Exodus 34:14-17 “for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. “You shall make for yourself no molten gods.”
The Lord provides a reason why He wants the Hebrews to avoid association with the people of the land. They were idolators and He didn’t want them to become such. They weren’t to be polytheistic, like many were. The Hebrews came from Egypt. They had been there over four hundred years. This was a culture that worshiped many deities. They were comfortable with a multigod system.
Verse 14 says that God is a jealous God. Jealousy is not an admirable attribute in our day. To be jealous is to be untrusting. However, Matthew Henry says, “Jealousy is called the rage of man, Proverbs 6:34; but with God it is holy and just displeasure. Those cannot worship God aright, who do not worship him only.” That is helpful.
The Lord provides a reason why He wants the Hebrews to avoid association with the people of the land. They were idolators and He didn’t want them to become such. They weren’t to be polytheistic, like many were. The Hebrews came from Egypt. They had been there over four hundred years. This was a culture that worshiped many deities. They were comfortable with a multigod system.
Verse 14 says that God is a jealous God. Jealousy is not an admirable attribute in our day. To be jealous is to be untrusting. However, Matthew Henry says, “Jealousy is called the rage of man, Proverbs 6:34; but with God it is holy and just displeasure. Those cannot worship God aright, who do not worship him only.” That is helpful.
We all have experienced jealousy. My problem was that it caused me to behave irrationally. I struck out in ways that harmed relationships. Like the proverbs passage says, it’s the “rage of man”. However, God probably feels something similar, but it doesn’t become irrational. Before it became rage, I was hurt because of a loss or a supposed one. It’s ok to feel this pain. We are created in God’s image, so much of what we feel was modeled after Him. The Lord feels pain when we begin to worship another.
This brings up the topic of idolatry. What is it? It clearly is when we worship another deity, other than The Lord. However, it’s broader than that. An atheist can be an idolator. Some criteria for worship are passion and time. Someone may be passionate about sports. It may be a god, if not balanced properly. Others are into causes, reading, their children, cars, learning, science, fitness/health, etcetera. None of these things are bad, but an imbalance can be idolatry.
Jesus balanced out how we are to associate with those outside the faith. He spent time with tax collectors and sinners. We are to, as well. However, we aren’t to adopt practices that share the place that God has in our hearts.
Lord, help us to worship You alone. Forgive us the hurt we caused You, when we shared our passion that was rightfully Yours with others and other things. Help us to sense that pain when we go astray.
This brings up the topic of idolatry. What is it? It clearly is when we worship another deity, other than The Lord. However, it’s broader than that. An atheist can be an idolator. Some criteria for worship are passion and time. Someone may be passionate about sports. It may be a god, if not balanced properly. Others are into causes, reading, their children, cars, learning, science, fitness/health, etcetera. None of these things are bad, but an imbalance can be idolatry.
Jesus balanced out how we are to associate with those outside the faith. He spent time with tax collectors and sinners. We are to, as well. However, we aren’t to adopt practices that share the place that God has in our hearts.
Lord, help us to worship You alone. Forgive us the hurt we caused You, when we shared our passion that was rightfully Yours with others and other things. Help us to sense that pain when we go astray.