Judges: Judges 17:6,1-13
Idolatry-----Idol Worship
“‘You must not make for yourselves idols, so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before it, for I am the LORD your God. Lev 26:1
What is Idolatry?
making anything more important than God, and our lives are full of that temptation. Money, looks, success, bad habit, unhealthy relationship, certain lifestyle, reputation, security-those are today's idols. Idols can be divided into three major areas: first, pleasure. Second, prestige. Third, power& authority. If we allow these idols to dominate us, they will cause serious problems to us. As you look at these false gods that promise everything you want but nothing you need, does idolatry seem so far removed from your experience? The essence of idolatry-asking the gods we make to help us get all we want. The essence of Christianity is asking the God who made us to help us give all we can in service to him . the goal of idolatry is self-glory; the aim of Christianity is God's glory.
The main reason of idolatry:
In those days Israel had no king. "Everyone did as they saw fit" Judges 17:6,1-13
And therein is an insight into the moral degeneracy. They had lost the fact that God was to be their king. They lost the conscience of that fact. And every man, rather than being ruled by God, was doing that which was right in his own eyes. It was a period of anarchy. Everybody just did what he wanted to do, what was right in his own eyes. It is sort of what they are trying to bring to pass in this essentialism. Everybody just relate to experience as you feel that you should relate to it. There really isn't any right or wrong way. If it feels good, do it, you know. If it feels right, do it. And this is the kind of chaotic condition that was going on in Israel. This kind of anarchy where everyone was just doing what was right in their own eyes, not really following the government of God or the law of God. Example from the parable of the talents: Luke 19:14 ‘We don’t want this man to reign over us.’ Illustration: We'll take care of ourselves. We don't want any advice, especially spiritual advice. We'll handle this all by ourselves, so leave us alone." They don't want the king; therefore they will not be a part of His kingdom.
Whenever a person has to set up an image or an idol, it is a testimony that that person has lost something vital in his relationship with God and he needs some kind of a little reminder to remind him of God's presence. And thus, it is always a mark of spiritual deterioration; any image, any idol of anything is a mark of spiritual deterioration. So it is important to note that Micah wasn't really turning his back on Jehovah, for he even speaks of Jehovah, but he has lost something vital in his relationship with Jehovah which causes him to make these little images and set up a worship center as a place for his prayers.
What idols do?
Instead of contributing to our spiritual development, they rob us of our time, energy and devotion that ought to be directed toward God. They entangle and slow down spiritual speed. At first our idols seem exciting and promise to take us places, but in the end we will find that we have become their slaves. We need to recognize their worthlessness now, before they rob us of our freedom.
Warning against idolatry:
Idol worship was the major expression of religion in Corinth. There were several pagan temples in the city, and they were very popular. The statues of wood or stone were not evil in themselves , but people gave them credit for what only God can do, such as provide good weather, crops, and children. Idolatry is still a serious problem today, but it takes a different form. We don't trust in statues of wood and stone, but in paper money and plastic cards. Trusting anything for what God alone provides is idolatry. Our modern idols are those symbols of power, pleasure, or prestige that we so highly regard. When we understand contemporary parallels to idolatry, Paul's words to" flee from idolatry" become much more meaningful. 1 Corinthian 10:14
Consequences of idol worship:
First, it leads to the departure of God's presence. Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever. Son of man, describe the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the house and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its ordinances, all its forms and all its laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances, and do them. Ezek 43:9-11 God's departure from the city had been a signal for the destruction of the city and the temple. Now for God to return, his conditions have to be met: Idolatry had to be removed.
