Exile begins

Over and over again in the long list of the kings of both Judah and Israel, we see a sentence.

"The high places were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there."

We also see multiple references to the "Asherah poles." What were these, and what was the significance of them not being removed? The high places were essentially pagan shrines, called "high places" because they were typically located on hill tops to be most visible to the long list of gods they represented. Asherah poles were poles used specifically in the worship of the goddess Ashtoreth. Just with me telling you what they are you can see the trouble with them hanging around. You might be wondering, like I was, why these stood the test of time from king to king to king. Even the ones who were "good" left these standing. Remember, Solomon allowed the practice to start as a concession to his many foreign wives.

"As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, ad his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh teh detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god fo the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods."

(1 Kings 11:4-8)

You can imagine how hard it would be for any king after the great Solomon, to go back and say "well, Solomon was wrong." You can also imagine that he was a hero to many of them, and so anything he did would automatically be assumed to be right. The people were also probably attached to these worship rituals, and it would have proved an upsetting decision to tear them down. I suppose this was one battle that didn't seem worth fighting. How wrong they were.

We are going to see much more detail regarding the reigns of many of these kings later in first and second Chronicles as well as the books of the prophets who were living during these times. The bottom line? God sent warning after warning and judgement after judgement to try and get the hearts of the Israelites to turn back to him. As we see in chapter 17, the hearts of the people became so far adrift that they were no different from the pagan nations around them. Their worshipped in the same way, to the same gods, and with no regard to anything but their own desires.

God's rules and laws were there for a purpose. To set Israel apart. To show the nations around them how great the one true God is, and how wonderful it is to be under his command and in his service. They were supposed to be the light that drew the rest of the world to God. Obviously, they failed. As Christians, our purpose in remaining on this earth is to show the world how wonderful it is to be in the service of God. We are supposed to be the light that draws the rest of the world to him. A vessel for the display of his power. If we cease to look different, as painful as it may feel sometimes or as difficult as it can be, the end result is much worse. We cease to serve our purpose. Moreover, when we act like the rest of the world- because our God is a fair and just God- we are no longer able to be under the protection God. When we choose to go our own way, we reap the consequences of our own decisions. God offers us grace and mercy- and warnings- just like he did the Israelites. He will pursue us until we either respond to him or, by our own hardness of heart, make ourselves unreachable. The safest course of action is to turn back to God before our stubborness puts us out of reach.

God kept his word. So many prophecies have come true here already.

"If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name- the Lord your God-...

Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods- gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among these nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot...."

Deuteronomy 28:64-65

Whatever God predicts will come to pass. This is good news for those who trust and obey him, we can be confident of his promises. Looking to our own futures, we can be sure that both what God promises and warns will come true. The last few verses of Chapter 17 resonate loudly in my soul..."Even while these people were worshipping the Lord, they were serving their idols."

So often we try to simply add God to our list of already existing values. We serve him along with our "high places and Asherah poles." We try to fit him in between all the other things we serve on a daily basis. We claim to believe in God without denouncing attitudes and actions that God commands against. The result is that we end up like the Israelites, a homogonized group of people who don't stand for anything- especially God. While it can be hard to stand up for hard and fast beliefs, if we truly care about people, we are going to want to point them toward God. We have to live lives that reflect who God is so that people will see him. So they will see His power in us and be drawn to it.

"But we have the treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

2 Corinthians 4:7

What idols are you serving in your life? I'm asking myself this same question. If you aren't sure, one place to start might be to ask yourself, "What in my life looks exactly the same as someone who doesn't know the Lord?" or, "What do I trust in besides God?"

Lord, help us be content to simply be a jar of clay- willing to be broken so that your power can be displayed in us.