Idolatry (Again)


1 Kings 9:1-9
1 As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build,
2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
4 And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules,
5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
6 But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,
7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
8 And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’
9 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’ ”

Any student of the Old Testament will tell you that God has one issue that He brings up over and over again. That issue is idolatry. We’ve talked about it in this format before because a careful reading of the Word will bring it into the light on a regular basis. There’s a reason God has to continually bring it up; we have a deep seated propensity for running after other gods. It became a part of our DNA back in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and we still struggle with it today.

In our passage for today, we stand at the end of Solomon’s building program.

1 As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build,

The first 20 years of Solomon’s reign were consumed by building the Temple and his own palace. Those words at the end of the verse “desired to build” are important. That word desired goes deeper than simply something Solomon just wanted to do. The Hebrew for this phrase indicates a passionate burning to for something (or someone). Building these two houses went deeper than just something to do. Solomon was passionate to complete the projects. So, God allows and even blesses the efforts and when Solomon is done, they are spectacular. Now, God meets with Solomon once again to remind him that the one thing that will bring down this magnificent accomplishment is idolatry. And for Solomon, this is a valid warning, as he had a proclivity for foreign women who all brought their “gods” with them into Israel. Sadly, Solomon allows this and it spells disaster for the kingdom.

We cannot look at Solomon or the Children of Israel and shake our heads at their blatant disobedience of God’s command to have no other gods for we share the same problem. Idolatry still remains our greatest problem 3,000 years later. It is present deep within our souls and if we are wise, we will be on the constant lookout for those things that will draw us away from God. Sure, we don’t bow down to idols of gold or stone. No, we bow down to money, worry, jobs, other people . . . the list is infinitely long. Each of us must look inside and see what captures our imagination or ignites our passions and hold that thing up to the light of a holy God. Which do we love more, God or our passions? What gets more of our time and resources? Where does idolatry rear its ugly head in our lives? We’ve talked about this before and we’ll talk about it again. If God feels the need to bring it up with frequency, then perhaps we need to think about it frequently.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more