Gideon Tears Down the Altar of Baal at Ophrah

The very night God calls Gideon, He tells him to tear down his father Joash's altar to Baal in Ophrah, cut down the Asherah pole beside it, and build a proper altar to the Lord on the high ground — then sacrifice his father's seven-year-old bull on it using the Asherah wood as fuel. Gideon is too afraid to do it in daylight, so he and ten servants do it at night. In the morning the town wants him executed for sacrilege against Baal. But his father Joash defends him, saying 'If Baal is really a god, let him plead his own case for having his altar torn down.' From that day Gideon gets a new name: Jerubbaal — 'Let Baal contend.'

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