Saturday, January 25, 2014

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:16-40)

The following quote is taken from evilbible.com:

"Murder - "At the customary time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command.  O LORD, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself."  Immediately the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust.  It even licked up all the water in the ditch!  And when the people saw it, they fell on their faces and cried out, "The LORD is God!  The LORD is God!"  Then Elijah commanded, "Seize all the prophets of Baal.  Don't let a single one escape!"  So the people seized them all, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there."  (1 Kings 18:36-40 NLT)

This is part of the larger story of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, and of Elijah, one of God's prophets.  You can read the full story of Elijah's contest against the prophets of Baal here:


(For the entire story, please see 1 Kings 16 - 2 Kings 2).

            Elijah was one of God's greatest prophets.  He lived during the reign of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel (reigned circa 885-874 BCE).  King Ahab was one of Israel's worst kings.  He married Jezebel, a Sidonian princess, and together they instituted worship of Baal, a false god, in Israel.  "Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him" (1 Kings 16:30, NIV).  In addition to deliberately committing idolatry themselves and leading the Israelites to do the same, Queen Jezebel murdered many of the LORD's prophets (1 Kings 18:3-4). 
            In the verses preceding this one, Elijah presented himself to King Ahab at God's command, and they gathered the Israelites on Mount Carmel, together with the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah, another false god that Ahab worshipped.  The intention was to determine, once and for all, which god was real and which one was false; to determine which god should be worshipped by the Israelites.
            Why was this such a serious issue?  The charge of idolatry is a very grievous sin, which God does not take lightly (see Exodus 20:3-6, 23; 23:13, 23-24; 34:17; Leviticus 19:4; 26:1; Deuteronomy 4:15-28; 5:7; 6:14-15; 8:19; 12:31; 17:2-7; 27:15; 29:17-18).  God warned the Israelites on several occasions that if they committed idolatry, it was a crime that warranted the death penalty.  The Israelites' covenant with God demanded that they worship and serve him only.  They were not supposed to worship other gods or fashion idols for themselves.  God had warned them that if they did these things, it would lead to their destruction: "If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed" (Deuteronomy 8:19, NIV). 
            Why is idolatry considered such a serious crime?  The severity of the judgment, capital punishment, is due to the severity of the sin.  God is the only God, the Lord and creator of all the universe.  When anyone bows down and worships or pays tribute to a false god or idol, they are taking credit away from God and giving it to something undeserving of that credit.  "I am the LORD; that is my name!  I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols" (Isaiah 42:8, NIV).  The crime of idolatry was so serious that it was often referred to as adultery against God (Ezekiel 6:9).
            In the contest that Elijah proposed, he would set up a sacrifice of a bull on one altar, and Baal's prophets would set up a sacrifice of a bull on another altar.  Then, each would call to their god, and the god who answered by fire was the true God.  The Israelites agreed to this contest.  The prophets of Baal went first - they spent the entire day crying out to Baal, dancing and mutilating themselves, but nothing happened.  Then Elijah had the altar with his sacrifice drenched with water three times.  He then prayed for God to answer him, and God answered with fire - it burned not only the drenched sacrifice on the altar, but also the wood, stones, soil and even the water in the trench.  After that, the people fell prostrate and declared the LORD to be the true God (1 Kings 18:16-39).
            The question that has been presented here is as follows: Why did Elijah have the prophets of Baal killed after this event?  The first and primary reason was because of their idolatry, and for leading the Israelites into a great sin against God.  The second reason was due to another sin. It is interesting that the author of evilbible.com does not mention this, since the website is focused on the condemnation of human sacrifice: human/child sacrifice was massively performed by those who worshipped Baal.
            Worship of Baal and Molech frequently involved the sacrifice of infants, particularly firstborn sons [1] [2] [3].  Sometimes the babies and children would be immediately burned to death in a fire, other times they would first be placed on an altar that had been heated by coals, and then rolled off of it into a burning fire as a sacrifice.  This practice was strongly condemned by God: "They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing" (Jeremiah 32:35, NIV; see also Leviticus 18:21; 20:2-5; Deuteronomy 18:10; 2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 19:5).  (A common question in response is, "If God was against human/child sacrifice, then why did he command Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?"  See my earlier article for a discussion of this topic.)  Baal worship, besides human sacrifice and cultic prostitution, also involved self-mutilation (1 Kings 18:28).
            With all of this in mind, we can conclude that Elijah executed the prophets for violating God's commandments against idolatry and child sacrifice.  He was, in essence, doing to them what they had done to countless victims on their altars.   
   
