The Supremacy of God in Worship

II Kings 16:7-16

INTRODUCTION

What do you do when faced with what seems like a impending disaster? That's a question more real to us today than I thought it was when I began working on this message. Since the coronavirus pandemic has been in the news we've seen a variety of reactions from panic to selflessness from anxiety to calm. What makes the difference in how someone reacts in such a situation? I think it depends on who they worship. Our response in such situations reveals where our trust lies and trust is inextricably tied to worship.

This morning is the last in our series on the Supreme God. We're going to consider the supremacy of God in worship. What we'll see is that worship is not just something that happens on Sunday morning, it's not something we add TO our life, worship is our life. God intends us to worship him supremely whether we're at church on Sunday morning, at work or school or even quarantined home. He also intends us to worship him supremely in all circumstances, perhaps particularly when facing difficulty and uncertainty.

Our "Big Idea" this morning is that God is supreme in our worship when God is supreme in our lives.

We're going to explore that topic by looking at a passage in the Old Testament and at a man named Ahaz who thought himself pious but when faced with difficulty showed he was anything but. We'll use him as a cautionary tale to examine our own lives and worship.

Before we jump into our background on the passage, let's take a few minutes to define "worship" to be sure we're all on the same page.

At its most basic, to worship is to recognize and value God for who he is

I heard a great quote from A.W. Tozier recently in this regard. He said "The most important thing about you is what comes to mind when you think about God."

Jesus tells the Samaritan woman in John 4:23-24:

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

We see two things are required for worship to be pleasing to God, that it be done in spirit and in truth. William Hendriksen says:

"…worshipping in spirit and truth can only mean rendering such homage to God that the entire heart enters into the act, and doing this in full harmony with the truth of God as revealed in his Word. Such worship, therefore, will not only be spiritual instead of physical, inward instead of outward, but it will also be directed to the true God set forth in Scripture and as displayed in the work of redemption." (Exposition of the Gospel According to John, William Hendriksen, p. 167)

In other words, we worship God rightly when we understand the truth of who He is, which can only be fully grasped through his Word, through special revelation, and when that truth is so real to us that it impacts all of life, something which is only possible through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Knowing truth and not acting on it is not true worship. Likewise, setting our heart on something in the absence of truth is also not true worship. Both elements must be there.

Sadly, a lot of things are called worship that do not meet these criteria. For example, the Samaritan woman was concerned about the external aspects of worship. Her question was where she should worship more than who she should worship and that misplaced focus allowed her to be comfortable living in a way that was an offense to God. She was living a sexually immoral life while claiming to worship God - because the truth of who God is had not impacted her life because she wasn't focused on that truth but on the externals. This was the issue Jesus had with the Pharisees as well, they were absorbed with the forms of worship rather than the object of worship. When Paul is warning about false teachers in II Timothy 3 he talks about those who have "the appearance of godliness" but who "deny its power." (I Samuel 16:7)

This was the problem Israel dealt with over and over in the Old Testament, the assumption that if the externals looked good, they were worshipping rightly. And it's something the church has struggled with off and on over millennia. But, as we'll see with King Ahaz, when the things of this world are our focus right worship is always a casualty.

BACKGROUND (Vv. 1-4)

Let's consider some background by looking at verses 1-4 of chapter 16:

In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, 3 but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel.

Let's stop there for a minute. What does it mean he "walked in the way of the kings of Israel?"

At King Solomon's death, the kingdom of Israel was divided in two. The Southern Kingdom, the one Ahaz is currently ruling, was called Judah and the Northern Kingdom was called Israel. The first king of Israel was Jeroboam and he did an exceedingly wicked thing that impacted that nation for centuries to come. In fact, what he did is why hundreds of years later the Samaritan woman was asking Jesus about the two different places to worship God and wondering which one was correct. It bears remembering that sin has long arms and it's consequences often span generations. This woman was confused about worship because of something a king did hundreds of years earlier.

What was this thing Jeroboam did?

God had commanded his people to worship him in one place of his choosing:

Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, but at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you. - Deut. 12:13-14

And that place they were to worship at this point in Israel's history was the temple in Jerusalem.

