​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Introduction

Having just finished my latest paper on war, I noted the frequent references to idol worship in that context. Consequently it occurred to me that, in all the years I have spent in developing this website, I had not already explicitly covered this massively important latter topic as an earlier piece of research. Well, I think I had better put that right in this current paper. In that regard, I found myself asking if the following scripture is a message for me albeit taken out of the context of the surrounding verses (I hope!).

19 I know thy works, and thy love and faith and ministry and patience, and that thy last works are more than the first. (Revelation 2 ASV)

As anyone who is familiar with the True Bible Code website will know, we have consistently got our end-times chronology wrong (check out Understanding 101 - The Master Chronology of God's people from Adam to Armageddon). Now whilst I do not live my life according to that chronology, given the current parlous state of world events there is little doubt in my mind that we are now getting very close to the great tribulation and the rapture of the faithful. Consequently, I have asked myself regularly over the last few months whether the paper that I am then currently writing will be my last in this system of things. Given my opening comments on this particular paper, this seems rather more pointed an issue than on previous papers. Only time will tell. Amen.

 

The Commandments

As we saw in my War paper, God was very explicit about His extreme antipathy towards the worshipping of false idols by the children of Israel or any other nation for that matter. Idols in this context were described as physical images  built by the hand of mankind:

4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am Jehovah your God. (Leviticus 19 ASV)

1 You shall not make idols to yourselves; and you shall not set up for yourselves graven images, or a memorial pillar. And you shall not place any stone image in your land, to bow yourselves to it; for I [am] Jehovah your God. (Leviticus 26 GLT)

This is forcefully emphasised in the Book of Exodus where idolatrous images are likened to any physical object or creature. Also, Jehovah describes Himself as a jealous God that treats those who would worship idols with harsh justice. But why is Jehovah a jealous God? He knows that a full loving covenanted relationship between Him and his human children is the best way for us to live our lives so that He can fulfil His promises to us for the life to come:

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness [of any thing] that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them, for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, (Exodus 20 ASV)

23 You shall not make gods of silver along with Me, and you shall not make gods of gold for yourselves. (Exodus 20 GLT)

13 And in all things that I have said unto you take ye heed: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. (Exodus 23 ASV)

11 Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:
13 but ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their Asherim;
14 for thou shalt worship no other god: for Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
15 lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot after their gods, and sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee and thou eat of his sacrifice;
16 and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters play the harlot after their gods, and make thy sons play the harlot after their gods.
17 Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. (Exodus 34 ASV)

Jehovah tells the Israelites to destroy the heathens’ idolatrous images and not to take any part of these things into their own possession thereby risking their own faithfulness to the one true God:

25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.
26 And thou shalt not bring an abomination into thy house, and become a devoted thing like unto it: thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing. (Deuteronomy 7 ASV)

Moses confirmed Jehovah’s commandments on idolatry. He starts off by telling the Israelites that God presented Himself to Moses without physical form thereby condemning the physical forms of all false idols. He lists those idolatrous forms as male or female, beasts of the land, birds in the air, creeping creatures on the ground, fish in water and the heavenly bodies. All these are images that one gentile nation or another would worship: 

14 And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of form on the day that Jehovah spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in the heavens,
18 the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;
19 and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven. (Deuteronomy 4 ASV)

And just in case of any doubt, Jehovah tells Moses that there is no other god but Him:

35 Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that Jehovah he is God; there is none else besides him.
36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he made thee to see his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt;
38 to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as at this day.
39 Know therefore this day, and lay it to thy heart, that Jehovah he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath; there is none else. (Deuteronomy 4 ASV)

And not to make and bow down to any graven image:

7 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
8 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, [nor] any likeness [of anything] that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
9 thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me; (Deuteronomy 5 ASV)

Any of those who would entice his fellow Israelite to follow after false gods would be harshly dealt with:

6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, that is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
7 of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
8 thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
9 but thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
10 And thou shalt stone him to death with stones, because he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do not more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee.
12 If thou shalt hear tell concerning one of thy cities, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to dwell there, saying,
13 Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of thee, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;
14 then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in the midst of thee,
15 thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. (Deuteronomy 13 ASV)

The book of Deuteronomy goes on to curse those that would build and/or worship idolatrous images:

15 Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination unto Jehovah, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and setteth it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. (Deuteronomy 27 ASV)

God rejected Saul as King of Israel for not following His instructions to the letter by destroying everything of the Amalekites. Through His Prophet Samuel, He equated Saul’s rebellion and stubbornness as serious a crime against Jehovah as witchcraft and idolatry respectively. This further confirms the severity with which God treats idolatry:

23 For rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from [being] king. (1 Samuel 15 KJV)

Christ Himself quoted the above commandments back to Satan upon his tempting Jesus to worship him. In this sense Satan was offering himself up to be like a graven image to be worshipped as a substitute for Jehovah. Given all the foregoing, I would not want to be in Satan’s shoes come judgement day:

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matthew 4 KJV)
 

 

The Nature of Idol Worship

David had some very telling things to say about the gentile nations and their pre-disposition to worship idols. Idol worshippers seem to need something physically tangible such as statues. They do not seem to be able to connect to the spiritual reality that they cannot observe physically.

Their idols were often made from precious metals, as if that would add to their divine potency! David observes that the idols were manmade, whereas man was created by Jehovah God. David also observes that the idols were incapable of any of mankind’s attributes and were therefore incapable of any divine intervention. This is unlike our true God who is clearly a sentient being.

However, there is one thing in common across all of mankind, whether we are believers in God or not, and that is the need to believe in something outside of ourselves. In our hearts we all know that we have been placed on this earth outside of our own volition by some universal personage or force. Unfortunately, most of us either ignore the fact or put something tangible in its place so they feel they do not need to face the reality of life. It is clear, however, that Jehovah is the only uncreated God, the only one with real power and is the creator of all we see about us. This message is proclaimed by Ezra and is in many of David’s Psalms:

23 Sing to Jehovah, all the earth, proclaim His salvation from day to day.
24 Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all the peoples.
25 For great [is] Jehovah, and greatly to be praised; and He [is] to be feared above all gods.
26 All gods of the peoples [are] nothings; yea, Jehovah has made the heavens. (1 Chronicles 16 GLT)

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied [that] hasten [after] another [god]: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. (Psalms 16 KJV)

4 For great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised: He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols; But Jehovah made the heavens. (Psalms 96 ASV)

2 Wherefore should the nations say, Where is now their God?
3 But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever he pleased.
4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands.
5 They have mouths, but they speak not; Eyes have they, but they see not;
6 They have ears, but they hear not; Noses have they, but they smell not;
7 They have hands, but they handle not; Feet have they, but they walk not; Neither speak they through their throat.
8 They that make them shall be like unto them; Yea, every one that trusteth in them. (Psalms 115 ASV)

15 The idols of the heathen [are] silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
16 They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
17 They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there [any] breath in their mouths.
18 They that make them are like unto them: [so is] every one that trusteth in them. (Psalms 135 KJV)

God confirms all this in speaking to the children of Israel through His Prophet Isaiah. Jehovah confirms that He knows of no god beside Himself and that graven images are of no value to their worshippers. He condemns the workmen that fashion these idolatrous images as well as those that offer sacrifices to them:

8 I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images. (Isaiah 42 ASV)

17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye [are] our gods. (Isaiah 42 KJV)

8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not declared unto thee of old, and showed it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.
9 They that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses see not, nor know: that they may be put to shame.
10 Who hath fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing?
11 Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame; and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; they shall fear, they shall be put to shame together.
12 The smith [maketh] an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretcheth out a line; he marketh it out with a pencil; he shapeth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compasses, and shapeth it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the holm-tree and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the forest: he planteth a fir-tree, and the rain doth nourish it.
15 Then shall it be for a man to burn; and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread: yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire.
17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth down unto it and worshippeth, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
18 They know not, neither do they consider: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
19 And none calleth to mind, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
20 He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside; and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? (Isaiah 44 ASV)