[1] Exploring the World of the Bible Lands, Roberta L. Harris, 1995.  Pg. 53, 73, 89.
[2] A History of the Ancient World (Fourth Edition), Chester G. Starr, 1991.  Pg. 156.
[3] Archaeology of the Bible: Book By Book, Gaalyah Cornfield, 1976.  Pg. 52, 170.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

The Golden Calf (Exodus 32)



The following quote is taken from evilbible.com:

"Kill Your Neighbors - "(Moses) stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, 'All of you who are on the LORD's side, come over here and join me.' And all the Levites came.  He told them, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Strap on your swords! Go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other, killing even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.'  The Levites obeyed Moses, and about three thousand people died that day.  Then Moses told the Levites, 'Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Because of this, he will now give you a great blessing.'"  (Exodus 32:26-29 NLT) 

            This passage is part of the larger story of how the Israelites sinned against God by making a golden calf to worship.  You can read the full story here:


            At this point in Israel's history, God had just rescued the Israelites from perpetual slavery in Egypt.  The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years, and were oppressed with hard labor (Exodus 1:8-14).  The Pharaoh of Egypt had also commanded the murder of thousands of infant Israelite boys (Exodus 1:22).  God sent Moses and Aaron to give God's command to Pharaoh to release the Israelites, but Pharaoh refused, and so God sent ten plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7-11).  After that, Pharaoh finally relented, and God led the Israelites (and non-Israelites who left Egypt with them) out of Egypt and into the wilderness, even parting the Red Sea so that they could pass through (Exodus 14).  While in the wilderness God took care of the Israelites, bringing water out of a rock for them to drink, and bread from the sky ("manna") to eat (Exodus 16-17).  When they reached Mount Sinai, God gave Moses the covenant that God was about to make with the Israelites: he rescued them from slavery in Egypt to bring them into a good land of their own, to protect them, bless them and make them his holy nation and treasured possession - as long as they kept his commandments.  The Israelites agreed to these terms (Exodus 19:8; 24:3, 7), and Moses received God's commandments on Mount Sinai while the people were gathered at the bottom of the mountain.  Moses was on the mountain for 40 days and nights (Exodus 24:18).
                Moses had been gone for so long that the Israelites began to think he had either died or abandoned them, and in their impatience and panic, they committed a great sin.  "When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, 'Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him'" (Exodus 32:1, NIV).  So Aaron fashioned a calf idol out of the gold earrings the people brought him, and they began to engage in idol worship, in defiance of the first commandment God had directly spoken to them prior to Moses' going up Mount Sinai: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them" (Exodus 20:2-5, NIV).  The Israelites had received this commandment directly from God before Moses left, but they disobeyed.
            The charge of idolatry is a very grievous sin, which God does not take lightly (see Exodus 20:3-6, 23; 23:13, 23-24; 34:17; Leviticus 19:4; 26:1; Deuteronomy 4:15-28; 5:7; 6:14-15; 8:19; 12:31; 17:2-7; 27:15; 29:17-18).  God warned the Israelites on several occasions that if they committed idolatry, it was a crime that warranted the death penalty.  The Israelites' covenant with God demanded that they worship and serve him only.  They were not supposed to worship other gods or fashion idols for themselves.  God had warned them that if they did these things, it would lead to their destruction: "If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed" (Deuteronomy 8:19, NIV). 
            Why is idolatry considered such a serious crime?  The severity of the judgment, capital punishment, is due to the severity of the sin.  God is the only God, the Lord and creator of all the universe.  When anyone bows down and worships or pays tribute to a false god or idol, they are taking credit away from God and giving it to something undeserving of that credit.  "I am the LORD; that is my name!  I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols" (Isaiah 42:8, NIV).  The crime of idolatry was so serious that it was often referred to as adultery against God (Ezekiel 6:9).
            In response to the Israelites' betrayal after he had rescued them from slavery, God was furious.  He was so angry that he told Moses he would destroy all of them, and start over with Moses and his family, making them into a great nation.  Moses reminded God of his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and God refrained from destroying all of the Israelites (Exodus 32:7-14).  However, this great sin could not go unpunished (Numbers 14:18).
            In response to the Israelites' idolatry, Moses broke the tablets of the original covenant, to symbolize that the Israelites had broken their promise to God.  He then burned the calf idol, ground it into powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it (Exodus 32:15-20).  He then called everyone who was willing to repent of their sin and be on the Lord's side to come to him, and all of the Levites came to him.  They were then commanded to kill those who were unrepentant and wished to continue in their idolatry, breaking God's covenant - even their family members, neighbors and friends.  Those who were unrepentant were killed, but the rest of the Israelites were spared (Exodus 32:25-30).  God is willing to show mercy to those who repent.
            This story is a sober reminder that God's commandments are not to be taken lightly.  He was very serious about the covenant that he made with the Israelites, and they were aware of the consequences if they broke it.  It was the Levites who would end up being God's priests, and they had to do the devastating task of carrying out God's judgment that day - even against family and friends.  Their loyalty was first to God.  God expects this kind of loyalty from all who believe in him - we are not commanded to take such drastic actions as the Levites did in the Israelite theocracy, but we are expected to put God and his commandments first in our lives.  Jesus said, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:37-38, NIV).
                Today, instead of God's old covenant that the Israelites continuously broke, we have a new covenant - a covenant not only for the Jewish people, but Gentiles as well - the New Covenant of Jesus, God's promised Messiah (Hebrews 8).  "While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take and eat; this is my body.'  Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you.  This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins'" (Matthew 26:26-28, NIV).