But Jerusalem was in the southern kingdom of Judah. Jeroboam was afraid if people continually traveled to Jerusalem to worship God, that would lead them to become loyal to Judah, his adversary to the south, and undermine his rule and authority. So, he set up centers of worship in Israel one in the city of Bethel and the other in the city of Dan. Here's how I Kings 12:28-30 describes it:

So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one

Golden calves being substituted for the One True God, where have we heard that before and how did it turn out last time? Ecclesiastes is right. There is nothing new under the sun. We sin the same way we've done in the past yet think somehow this time the results will be different but they never are.

At any rate, this false worship infected the kings and kingdom of Israel throughout its entire existence, so much so that there was not one righteous king during the entire history of the nation. Of every one of them the Bible says "did evil in the eyes of the LORD" because he continued the idolatry begun by Jeroboam.

This is what the passage means when it says "Ahaz walked in the way of the kings of Israel." Even though he was ruler of Judah, he was acting like these godless, pagan kings to the north. And, more than that, he was acting like the pagan nations who occupied the land before Israel. The passage goes on to say:

He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

Why did he do this? Because he had a "form of godliness" but denied its power and refused to worship the one true God.

A TIME OF TROUBLE (Vv. 5-6)

Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. 6 At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day.

The dominant regional power at this time was Assyria with their capital city at Nineveh. This was the same people to whom the prophet Jonah had preached many years before. Their king now was Tiglath-Pileser and he was a force to be reckoned with. There's more than one Assyrian king with that name, by the way. This is Tiglath-Pileser III. The Assyrians were cultured but cruel. They achieved great heights of art and literature but in battle they were ruthless. They were known for things like skinning their victims and displaying the hides, gouging out eyes and lopping off heads. All the nations in the near east feared them.

So, Rezin the king of Syria (Damascus) and Pekah the king of Israel wanted Ahaz to join them in opposing Assyria. They felt there would be strength in numbers in this scary situation. Ahaz, however, perhaps out of fear of the Assyrians, perhaps because he was secretly sympathetic to them, wanted nothing to do with that so Rezin and Pekah decide to attack Jerusalem in order to force him to join their alliance against Assyria.

In an earlier campaign you can read about in II Chronicles 28, these two kings inflicted heavy casualties on Ahaz's army, killing 120,000 men in one day, including Ahaz's son. Now they had returned. They conquered the area of Elath, took it from Judah and allowed Judah's enemies the Edomites to settle there. Now they were threatening Jerusalem itself and Ahaz was afraid.

What would King Ahaz do in the face of this threat? Or, said another way, What is he going to do with this fear? Who's he going to worship?

It is times of trouble where our faith is tested the most because we have to decide in that moment who to worship. When things are outside my control (and that's a lot more things than I think!), I have to decide who I trust. Do I worship the Lord and trust the outcome to him or do I worship something else? The Psalmist says in Psalm 20 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Ultimately what or whom you trust in is what or whom you worship. That's not to say that we don’t prepare and plan but when we think "If only I had X, all my problems would be solved" we're moving into the realm of whatever we fill in that blank with competing with the God of the universe for our affections and worship.

When Christ was led away by the Spirit to be tested of the Devil in Luke 4, what was ultimately on the line was worship. Satan started by trying to get Christ to give in to his physical needs by turning stones into bread. But we see by the end what he was really after was worship. He wanted Christ to forsake the Father and worship him and he used the promise of temporal relief from suffering and acquisition of temporal power and riches as the bait - but what he was really after was worship.

So, what did Ahaz do? Sadly, he chose chariots and horses.

II Chronicles 28:22 tells us:

In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—this same King Ahaz

Ahaz was already in rebellion against God. Chronicles tells us this rebellion increased in the midst of distress. Fear reveals our object of worship. It either drives us to the Lord or away from him. Difficult circumstances either drive us to repentance or to shake our fists at God. Ahaz allowed fear of losing his position and power and perhaps his life to override his fear of the Lord. I read a great article the other day on understanding where our treasure lies and the author said this regarding fear:

"…think about what you do with your fears. Can you submit them to the One who is really in control? Or do you stubbornly grip your illusory control, thinking you know best? Your response to fear indicates whether what you love is also what you worship."

