Idolatry

I hope you are all interested in idolatry because that it what we are going to get – or at least a flavoring of it Here we get why Jerusalem is punished .. remember chap 1-24 are oracles of judgment against Judah.. this is the main focus of the exile .. so let’s read these few verses

Ezekiel 6 ESV

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever you dwell, the cities shall be waste and the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined, your idols broken and destroyed, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord. “Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. And they shall know that I am the Lord. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.” Thus says the Lord God: “Clap your hands and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. Thus I will spend my fury upon them. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate and waste, in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to Riblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Some of this I will reserve comment until later chapters where it is clearer, we know the devastation … and there is the idea of the remnant … but we are dealing with idolatry .. the designations we just read are all over Leviticus and in fact Leviticus 26: 14-33 tells the nation what will happen if they apostate

Promised Land

The promised land was conditional on NOT worshipping other gods; the covenant, but I will keep a remnant to keep the promise; but the land is conditional and we have forgotten that in US protestant movements.. remember Isreal the 10 are gone at this point, and now Judah is exiled..

So… some terms …

High Places and Incense Altars

This is more style than mountain .. elevated stands, platforms going up…

Incense Altars.. translated other places like Lev 26: 30 as idols …

These are the two main terms today

High places were where incense was burned and sacrifices made..

We have to remember the book of Judges .. Isrealites did not eliminate the Anakim, the giants … and they fled to Phlistine.

But when they enter the Land they don’t have a central place to worship as they disperse

So they all do what is right in their eyes

You have high places throughout the land .. some for Yahweh – others not..and they continue … hard to change things … look at columns ..but once temple built should change

Yet look at this text

1 Kings 11:7 ESV

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.

2 Kings 23:13 ESV

And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

Two of the worst … Molech (burned first born) and Chemosh right there by Jerusalem .. accommodation that is the apostasy

Incense Altars

Still there, most kings just left them alone … the prophets are ticked off about these things; they are ritual worship == false worship … some of the Hebrews words are muddled since they came to be known as the same thing and it causes some understanding issues

As we get further into the Book Ezekiel is fond of graphic language .. and the translaters have often cleaned it up ..

The feces is really a more common word///

He writes more than any about unclean

Leviticus 26:30 ESV

And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you.

Cast on the stela of your idols … the phallic symbol.. it’s going to be more graphic later

So...

We are going to have some 20 more chapters that shows Yahweh really does care about idol worship and he does not accept other rival gods or blending.. etc etc

what can be an idol today? A good thing made a god thing

all to heaven

Other religions in worship

My interpretation ...

Modern World

from Bastille to fall of Berlin Wall — reason ruled..

etc— it is an idol.... postmodernism, paganism, gnosticism … post secular not atheist… this is important it bleeds into our churches … and look at Ezekiel .. god does not want idols