Second, it leads to deception and misguidance. For their mother has prostituted herself; she who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, I will go after my lovers who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will close off her wall, so that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not reach to them. And she shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then she shall say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now. Hosea 2:5-7. The Israelites were thanking false gods(specially Baal, the god whom they believed controlled weather and thus farming) for their food, shelter and clothing instead of the true God who gave those blessings. Therefore God would block Israel's "path with thorn bushes" and "wall her in" by making the rewards of idol worship so disappointing that the people would be persuaded to turn back to God. Despite Israel's unfaithfulness, God was still faithful and merciful. He would continue to hold his arms out to his people, even to the point of placing obstacles in their wayward path to turn them back to him. ,The people believed that idolatry can give them vineyards and orchards and they forgot that the entire land is a gift for them(Deut 32;49). When you prosper give the credit to God not anyone or anything else. And he said, You take away my gods which I made and the priest, and go away; and what have I left? How can you say to me, What ails you? And the men of Dan said to him, Let not your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you and you lose your life with the lives of your household. Judges 18:24-25. Their idolatry showed that God was not guiding them. Personal success can be a measuring rod.
Third, it leads to be moved completely out of God's will. My people [habitually] ask counsel of their [senseless] wood [idols], and their staff [of wood] gives them oracles and instructs them. For the spirit of harlotry has led them astray and they have played the harlot, withdrawing themselves from subjection to their God. Hosea 4:12. By divorcing themselves from God's authoritative religion centered in Jerusalem, inhabitants of the northern kingdom had effectively cut themselves off from God's word and from his way of forgiveness. The drive to be free from all restrictions can move us completely out of God' will. They ought to have been in subjection to God as their head and husband, to have been under his guidance and command, but they revolted from their allegiance, and put themselves under the guidance and protection of false gods. Our example is Saul the king: For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king. Where there is stubbornness there is idolatry. King Saul was stubborn as if he is idolater. As a result he was moved out of God's will and lost his kingship which was God's will for him. Here is an example of idolatry shaped in stubbornness. 1Sam 15:23
fourth, it leads to forfeiting God's love and mercy. Those who pay regard to false, useless, and worthless idols forsake their own [Source of] mercy and loving-kindness. Jonah 2:8. Those who worship worthless idols forfeit God's grace and abandon any hope for mercy from the lord. Any object of our devotion that replaces God is a lying vanity. We deceive ourselves with something that is ultimately empty and foolish. Make sure that nothing takes God's rightful place in your life. ---- Men in vain weary themselves when they follow their own inventions,--for the more strenuously they run, the farther they recede from the right way, as Augustine has well observed. But Jonah here adopts a higher principle,--that God alone possesses in Himself all fullness of blessings; whosoever, then, truly and sincerely seeks God, will find in Him whatever can be wished for salvation. God is not to be sought but by obedience and faith; whosoever, then, dare to give themselves loose reins, so as to follow this or that without the warrant of God’s Word, recede from God, and at the same time deprive themselves of all good things. The superstitious do indeed think that they gain much when they toil in their own inventions; but we see what the Holy Spirit declares by the mouth of Jonah. The Lord says by Jeremiah, “They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and cisterns have they dug for themselves.” (Jeremiah 2:13). There the Lord complains of His chosen people, who had gone astray after wicked superstitions. Hence when men wander beyond the Word of God, they in a manner renounce God, or say adieu to Him, and thus they deprive themselves of all good things; for without God there is no salvation, and no help to be found. (John Calvin.)
fifth, it leads to forfeiting protection. For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up. Hosea 8:7 crop yield is the result of good seed planted in good soil and given the proper proportions of sunlight, moisture, and fertilizer. A single seed can produce multiple fruit in good conditions. Israel, however, had sown its spiritual seed to the wind-it had invested itself in activities without substance. Like the wind that comes and goes, its idolatry and foreign alliances offered no protection. In seeking self-preservation a part from God, it had brought about its own destruction. Like a forceful whirlwind, God's judgment upon Israel by means of the Assyrians. When we seek security in anything except God, we expose ourselves to great danger. Without God there is no lasting security. Misery is attached to sin as its inevitable consequence; but the connection does not always appear to a superficial observer. Transgression sometimes appears to be productive of happiness, and obedience to be a source of much affliction and trouble. But the wicked are not really happy now, and they have no reasonable expectation of happiness in the eternal world.
Sixth, war is the inevitable result They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? Judges 5:8. When God is not at the center there must be war.
Please when you use this work send me e-mail to get encouraged. God bless you
Michael Ghaly
Egypt
e-mail: Mechogh@yahoo.com
Mechogh@outlook.com