18 For so says Jehovah, Creator of the heavens; He [is] God, forming the earth and making it; He makes it stand, not creating it empty, [but] forming it to be lived in. I [am] Jehovah, and [there is] none else.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I did not say to Jacob's seed, Seek Me in vain. I Jehovah speak righteousness, declaring right things.
20 Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, escaped ones of the nations; the ones who set up the wood of their carved image, and the ones who pray to a god who cannot save; they know nothing.
21 Declare and bring near; yea, let them consult together. Who has revealed this of old; [who] has told it from then? Is it not I, Jehovah? And there [is] no God other than Me; a just God and a Savior; [there is] none except Me.
22 Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I [am] God, and there [is] no other. (Isaiah 45 GLT)

We get a similar, albeit briefer, message from the Prophet Habakkuk:

18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it [is] laid over with gold and silver, and [there is] no breath at all in the midst of it. (Habakkuk 2 KJV)

And yet more of God’s Word again through His prophet Isaiah. This time He makes specific comment against the false Babylonian god Bel, who was worshipped in the tower of Babel, and Nebo, the planet Mercury worshipped as the celestial scribe by the Chaldeans. Here Jehovah compares these idol images as being carried upon beasts of burden with Himself who does the carrying of His people Israel. The idols cannot help their people. Once again Jehovah confirms Himself as the only True God:

1 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary [beast].
2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.
3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne [by me] from their birth, that have been carried from the womb;
4 and even to old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs will I carry [you]; I have made, and I will bear; yea, I will carry, and will deliver.
5 To whom will ye like me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
6 Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god; they fall down, yea, they worship.
7 They bear it upon the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it standeth, from its place shall it not remove: yea, one may cry unto it, yet can it not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
8 Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; [I am] God, and there is none like me; (Isaiah 46 ASV)

And God speaks in similar vein through His Prophet Jeremiah:

2 thus saith Jehovah, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5 They are like a palm-tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.
6 There is none like unto thee, O Jehovah; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
7 Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? for to thee doth it appertain; forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like unto thee.
8 But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.
9 There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skilful men.
10 But Jehovah is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.
11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.
12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens:
13 when he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.
14 Every man is become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
15 They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. (Jeremiah 10 ASV)

Paul presents a similar but somewhat different perspective on idolatry in his letter to the Roman congregation. Here he is explicit in mankind’s deliberate ignoring of God’s creation and their creation of idolatrous images of man and beast as a poor substitute. He also identifies the unlawful carnal lusts of man as a form of idolatry in effectively worshipping the Fleshly Desire of the human body:

19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed [it] unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. (Romans 1 KJV) 

 

Teraphim
We have a couple of strange tales from the scriptures in which the wives of two of our Patriarchs demonstrate unusual behaviours with teraphims aka idolatrous images. First off, we have the account of Rachel’s stealing of her father Laban’s teraphim. Laban was the brother of Isaac’s wife Rebecca and thereby was Jacob’s uncle on his mother’s side:

20 And Isaac was a son of forty years when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Padan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to him for a wife. (Genesis 25 GLT)

5 And Isaac sent away Jacob. And he went to Padan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. (Genesis 28 GLT)

As an Aramean (or Syrian), it is not clear to me if Laban worshipped Jehovah, given the close relationship to Isaac’s family, but he clearly recognised the existence and power of Jehovah:

27 And Laban said unto him, If now I have found favor in thine eyes, [tarry]: [for] I have divined that Jehovah hath blessed me for thy sake. (Genesis 30 ASV)

God ordered Jacob to leave Laban’s employ. When he told his wives that he intended to return to his people, they were concerned that they would get no inheritance from their father, Laban:

13 I [am] the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, [and] where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.
14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, [Is there] yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?
15 Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.
16 For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that [is] ours, and our children's: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. (Genesis 31 KJV)

From the previous scripture we can see that Jacob’s wives accepted that Jacob should do what God required of him. However, they were concerned that they would lose their inheritance from their father, Laban. Consequently, prior to their leaving, Rachel stole Laban’s household idols. From this it seems that would not be for the purpose of worshipping them but would be of material value in lieu of their lost inheritance:

19 And Laban went to shear his sheep. And Rachel stole the household idols which were her father's. (Genesis 31 GLT)

When he discovered the loss of Jacob’s household and his idols, Laban chased after Jacob and challenged him on both counts. Jacob was unaware of Rachel’s theft of the idols so invited Laban to search his household goods for the stolen teraphim. Rachel had hidden the idols in a camel’s saddle and sat upon it. Laban carried out a search but missed out the saddle since Rachel told him she was having her period and consequently did not want to get up. So, Laban did not find his missing idols:

30 And now, [though] thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father's house, [yet] wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? (ASV)
30 וְעַתָּה הָלֹךְ הָלַכְתָּ, כִּי-נִכְסֹף נִכְסַפְתָּה לְבֵית אָבִיךָ; לָמָּה גָנַבְתָּ, אֶת-אֱלֹהָי.(MM)
31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force. (ASV)
31 וַיַּעַן יַעֲקֹב, וַיֹּאמֶר לְלָבָן:  כִּי יָרֵאתִי--כִּי אָמַרְתִּי, פֶּן-תִּגְזֹל אֶת-בְּנוֹתֶיךָ מֵעִמִּי.(MM)
32 With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live: before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. (ASV)
32 עִם אֲשֶׁר תִּמְצָא אֶת-אֱלֹהֶיךָ, לֹא יִחְיֶה--נֶגֶד אַחֵינוּ הַכֶּר-לְךָ מָה עִמָּדִי, וְקַח-לָךְ; וְלֹא-יָדַע יַעֲקֹב, כִּי רָחֵל גְּנָבָתַם.(MM)
33 And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. (ASV)
33 וַיָּבֹא לָבָן בְּאֹהֶל יַעֲקֹב וּבְאֹהֶל לֵאָה, וּבְאֹהֶל שְׁתֵּי הָאֲמָהֹת--וְלֹא מָצָא; וַיֵּצֵא מֵאֹהֶל לֵאָה, וַיָּבֹא בְּאֹהֶל רָחֵל.(MM)
34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel's saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but found them not. (ASV)
34 וְרָחֵל לָקְחָה אֶת-הַתְּרָפִים, וַתְּשִׂמֵם בְּכַר הַגָּמָל--וַתֵּשֶׁב עֲלֵיהֶם; וַיְמַשֵּׁשׁ לָבָן אֶת-כָּל-הָאֹהֶל, וְלֹא מָצָא. (MM)
35 And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee; for the manner of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the teraphim. (Genesis 31 ASV)
35 וַתֹּאמֶר אֶל-אָבִיהָ, אַל-יִחַר בְּעֵינֵי אֲדֹנִי, כִּי לוֹא אוּכַל לָקוּם מִפָּנֶיךָ, כִּי-דֶרֶךְ נָשִׁים לִי; וַיְחַפֵּשׂ, וְלֹא מָצָא אֶת-הַתְּרָפִים.(Genesis 31 MM)​​

This account raises several explicitly unanswered questions so let us try to extract the truth of the matter from what we do have. Rachel stole the images as recompense for her lost inheritance. So, the only conclusion we can realistically come to is that they were made of precious metals and therefore had a high material value. I cannot believe that Rachel stole them for any idol-worshipping purpose as I indicated previously.

The other question is what purpose they served in Laban’s household prior to their theft. If they were used for idol worship, then we are not told this and, since God is fiercely opposed to such practices, I cannot believe that He would have allowed such a close connection between His patriarchal line and a family of idol worshippers. Also, we are not told of these practices in Laban’s household but ARE told of Laban’s belief in the power of Jehovah as previously identified. However, notwithstanding this argument, if we look at verses 30 and 32 above, both Laban and Jacob refer to the teraphim as 'gods'. I reproduced the Hebrew text for the above verses to check the voracity of the translation. 'Gods' was correctly translated from the Hebrew 'אֱלֹהָי'. I have to say that the use of this word is clearly no accident and would seem to indicate that Laban did perhaps use them for idolatrous worship. 

