The Slow Clutter of Idols
“Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.
And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.
And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens.”
2 Kings 23:1–5 ESV Read More
If you just drop into 2 Kings 23, your first reaction might be “How in the world did all of this get there?!” Does it actually say that the temple – as in THE temple – was full of vessels made for Baal, Asherah, and ‘all the host of heaven?’ The temple is fully given over to idolatry!
Yep, that’s what has been going on for about the last 23 chapters.
The thing is, with any worship, it builds up over time.
When we moved into our house in 2008, we had very little. Our kids’ beds were mattresses that sat on the floor. Our dining room table was on loan from my mother-in-law’s basement and we had to temporarily displace her cockatiel while we used it.
But Israel let down her guard and added some extra things to the worship of Yahweh. If Yahweh isn’t giving us what we want, maybe we should try Baal like the people down the road. And Asherah worship is kind of fun. And this would be a cool thing to wear. It’s a bummer we only have one of these and we have to share; let’s bring in another.
And before you know it, nobody said “I reject the God of Israel and worship Baal,” directly, but they just liked some of the Baal stuff instead of getting to know Yahweh better.
Sometimes it’s easier to go with what you like instead of taking the time to do what’s right. That’s how the temple gets full of a bunch of Asherah crap from hell. Pardon the cleaned up language, but that’s what it is.
Jesus is so much better than the clutter of idolatry.
It’s 13 years after we’ve moved into our house and I have a queen sized-bed and frame leaning against my living room wall because I have so many extra beds in my house. My kids haven’t slept on the floor in years.
I want to make sure no idols have crept in so that when I want to clean house, nobody can say “they had to bring out all of the vessels.”
Let us read the scriptures and respond like king Josiah. Jesus’ way is always better, even if it doesn’t seem as accessorized and fun in the moment.