Easter Devotional - Day 16
"After a while the people of Joshua's generation died, and the next generation did not know Yahweh or any of the things he had done for Israel. Yahweh had brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they had worshiped him. But now the Israelites stopped worshiping Yahweh and worshiped the idols of Ba'al and Astarte, as well as the idols of other gods from nearby nations. Yahweh was so angry..." Judges 2:10-13
This was a recurring theme among the Hebrews. A generation would be faithful under the lead of a prophet. The next generation seemed to forget Yahweh altogether. Even within Moses' generation, worship of Yahweh was at best tenuous. Joshua fought to keep the people on track of following Yahweh, but in his final speech before death, he still considered them an idolatrous nation. Yahweh would lead them in victory over their enemies, free them from oppression, and provide for their needs, only to have the people forget all about Yahweh. They would be distracted by the closest idol and revert back to idolatry and fertility cults.
Yahweh's chosen people just were not that special in so many ways. At heart they were idolatrous and invested in their personal issues. They were not focused on worshiping God. Yahweh had brought them out of Egypt, but it would seem that since the days of Abraham, it was idolatry that had reigned among them rather than serving Yahweh. They looked around at the worship of the nations and modeled their lives after them, seemingly oblivious to the will of Yahweh.
The generation after Joshua had heard accounts of God leading them into Canaan, but the stories had not become part of their own experience. They were stories about some other generation, some other group of people, some other experience far removed from the issues on their radar. They were more concerned with learning from the peoples in their midst than serving Yahweh in faithfulness.
In one sense, worshiping idols was related to the science of the day. The people believed that there were certain ritual practices that should be observed in order for the gods to cause seeds to sprout, crops to grow, and rain to fall. Participation in fertility cults was part of the agricultural technology of the day—a technology they were learning from the Canaanites. As the pilgrims of New England learned to bury fish with their seed crops from the Native Americans, the Hebrews learned agriculture from their neighbors. They learned to offer sacrifices to Ba'al and participate in the fertility rites of the nations as they took to agriculture for the first time.
They brushed aside the command to have no idols in their lives. They ignored Yahweh's insistence on being the only God worthy of their worship. They figured they would do better learning to live in Canaan from the Canaanites than from the priests at Yahweh's tabernacle. The stories of days gone by were fine, but they were living a new reality. They were concerned to make it in their new reality according to the pattern established all around them. It was the way things were done in Canaan. It was the way they assumed life must go forward. How often do we likewise fail to learn from God and look to the ways of an unrighteous world which surrounds us?
Look back over what God has done in your life and in the live of believers who have shaped your faith. Determine where your plans and actions flow from God's design or other influences.
"Lord, help me to fix my faith and direction on you, instead of following to a worldly society."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
This was a recurring theme among the Hebrews. A generation would be faithful under the lead of a prophet. The next generation seemed to forget Yahweh altogether. Even within Moses' generation, worship of Yahweh was at best tenuous. Joshua fought to keep the people on track of following Yahweh, but in his final speech before death, he still considered them an idolatrous nation. Yahweh would lead them in victory over their enemies, free them from oppression, and provide for their needs, only to have the people forget all about Yahweh. They would be distracted by the closest idol and revert back to idolatry and fertility cults.
Yahweh's chosen people just were not that special in so many ways. At heart they were idolatrous and invested in their personal issues. They were not focused on worshiping God. Yahweh had brought them out of Egypt, but it would seem that since the days of Abraham, it was idolatry that had reigned among them rather than serving Yahweh. They looked around at the worship of the nations and modeled their lives after them, seemingly oblivious to the will of Yahweh.
The generation after Joshua had heard accounts of God leading them into Canaan, but the stories had not become part of their own experience. They were stories about some other generation, some other group of people, some other experience far removed from the issues on their radar. They were more concerned with learning from the peoples in their midst than serving Yahweh in faithfulness.
In one sense, worshiping idols was related to the science of the day. The people believed that there were certain ritual practices that should be observed in order for the gods to cause seeds to sprout, crops to grow, and rain to fall. Participation in fertility cults was part of the agricultural technology of the day—a technology they were learning from the Canaanites. As the pilgrims of New England learned to bury fish with their seed crops from the Native Americans, the Hebrews learned agriculture from their neighbors. They learned to offer sacrifices to Ba'al and participate in the fertility rites of the nations as they took to agriculture for the first time.
They brushed aside the command to have no idols in their lives. They ignored Yahweh's insistence on being the only God worthy of their worship. They figured they would do better learning to live in Canaan from the Canaanites than from the priests at Yahweh's tabernacle. The stories of days gone by were fine, but they were living a new reality. They were concerned to make it in their new reality according to the pattern established all around them. It was the way things were done in Canaan. It was the way they assumed life must go forward. How often do we likewise fail to learn from God and look to the ways of an unrighteous world which surrounds us?
Look back over what God has done in your life and in the live of believers who have shaped your faith. Determine where your plans and actions flow from God's design or other influences.
"Lord, help me to fix my faith and direction on you, instead of following to a worldly society."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
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