In terms of Laban’s overall treatment of Jacob whilst in his employ, it becomes clear that Laban appears to be driven by his material wealth. So again, I believe that these idols were items of high material value. To my mind this would adequately explain Laban’s chasing after them rather than any idolatrous context. Overall, I have to say that it is not made clear to my mind whether or not Laban actually practised idol worship with his teraphim. Overall this account would seem to indicate their material rather than idolatrous value. Either way, this all occurred to prior to Moses' receiving of the Law from Jehovah so there was no breakage of the second commandment which had yet to be given.

The attorney for the defence rests his case; if anyone knows of any further scriptures that may throw a different light on this account, I should be very pleased to hear from you. Meanwhile, I have to say that I find the fact that teraphim are mentioned at all in this account as somewhat strange. Laban could have had his precious goods in the form of jewellery, coins, rings or amulets. Perhaps his idols were handed down to him from his forebears who practiced idol worship? And let us not forget that that even Abraham followed other gods before getting his calling from Jehovah, and this was clearly not held against him:

2 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods. (Joshua 24 ASV)

The second strange tale of teraphim relates to Michal’s taking an idol and placing it in the bed to pretend that it was her husband David, who’s escape from Saul she attempted to hide:

11 And Saul sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to-night, to-morrow thou wilt be slain.
12 So Michal let David down through the window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.
13 And Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' [hair] at the head thereof, and covered it with the clothes.
14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.
15 And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.
16 And when the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' [hair] at the head thereof.
17 And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me thus, and let mine enemy go, so that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee? (1 Samuel 19 ASV)

Presumably the use of the teraphim was that it was a life-size image of a man so fulfilled the purpose of deception that Michal had planned to save David. But then why was a teraphim there at all in David’s house? Being life-size, I do not think that David did not know of its existence and for what purpose it would normally serve when not protecting his escape from his would-be killers. As for the previous example I have not found any totally acceptable explanation from any other bible commentators, so this will have to remain an unanswered question for me. If any of my readers know better, I should be very pleased to hear from you.

Now could the following account of Micah (not to be confused with the previous account of Michal) offer some form of explanation for the previous examples of the use of teraphim in the Hebrew patriarchal line? First off, Micah’s mother consecrated the making of a silver idolatrous image to Jehovah. While her heart was perhaps in the right place, she certainly showed a distinct lack of knowledge of the Law of Moses.

1 And there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
2 And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred [pieces] of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou didst utter a curse, and didst also speak it in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son of Jehovah.
3 And he restored the eleven hundred [pieces] of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I verily dedicate the silver unto Jehovah from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.
4 And when he restored the money unto his mother, his mother took two hundred [pieces] of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and it was in the house of Micah. (Judges 17 ASV)

This seems to be confirmed by the fact that Micah had a house full of idols and yet still consecrated his adopted son to be a priest, presumably to serve Jehovah. Mention is made that Israel had no king in those days, so the children of Israel did not seem to conform to the Law, making things up as they went. I am not too sure what Jehovah would have made of this behaviour, but we are not told of any serious punishment proceeding from Him in this account: 

5 And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
6 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17 ASV)

Moving on to the Book of Judges Chapter 18, we then find a force of 600 men at arms from the House of Dan, that came across the house of Micah. The spies that went before them discovered Micah’s teraphim as well as the priestly garment or ephod and decided to take them:

11 And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war. (Judges 18 KJV)

13 And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.
14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.
15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, [even] unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.
16 And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which [were] of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate.
17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, [and] came in thither, [and] took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men [that were] appointed with weapons of war.
18 And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye? (Judges 18 KJV)

Their next move was to ask Micah’s priestly son to go with them to be a priest to their tribe rather than just over Micah’s household. He willingly went with them complete with teraphim and ephod:

19 And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: [is it] better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?
20 And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people. (Judges 18 KJV)

So off they went, complete with teraphim and priest. However Micah, together with the people from his village, chased after them and complained that they had taken said teraphim and priest. Sounds a bit like Laban don’t you think? This time, however, the children of Dan threatened him with his household’s lives, upon which Micah returned to his village. Again it is noteworthy that Micah described his teraphim as correctly translated 'gods'. This time, however, it would seem that the teraphim did indeed play a part in his and the Danites prospective worship of Jehovah:

21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.
22 [And] when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that [were] in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.
23 And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?
24 And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what [is] this [that] ye say unto me, What aileth thee?
25 And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household.
26 And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they [were] too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house. (Judges 18 KJV)

The Danites set up a new city, on the ruins of one they destroyed, complete with teraphim and priesthood:

30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.
31 And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh. (Judges 18 KJV)

The only conclusion that I can come to, out of all of this, is that in the relatively Lawless times before Israel had a king, it was deemed as custom and practice to adopt teraphim in honour of Jehovah. This was clearly not the pure worship that Jehovah had sought from His people. However, He probably thought that this was better than sheer idol worship and was an inevitable outcome from Israel’s people being surrounded and influenced by all the idol worshipping nations around them. I think the Prophet Hosea pretty much confirms this state of play:

4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim:
5 afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and shall come with fear unto Jehovah and to his goodness in the latter days. (Hosea 3 ASV) 

 

Israel’s Idolatry

It was not only the gentile nations that tended towards idolatry. The very thing that God commanded His people not to do they did, surprisingly with Aaron’s consent. The children of Israel became impatient with the time that Moses spent on Mount Sinai collecting the tablets of the Law from Jehovah. Arguably they did not break the Law since they had not yet been given the Law at the point in time when they built the infamous golden calf. Also, Aaron used the calf to continue their worship of Jehovah notwithstanding Moses’ absence. Nonetheless this did not meet with Jehovah’s requirements of His people:

1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3 And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf: and they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw [this], he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow shall be a feast to Jehovah.
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, that thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8 they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed unto it, and said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
9 And Jehovah said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: (Exodus 32 ASV)

Towards the end of Moses' leadership of the children of Israel (aka Jeshurun) he tells his people of Jehovah's anger with their continued idol worship :

15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered [with fatness]; then he forsook God [which] made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange [gods], with abominations provoked they him to anger.
17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new [gods that] came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
18 Of the Rock [that] begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. (Deuteronomy 32 KJV)

Some time after Joshua took over the leadership, he reminds the Children of Israel that Abraham’s forebears served foreign gods before him and that later generations of Israel’s lineage did likewise. Joshua tells them that he will follow the ways of Jehovah and that those that do otherwise will face a jealous and unforgiving God. From the wording in these verses, there is little doubt that following after foreign idols is about the greatest sin one can imagine in God’s view:

2 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods. (Joshua 24 ASV)

14 Now therefore fear Jehovah, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt; and serve ye Jehovah.
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.
16 And the people answered and said, Far be it from us that we should forsake Jehovah, to serve other gods;
17 for Jehovah our God, he it is that brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and that did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed;
18 and Jehovah drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites that dwelt in the land: therefore we also will serve Jehovah; for he is our God.
19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve Jehovah; for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgression nor your sins.
20 If ye forsake Jehovah, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve Jehovah.
22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you Jehovah, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.
23 Now therefore put away, [said he], the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto Jehovah, the God of Israel. (Joshua 24 ASV)

Israel’s idolatry did not end with Joshua’s leadership:

6 And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and served the Baalim, and the Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook Jehovah, and served him not.
7 And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the children of Ammon.
8 And they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel that year: eighteen years [oppressed they] all the children of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.
9 And the children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.
10 And the children of Israel cried unto Jehovah, saying, We have sinned against thee, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baalim.
11 And Jehovah said unto the children of Israel, [Did] not [I save you] from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?
12 The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried unto me, and I saved you out of their hand.
13 Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will save you no more.
14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.
15 And the children of Israel said unto Jehovah, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; only deliver us, we pray thee, this day.
16 And they put away the foreign gods from among them, and served Jehovah; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. (Judges 10 ASV)

David recounts Israel’s misdeeds in his Psalms:

34 They did not destroy the peoples, As Jehovah commanded them,
35 But mingled themselves with the nations, And learned their works,
36 And served their idols, Which became a snare unto them.
37 Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons,
38 And shed innocent blood, Even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, Whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus were they defiled with their works, And played the harlot in their doings.
40 Therefore was the wrath of Jehovah kindled against his people, And he abhorred his inheritance. (Psalms 106 ASV)

Paul reminded the congregation at Corinth of these accounts of his forebears:

7 Neither be idolaters, even as some of them, as it has been written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play." [Ex. 32:6] (1 Corinthians 10 GLT)

God’s displeasure with, and punishment of, the children of Israel at their idolatrous behaviour was well documented by His Prophet Jeremiah who was later threatened by the people in his own village for his words against their idol worship:

15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith Jehovah; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. (Jeremiah 1 ASV)

9 And Jehovah said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; and they are gone after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
11 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and they shall cry unto me, but I will not hearken unto them.
12 Then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry unto the gods unto which they offer incense: but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
13 For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal. (Jeremiah 11 ASV)

The following three chapters of the Second Book of Kings demonstrates how Israel’s bad behaviour was influenced by the reign of different kings following that of David and Solomon. Below I reproduce the key verses from 2 Kings Chapters 21-23 for the sake of ‘relative’ brevity.