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Prophecies Concerning The Messiah's Birth

The Messiah would be a descendant of Judah:

"The scepter will not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
    and the obedience of the nations shall be his."
- Genesis 49:10

Jesus is a descendant of Judah (Matthew 1:3; Luke 3:33).

The Messiah would be a descendant of David (the son of Jesse):

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
  The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord
  and he will delight in the fear of the Lord."
-Isaiah 11:1-3

Jesus is a descendant of David (Matthew 1:6; Luke 3:31-32)

The Messiah would come from Bethlehem:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
    one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
    from ancient times.”
- Micah 5:2

Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:1-7)

The Messiah would be born of a virgin woman:

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
- Isaiah 7:14

Jesus was born of a virgin woman (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38)

The Messiah would come and then be put to death 40 years before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem:

“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.  After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.  He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’  In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."
- Daniel 9:24-27

“'I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,' says the Lord Almighty."
-Malachi 3:1

Jesus was born near the end of the reign of King Herod the Great, approximately 75 years before the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE (Matthew 2:1).  He was crucified approximately 40 years before the destruction of the Temple (Luke 3:1-2, 23).

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem (2 Kings 18-19)



The following quote is taken from evilbible.com:

"The Angel of Death - "That night the angel of the Lord went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty five thousand men in the Assyrian camp.  Early the next morning, there they were, all the corpses of the dead."  (2 Kings 19:35 NAB)

            This passage is part of a larger story, concerning King Hezekiah's conflict with King Sennacherib of Assyria.  You can read the full story here:


            King Hezekiah of Judah (reigned circa 716-687 BCE), witnessed the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by the kingdom of Assyria in 722 BCE.  In 701 BCE, after capturing all the fortified cities of Judah, King Sennacherib of Assyria sent messengers to Hezekiah to threaten Jerusalem.  The field commander threatened Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem publicly, in their language, in front of the city walls (2 Kings 18:17-37, NIV).  It was Sennacherib's intention to destroy Jerusalem and take the people into captivity, as the Israelites had been conquered.  Among other things, the Assyrian field commander told the people of Jerusalem: “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?” (2 Kings 18:27, NIV).  The field commander urged the people to betray their king and surrender to Sennacherib, or face destruction.  Worst of all, he repeated Sennacherib's message of blasphemy, insulting not only Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem, but God himself.  “Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’  Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?" (2 Kings 18:32-33, NIV).  In saying such things, Sennacherib and his men were openly mocking the God who created them, and falsely boasting that they were more powerful.
            In response to these threats and insults, King Hezekiah prayed for God to deliver them: "Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.  And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 'Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.  You have made heaven and earth.  Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.  It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands.  They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.  Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.'” (2 Kings 19:14-19, NIV). 
            God heard Sennacherib's insults and Hezekiah's prayer for deliverance, and he responded through the prophet Isaiah with a message to Sennacherib: "Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?  Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride?  Against the Holy One of Israel!... Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: 'He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here.  He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it.  By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord.  I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’” (2 Kings 19:22, 32-34, NIV).  That very night, God sent his angel, who took the lives of 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, sending a powerful message not only to Sennacherib, but to people of all nations: God does not tolerate threats and abuse against his people, nor does he tolerate being mocked. 
            After this incident, Sennacherib withdrew from Jerusalem and returned to Nineveh.  20 years later, in 681 BCE, he was murdered by two of his sons, Adrammelek (aka Ardi-Mulishi) and Sharezer (2 Kings 19:36-37).