Abstain from Idols

I. Verse: 2 Kings 17:5-20

II. Old Testament Israel and Idolatry

1. Commandment
2. Exodus 20:1-6 – Ten Commandments
3. Deuteronomy 4:15-19 – Do not make images to worship as God
4. Failure to keep the commandments
5. Exodus 32:1-4 – Shortly after God’s pronouncement, the people are building idols
6. “There is ever in the human mind a craving for visible forms to express religious conceptions, and this tendency does not disappear with the acceptance, or even with the constant recognition, of pure spiritual truths.” (ISBE: “Idolatry”)
7. Frequently worshipped idols
8. Canaan
9. Baal
10. Chief male god; considered in Canaan as the sun god and called the lord of heaven
11. Worship involved sacrifice (sometime human), adoration, and burning incense.
12. Worship also involved sexual immorality and the sins of Baal Peor indicate sexual orgies, Numbers 25:1-5.
13. Most mentioned in the Old Testament as a problem for Israel
14. Astarte/Asherah/Ashteroth
15. Chief female goddess, equal with Baal, and brought to Canaan from Babylonia (Ishtar), and the Greek Aphrodite is borrowed from this origin as well (ISBE)
16. Babylon/Assyria – wife of Tammuz (whom we’ll examine later)
17. Was the goddess of love and in Babylon/Assyria, war (not goddess of war in Canaan)
18. Canaan Astarte worship portrayed her primarily as the female accompaniment to Baal and she was considered the moon goddess.
19. Though not practiced in Assyria, in Babylon worship to Astarte involved having sexual relations with temple prostitutes with men and women participating.
20. This practice was imported into the Canaanite worship
21. Condemned In Deuteronomy 23:17-18

A. Molech/Milcom (Ammonite)

B. Child sacrifice associated with him: Leviticus 18:21; 2 Kings 23:10

C. Rabbi Rashi (12th century)” Tophet is Moloch, which was made of brass; and they heated him from his lower parts; and his hands being stretched out, and made hot, they put the child between his hands, and it was burnt; when it vehemently cried out; but the priests beat a drum, that the father might not hear the voice of his son, and his heart might not be moved.” (Wikipedia)

D. Chemosh (Moabite)

E. Similar to Molech and sometimes mentioned with him.

F. 2 Kings 3:27 – Moabite king offers son as a blood sacrifice

G. Assyrian/Babylonian

H. Tammuz

I. Babylon/Assyria – husband of Astarte and represented the life/death/rebirth cycle depicted in the seasons

J. Feast involved mourning his death as one looked towards the coming of winter

K. Zodiac/hosts of heaven

L. Gods of Egypt: Ezekiel 20:7-8

M. Worship of Jehovah God as an idol: calves of Jereboam

N. Teraphim (household idols)

O. Small carved idols that could be in the house or displayed

P. Often used for divination (getting answers to questions) and the ISBE suggests that in ancient cultures may have been mummified human heads originally then later rude images of heads

Q. Practice

R. Worship often included bringing sacrifices, bowing before and calling out to gods, and feasting.

S. Isaiah 8:19 – magic, sorcery, and fortunetelling

T. Sexuality

U. The “pillar” often described in the Old Testament as part of Canaanite idolatry, was representative of male sexuality and symbolically the procreation of life and power by force.

