Excellent question! I believe there is a clear and simple answer to that question, which we will see when we look at passages dealing with these two men and God’s commands to them.

“Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, TO A LAND that I will show you.’” I’m sure you were thinking of this verse when you asked your question. Now let’s read Joshua 24:2, “And Joshua said to all the people, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, DWELT ON THE OTHER SIDE of the River in old times; and THEY SERVED OTHER GODS.’” And finally we will read Genesis 15:7, “Then He said to him, ‘I am the LORD, who brought you out of the Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you THIS LAND TO INHERIT IT.’” We learn in these three verses WHY God called Abram. By His grace He called Abram “out of a land of idolatry” to “a land which he would inherit.” He was NOT called to rid his homeland of idolatry; he was called to begin a new life in a new land where he would serve the one True God.

Now we will read of God’s command to Gideon. “Take your father’s young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and TEAR DOWN THE ALTAR OF BAAL that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; and BUILD AN ALTAR TO THE LORD God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.’ So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the LORD had said to him” (Judges 6:25-27a). If we were to read verses 7-10, we would see that Gideon and his family were living in THE LAND that God had called Abraham to. They were “God’s chosen people” who were to worship Him and have nothing to do with other “gods.” Gideon, his family and the children of Israel had failed, for they were being oppressed by the Midianites and were worshiping their gods. Because of their idolatry God told them (through a prophet), “I am the LORD your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed My voice” (verse 10). God had told His people in the Ten Commandments “You shall have no other gods before Me…you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:3 & 5). This is WHY God commanded Gideon to destroy his father’s altars. Gideon and the children of Israel were in “the right land” (and thus he was not called to “leave the land”), but they were worshiping “the wrong god” (which is not really a god at all, but a mere idol which replaced “the true God,” the LORD God of Israel). Gideon’s act of “destroying the altar of Baal” and “building an altar to the LORD God” made him a faithful witness in “the land that God had given to Abraham and his people.” So, unlike Abram, he WAS called to rid his homeland of idolatry, and not to leave the land of promise.

Is there a lesson for us today in what we have seen? I believe there is. God has called us to a be a witness for Him, the one true God (see John 17:3 and 1^st John 5:20) where he has placed us. In Abraham’s case he had to leave his family and country to be a witness for God. In Gideon’s case he was to be a witness where he was, but to remove the false gods from his house in order to be a true witness to the true God. When we are saved, we are to be like Gideon, as we see in 1^st Corinthians 7:24, “Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.” But we must also follow Gideon’s example and “destroy the altars of false gods and build an altar to God” before we can be a witness for Him. I’m not speaking of an “idol of wood or stone,” but anything in our life which is taking the place of God in our hearts. The apostle John ends his first epistle on the note, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1^st John 5:21). After we “rid our house of idols,” we can “build a family altar unto God” (by having family devotions with Bible readings and prayer). Then we can be a real witness for our blessed God and Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.  (DO)  (585.3)