Thursday, October 4, 2007
By Faith... Or Not? Israel's Exodus and Conquest, Part 36 of 41
TEXT: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image -- any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments" (Exodus 20:4-5).
IDEA: Idolatry is easy and convenient.
PURPOSE: To help listeners understand the attraction of false gods.
I. How different do you think the temple in which the Hebrews worshiped was from the pagan temples?
Does it surprise you to learn that when archaeologists dug in the ancient Near East, they found that many of the temples built by the pagans were very much like the temple God had His people build on Mount Zion. The pagan temples often had an outer court and an inner court and then within the inner court was the sacred center. In that sacred center there was often a little golden god or goddess.
How did that compare with Israel’s temple? It had an outer court and an inner court, and within the inner court was the holy place. Within the holy place was the holiest place of all. What was in that holiest place? A golden box and within that golden box, among other things were the tablets of the Law given by God through Moses to His people.
What, if anything, do you make of that?
II. Idolatry was attractive because it was undemanding.
All that the pagan gods required was that the people feed them. The Bible had commandments to be obeyed.
If a person brought an offering to feed the gods, he/she could live any way he or she pleased. There was no moral will to bother about.
III. Idolatry was also convenient.
The worship centers for the different gods were “on every high hill and under every green bush.” The worship center for Israel was in the temple in Jerusalem.
The priest would set up an altar that resembled a barbeque pit where he would receive the offerings, cook them, then offer the smoke up to a god. Every priest, therefore, was a butcher. He would kill the animal you brought, offer it, take part for himself, and give the rest to you.
Each worship center was for a different god or goddess, and if you wanted to get on the good side of one of the gods, you brought that god an offering.
Do you think that we may be tempted to worship so that God doesn’t get in our way and because it is convenient? How?
