Judges 6:29

And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) They said.—We are not told that Gideon’s servants betrayed his secret, but suspicion would naturally fall on so brave and prominent a worshipper of Jehovah as Gideon was; and it is rarely that actions which require so much effort and so many coadjutors can be kept secret. Gideon had proved himself to be what his name signifies—“a hewer.” A man so brave and so patriotic must have stood almost alone among a cringing and apostate people.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:25-32 See the power of God's grace, that he could raise up a reformer; and the kindness of his grace, that he would raise up a deliverer, out of the family of a leader in idolatry. Gideon must not think it enough not to worship at that altar; he must throw it down, and offer sacrifice on another. It was needful he should make peace with God, before he made war on Midian. Till sin be pardoned through the great Sacrifice, no good is to be expected. God, who has all hearts in his hands, influenced Joash to appear for his son against the advocates for Baal, though he had joined formerly in the worship of Baal. Let us do our duty, and trust God with our safety. Here is a challenge to Baal, to do either good or evil; the result convinced his worshippers of their folly, in praying to one to help them that could not avenge himself.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The mention of the "men of the city" by the side of Gideon's "father's household" suggests the probability of their being a remnant of the Canaanite population, and the special patrons of Baal-worship.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. Take thy father's … second bullock—The Midianites had probably reduced the family herd; or, as Gideon's father was addicted to idolatry, the best may have been fattened for the service of Baal; so that the second was the only remaining one fit for sacrifice to God.

throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath—standing upon his ground, though kept for the common use of the townsmen.

cut down the grove that is by it—dedicated to Ashtaroth. With the aid of ten confidential servants he demolished the one altar and raised on the appointed spot the altar of the Lord; but, for fear of opposition, the work had to be done under cover of night. A violent commotion was excited next day, and vengeance vowed against Gideon as the perpetrator. "Joash, his father, quieted the mob in a manner similar to that of the town clerk of Ephesus. It was not for them to take the matter into their own hands. The one, however, made an appeal to the magistrate; the other to the idolatrous god himself" [Chalmers].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Which they might easily conjecture, partly by his known aversion from the worship of Baal, and partly because no other person durst presume to do such a thing; but they might more certainly learn it from some of the persons employed in it, who through fear or favour might inform them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they said one to another, who hath done this thing?.... They were struck with amazement, and could not devise who could be so daring and wicked as to do such an action:

and when they inquired and asked; one and another, everyone present, or they could think of as proper to inquire of; they were very diligent and industrious to find it out; and perhaps they inquired of the family and servants of Joash and Gideon, in whose ground the altar stood:

they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing; when they had inquired of everybody they could, and thought of one person and another, there was none appeared to them more likely to have done it, than Gideon; partly because they knew he was no friend of Baal, and partly because he was a man of spirit and courage, and they concluded none but such an one would have ventured to have done it; and besides, they considered he was the son of Joash, who perhaps was their chief magistrate, and that he might presume on his father's protection, as they might surprise; and being near the premises, he was the most likely person they could think of; and it is not improbable, that upon inquiry they got it out of the servants concerned, or that had knowledge of it from them, or from some that saw him that morning at the sacrifice, or returning from it, and therefore peremptorily assert he was the man that did it.

Geneva Study Bible

And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - They said, Gideon hath, etc. No doubt one of the ten servants (ver. 27) employed by him had spoken about it. Judges 6:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But on the following morning, when the people of the town found the altar of Baal destroyed and the asherah upon it hewn down, and the bullock sacrificed upon the (newly) erected altar (the bullock would not be entirely consumed), they asked who had done it, and soon learned that Gideon had done it all. The accusative חשּׁני הפּר את is governed by the Hophal העלה (for העלה see Ges. s. 63, Anm. 4), according to a construction that was by no means rare, especially in the earlier Hebrew, viz., of the passive with את (see at Genesis 4:18). "They asked and sought," sc., for the person who had done it; "and they said," either those who were making the inquiry, according to a tolerably safe conjecture, or the persons who were asked, and who were aware of what Gideon had done.