Judges 2:11-13 We worship other gods!

 11The Israelites did evil in the LORD’s sight and served the images of Baal. 12They abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the LORD. 13They abandoned the LORD to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth.

“There were also ‘Baals’ associated with particular places, like the Baal of Peor (Numbers 25:3) or Baal-Berith (Judges 9:4); and this may account for the plural form.” (Wolf)

According to Wolf, the word Baal also meant “husband” or “owner.” Therefore, when Israel worshipped the Canaanite god Baal, they entertained another “husband” or “owner.” (Guzik)

“The Canaanite idol Ashtoreth was an attractive rival to Yahweh because she was thought to be the goddess of love, sex, and fertility. She was usually honored with the practice of ritual sex with a priestess-prostitute. One might say that the bottom line with Ashtoreth was sex and love.” (Guzik)

“The religion of these fertility gods was accompanied by all kinds of lascivious practices, especially in Canaan, where it was found in a degraded form which even incorporated child sacrifice.” (Cundall)

In the sight of the LORD: “This implies that the sin was even more offensive to God because it was done right before His eyes. To give an extreme example, it is bad enough for a married person to commit adultery; but to commit adultery before the very eyes of one’s spouse would be especially offensive.” (Guzik)

They followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them: “This shows another root cause for Israel’s tragic idolatry. The influence of the Canaanites that they allowed to remain in their midst led them to idolatry. The result of not fully driving out the Canaanites was far worse than Israel imagined.” (Guzik)

“We worship other gods – the gods of the nations around the idols of the market-place, the studio, the camp, and the bar.” (Meyer)

Images of Baal and Other gods!

We have the same problem because of our sin nature! We attended Compassionate Recovery at our church and I really enjoyed the men’s group after the biblical teaching. One thing I’ve learned is “everyone” has an addiction in one form or another. Food, alcohol, drugs, lust, pornography, gluttony, drama, or ________ (fill in the blank)!

Is abortion the ultimate child sacrifice?

Like Meyer’s quote above, “We worship other gods”.

Dear Heavenly Father, we lay our other gods at Your feet and ask that You break them up with Your hammer of bronze. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

Blessings