What we'll see is that this worship of self led to Ahaz to trusting in and ultimately worshipping other gods - because what he loved most was not God but himself.

What do you fear right now?

Losing a job?

Losing a relationship?

Losing money in the stock market?

Getting sick?

Then ask yourself, am I willing to do anything to prevent those things from happening or are my options for dealing with those things constrained by my love for the Lord and my recognition of his sovereignty?

Do you believe you're owed good health, and an easy life and God has somehow wronged you if you don't get those things or do you trust his providential care no matter the circumstances? Are you continually anxious because those things are not as you'd like them to be or are you I willing to trust the Lord? Are you willing to strive to gain the whole world with no thought for your soul?

We need to periodically do that kind of self-check.

We're about to see how Ahaz reacted and that serves as a cautionary tale for us. Ahaz's troubles begin with:

A MISPLACED TRUST (Vv. 7-9)

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9 And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.

Notice the language Ahaz uses here, it is the language of submission and dependence. "I am your servant and your son." This is a big deal. Don't run past this because the author is setting up a contrast for us.

Compare that to these passages from elsewhere in the Old Testament:

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ - Exodus 4:22-23

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. - Hosea 11:1

So, whose servant and son is Ahaz supposed to be? The Lord's. Yet here we have Ahaz, king of Judah, descendent of David, grandson of Uzziah, heir of the promise, calling himself the son of Tiglath-pileser of Assyria. And he petitions Tiglath-pileser to "come up and rescue me." He's basically saying "My father, come and help me." This is shocking - or should be. Would have been to those who read this originally.

Make no mistake, everyone has one of two fathers. Either God is our Father or the enemy of our souls is our father, there is no neutrality.

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. - John 8:42-44

Remember one of the requirements for worship that pleases God - truth?

For believers, those who've trusted in Christ for forgiveness of their sins, the good news is, God is our Father, as Paul reminds us in Galatians 3:26

for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith

But, unlike God, Tiglath-pileser is a "father" who must be bribed. He doesn't agree to help until Ahaz dumps a bunch of gold on him from the temple and the national treasury. The word translated "present" in the ESV can also be rendered "bribe" or "tribute." In fact, in the records of Tiglath-pileser, outside the Bible, we have a reference to this tribute. A clay tablet discovered in 1873 called "Summary Inscription Seven" lists kings from whom tribute was received and among them is Ahaz (Jehoahaz) of Judah.

This is the way the world works. When we place our trust there, it always comes at a cost. Satan agreed to give Jesus the kingdoms of the world if he would only worship him, Esau agreed to trade his birthright for a bowl of stew, for temporary relief from hunger pangs, Ahaz agrees to pay Tiglath-pileser a large sum of money and essentially become his vassal in exchange for some temporary relief. There's always a quid pro quo with the world. Never think you can worship and serve the things of this world without paying a price. We have a choice of worshipping and serving the One who paid the price for us or of worshipping and serving ourselves. If we choose the latter, we'll also pay the price ourselves rather than availing ourselves of the price that's been paid and we'll pay that price for eternity.

Never let anyone tell you following Christ is bondage and that if you only throw off that yoke you'll be free. There is no place without bondage. You'll either be a bond servant of Christ who's freed you of your bondage to sin or you'll be in bondage to your sin. A life without bondage to anyone is a fantasy, it doesn’t exist. The people who think they are the most free are often in the heaviest bondage.

Ahaz traded bondage to one foreign king for bondage to another and didn't realize he was forsaking his only hope for true freedom in doing so. He was willing to avoid being conquered if he could stay on the throne, not just of his kingdom but of his life, but to do so he had to submit someone else who was even more wicked than who he was afraid of. And I know one thing as sure as I'm standing here, if he could speak to you today, he'd tell you it wasn't worth it. That temporary relief he obtained by aligning himself with wickedness was not worth it.