We start out with the reign of Manasseh. His was an evil reign that adopted the practices of the nations that Jehovah has previously rejected. He erected monuments for the false gods Baal and Asherah. He went so far as to build altars to these gods in the House of Jehovah. A more direct action against the worship of Jehovah I cannot imagine; Manasseh must have been responding to a direct assault from Satan. Perhaps this is best illustrated by the description that he built altars for all the host of heaven which could well have included Satan, amongst the other demons, and/or the sun , moon, stars and the planets in the sky. Apart from idol worship he also adopted all sorts of sorcery (check out my Witches paper) to anger Jehovah. It sounds as if Manasseh did more to enrage God than all the nations that God tried to protect Israel against:

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hephzibah.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, after the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
4 And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, whereof Jehovah said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah.
6 And he made his son to pass through the fire, and practised augury, and used enchantments, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
7 And he set the graven image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which Jehovah said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever;
8 neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
9 But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than did the nations whom Jehovah destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And Jehovah spake by his servants the prophets, saying,
11 Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, that were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols;
12 therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Behold, I bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. (2 Kings 21 ASV)

Next up we have Manasseh’s son, Amon. Amon continued in all the evil ways of his father. It appears that Amon’s servants were rather more faithful towards Jehovah and consequently they conspired to slay their king. However, such was the evil instilled in the people that they in their turn slew the conspirators in recompense for their slain king:

18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
19 Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
20 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as did Manasseh his father.
21 And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them:
22 and he forsook Jehovah, the God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of Jehovah.
23 And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house.
24 But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. (2 Kings 21 ASV)

Amon’s son, Josiah, then reigned in his stead. Ironically, the evil-doers among the people of Israel then had a king faithful to Jehovah.

1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.
2 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

For starters he ordered that essential repair work was carried out on the house of Jehovah:

4 Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the money which is brought into the house of Jehovah, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people:
5 and let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen that have the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and let them give it to the workmen that are in the house of Jehovah, to repair the breaches of the house,
6 unto the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house.

In repairing God’s house, the Book of the Law was discovered. This sounds horrendous to me in that several reigns of evil kings of Judah had effectively concealed God’s Word from the people of Israel. Josiah was also clearly horrified at this discovery. He requested that Hilkiah, the high priest, have an audience with Jehovah to determine the way forward for Israel and his reign. Given all this, I have to say that I am quite surprised that there was still a priest in post after the previous kings’ reigns. I can only suspect that the kings demeaned the role of high priest to the extent that the post was effectively ignored so long as it did not attempt to deflect the evil kings from their ways:

10 And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.
12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,
13 Go ye, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.
14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they communed with her. (2 Kings 22 ASV)

The Prophetess Huldah told Hilkiah that God was at peace with King Josiah, given his desire to act according to God’s Word. However, Jehovah was still extremely angry with the people of Judah regarding their idol worship, so He would exact severe punishment upon them in due course:

15 And she said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Tell ye the man that sent you unto me,
16 Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read.
17 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.
18 But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: As touching the words which thou hast heard,
19 because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before Jehovah, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith Jehovah.
20 Therefore, behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again. (2 Kings 22 ASV)

Upon hearing this, King Josiah called together all the officials and people of Judah and proclaimed God’s word to them, and that he would rekindle God’s covenant with His people. There then follows a very long list of all the cleansing of his people that Josiah ordered. I make no apologies for retaining that list in full to demonstrate the depths to which the people of Judah had fallen during the reigns of their previous kings. It is noteworthy that many of the idolatrous artefacts were resident in the House of God, thereby acting as a deliberate rejection of God’s Word. It is probably best to treat all these in summary as a numbered list so we can see the extent of idol worship in the land of Judah:

1. First off, he ordered all the vessels used for the worship of Baal and Asherah to be burned;
2. Next, he ordered the idolatrous priests who had burned incense for these gods to be removed from their posts.
   
3. Then he ordered the images of the Asherah to be taken out and burned.
   
4. Next came the pulling down of the Sodomites' living quarters in God’s House.
   
5. He destroyed all the high places where the idolatrous burning of incense had taken place outside of God’s House.
   
6. He defiled Topheth, where Judaean children had been sacrificed through fire to the god Molech.
   
7. He removed the horses and burned the chariots of the sun god.
   
8. He broke the altars placed in the chamber of Ahaz and those in the courtyard of the House of Jehovah
   
9. Ditto the altars that Solomon built to false gods; more on this later
   
10. Ditto the altars that Jeroboam built.
    

Then the scriptures to which the above list was taken:

1 And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
2 And the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of Jehovah.
3 And the king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all [his] heart, and all [his] soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant.
4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el.
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
6 And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Jehovah, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust thereof upon the graves of the common people.
7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of Jehovah, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he brake down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.
9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened bread among their brethren.
10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
11 And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Jehovah, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12 And the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Jehovah, did the king break down, and beat [them] down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
13 And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.
14 And he brake in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.
15 Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he brake down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah. (2 Kings 23 ASV)

And King Josiah was not yet finished in his cleansing of Israel. He destroyed all the houses of idol worship in Samaria. As we saw previously, the wording of verse 19 below looks as if the kings of Israel deliberately provoked Jehovah with these. Clearly, they must have been acting under the direct influence of Satan to commit such offenses. In that context, Josiah also slew all the false idol worshipping priests:

19 And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke [Jehovah] to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el.
20 And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there, upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them; and he returned to Jerusalem. (2 Kings 23 ASV)

Josiah was clearly a highly favoured king of Judah by Jehovah even more so than David it would seem. And no king that followed him would attain the high regard from Jehovah that Josiah rightly achieved. However, even Josiah’s good works did not deflect Jehovah from His punishment upon the House of Judah, as He already had done to the House of Israel, after Josiah had passed:

24 Moreover them that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of Jehovah.
25 And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to Jehovah with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.
26 Notwithstanding, Jehovah turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations wherewith Manasseh had provoked him.
27 And Jehovah said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. (2 Kings 23 ASV)

And just to put the good works of King Josiah into context, we see that King Solomon acted out his last days in as evil a manner as one could imagine. He polluted the land of Israel with the altars of numerous false gods derived from his foreign wives:

4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as was the heart of David his father.
5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
6 And Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and went not fully after Jehovah, as did David his father.
7 Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, in the mount that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.
8 And so did he for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.
9 And Jehovah was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from Jehovah, the God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice,
10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which Jehovah commanded. (1 Kings 11 ASV) 

 

Ephraim

The story of the tribe of Ephraim is a case study as to how the mighty are fallen primarily due to idol worship from a position of power provided under the Israelite covenant with Jehovah. Ephraim was the second son born to Joseph in the land of Egypt, Manasseh being the first-born:

20 And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. (Genesis 46 KJV)

Joseph brought his two sons before their grandfather, Israel, for his blessing. However, instead of conferring the greater blessing upon the eldest son, Manasseh, by placing his right hand upon the boy, he placed his right hand upon Ephraim. Now, whilst this was not the way in mankind’s purview, it followed the divine principle of the second son taking precedence over the first-born (check out TBC Understanding 17 for the greater meaning of the account of Jacob and Esau):

