So now, fear Yahweh and serve him perfectly and sincerely; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt and serve Yahweh. But if you will not serve Yahweh, choose today whom you wish to serve whether the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are now living. As for me and my House, we will serve Yahweh. - Joshua 24:14-15 - As always, some made the wrong choices and made an idol for his personal use but the tribe of Dan took it over for their own use. - Judges chapter 17; 18 -
Others tried the route of compromise: the mixing of idolatry with worship of the true God. So, Gideon ephod was made an object of worship.
The men of Israel said to Gideon, 'Rule over us, you and your sons and your grandson because you have rescued us from the power of Midian'. But GIdeon answered them, 'It is not I who shall rule over you, nor my son; Yahweh must be your lord'. But Gideon went on, 'Let me make one request of you'. Let every man of you give me one of the rings out of his spoils - for the vanquished army had golden rings because they were Ishmaelites.
They answered, 'Gladly'. So he spread out his cloak and on it they threw, every man of them, a ring taken from their spoils. The weight of the golden rings he had asked for reached seventeen hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescents and the earrings and purple garments worn by kings of Midian and besides the collars round their camels necks too. Of all this, Gideon made an ephod and put it in his own city of Ophrah. After him, all Israel prostituted themselves to it and it was a snare for Gideon and his family. - Judges 8:22-27 -
Much later there was another instance of an otherwise good symbol of God's deliverance turned into an idol. In king Hezekiah time the people worshiped Moses' bronze snakes.
On the way the people lost patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here, we are sick of this unsatisfying food.
At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, 'We have sinned by speaking against Yahweh and against you. Intercede for us with Yahweh to save us from these serpents'. Moses interceded for the people and Yahweh answered him. 'Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live'. So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard and anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived, - Num. 21:5-9 -
While idolatry was held in check during most of the period of the United Kingdom under King David and Solomon, it burst forth again after the separation of the Israelites into two nations in 922 B.C. All the successive monarchs in the northern kingdom of Israel was bad. Invariably their sin involved idolatry. Starting with Elijah, the prophet called on the people to turn from the worship of false gods back to reverence for the true God. Hosea's entire book is devoted to preaching against idolatry. Under the figure of speech of divorcing the Lord and marrying Baal, he tied together the ideas of idolatry, spiritual idolatry and literal adultery.
Although there were some good kings in the southern kingdom of Judah, the bad ones invariably fell to idolatry. This prompted the major prophets - Isaiah - Jeremiah - Ezekiel and most of the minor prophets as well to ridicule, condemn and warn against idolatry. A sampling of courageous preachers would include Isaiah 2:8; Jeremiah 50:2; Ezekiel 6:4-6; Micah 1; Habakkuk 2:18; and Zechariah 13:2.
The captivity of the people of Israel at the hands of the Babylonians produced a permanent cure for the sin of idolatry. Never again, even to the present time, has Judaism succumbed to idolatry.
Page 1
Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
No comments:
Post a Comment