To what or whom do you turn when anxious and afraid? If it's anything other than God, understand that comes at a cost. I read recently that an on-line pornography company made all their content free in Italy to help people deal with the stress of being confined to their homes. The bondage created by that is going to outlast Covid-19 I can assure you. Others turn to alcohol or drugs or even things as seemingly innocuous as binge watching Netflix. Even the good things the Lord gives us can be idols if we use them as a substitute for trusting and resting in him.

When anxious or afraid, don't look to the world for an answer, don't trade your birthright for a bowl of stew, look to the One who is faithful and true, the One who will never leave or forsake you and who offers true freedom from bondage.

As is always the case, Ahaz's misplaced trust led him to desire that which God forbids:

A DANGEROUS DESIRE (VV. 10-11)

When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.

It was common when one king helped out another as the King of Assyria had Ahaz, for the vassal king (for that is what Ahaz had become) to visit his benefactor and pay tribute to him. That's what's being described here. It was also common for Assyria when conquering a city or a nation to set up an altar to their gods in the local temple as a sign of their conquest - kind of like an army today would raise their flag over a conquered city. This is likely the altar Azhaz saw.

Again, the writer here is presenting us with a contrast. In the earlier passage it was between God as Father and an earthly king as "father." Here it is between the pattern created by God for how he should be worshipped and the pattern created by a pagan culture, by the world. If you remember when God was instructing Moses how to build the tabernacle he says this:

And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. - Exodus 25:8-9

Yet, here, Ahaz seeks to make an altar "exact in all its details" like the one he finds in the pagan temple of his new master. He's making a copy of the real thing in Damascus just like the tabernacle and later the temple was a copy of things in heaven. The writer of Hebrews says of the tabernacle and temple:

They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain. - Hebrews 8:5

Now we have Ahaz instructing the priest Uriah to make this altar according to the pattern he obtained in a pagan temple.

Ahaz has decided who he serves, he sets out to please his new master. He decides to pattern his life and worship after the person he trusted to save him.

When we desire the results of the world, we'll begin to employ their methods to achieve them.

Notice also the tragic end of this passage, Ahaz is leading others, including a priest of God, astray with his vain admiration of the things of the world. We never sin in a vacuum. We never worship a false god in a vacuum. Who's watching you and taking note of how you react and who you worship. There's always somebody you and I are influencing.

We see the progression continue from trusting the wrong thing to desiring the wrong thing to now, worshipping the wrong thing:

A COUNTERFEIT WORSHIP (Vv. 12-16)

And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it 13 and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of his altar. 15 And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” 16 Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

All the offerings listed here should sound familiar to you. They certainly would have been familiar to the original audience of the books of the Kings. Burnt offering, grain offering, drink offering, peace offering, etc. These were all things specified by the Lord as ways to worship him as outlined in Leviticus.

In Leviticus one, the burnt offering is for atonement for sin. In the second chapter of Leviticus we read the instructions for the grain offering. It had a twofold purpose, to symbolize the worshipper's dedication to God and to provide sustenance to the priests. (see: Amos 5:22). The drink offering was part of the Firstfruits celebration which acknowledged God's provision for his people - that everything they had came from him. The peace offering or fellowship offering symbolized the people's fellowship with God, that they were at peace with him, his wrath did not abide on them. Yet, here, Ahaz, is attributing all these things, all physical and spiritual provision, to a man-made idol. He's saying what Aaron said to the people when he set up the golden calf in the desert and what Jeroboam said to the people of the northern kingdom "Here are your gods."

Notice also it is king Ahaz who is acting in the first couple of verses. He is making the offerings, something only a priest was supposed to be doing. That's why Saul lost his kingdom, because he tried to merge the office of priest and king. So, Ahaz has not only created his own religion, he's made himself priest of that religion. He actually moves the pagan altar to a place of prominence in the temple and sets aside the "bronze altar" dedicated to Yahweh for his own personal use. The pagan gods of Assyria are given pride of place and the God of the universe has become the personal servant of Ahaz.

