Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 34:15-17

15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do 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 go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

17 Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

What God says here about the tendency to make a covenant with idolatry has been an eternal challenge of God’s people. When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth thousands of years later, he still had to continually remind the people to not mix their faith with false gods. For convenience or politeness, the people would partake of the culture around them, even when doing so violated their exclusive commitment to the Lord.

Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled (1 Corinthians 8:7).

We must not make the mistake of dismissing these verses decrying idolatry as irrelevant to us today because we do not carve our false gods out of wood anymore. There are still many false gods and vain obsessions all around us, and many the disciple is deceived to think that they can both be a Christian and partake in the world’s folly. We commit idolatry when we show fealty to the prevailing societal trends, even though they contradict God’s laws. Many that would follow the Lord stumble to the ideals of sexual and identity perversion.

God is also very right to identify the trojan horse of family members and spouses that we become devoted to, who then seduce us into unworthy concessions. I know many the brother and sister who watched the world celebrating that which God has called sin, and they stood boldly against the perversion, but then their spouse convinced them of the need to be “tolerant” of the evil, and by-and-by they lost their way.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 32:5-6

5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord.

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.

The idolatry of the Israelites bore yet another similarity to God’s tabernacle in that both required animal sacrifice. We have already discussed the symbolism of the offerings to be made to the Lord in the tabernacle and how they represented the people giving up their sins, devoting their passions to the Almighty, and submitting their lives to His purpose.

Assuming that the animal offerings to this golden idol carried the same symbolism, then they were giving their passions, their energies, and their very lives to something evil. Anyone that has dabbled in a life of sin knows that you cannot just have it on the side, totally separate from the rest of your life. Many have tried, but to maintain the course of sin we must progressively lay on its altar the very best of ourselves, including the love and energy that we had intended to withhold from it.

It is interesting that the Israelites would be so forward in admitting that this was the aim of their idolatry. I think most of us are caught unawares by the cost of sin, having only entered into vice because we assumed it wouldn’t take so much from us. Not for the first time, it appears to me that the Old Testament takes all that is subtle, invisible, and spiritual today, and makes them immediate, real, and physical.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 23:13

13 And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

Once again the Lord reiterates the importance of not worshipping other gods. Today’s verse take it a step further, though, forbidding even the utterance of those other god’s names. This might seem an extreme measure to take, why would even the names be forbidden to the people?

I believe this commandment recognizes the incredible power of words. Psychologists have noted that only when something is named can it become a fully realized concept in our minds. When it has no name it is only a vague, unformed notion, with a name it starts to become real. It is our natural tendency to try and name every reality and concept, turning them into a concrete abstractions so that we can fully grapple with them in our minds. But some of these beasts would be better left sleeping.

Imagine if after the Israelites left Egypt they never again mentioned the names of Ra and Horus. The concept of those Egyptian gods would have gone extinct among them within a generation. Imagine if they had never spoken of Baal or Ashtaroth, how much harder would it have been for those Canaanite gods to gain sway in their hearts.

Of course, the complete obliteration of a perverse idea would require universal cooperation. Even if the Israelites stopped themselves from uttering the names of foreign gods, they were still a part of the world, with neighbors and trade partners, and it would be inevitable for them to hear many strange things in that association, just as every Christian today learns from society all manner of inappropriate practices and beliefs. Even with that acknowledgement, though, we can do what we can to censure our own minds, tongues, and homes, and that does make a difference. Those who leave the depraved things unsaid leave no room for those seeds to take root and blossom, whereas those who give voice to perversions in their private, intimate settings are the most likely to abandon the Lord for foreign fruit.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 22:18-20

18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

19 Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.

20 He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

We now shift back to a series of rapid-fire laws, which feel more akin in tone to the ten commandments. In fact, in tomorrow’s verses we will hear the Lord speak in the first person, making promises of divine punishment for transgressors of certain laws.

