Easter Devotional - Day 30
"So Yahweh made sure that every prophet warned Israel and Judah with these words: 'I, Yahweh, command you to stop doing sinful things and start obeying my laws and teachings! I gave them to your ancestors, and I told my servants the prophets to repeat them to you.' But the Israelites would not listen; they were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to worship Yahweh their God." 2 Kings 17:13-14
"Start obeying..." That nuance of the prophetic message seems strange. Most other translations cast the words differently, but this is their import. Surely, there had been obedience to Yahweh. The people were obeying at least in part. There was enough obedience to Yahweh over the generations for the prophets to encounter some knowledge of God and some summary of Yahweh's will. The nation was at least aware of the overall structure of God's will for their lives. It would seem from the narrator's perspective, however, that the problems ran much deeper. There was perhaps even plenty of lip service to worshiping Yahweh, but little in terms of substance.
They were still worshipping other gods. They were still bogged down in idolatry and the customs of their neighbors involved in fertility cults. They held onto the name of Yahweh while they also worshipped at the altars of Ba'al, Asherah, and Molech. It was not that they ignored Yahweh as God of Israel. It was the fact that their allegiance to Yahweh was mingled with their worship of competing gods, and the rites and rituals of fertility cults. In essence, however, it boiled down to the issue that they had not begun to worship Yahweh in accord with God's design.
Yahweh as the only God for Israel was the first of the commandments. It was also the second and third. They had taken the name of Yahweh, but they were not living according to the implications of that name. To begin worshiping Yahweh, they had to take the first step of putting away all other allegiances which interfered with the worship of Yahweh, the only God for Israel.
The narrator of Kings placed the blame for the deportation and exile upon this constant neglect for Yahweh and the consistent seeking after the idols of the nations. The idolatry of Jeroboam became a plague that visited most of the subsequent generations of Israel.
The problem was that they wanted the blessings of being the people of Yahweh without accepting the responsibilities of being the people of Yahweh. They wanted God's protection, but they wanted the control over their lives, harvests, and wealth that the fertility cults offered.
Through participation in the fertility cults, they could control the procreation of their herds, the germination of their seeds, the brining of rain. That is, at least, what they were designed to do. They were a way to increase wealth and control over the inhospitable or capricious forces of nature. Yahweh was too great a God to bend and bow to the will of a people. The lesser gods of fertility cults, however, were closer to their beck and call. Here they had a chance to control them and gain power over their lives. Yahweh would be in the background for when they needed more than the fertility cults offered. True worship of Yahweh required a very different commitment than they were willing to accept.
Take stock of competing allegiances in your life and place them in submission to Christ Jesus.
"Lord, help me to begin to serve you in full allegiance, not simply in name or convenience."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
My latest books can be found here on amazon
"Start obeying..." That nuance of the prophetic message seems strange. Most other translations cast the words differently, but this is their import. Surely, there had been obedience to Yahweh. The people were obeying at least in part. There was enough obedience to Yahweh over the generations for the prophets to encounter some knowledge of God and some summary of Yahweh's will. The nation was at least aware of the overall structure of God's will for their lives. It would seem from the narrator's perspective, however, that the problems ran much deeper. There was perhaps even plenty of lip service to worshiping Yahweh, but little in terms of substance.
They were still worshipping other gods. They were still bogged down in idolatry and the customs of their neighbors involved in fertility cults. They held onto the name of Yahweh while they also worshipped at the altars of Ba'al, Asherah, and Molech. It was not that they ignored Yahweh as God of Israel. It was the fact that their allegiance to Yahweh was mingled with their worship of competing gods, and the rites and rituals of fertility cults. In essence, however, it boiled down to the issue that they had not begun to worship Yahweh in accord with God's design.
Yahweh as the only God for Israel was the first of the commandments. It was also the second and third. They had taken the name of Yahweh, but they were not living according to the implications of that name. To begin worshiping Yahweh, they had to take the first step of putting away all other allegiances which interfered with the worship of Yahweh, the only God for Israel.
The narrator of Kings placed the blame for the deportation and exile upon this constant neglect for Yahweh and the consistent seeking after the idols of the nations. The idolatry of Jeroboam became a plague that visited most of the subsequent generations of Israel.
The problem was that they wanted the blessings of being the people of Yahweh without accepting the responsibilities of being the people of Yahweh. They wanted God's protection, but they wanted the control over their lives, harvests, and wealth that the fertility cults offered.
Through participation in the fertility cults, they could control the procreation of their herds, the germination of their seeds, the brining of rain. That is, at least, what they were designed to do. They were a way to increase wealth and control over the inhospitable or capricious forces of nature. Yahweh was too great a God to bend and bow to the will of a people. The lesser gods of fertility cults, however, were closer to their beck and call. Here they had a chance to control them and gain power over their lives. Yahweh would be in the background for when they needed more than the fertility cults offered. True worship of Yahweh required a very different commitment than they were willing to accept.
Take stock of competing allegiances in your life and place them in submission to Christ Jesus.
"Lord, help me to begin to serve you in full allegiance, not simply in name or convenience."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
My latest books can be found here on amazon
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