Why Idolatry is such a big theme in the Old Testament

—(Part 15 of Seeing Jesus in the O.T.)

Andrew Fountain – Feb 28, 2021

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In the novel Sense and Sensibility, the heroine Marianne is lying in her bed with a fever, dying.
The Hero, Colonel Brandon (who is in love with her) paces up and down outside the door in an agony of frustration. When Marianne’s sister comes out of the room he pleads with her “give me something to do, give me a work to do!”
Being “in Control”
- Who here likes being completely helpless in a situation?
  - There is nothing you can do to control it
- We all have a strong drive to be “in control” of our situation
If there is one thing that human nature cannot stand, it is being in a situation where we are helpless and out of control.
- For example, people are often afraid of flying. Why are we afraid of air travel when statistically we are much safer in an airplane than travelling in a car or even crossing the street?
- Why be afraid of being in an aluminum tube five miles up in the sky and if something goes wrong there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.
If an engine catches fire, what can we do? Our fear is made much worse because we not in control.
e.g. 747 Jumbo Jet Flight simulator

Goal:

To see why idolatry is one of the big themes underlying the Old Testament

and to see how it relates to us on a daily basis.

Why Idolatry is such a big theme in the Old Testament

How Idolatry Works
How God wants us to relate to him
A theme in the Bible from beginning to end
Living this out daily

Cultures of the World

Justice/Guilt culture
Honour/Shame culture
Power/Fear culture

It is very common to divide the world into regions that have a justice/Guilt culture (usually characterized as Europe and the Americas)
And those that have an Honour/Shame culture, usually South-East Asia & Africa
Recently people have realized what an over-simplification this is, and there is a third dynamic: a Power/Fear culture
There is a strong interplay between these
They are also strongly linked to health security, and financial stability

i.e. if you are dying of hunger then you are not so worried about the shame of begging or wrongness of robbing someone else..
In the ancient world, Power/Fear was very dominant
- This is why when it was said that a person “feared God”
- It did not mean that they lived in terror of God, but that God defined the other categories
  Justice had to be taken very seriously and God defined the standard
  
  Honour before humans was not nearly as important as before God
- We are going to see today when idolatry is one of the fundamental themes running through the Old Testament, and indeed the whole Bible
This Power/Fear dynamic is still very true even in our culture today
- If you pray for someone who is sick and they get healed
  That might be more important in bringing them to Christ than reasoning with them about their sin & guilt
In many ways I believe we are moving back into a Power/Fear culture

Idolatry

It is an attempt to gain control by persuading some “Power” to help you
In ancient times they had a god for everything they wanted to control.
Can you name anything they might want to control?
rain
war
fertility
health

Idolatry—Summary

We want certain things that we cannot get directly
So we try to manipulate a deity to get what we want.

How Idolatry Works

People would use all sorts of means to manipulate their god.
Elijah on Mount Carmel, the prophets of Ba’al were desperate to manipulate their god to give them the fire from heaven.
- They even cut themselves with knives hoping Ba’al would have pity on them and send them fire from heaven.
- Elijah mocked them saying, “Maybe your god is asleep. Shout louder to wake him up.”
The Canaanites were very cruel, they believed in very cruel gods
and would even sacrifice their babies to try to manipulate their gods to give them the things that they wanted.
- Ezekiel 23:37 tells us that the Israelites even descended to the point of sacrificing their children to the god Molech.

So if this is the wrong way of approaching God, which is the right way?

2. How God wants us to relate to him

The true God HATES to be manipulated
- Today I will take a couple of main passages, but show it’s a theme that goes through Scripture.

2. How God wants us to relate to him

The LORD will have compassion on his people,
will change his plans concerning his servants;

when he sees that their power has disappeared,

and that no one is left,

whether confined or set free.
He will say, “Where are their gods,
the rock in whom they sought security,³⁸

who ate the best of their sacrifices,

and drank the wine of their drink offerings?

Let them rise and help you;

let them be your refuge!
See now that I, indeed I, am he! says the LORD,
and there is no other god besides me.

I take life and give life, I break and I heal,

and none can resist my power. (Deut 32)

Love and Trust

The way that God wants us to relate to him is
- to worship him because we trust him, because we love him.
We don’t worship him in order to get him to give us the good things that we want in life.
Not think that if I have read the Bible for an hour every day this week he will answer my prayer
because he loves us he will give us what is good.
Our response is contentment with what he gives us.
Job says, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.” (Job 13:15)

Worship: Two ways

As a means of gaining control
In trusting adoration

True Worship

Between these two there is a fundamental tension.

Why Idolatry is such a big theme in the Old Testament

How Idolatry Works
How God wants us to relate to him
A theme in the Bible from beginning to end
Living this out daily

3. A theme in the Bible from beginning to end

Adam & Eve
The Tower of Babel: Making a Name
Command to spread out, to “make a name”,
but Abraham & Sarah were willing to do the opposite:
Sarah & Abraham: Faith & the promised Child
25 year wait
Israel worship golden calf or invisible God
The Ark: an Idol? (Eli)
God absolutely refused to be treated like an idol
Saul (False king)
David: “Man after God’s own heart”
e.g. Ps 20 on next slide
The Jews (Hebrews)
turned the Scriptures into an idol
Jesus: the Ultimate Example (Iesus)
not about your performance persuading God. Just trust my love

David: Psalm 20

Some trust in chariots and others in horses,
but we depend on the LORD our God.
They will fall down,
but we will stand firm.

King Asa: 2 Chron 14

And Asa cried out to the LORD his God, and said,
“LORD, it is nothing for you to help,

whether with many

or with those who have no power;

help us, O LORD our God,

for we rest on you,

and in your name we go

against this multitude.”

King Jehoshaphat: 2 Chron 20

“Our God… we are powerless against this huge army that attacks us! We don’t know what we should do; but our eyes are upon you.”
All the men of Judah were standing before the LORD, along with their infants, wives, and children.
He said: “Pay attention, all you people of Judah, residents of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Don’t be afraid and don’t panic because of this huge army! For the battle is not yours, but God’s.

Why Idolatry is such a big theme in the Old Testament

How Idolatry Works
How God wants us to relate to him
A theme in the Bible from beginning to end
Living this out daily

4. Living this out daily

The Test of Faith
- Sometimes God deliberately puts us in a situation where we are out of control
  sometimes, medical, financial, relational
- How do we respond to this test?
Only two things are really important in this world
1. God is all powerful
2. He loves me
We don’t really know this till we have been through it.
This is what happened with Abraham & David
He says: Don’t fear—come to me, trust me
- Will you trust him?