We can look at this and be shocked - and well we should be - but it helps to remember this notion that God is whoever makes us happy and that he exists to serve us is not limited to pagan kings during biblical times. It never hurt to examine my motives for serving God. Make no mistake, he is gracious and loving, he's a father who gives us bread and not a stone but our love for him must ultimately be motivated by who he is and not what he does for us. We must worship in Spirit and in truth. If we reject him when the manna from heaven stops falling, it was not God we worshipped but the manna. I think many times, God does not give us complete freedom from temptation or struggles in certain areas because he knows what we really want is rest from those things, not a life of dependence upon him. So, he arranges it so that we must depend upon him - and that's a grace of God.

EPILOGUE (Isaiah 7)

So, this is a really tragic story. But it's actually more tragic than we've seen thus far. The Bible is clear that no one will be reconciled to God apart from hearing the gospel preached and placing their faith in Jesus Christ. This is why we are a mission-minded church. Apart from hearing the gospel, people perish. But how much more tragic is it when someone is given the words of life and tramples them under foot?

This is perhaps the most wicked and dangerous thing Ahaz did.

Despite the wickedness of Ahaz, the LORD was gracious to him. He sent his prophet Isaiah to plead with him to trust the LORD and not Tiglath-Pilezer:

And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. 4 And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. - Isaiah 7:3-4

thus says the Lord God:

“‘It shall not stand,

and it shall not come to pass.

8 For the head of Syria is Damascus,

and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

And within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.

9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

If you are not firm in faith,

you will not be firm at all.’” (7-9)

Notice the last part of verse 9. The LORD is clear what the choice is. It is to trust him or be destroyed. There is no middle ground.

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!” (10-17)

Why was Ahaz unwilling to ask for a sign? On the surface he sounds pious, "I don't want to put the Lord to the test." But in reality he was using false piety to cover for his rebellion. He'd already decided what he was going to do and didn't want any further confirmation from God that his decision was wrong. When we’re in rebellion against God, the first thing to go often is time spent in his word. We don't want to hear from God because we already know what he's going to say.

Many times when I've talked with someone about a particular sin in their lives they don't want to hear what the Bible says on the subject. They're perfectly fine with techniques to help them change their behavior or a psychological analysis of why they're doing what they're doing but what they don't want to hear is "thus saith the Lord." And the reason for that is they've already decided not to submit to him and don't want to be challenged on that. That's what's happening here with Ahaz.

Despite the wickedness of Ahaz, the LORD graciously gave him one of the most famous prophecies in the OT regarding the coming of Christ. He says, Ahaz, not only can you trust me in your life right now, today, I have bigger plans than that! You can trust me for all eternity! Despite our wickedness, he has graciously revealed himself to us through his Son, Jesus Christ, to the one born of a virgin of whom he prophesied to Ahaz.

Take Aways:

God is sovereign over the affairs of men. Whether it's an invasion, an epidemic or, as the Bible says, the outcome of a dice roll. God's plans are bigger and more comprehensive than we can imagine. We never have to wonder if he's there or if he's in control. He is.God is not only in control but he's working out all things for his glory and our good: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28Because of this, God commands us not to strive for and worship the things unbelievers do but to rest in his sovereign goodness and care: And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. - Luke 12:29-31Read the Word of God, meditate on it, hide it in your heart. People talk about stockpiling food and medicine for times like this but more important than that we need to stockpile the scriptures in our hearts and minds. Tim Challies points out that

The center of OT worship was the tabernacle and later the temple. The center of NT worship is the Word of God. The Lord gives us accounts like the one we looked at today to help us with perspective in troubled times. He sets the small, time-bound worries of a man like Ahaz against the backdrop of his eternal plan of redemption so that we can see such things for what they are and can, then, as the hymn writer says the things of this world will "grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace."

If you're hearing this today and you don't know Christ, God is being gracious to you as he was to Ahaz. He's revealing himself to you and calling you to trust him. Don't throw it back in his face like Ahaz did. Repent and believe the Gospel.