Judges 6:28
And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.
Judges 6:28 belongs to the time when the children of Israel did evil and were delivered into the hand of Midian for seven years. The oppression fell first and heavily on the tribes east of the Jordan but spread to the whole land, as the Midianites with the Amalekites and the peoples of the desert swarmed in like locusts with flocks and herds at harvest time and stayed until the crops were gathered, stripping the fields, robbing the people, and forcing those in the open country to flee into walled towns, fortresses, caves and mountain strongholds. When the people in distress gave heed to reproof and confessed their sins, God raised up a helper for them, a faithful and valiant man to put down idolatry and to deliver them from their enemies.
This belongs to the repeated story of backsliding and chastisement followed by confession and deliverance, in which after the deliverer died and the people were released from his authority they gradually returned to their idols. In the morning the men of the city of Ophrah found that Baal's altar had been torn down and the grove by it cut down, and that a bullock, the second bullock, had been offered as a sacrifice upon the altar Gideon had built to Jehovah, to the Lord. Gideon had done the work at night to avoid being stopped.
Their discovery provoked anger because the men had come to worship Baal. The tearing down was a public protest against Baal worship and against idolatry, acknowledging Jehovah as the only true God. It was made before Gideon campaigned and before Israel went to war against its enemies.