But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him? Whoever will plead for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him content for himself, because someone has torn down his altar."Apparently, Joash was a believer in the Lord, and not of Baal. If he had been one of those who worshiped Baal, he probably would not have raised this argument. He would have just been hopping mad like the rest, and killed Gideon himself.
However, the argument used here is a clever one, designed to battle the Baal worshipers with their own beliefs. He says that a god would not need men to do his justice for him, and this is true. If the act is truly offensive to a god, to the point where the offender deserves death, the god would certainly be capable of punishing him himself. In fact, one of the ways we know of that God is supreme is that He has done just this. But since Baal is not real, there is no offense, and no one to bring justice.
No comments:
Post a Comment