Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 6:31

"And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye contend for Baal? Or will ye save him? he that will contend for him, let him be put to death whilst [it is yet] morning: if he be a god, let him contend for himself, because one hath broken down his altar." — Judges 6:31 (ASV)

Unto all that stood against him. —The meaning of these words is very uncertain. They may mean, “to all that stood around.”

Will ye plead for Baal? —The pronoun ye is very emphatic, being twice expressed in the Hebrew.

He that will plead for him, let him be put to death. —These words of Joash were extraordinarily bold and cunning. Possibly the brave act of his son may have roused his conscience, and Gideon may have told him that he had acted under Divine guidance. But he saves his son’s life, not by excusing his act, but by feigning such a zeal for Baal as to denounce it as a blasphemous impiety to suppose that Baal will not avenge his own insult—an impiety so monstrous, that the man who was guilty of it should be immediately put to death. Thus he made Baal-worship a plea for not avenging the insult offered to Baal.

He was well aware that if he thus gained time, the fact that Baal did not interfere to protect himself from such fearful outrage would weigh powerfully with all his worshippers. Among idolaters the sight of an act of open contempt for their idol often shakes their superstitious reverence.

Aristophanes, Persius, and Lucian sneer at the inability of Jupiter to defend his own temple, golden locks, and golden beard. When Olaf had the huge image of Odin destroyed, and when the high priest Coifi at Saxmundham, clad in armor and mounted on horseback (two things which were forbidden to a priest), rode up to the Saxon idols and hurled them down, the people, seeing that no thunder followed, but that all went on as well as usual, were quite ready to embrace Christianity.

Whilst it is yet morning. —The Hebrew is ad habbôker (“until morning”); Septuagint, heôs prôi, which may mean, “before tomorrow’s sun has dawned.” (Antequam lux crastina veniat, Vulgate; as also the Syriac, Arabic, and Chaldee.) This rendering is much more likely than that of the English Version, as it implies, “Let us wait until tomorrow to see whether Baal will avenge himself.” Joash knew that in popular outbreaks, procrastination means security.

If he be a god. —Compare the language of Elijah to the Baal and Asherah priests (1 Kings 18:21, 27).