All of the crimes mentioned in today’s verses carry a death penalty. Two of them have to do directly with forms of idolatry. The witches mentioned in verse 18 were female mystics who would use strange mutterings and sell enchantments as an alternative to relying upon the Lord, and obviously anyone sacrificing to a god other than the Lord was abandoning the true faith to pursue false deities. The other commandment that warrants a death penalty, having sexual relations with a creature, might have also been related to pagan rituals.

But why do these commandments warrant the law’s ultimate punishment? Why the death penalty as opposed to a fine or expulsion? We have already seen some death penalties, but they were reserved for the most extreme transgressions against other people. In every one of today’s laws, however, they are transgressions against God and nature. The target of the offense, I believe, is the reason for the harsh penalty.

Of course, there are those who choose to interpret the Old Testament’s strong punishments upon the heretics as evidence that God is insecure and narcissistic. If God is the Supreme Being of the universe, then why does He get so bent out of shape when we mock him? I think that these arguments are erring on the side of making God too personified. Not to say that it is wrong to think of God in a personified way, but that shouldn’t be the only way we conceive of our creator.

God is also synonymous with truth and right and good. Perhaps it becomes easier to understand the harsh penalties given in today’s commandments when we think of God in these more abstract terms. The people being described in these verses are acting in defiance of truth itself. They are trying to destroy the truth, to pervert it, to replace it with a lie, and it is hard to imagine a faster way to bring suffering and destruction to a people than declaring war directly on the truth itself. The laying of lies and idolatry at our foundation corrupts things at such a fundamental level that it can claim far more lives and souls than any other crime, hence the strong motivation to cut that trend off immediately.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 49:22-24

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

Things slow down again as Jacob moves on to Joseph. He is described as a fruitful bough, which is certainly justified by how he has become a life-giving source of food and nourishment to all the land. Jacob extends the imagery by saying Joseph is a “bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall.” This well brings a constant source of nourishment to the bough, such that it thrives with abundance.

And the well, of course, is a symbol for living water, the spiritual refreshing that comes by being rooted in God and His gospel. This is a symbolism that we will see many times, trees that grow alongside rivers in the desert, immune to their harsh environment because they exist in a different reality from it, constantly nourished by cool, life-giving water. Surely that was Joseph when he was sold as a slave. It was a hostile environment all about him, but he was preserved by the grace of God within.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 49:19-21

19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

We start getting through the blessings for Jacob’s sons at a rapid pace now. Gad is described as being in conflict, at first giving way but ultimately prevailing. Given that the tribe of Gad would settle itself on Israel’s eastern border, right next to the hostile nation of the Ammonites, they were likely the first target in many invasions. But in the end, the Ammonites would be overcome, just as the prophecy suggests.

Asher is foretold to be a nation of bakeries and exports. Its description suggests that it will not just produce what is necessary for life but will have abundance enough for delicacies and surplus.

Interestingly, Gad and Asher were the sons of Zilpah, but their fortunes are described in between that of the sons of Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali. Perhaps the sons of Zilpah were born between the ones of Bilhah?

Naphtali is said to give goodly words. One of his descendants would be Barak and possibly also Deborah, who would be a general and a prophetess that banded together to free Israel from the rule of the Canaanites. And after this victory the two of them composed a song of rejoicing together, being at least one fulfillment of Jacob’s prophecy.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 49:16-18

16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

18 I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.

We now move from the sons of Leah to those of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid. Dan, it is stated, would also be a leader among the Israelites. He would not have a dynasty, such as Judah, but it would have moments of rule, nonetheless.

The most famous descendant of Dan would be Samson, the mighty warrior, who would indeed judge Israel for twenty years, fulfilling the promise made in verse 16. Samson would also fulfill verse 17’s promise in how he constantly stirred up trouble for the Philistines, who at the time ruled over Israel. We will never hear of Samson at the head of the army, rather his actions would be individual, striking out at the Philistines randomly, when moved by passion, thus making the comparison to a venomous adder very apt.

Unfortunately, Dan also proved to be a poison to Israel itself, integrating idolatry into their entire society after the death of Samson. Perhaps it was the specter of this grave evil which would afflict Israel for generations that led to Jacob’s exclamation in verse 18 that he waits for the salvation of the Lord!