incident brings out how deeply immersed they all were in Baal worship.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jdg 6:30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that [was] by it.

Ver. 30. Bring out thy son, that he may die. ] Idolatry is bloody, as the experience of all ages testifieth. How Nebuchadnezzar dealt by those who would not worship his golden gods, and how the king of Persia handled Abdas, the bishop who had overturned his idol temple, A.D. 413, I need not relate. The memorable story of William Gardiner, an English martyr in Portugal, who had both his hands cut off, and was afterwards burnt to ashes, for overturning the chalice at Mass, and treading under foot the breaden god, may be read in Mr Foxe’s “Martyrology,” fol. 1242; and so may the story of William Flower, who, for like cause here in England, had first his hand held up against the stake where he was burned, and stricken off. a John Clark, of Melda, for testifying against the Pope’s pardons, and calling him Antichrist, was whipped and branded with a hot iron. But the next year, A.D. 1524, for breaking down the images without the town, which the superstitious Papists were the next day to have worshipped, he had first his right hand chopped off, and after that his nose pulled off with pinchers, and then his two arms and his two breasts torn from his body with the same instrument. Amidst his greatest torments he cried out, “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.” When they had tired themselves torturing of him, they burnt his body with fire. b

a Act. and Mon., 1427.

b Scultet., Annal.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)