V. Baal was identified closely with male sexuality and fertility

W. Amos 2:7-8 – sexual relations and drunkenness

X. Psalm 106:34-39 – Some worship involved human sacrifice

Y. Ezekiel 8:5-18 – Abominations in the temple

Z. Foolishness

A. Psalm 115:4-8 – they have human features but no senses

B. Isaiah 44:9-20 – serve part of the material and use part of it for their comfort

C. Isaiah 46:1-14 – They carry idols but God carried them

D. Jeremiah 10:1-10 – Idols are as useful as a scarecrow in a cucumber field

E. Romans 1:18-28 – arises out of a dark and debased mind

F. Condemnation

G. Deuteronomy 32:15-22; 28-31; 37-39 – Israel angered God with idolatry and punishment resulted

H. 2 Kings 17:5-20 – Punishment of Israel for their idolatry

I. 2 Chronicles 24:17-22 – Abandoned the temple to worship idols and killed prophets

J. Repentance

K. 1 Kings 15:9-14 – Reforms of Asa

L. 2 Kings 23:4-20 – Reforms of Josiah

M. Repentance involved renouncing the idols and destroying them completely

III. Modern idolatrous dangers: Mixing true worship of God with idolatry

1. Under the reign of Constantine, the Roman persecution of Christians stopped and Christianity became the official religion of the empire.
2. Many converted to Christianity because it was fashionable but retained their pagan practices.
3. In an attempt to convert the barbarian nations, particularly the Germanic people, well meaning Christians tried to adopt the pagan practices to the Christian worship.
4. This contrasts to the work of Paul who, when he addressed the idolatrous people at the Areopagus in Acts 17, told the people to repent of their idolatry and serve the one true God.
5. The mix of idolatry and Christianity was disastrous.
6. Instead of leading people to a pure spiritual religion delivered by Jesus and His inspired apostles, it became a physical worldly religion.
7. Instead of converting the idolatrous to Christ, they made the church more idolatrous.
8. They replaced pagan idols with statues of Jesus, the apostles, and venerated saints. As the idols represented various occupations and pursuits, such as farming, hunting, and business, the saints would now have patronage over these things.
9. They also adopted the pagan festivals, giving them a “Christian” meaning.
10. One of the most celebrated feasts was the feast for Ostara, the goddess of the morning light, or the sun’s return in the spring.
11. The celebration of life returning from death, spring arising from winter, seemed appropriate to adapt to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
12. The new Easter celebration combined the resurrection of Christ with the symbolism of the fertility festivals.
13. These symbols included baby chicks (new life), rabbits (well known for their breeding capability), and eggs, the ultimate symbol of new birth.
14. If one wants to celebrate Easter as a religious holiday, he must remember that the festival arose from the mind of man, not the mind of God.
15. Modern idolatrous dangers: Idolatrous materialism
16. Ephesians 5:5/Colossians 3:5 – Covetousness is defined as a form of idolatry
17. Matthew 6:24 – cannot serve God and mammon (riches) for you will serve one and despise the other
18. Covetousness can be compared to idolatry because something becomes the object of our love and worship that doesn’t deserve that reverence.
19. When we allow the things of this world to take priority over our service to God, we can be considered idolatrous.
20. It is deceptive because someone may think they are serving God but their focus is on material things and their decisions reflect more on their desire for material comfort or gain than serving God.
21. How we spend our time and where we focus our money and time reflects what is truly rules us.
22. One does not have to be wealthy; indeed, some may not have much materially but serve mammon.
23. Modern idolatrous dangers: Creating God in our own image
24. Creating a god out of our ignorance of Him
25. Dan Shipley: “Even among His professed friends this god is pictured as one who sometimes robs parents of infant children or otherwise brings tragedies to our loved ones. This is not the God of the Bible! It is contrary to His very nature. Because God will not directly intervene to counteract the free moral agency of man or His own eternal laws (called the laws of nature), He is foolishly charged with much evil. God will not force parents to keep their children from playing on busy streets any more than He will keep a man from getting drunk. Why, then, is God blamed when the drunk runs down the child in the street?”
26. We must be careful attributing things to God unless we know for sure from the scriptures what God does or does not do.
27. Creating a god out our wishful thinking
28. Some make an image of God to fit their social cause
29. Some web sites claim that Jesus was a vegetarian and came to urge men to quit eating meat
30. Some claim Jesus came to Earth to bring about economic and racial equality as His main goal.
31. Some make an image of God to fit their own religious views
32. God who does not judge or punish wickedness or any false religious worship
33. Many want a God who doesn’t care about right and wrong; He just accepts everything.
34. Many churches that claim to follow Christ focus more on appealing to the sensual desires of men in the name of reaching their spiritual side, and thus mimic the sensual idol worship.
35. Acts 20:29-30 – Men will arise speaking perverse things
36. 2 Peter 2:1-3; 10-16 – Teach religion that embraces sensuality and immorality
37. Many mainline denominations will not teach strongly against drinking, premarital sex, or other immoral behaviors or indicate that God will not condemn these behaviors.
38. Many advocate divorce and remarriage for any reason thus endorsing adultery.

IV. It is still foolish to fall down before gods made in the imaginations of men. We must know the true God and worship Him alone.