Session 4 Worship Continually
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Intro
Intro
It is common, even among church attendees, to view worship as an event. It is right and needful to gather with others for times of worship, but worship is not limited to just those times. Worship should be a lifestyle, something that infuses every aspect of our day. King Asa gathered the people together for a time of worship, but his worship of God was seen in the things he continued to do, things that reflected his commitment to God.
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10 They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 They sacrificed to the Lord on that day from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. 12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, 13 but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. 15 And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.
What is a covenant?
It is a binding agreement.
Types of Covenants
There were two kinds of covenants in the ancient Near East during the biblical period
1. bilateral covenants, which placed obligations on both parties. The agreement was conditioned on one party fulfilling their obligations (e.g., “If you will … then I will …”)
The first stage of the divine covenant plan is revealed in the marital covenant between Adam and Eve.
2. unilateral covenants, which were unconditionally guaranteed by the party initiating the agreement (e.g., “I will …”)
God renews a domestic covenant with Noah and his household ().
God’s promise to Abraham () and his descendants was a unilateral or unconditional covenant: He promised to make Abraham and his descendants a great nation ().
God renews a tribal covenant with Abram, who is called to serve as a channel of God’s fatherly blessing to all nations ().
Having fulfilled this covenant, God provided the nation with a governing constitution by entering into a bilateral covenant with them—the Mosaic Covenant.
At the time of the covenant, God reminded the people of their obligation to be obedient to His law (), and the people agreed to the covenant when they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” ().
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible The Covenant Law
for the covenant member no area of human life was beyond the influence of the covenant. Persons who entered a relationship with God entered into a relationship that impinged on every possible aspect of their lives.
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
This covenant would serve to set the nation of Israel apart from all other nations as God’s chosen people and was as equally binding as the unconditional covenant that God made with Abraham because it is also a blood covenant.
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Covenant Renewal
The covenant at Sinai was made with a particular group of people under the leadership of Moses but was binding on future generations. Consequently the covenant was renewed from time to time. Covenant renewals are recorded in the time of Joshua (Jos 8:30–34; 24:1–28) and, much later, during the reign of King Josiah (2 Kgs 23:1–3).
The most important passage in the Bible for understanding covenant renewal and the nature of covenant is the Book of Deuteronomy. The entire book describes a particular covenant-renewal ceremony that occurred at a critical juncture in Israel’s early history. The Sinai covenant was renewed just before Moses’ death, before the transition of leadership to Joshua, and before a major military campaign to possess the Promised Land.
The Mosaic Covenant is a significant covenant in both God’s redemptive history and in the history of the nation of Israel through whom God would sovereignly choose to bless the world with both His written Word and the Living Word, Jesus Christ.
This was a renewal of the Mosaic covenant - bilateral
For the covenant member no area of human life was beyond the influence of the covenant. Persons who entered a relationship with God entered into a relationship that impinged on every possible aspect of their lives.
What were they mostly repenting from?
The assembled worshippers entered with great and holy enthusiasm into a national covenant; and, at the same time, to execute with rigor the laws which made idolatry punishable with death.
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Luke
10. the third month—when was held the feast of pentecost. On this occasion, it was celebrated at Jerusalem by an extraordinary sacrifice of seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep, the spoil of the Ethiopians being offered. The assembled worshippers entered with great and holy enthusiasm into a national covenant; and, at the same time, to execute with rigor the laws which made idolatry punishable with death (2 Ch 15:13; De 17:2–5; Heb 10:2, 8). The people testified unbounded satisfaction with this important religious movement, and its moral influence was seen in the promotion of piety, order, and tranquillity throughout the land.
13 but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.
2 “If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden, 4 and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones.
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
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The people testified unbounded satisfaction with this important religious movement, and its moral influence was seen in the promotion of piety, order, and tranquillity throughout the land.
15:12 Effectively a renewal of the Sinai covenant (Exodus 19–20; 24), allowing the people to affirm their total commitment to Yahweh (with all their heart and with all their soul).
15:13 whoever would not seek the Lord … should be put to death. See Deut. 13:6–10 and 17:2–7.
Move to
16 Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. 18 And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
13 He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron. 14 But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days. 15 And he brought into the house of the Lord the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.
16 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
The queen mother played an important role within the family politics of the court as an adviser of the king and teacher of the royal children.