13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought [them] near unto him.
14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid [it] upon Ephraim's head, who [was] the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh [was] the firstborn.
15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. (Genesis 48 KJV)

Joseph objected to this but Israel confirmed that Ephraim would be the greater of the two tribes under God’s rulership:

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this [is] the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
19 And his father refused, and said, I know [it], my son, I know [it]: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. (Genesis 48 KJV)

In this context, towards the end of King Solomon’s reign we see the rise of Jeroboam, a son of Ephraim, coming to prominence and being against the king for his following of the false gods of his foreign wives:

26 And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, he also lifted up his hand against the king.
27 And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breach of the city of David his father.
28 And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon saw the young man that he was industrious, and he gave him charge over all the labor of the house of Joseph. (1 Kings 11 ASV)

Following on from this, Jeroboam met up with Jehovah’s Prophet, Ahijah, who told him that he would become the King of the ten tribes of Israel. This would leave two tribes with the prospective King of Judah, for David’s sake, after Jehovah had rent the whole kingdom away from Solomon. Jehovah’s rationale, for this change in the seat of power over Israel, was due to the people’s denial of the one true God and being given to the worshipping of a variety of foreign gods:

29 And it came to pass at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; now [Ahijah] had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field.
30 And Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces.
31 And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces; for thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee
32 (but he shall have one tribe, for my servant David's sake and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel);
33 because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon; and they have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and [to keep] my statutes and mine ordinances, as did David his father. (1 Kings 11 ASV)

Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, was crowned King of Israel upon his father’s death. However, at the start of his reign, he proved to be a worse monarch to his people than his father had been at the end of his. Consequently, the tribes of Israel who were with Jeroboam, voted with their feet. This left Rehoboam only reigning over the two tribes of Judah as Jehovah’s Prophet had foreseen:

15 And the king did not listen to the people, for the turn of events was from Jehovah, in order to lift up His Word that Jehovah spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
16 And all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, and the people sent the king back word, saying, What portion do we have in David? Yea, [there is] no inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel; now see [to] your house, O David! And Israel went to its tents.
17 [As to] the sons of Israel, those living in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
18 And King Rehoboam sent Adoram who [was] over the tribute, and all Israel threw stones at him, and he died. And King Rehoboam made haste to go up into a chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
19 And Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.
20 And it happened when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the company, and caused him to reign over all Israel; none followed after the house of David except the tribe of Judah only. (1 Kings 12 GLT)

Well, no sooner had Jeroboam been given the lion’s share of the monarchy over the Children of Israel then he decided to build a reprise of the infamous golden calf for worship. He made this decision based on man-made thinking. If he had listened to Jehovah, he would have made a very different decision and, I am sure, would still have kept his kingship under God’s protection. It is perhaps noteworthy that the city of Dan is explicitly mentioned particularly given my previous reference to the Danites in the section on 'Teraphim'.

Despite his promise from Jehovah, Jeroboam deliberately went about replicating the false worship that had already been adopted in Judah. I think I am beginning to see why God was so angry at the House of Ephraim. Judah had become idolatrous and despite God consequently giving the bulk of Israel into the hand of Jeroboam, he almost immediately began to follow the ways of Judah:

26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now will the kingdom return to the house of David:
27 if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, then will the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.
28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
29 And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan.
30 And this thing became a sin; for the people went [to worship] before the one, even unto Dan.
31 And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, that were not of the sons of Levi.
32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he went up unto the altar; so did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places that he had made. (1 Kings 12 ASV)

While all this was going on, King Asa came to reign in Judah and was seen as returning it to a state of faithfulness towards Jehovah. In that context, there was conflict between Asa and Jeroboam to the extent that cities of Ephraim were captured and citizens of the Tribe of Ephraim joined with Asa under the protection of Jehovah:

8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Jehovah, that was before the porch of Jehovah.
9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and them that sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him. (2 Chronicles 15 ASV)

Asa’s removal of idols and his conflict against the idolatrous Ephraim was continued through the reign of his son, Jehoshaphat:

1 And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel.
2 And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken.
3 And Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto the Baalim,
4 but sought to the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.
5 Therefore Jehovah established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat tribute; and he had riches and honor in abundance.
6 And his heart was lifted up in the ways of Jehovah: and furthermore he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah. (2 Chronicles 17 ASV)

Hezekiah, King of Judah continued this good work, once again with mention of cleansing Ephraim:

1 Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities. (2 Chronicles 31 KJV)

In the section on ‘Israel’s Idolatry’ we made mention of Josiah as being a king who returned the Children of Israel back to Jehovah. He destroyed all of Israel’s false images and priesthood in the process. Let us look in more detail at his workings as they related to the idolatry of the Tribe of Ephraim. So, repeating a previous opening scripture on Josiah, we see that Ephraim gets a special mention, amongst several others, for their idolatrous behaviour:

1 Josiah [was] eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2 And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined [neither] to the right hand, nor to the left.
3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
4 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that [were] on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust [of them], and strowed [it] upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
6 And [so did he] in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. (2 Chronicles 34 KJV)

David wrote firstly of the pride of place that the Tribe of Ephraim had in Jehovah’s eyes. However, this was soon followed by Jehovah’s actions specifically against the Tribe of Ephraim:

7 Gilead [is] mine, and Manasseh [is] mine; Ephraim also [is] the strength of mine head; Judah [is] my lawgiver; (Psalms 60 KJV)

9 The children of Ephraim, [being] armed, [and] carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. (Psalms 78 KJV)

67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. (Psalms 78 KJV)

Similarly, Asaph wrote a slightly later Psalm with a similar message:

1 {To the chief Musician upon Shoshannimeduth, A Psalm of Asaph.} Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest [between] the cherubims, shine forth. (KJV)
1לַמְנַצֵּחַ אֶל-שֹׁשַׁנִּים;    עֵדוּת לְאָסָף מִזְמוֹר.  רֹעֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל, הַאֲזִינָה--    נֹהֵג כַּצֹּאן יוֹסֵף;
יֹשֵׁב הַכְּרוּבִים  הוֹפִיעָה. (MM)
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come [and] save us. (Psalms 80 KJV)
2לִפְנֵי אֶפְרַיִם, וּבִנְיָמִן וּמְנַשֶּׁה--    עוֹרְרָה אֶת-גְּבוּרָתֶךָ; וּלְכָה לִישֻׁעָתָה    לָּנוּ. (Psalms 80 MM)

Yet again, I have the need to reproduce the original Hebrew text above since all the English translations that I found for verse 2 translated the Hebrew word ‘לִפְנֵי’ as ‘Before’. Now, whilst this is one correct translation, another would be ‘Against’ which makes much more sense for the correct meaning of the verse. I reproduce the JLW version below:

 2 Against Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come [and] save us. (Psalms 80 JLW)

As if in contrast to the previous Psalm of David, this next verse puts it into proper context in that Ephraim was originally seen as the lead tribe of Israel prior to its idolatrous fall from grace, and as repeated from Psalm 60 quoted previously:

8 Gilead [is] mine; Manasseh [is] mine; Ephraim also [is] the strength of mine head; Judah [is] my lawgiver; (Psalms 108 KJV)

Let us consider the words of Jehovah to Isaiah, in the matter of Syria and the King of Israel, Pekah of the Tribe of Ephraim, going to war against Ahaz, the King of Judah. It is clear from this scripture that Ephraim was viewed by Jehovah in a very negative way. There could only be one reason for God’s attitude in this matter: Ephrain’s rejection of Jehovah in favour of their false gods:

1 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
2 And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.
3 Then said Jehovah unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field;
4 and say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither let thy heart be faint, because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have purposed evil against thee, saying,
6 Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set up a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel;
7 thus saith the Lord Jehovah, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people:
9 and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. (Isaiah 7 ASV)

And we get a similar mention to the Prophet Jeremiah of Jehovah’s anger especially against the Tribe of Ephraim for their idolatry:

15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, [even] the whole seed of Ephraim.
16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead [their] dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. (Jeremiah 7 KJV)

Nonetheless, since Jehovah is the loving father to the whole of Israel with Ephraim as His firstborn, He will eventually lead them to a righteous life away from their idolatrous traits:

