"Death
to Followers of Other Religions - "Whoever
sacrifices to any god, except the Lord alone, shall be doomed." (Exodus 22:20 NAB)
"Kill Nonbelievers - "They
entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all
their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of
Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman."
(2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)
"Kill Followers of Other
Religions - 1) "If
your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you
intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your
fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away,
from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him,
nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him. Your
hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join
in with you. You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you
astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that
place of slavery. And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never
do such evil as this in your midst." (Deuteronomy 13:6-11 NAB)
2) "Suppose a man or woman
among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, has done
evil in the sight of the LORD your God and has violated the covenant by serving
other gods or by worshiping the sun, the moon, or any of the forces of heaven,
which I have strictly forbidden. When you hear about it, investigate the
matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in
Israel, then that man or woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned
to death." (Deuteronomy 17:2-5 NLT)
I
have already discussed this topic in my earlier article, "A Warning Against Idolatry", so I'm only going to briefly reinstate what was said in
that article.
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).
Again, it is
important to note that capital punishment commands such as these were given
specifically to the nation of Israel during the time period and culture of the
Ancient Near East. All of Scripture,
both Old and New Testament, condemns idolatry; however, the capital punishments
prescribed do not apply in our time period and culture (Romans 6:14; Galatians
3:24-26).