According to ancient mythology, Asherah, the mother goddess, was the wife of El and mother of 70 gods, of whom Baal was the most famous. Asherah was the fertility goddess of the Phoenicians and Canaanites.
15:16 The queen mother played an important role within the family politics of the court as an adviser of the king and teacher of the royal children. The brook Kidron, or the “Kidron Valley,” was just outside Jerusalem and was used as a refuse dump for idolatrous objects (29:16; 30:14). An inscription found at the site of Khirbet El-Qom, near modern Hebron, reads: “Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh and by his Asherah; from his enemies he saved him!” The inscription dates to the second half of the eighth century b.c. It reflects the constant struggle in Judah between true servants of Yahweh and those who were syncretists and idolaters.
Tie to this and what is the takeaway?
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Authentic worship focuses on God alone.
How can verses 16-17 parallel with us today in our own journey?
1 K15:13 queen mother. Like Bathsheba before her (cf. 2:19), Maakah exercised extensive power as queen mother. Hittite records offer a useful parallel to the considerable activism of the Judahite queen mother in affairs of state. Although Maakah venerated Asherah and was condemned for this, her influence does not account adequately for the chronological and geographic scope of Asherah-related artifacts excavated to date in the region of ancient Judah.
Asa attacked idolatry with a vengeance, and in turn, out of his devotion to the Lord, but the high places were not taken away.
15:11–15. Asa was one of the eight good kings of Judah. He was commended because he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father (v 11; cf. comments above on 15:3–8). David was identified again as the great model of spiritual devotion. Whereas David fought against Israel’s pagan enemies and ultimately united the tribes of Israel into one great nation, Asa was portrayed as the one who fought against idolatry. He put away the male cult prostitutes … and removed all the idols which his fathers had made (v. 12). Of particular note were his dealings with Maacah his mother, whom he removed as the queen mother because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah (v. 13; cf. 14:15, 23). Asa burned the horrid image (idol) she made at the brook Kidron outside of Jerusalem.
Asa attacked idolatry with a vengeance, and in turn, out of his devotion to the Lord, but the high places were not taken away.
What our our “high places” we cannot get rid of?
What does verse 19 tell us about how God felt about Asa’s reforms?
15:23–24. Even though Asa was identified as a good and devoted king, his last years were not without difficulty. Because of his failure to call on the Lord for help, Asa faced war throughout his reign. Asa reigned 41 years (15:10), and in the 39th year of his reign, in his old age he was diseased in his feet, yet “he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians” to relieve his pain (2Ch 16:12). This health report, coupled with Asa’s failure to seek the Lord’s help from all his enemies, indicates his overall failure to depend upon the Lord in a variety of circumstances. This reminded the exilic audience that Asa was partially negligent in seeking the strong support of the Lord—physically, politically, and spiritually (cf. 2Ch 16:9), and that there were serious consequences as a result.
15:13 The queen mother played an important role within the family politics of the court, as an adviser of the king and as teacher of the royal children. abominable image for Asherah. This is another object associated with the worship of the goddess Asherah to go alongside the Asherim mentioned in 14:15, 23. On the brook Kidron, see note on 2 Chron. 15:16.
Even though ultimately he was imperfect, God still honored Asa’s commitments to worship and restoring his people.
15:17 Baasha king of Israel. Asa’s reign in Judah was a long one, and he saw five Israelite kings rise and fall before the infamous Ahab began his rule (16:29). Baasha is the second of these (15:33–16:7), and he finds Asa’s military position so precarious that he is able to push into Benjamin and fortify (build up) Ramah, only a few miles north of Jerusalem.
15:18–19 Asa took all the silver and the gold. Asa was forced to send a substantial bribe to Damascus to try to buy a new friend, reviving the treaty between his father Abijah and the previous Syrian king Tabrimmon (cf. note on 2 Chron. 16:2–5). A marker dedicated to the god Baal Melqart has been found at Aleppo in northern Syria. It bears an Aramaic inscription that mentions Barhada, son of Tabrimmon, son of Hezion.
15:18 In contrast to the kings of Israel (vv. 26, 34), Asa is a good king (v. 11), prefiguring the righteousness of Christ his descendant. Yet in this case he fails to rely on God (see 2 Chron. 16:7–12), underlining the need for perfect righteousness in the king.
Discussion: Worship in every aspect of your life. What does that look like?
Have you ever spontaneously worshiped God?