Only a generation had passed since the Israelites had vowed to devote themselves to the service of God. The inspired record declares that: "The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that He did for Israel. ... and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel. .. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim." (Judges 2:7,10-11)
The startling testimony of history declares that the people of whom Moses had inquired, "What nation is there so great, who has God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?" (Deuteronomy 4:7-8) forsook the Lord to serve Baalim. The only way that we can have any fair comprehension of the degradation this implies, is to compare the idolatry they had chosen to the sacred and glorious worship they had forsaken. The thought of such depths of debasement following such heights of exaltation fills us with horror and astonishment. It seems a thing incredible. The psalmist, speaking of the requirements of God's service, says, "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom." (Psalm 51:6)
The children of Israel had been chosen to obedience. For a time they shone as lights in the midst of the perverse and crooked nations of the world, reflecting the divine image. The blessings of Heaven were for them. But they did evil and served Baal. They forsook their God.
Probably this was not done by a sudden departure. We know how apostasy comes:
1. First it is a conviction stifled, a duty neglected;
2. Then a glorifying of self and a worshiping and serving of the creature more than the Creator;
3. And then a sinking down into grosser and grosser sins till we are corrupted, full of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores.
Says the prophet of one who had forsaken God, "A deceived heart has turned him aside." (Isaiah 44:20)
They served Baalim. Language fails to describe the degradation, the utter vileness, of the idolatry chosen by the people of God as a substitute for the worship of the Holy One of Israel. The worship of Baal, or the sun, was the most abhorrent of all heathen worship. It was the lowest of all idolatry, with which was connected licentious rites of the most debasing character. It afforded an opportunity for the display of the carnal nature to the full.
That the worship of the sun was the most abominable form of heathenism, is evident from the words of the Lord to the prophet Ezekiel. While the prophet was with the captives in Babylon, he was taken in vision to Jerusalem, and shown the abominable deeds of the Jews who still remained in that city. He was first shown the "image of jealousy," (Ezekiel 8:3) at the door of the inner court of the temple, and the Lord said to him, "see what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn yet again, and you shall see greater abominations." (Ezekiel 8:6)
Then he was shown "every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall" (Ezekiel 8:10) of the temple, and seventy elders offering incense, and was again told that he should see even greater abominations. Next he was brought to the door of the temple, and there saw the women "weeping for Tammuz," (Ezekiel 8:14) the Babylonian Adonis, whose worship was conducted with the most lascivious rites, but was told that he should be shown greater abominations still. These last and greatest abominations are thus described: "And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east." (Ezekiel 8:16)
The Encyclopedia Britannica, speaking of Baal, says: "As the sun-god he is conceived as the male principle of life and reproduction in nature, and thus in some forms of his worship is the patron of the grossest sensuality, and even of systematic prostitution. An example of this is found in the worship of Baal-Peor (Numbers 25), and in general in the Canaanitish high places, where Baal, the male principle, was worshiped in association with the unchaste goddess Ashera, the female principle of nature."
Have we not marveled and inquired, "How could these people go to such depths of debasement?"
Perhaps we have thought that such idolatry and defilement was a thing of the past, and belonged alone to those of earlier ages. Alas! that this is not true. These things were written for our admonition. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
Not man, certainly, for the Lord declares, "I the Lord search the heart." (Jeremiah 17:10)
Let the Spirit of God be grieved away, let circumstances remove their restraint, let it become popular to serve Baal, and who will be like Elijah and the seven thousand who withstood the tide of idolatry? Even now if you could penetrate into the secret chambers as did Ezekiel you would see many who bear the name of Christ worshiping before Baal and Ashteroth. Yes, even in the gates of the house dedicated to God, the idols of pride, lust, and selfishness are worshiped publicly. Says Paul: "In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, ... Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." (2 Timothy 3:1-2,5)
Even the professed church of Christ is to be defiled with the lovers of self, and these times are perilous times, for it is a time when Israel is sweeping off into the outgoing tide of idolatry, and only he will stand who is anchored to the eternal Rock. "And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth." (Judges 2:12-13)
Were the children of Israel so blinded that they could not read in the nations the direful effects of idolatry? Did they not behold the image of the earthly, the sensual, the devilish, in those who had corrupted themselves with the gods they had served? Their gods were simply the image of their own debased and ever degrading nature. They bowed themselves down indeed, when they were making obeisance to such idols. "And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers...so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, ... and they were greatly distressed." (Judges 2:14-15)
Again and again it has been demonstrated that: "the way of the transgressors is hard." (Proverbs 13:15)
Every transgressor experiences this bitter result, and yet the slave of Satan is deceived, beguiled again and again into the paths of sin. The children of Israel had been warned. God had set before them life and good, and death and evil, and they made their own choice. They sowed to the flesh, and of the flesh reaped corruption.
But God is long-suffering and plenteous in mercy. His heart of infinite love yearned for His rebellious children, and the next verse after the terrible description of their foul apostasy begins, "Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them." (Judges 2:16)
And still they did not acknowledge His hand. Perhaps it seemed to them as an ordinary thing that they were plucked from the power of their enemies, for "they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods." (Judges 2:17)
Again they tasted the bitter fruit of transgression, bringing anguish upon their souls. The Lord heard their groaning by reason of those that oppressed them, and again in the abundance of His pity He delivered them. Israel's course was like the fluctuation of the sea. They progressed to retrograde, and retrograded to return, but at last "they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way." (Judges 2:19)
The Lord had promised to drive out their enemies if they would walk in His ways, but now He declares, "I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died." (Judges 2:21)
But, even in this stern and just sentence, runs a thread of divine compassion, for He adds, "that through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein." (Judges 2:22)
God could not give them up. Bad as they were, He saw in them the possibility of purity through the infinite merit of His grace. He would use the nations as scourges to chasten His people, that they might return to Him who could cleanse their sins, and redeem their lives from destruction.
It is thus He deals with us in this season of apostasy; but the day of His patience is fast hastening to its close. Says the prophet: "Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." (Isaiah 13:9)
Now is the time to tear down the idols, for soon a selfish but bitter cry will sound from the fearful and unbelieving, from liar and idolater. "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved." (Jeremiah 8:20)--Present Truth, August 29, 1895--Deuteronomy 6:5-9
E.J. Waggoner