9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim [is] my firstborn. (Jeremiah 31 KJV)

18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus], Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed [to the yoke]: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art Jehovah my God.
19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearneth for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah. (Jeremiah 31 ASV)

In all the idolatrous behaviour from the children of Israel, my attention to Ephraim was drawn especially by the Prophet Hosea. He has much to say on this sinful firstborn tribe which follows much of what we have already seen from the previous scriptural examples. Again, I do not shy away from providing numerous scriptural examples from the Book of Hosea. I think this demonstrates the level of anger which Jehovah showed to his profligate chosen firstborn tribe:

17 Ephraim [is] joined to idols: let him alone. (Hosea 4 KJV)

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, O Ephraim, thou hast played the harlot, Israel is defiled.
4 Their doings will not suffer them to turn unto their God; for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not Jehovah.
5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity; Judah also shall stumble with them.
6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Jehovah; but they shall not find him: he hath withdrawn himself from them.
7 They have dealt treacherously against Jehovah; for they have borne strange children: now shall the new moon devour them with their fields.
8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: sound an alarm at Beth-aven; behind thee, O Benjamin.
9 Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
10 The princes of Judah are like them that remove the landmark: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; because he was content to walk after [man's] command.
12 Therefore am I unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah [saw] his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound. (Hosea 5 ASV)

10 I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there [is] the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled. (Hosea 6 KJV)

9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
10 Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.
11 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin. (Hosea 8 KJV)

3 They shall not dwell in Jehovah's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.
4 They shall not pour out wine-offerings to Jehovah, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted; for their bread shall be for their appetite; it shall not come into the house of Jehovah.
5 What will ye do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of Jehovah?
6 For, lo, they are gone away from destruction; [yet] Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them; their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them; thorns shall be in their tents.
7 The days of visitation are come, the days of recompense are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the man that hath the spirit is mad, for the abundance of thine iniquity, and because the enmity is great.
8 Ephraim [was] a watchman with my God: as for the prophet, a fowler's snare is in all his ways, [and] enmity in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at its first season: but they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves unto the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.
11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird: there shall be no birth, and none with child, and no conception.
12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, so that not a man shall be left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, like as I have seen Tyre, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring out his children to the slayer.
14 Give them, O Jehovah -- what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of my house; I will love them no more; all their princes are revolters.
16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay the beloved fruit of their womb.
17 My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations. (Hosea 9 ASV)

5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall be in terror for the calves of Beth-aven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced over it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.
6 It also shall be carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. (Hosea 10 ASV)

12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints. (Hosea 11 KJV)

1 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt. (Hosea 12 KJV)

14 Ephraim provoked [him] to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him. (Hosea 12 KJV)

8 Ephraim [shall say], What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard [him], and observed him: I [am] like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. (Hosea 14 KJV)

1 When Ephraim spake, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.
2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.
3 Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the dew that passeth early away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
4 Yet I am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt; and thou shalt know no god but me, and besides me there is no saviour.
5 I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.
6 According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted: therefore have they forgotten me.
7 Therefore am I unto them as a lion; as a leopard will I watch by the way;
8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart; and there will I devour them like a lioness; the wild beast shall tear them.
9 It is thy destruction, O Israel, that [thou art] against me, against thy help.
10 Where now is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges, of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?
11 I have given thee a king in mine anger, and have taken him away in my wrath.
12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is laid up in store.
13 The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for it is time he should not tarry in the place of the breaking forth of children.
14 I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from death: O death, where are thy plagues? O Sheol, where is thy destruction? repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
15 Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the breath of Jehovah coming up from the wilderness; and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall make spoil of the treasure of all goodly vessels.
16 Samaria shall bear her guilt; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. (Hosea 13 ASV)

If all the above material was not enough for you, there are several commentaries on the rise and fall of the house of Ephraim. The following reference is an example: (https://divinenarratives.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-ephraim-in-the-bible/) 

 

Daniel Chapter 3

No piece on idol worship would be complete without some reference to the Book of Daniel Chapter 3 regarding the three Israelites who survived in the furnace of the Chaldean King Nebuchadnezzar. This account takes up the whole of the chapter so I will try to break up this most famous Bible story into digestible slices whilst dropping a few of the less key verses for brevity’s sake.

The tale starts out with Nebuchadnezzar making a large image of gold and forcing his people to worship it upon his whim and upon pain of death for those that would refuse. This reads like today’s governments exercising mind control over their citizens, the worst of which is yet to come:

1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
3 Then the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
4 Then the herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,
5 that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up;
6 and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
7 Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
8 Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and brought accusation against the Jews. (Daniel 3 ASV)

Three of the King’s officers who were Jews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, were accused of not bowing down to the king’s idolatrous image. Nebuchadnezzar was infuriated by this and requested these three men be brought before him. He questioned them about their not worshipping his image. When he threatened them with the fiery furnace for their non-compliance, they resolutely replied that Jehovah God would protect them from the fire. They declared that they would not bow down to the king’s idol:

12 There are certain Jews whom thou hast appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in [his] rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king.
14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said unto them, Is it of purpose, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that ye serve not my god, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, [well]: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter.
17 If it be [so], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king.
18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (Daniel 3 ASV)

Nebuchadnezzar was incensed at this insubordination and ordered the three to be bound and placed in the furnace which he ordered to be heated to a significantly higher temperature than was normal. Ironically the king’s soldiers who threw them into the furnace were themselves killed by the fire:

19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: [therefore] he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
20 And he commanded certain mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, [and] to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
21 Then these men were bound in their hosen, their tunics, and their mantles, and their [other] garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
22 Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. (Daniel 3 ASV)

The king saw that the three Israelites had not been harmed by the furnace. He observed four men alive in the furnace, correctly assessing that one of them was an angel of Jehovah sent to protect the three:

24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste: he spake and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace: he spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth out of the midst of the fire.
27 And the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their hosen changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them. (Daniel 3 ASV)

Upon their exit from the furnace, Nebuchadnezzar blessed the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego and decreed that no-one would speak against Jehovah. He acknowledged that no other God could have delivered them from the furnace and he then went on to promote the three in the province of Babylon:

28 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
29 Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other god that is able to deliver after this sort.
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the province of Babylon. (Daniel 3 ASV)

This is a wonderful tale of Jehovah’s demonstrating to the Chaldean king that He was the one true God. Eventually, in trials of humility that God put him through, he became a true believer in Jehovah thereby rejecting his own idolatrous beliefs:

37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works [are] truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. (Daniel 4 KJV)

Paul put this into a New Testament context in his first letter to the congregation in Corinth. Idolatry is listed in Paul’s letter, together with numerous other crimes against God and man. However, he congratulates some of that congregation by giving up their wayward behaviour and accepting Christ as their saviour. These would find salvation in the Kingdom of God as I expect that King Nebuchadnezzar will also, given his change of heart:

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6 KJV) 

 

New Testament Warnings

There are several warnings, provided in the New Testament, advising Christians to keep away from any form of idol worship. Typical of these are in the writings of John, the apostle, and Paul in his first letter to the congregation in Corinth:

21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 John 5 GLT)

14 Wherefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10 ASV)

Earlier in his letter, Paul warns the Corinthians not to keep bad company, including idolators, within or outside of the congregation. Judging from the apparent after-thought wording in Paul’s letter, it would seem that he was alerted to some particular case of idolatry within the ranks of the congregation at Corinth:   

9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. (1 Corinthians 5 KJV)

Further on in his letter to the Corinthian congregation, Paul adds that offering sacrifices to an idol is worthless. He equates idols to demons and confirms that one cannot sacrifice to God and demons since our God is a jealous God as stated in the Law of Moses:

19 What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
20 But [I say], that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons.
21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of demons: ye cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons.
22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? (1 Corinthians 10 ASV)

Paul, in his letter to the congregation at Colossus, lists several sinful tendencies to which we can all be prone in times of spiritual weakness. Among these is covetousness which he likens to idolatry. I think this can be interpreted today as putting materialism before our spiritual destiny. The striving for money and material wealth is evident today rather than the building of explicitly idolatrous images. While not a new evil, it would certainly seem to have replaced the forms of idol worship prevalent in Old Testament times:

5 Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; (Colossians 3 ASV)

Paul gives a substantially longer list of evils to the congregation at Galatia. Perhaps he saw these as somewhat more prone to the ways of the world than the Corinthians? Nonetheless, idolatry still features amid them:

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5 KJV)

In the previous chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, it seems that they worshipped idols prior to their discovering the teachings of Christ. However, Paul seems concerned that they may go back to their old ways. I guess this is something we all need to be wary of, in that we may retain our own old idols that we had prior to our knowledge of the Good News from Christ:

8 But then, indeed, not knowing God, you served as slaves [to] the ones by nature not being gods.
9 But now, knowing God, but rather being known by God, how do you turn again to the weak and poor elements to which you desire again to slave anew? (Galatians 4 GLT)

And a similar warning to the congregation at Ephesus:

5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Ephesians 5 KJV)

I am afraid that the following verses from Paul to the congregation at Colossus are once again compromised by minor differences in the Greek texts as well variations in the English translations none of which I am fully comfortable with. However, I think the meaning here is that even the angels are not to be worshipped as idols except their head in Jesus Christ:

18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. (Colossians 2 KJV)

In the Book of Revelation, we have the example of Jesus giving praise, through His Apostle John, to the Church in Pergamum. But this praise nonetheless comes with the warning that there were still Balaam idol worshippers in their midst. I think this is meant as a more general warning for all Christian folk to pay due care and attention to all those in their churches that they are not deceived by ungodly practices from within their congregations:

12 and to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These things saith he that hath the sharp two-edged sword:
13 I know where thou dwellest, [even] where Satan's throne is; and thou holdest fast my name, and didst not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth.
14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. (Revelation 2 ASV)

And then we have not a warning but delight from Paul to the congregations at Thessalonica and Corinth for their having given up their idol worship to praise the one true God:

8 For the Word of the Lord sounded out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone out, so that there is no need for us to have to say anything.
9 For they themselves announce concerning us what kind of entrance we have to you, and how you had turned to God from the idols, to serve the true and living God, (1 Thessalonians 1 GLT)

2 you know that when you were people of the nations, you were being led away to those voiceless idols just as you happened to be led. (1 Corinthians 12 NWT)

Similarly, Peter’s first letter lists the past sins of his Christian faithful including that of idolatry:

3 For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries: (1 Peter 4 ASV)

The Apostle John probably sums it up best in defining that Jehovah is a Spirit God which clearly idols cannot be:

23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. (John 4 KJV) 

Image Courtesy of Baptist Press

Jewish Lords' Witness

Jesus, Our Redemption From Idolatry

Date of Publication: 1st July 2025

Synopsis

1. After some 18 years of developing this website, I have finally been motivated to write this paper on the subject of idol worship. Given the importance of the topic, am I being told this will be my final paper in this system of things?
2. Through his commandments, as given to Moses, Jehovah was unequivocal in His condemnation of the worship of false idols and confirming that He was the only true living God, the creator of all things.
   
3. Idols are man-made from various physical materials and have no ability to take any action to support those that worship them since they are not powerful sentient beings. This is in stark contract to Jehovah, the all-powerful and uncreated God. Jehovah condemns both the makers of the idols and those that worship them.
   
4. Teraphim, at first, appear to have been used by the Israelites as arguably unwise means to support their worship of Jehovah. This first had its appearance in the shape of the notorious golden calf that they worshipped during Moses’ absence while he was receiving the Law from Jehovah.
   
5. However, this relatively benign habit turned into full-blown idolatry among the Children of Israel sometime after Joshua’s faithful leadership. David recounts their idolatry in his Psalms. After David’s reign, idolatry waxed and waned in Israel and Judah according to whether a faithful or idol-worshipping king reigned at the time. Most notable of the faithful kings was Josiah, whose righteous works found great favour with Jehovah amongst all the kings.
   
6. The Tribe of Ephraim seems to take ‘pride’ of place in the story of Israel’s idolatry having fallen into disgrace from being Jehovah’s chosen first-born son of Joseph. Things started out well enough with Jeroboam, from the Tribe of Ephraim, becoming the King of the ten tribes of Israel leaving two tribes with the prospective King of Judah due to King Solomon’s idolatry. No sooner had Jeroboam been crowned as monarch over Israel than he built two replicas of the infamous golden calf thereby causing the sudden dramatic fall from grace of the Tribe of Ephraim. Thereby both Israel and Judah were practicing idolatry much to Jehovah’s chagrin. Judah saw the evil of their ways and started to walk down a righteous path destroying Israel’s leadership on the way. The scriptures wax lyrical on idolatrous Ephraim, hence the special mention that tribe gets in this paper.
   
7. Next, we have the famous account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s idolatrous image. Their resulting and miraculous survival in the fiery furnace caused that Babylonian king to cease his idol worship and accept Jehovah as the one true God.
   
8. Whilst the bulk of accounts of idol worship in the scriptures are to be found in the Old Testament, there are nonetheless warnings in the New Testament against such practices.
   
9. The most shocking revelation in this paper for me was the discovery that the RCC corruption extends to the removal of the idol worship condemnation in the second commandment of the Law of Moses. This thereby enables their congregations to practice idolatry thinking that is allowable by God. To make up the full complement of ten commandments they have split up the original tenth commandment so that it now becomes their ninth and tenth!
   
10. The use of any kind of physical imagery even in the worship of Jehovah or His Son runs the risk of compromising the worshipper’s faith from being a purely spiritual one.
    
11. Purely material desires or possessions can run the risk of taking over peoples lives to the extent that they become idolatrous. This is especially the case if they get in the way of one’s worship to the one true God.
    
12. Then we have the final warning for those left behind to suffer the Great Tribulation. They should not display any form of idolatrous behaviour if they wish to be saved at the Day of Judgement. Amen.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Idol Worship Today

Thinking about the above material, it does not seem at first sight that the old issues with idol worship have much to do with today’s world. Or does it? There are many religions around the world that pray to gods other than Jehovah. Or are they Jehovah but by another name?

Let us make a start by going back to basics. What is the definition of idolatry? The Merriam-Webster dictionary has the following definitions which, I think, serve the purpose well:

1  the worship of a physical object as a god

2  immoderate attachment or devotion to something

Let us look at item 1 first, the worshipping of a physical object as a god. First off, we should look at Catholicism. Despite all my previous rants against the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) over the years, I must confess at being totally shocked at discovering, as a part of my research for this paper, that the Catholics have a different set of ten commandments than is prescribed in the scriptures. THEY HAVE OMITTED THE SECOND COMMANDMENT NOT TO MAKE OR WORSHIP GRAVEN IMAGES. To make up the numbers for the ten commandments they have separated out the coveting of one’s neighbour’s wife and chattels as two separate commandments. Scripture describes this as a combined commandment incorporating the coveting of the neighbour’s wife and chattels! Interestingly, this time the RCC have not actually added to or subtracted from scripture, presumably because these are written in the Old Testament Hebrew. However, their version of the ten commandments is, nonetheless, incorporated into their catechism.

Just in case you think I am making this up, I provide four links, three critical of the RCC doctrine and the fourth straight from the harlot’s own mouth: https://www.the-ten-commandments.org/romancatholic-tencommandments.html,  https://www.teachingtheword.org/apps/articles/default.asp?columnid=5444&articleid=64839,  https://www.preparingforeternity.com/biblevscat.htm, and https://www.beginningcatholic.com/catholic-ten-commandments respectively. So not only have they polluted God’s Word through their Satanic Trinitarian doctrine and the changing of the Sabbath to the first not the seventh day (check out The Trinity) but they have gone so far as to adulterate God’s ten commandments presumably to enable them to mislead their congregations into idolatrous practices.

So, what form do these practices take? This (allegedly Christian) religion appears to impart divine powers to Mary, the mother of Christ. Nowhere in scripture is there any implication that Mary was anything other than a good faithful Jewish wife and mother. To me this is idolatry of the first order. A good reference on this topic can be seen at https://carm.org/roman-catholicism/roman-catholicism-mary-and-idolatry/.

