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. (Judges 6:30)
It is difficult to understand how Israelites could become so attached to Baal worship that they were willing to execute a fellow Israelite who courageously destroyed the altar of Baal and built an altar of the Lord in its place. The altar of Baal belonged to Gideon’s father (v. 25), yet the men of the village felt entitled to sit in judgment on the insult offered to this heathen deity. They demanded that the father himself deliver up Gideon to them so they could slay him without incurring a deadly feud.