Apart from the veneration of Mary, the RCC also encourages the praying to Saints and the use of icons and images for their intercession. All of this, together with RCC hierarchy, represents ways to stop their congregations from seeking Christ’s help directly. Check out the following website for the full story on this: https://contendingforthefaith.org/en/does-catholicism-teach-idolatry/. 

Well, having completely discredited the RCC once again as the harlot of Revelation, let us turn our attention to idolatry in non-Judo/Christian faiths. An obvious one to look at is Hinduism. This uses physical images to assist in their worship of the god they believe in (check out what a student of religion thinks:  A Look At What Idolatry Is Religion). Whether their god is their own interpretation of Jehovah I cannot say and whether the use of these images amounts to idol worship is debatable. From my scant knowledge of this faith and what is in the hearts of those worshippers I cannot make a judgement. However, what I can say is that I have never felt the need to use any such contrivance to communicate with God. If I cannot do that solely from my heart then I would feel a sense of spiritual failure. One scripture, already referenced in the previous section, that has great meaning for me in this context is to be found in the Gospel of John:

24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. (John 4 KJV)

There is no doubt in my mind that the use of such images, even if well-intentioned, must represent a risk to the worshipper in being unable to trust in his own spirit alone to communicate effectively with his deity. The physical world is our enemy in our worship of God so it is arguable that the use of anything of a purely physical nature will get in the way of our ability to have a true relationship with our spiritual God. Ultimately only God can judge the heart condition of any human being, regardless of faith; I cannot. I found the following website of interest on the subject of modern-day idol worship: https://wiki.freedomgpt.com/wiki/idol-worship.

Let us move on to item 2 -  ‘the immoderate attachment or devotion to something’. This can be rather more subtle than the original meaning of idol worship. It relates to everyday activities or objects of affection that can be difficult to spot in one’s daily lives. The following website gives a decent set of examples of the things that can take over from our spiritual worship of the one true God: https://www.rethinknow.org/idol-worship-today/.

Let us examine some of these in the context of any relevant scriptures. The most obvious one is related to wealth and material possessions. As I have indicated previously, being well-off is not in itself a sin. However, it does represent a risk to one’s faithfulness if the lust for making wealth overtakes our desire for God’s gifts to mankind. My earlier papers on The Trials of Job and Money throw some light on this.

The following two scriptures make specific reference to this risk to one’s faithful worship. The first is from the Gospel of Matthew in which he states that a man can only have one master. In this context he directly compares being faithful to God with the love of wealth:

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6 KJV)

The second relevant and well-known scripture is from Paul’s first letter to Timothy in which the love of money is stated as the root of all evil which can cause some to wander from their faith. I think these two scriptures clearly indicate that wealth can genuinely represent an impersonal idol capable of being worshipped:

10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6 KJV)

Vanity is another idol capable of being worshipped in the modern world (check out my earlier paper on the subject: Vanity). This form of idolatry can be associated with one’s personal appearance to the outside world. Again, it is not unreasonable to attempt to give a presentable appearance externally. However, once again this can become a real risk if this desire for a good outward appearance starts to take over our lives with a level of importance that it should not really warrant. There are several OT scriptures that equate idols made for worship with vanity. In this context vanity can also have the meaning of something being performed ‘in vain’ which is certainly the case as far as God is concerned:

9 They that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses see not, nor know: that they may be put to shame. (Isaiah 44 ASV)

3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. (Jeremiah 10 ASV)

14 Every man is become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
15 They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. (Jeremiah 10 ASV)

In a more specific example, Matthew again tells us not to worry too much about several aspects of our daily lives including the clothes we should wear. Again, it is not unreasonable for us to consider what we should wear as being appropriate for any specific occasion, but we should not make fashionable dress to be ‘the be all and end all’ of our lives. Also, whilst I enjoy good food and drink, there does seem to be a significant tendency today to overly 'praise' the celebrity chefs that seem to appear on our TV screens at all hours with their new and complex menus and dishes: 

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? (Matthew 6 KJV)

Illicit sex is quoted on the above website as another potentially idolatrous trait. Check out my earlier papers on Fleshly Desire and Unholy Matrimony since there is little point in my repeating myself. However, we should recall the words of Paul to the Roman congregation as mentioned previously in this paper:

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. (Romans 1 KJV)

Another topic mentioned is that of the use of technology such as smartphones and social media. These do seem to take over people's lives. I completely avoid social media and my smartphone is there to serve me and not the other way around. Over and above these, I have my own pet view of the current trends in technology as best seen in my earlier paper on Artificial Intelligence.

Next on the list we have the adulation of celebrities in several spheres of the entertainment world. From my own personal point of view, I am a keen fan of several sports and of music. Whilst I am very appreciative of the talents and skills of individual players in the sports arena and the music venue, I always try to remember that those talents have been God-given. I am not sure all sports or music fans see it that way. As a reminder check out my Music paper.

And last, but not least in my case, we can have the idolatrous love of material possessions. These can be many and varied I imagine. My own personal weakness is my venerable (and therefore thankfully fully analogue) car which I absolutely love driving. I must admit that I feel it imparts a sense of street cred which I try very hard to put in the background. Whilst I spend quite a lot of money and time keeping it on the road, again, I always try to remind myself that it is God’s gift of engineering skills to mankind to enable us to design and build such wonderful creations. However, I guess the downside to that is that our engineering skills often do not extend to our being able to build and run such equipment without causing untold damage to the beautiful planet that God has given to us as our home. I should probably sell it and share my wife’s car but cannot quite summon up the courage for such a move just yet. Idolatry can take many forms. Amen

The End-Times

And then we have the ultimate end-times’ warning to the remnant of mankind still left during the Great Tribulation. There will still be those that cling to their idol worship of the demons walking the devastated Earth or their own manmade creations and possessions. None of these will enable their salvation from the wrath of God:

20 And the rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk: (Revelation 9 ASV)

And, just in case they missed the point, idol worshippers are included in the company of those miscreants that will suffer the second death in Gehenna:

8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21 KJV)

We cannot say that we were not warned nearly 800 years before Christ’s ministry on Earth by the writings of Jehovah’s Prophet Isaiah. Here he describes God’s deserting of His people Israel because of their following after the gentile nations’ customs including idol worship. They will be treated as all the other Nations  come judgement day. All idols will ultimately be shown to be powerless and will be rejected by mankind in the final reckoning. This topic covers the whole of the Book of Isaiah Chapter 2 which I have abbreviated to the key verses below:

1 The thing that Isaiah son of Amoz hath seen concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
2 And it hath come to pass, In the latter end of the days, Established is the mount of Jehovah's house, Above the top of the mounts, And it hath been lifted up above the heights, And flowed unto it have all the nations.
3 And gone have many peoples and said, 'Come, and we go up unto the mount of Jehovah, Unto the house of the God of Jacob, And He doth teach us of His ways, And we walk in His paths, For from Zion goeth forth a law, And a word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.
4 And He hath judged between the nations, And hath given a decision to many peoples, And they have beat their swords to ploughshares, And their spears to pruning-hooks, Nation doth not lift up sword unto nation, Nor do they learn any more -- war.
5 O house of Jacob, come, And we walk in the light of Jehovah.'
6 For Thou hast left Thy people, the house of Jacob. For they have been filled from the east, And {are} sorcerers like the Philistines, And with the children of strangers strike hands.
7 And its land is full of silver and gold, And there is no end to its treasures, And its land is full of horses, And there is no end to its chariots,
8 And its land is full of idols, To the work of its hands it boweth itself, To that which its fingers have made,
9 And the low boweth down, and the high is humbled, And Thou acceptest them not. (Isaiah 2 YLT)

18 And the idols -- they completely pass away.
19 And {men} have entered into caverns of rocks, And into caves of dust, Because of the fear of Jehovah, And because of the honour of His excellency, In His rising to terrify the earth.
20 In that day doth man cast his idols of silver, And his idols of gold, That they have made for him to worship, To moles, and to bats, (Isaiah 2 YLT)

Idolatry