2Kings, chapter 16, comments

 

2Kings 16:1 ¶  In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 2  Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father. 3  But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel. 4  And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

 

Ahaz did not do right and even practiced the abomination of sacrificing his son to a pagan god in the superheated arms of the statue of Baal which I have described previously.

 

Carthage, Rome’s mortal enemy until destroyed, saw 300 babies sacrificed to Baal’s superheated arms in one day to try to placate the Devil and end a Roman siege while musicians blared drums and horns to drown out the screams of the agony of the infants. Carthage was a colony of Phoenicia.

 

Leviticus 18:21  And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.

 

Unlike previous kings who simply allowed the people to sacrifice to pagan gods Ahaz did the worship himself. Pagan worshippers used to leave their offerings for the gods under trees.

 

We’ll discuss God’s interaction with King Ahaz in Isaiah, chapter 7.

 

2Kings 16:5 ¶  Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. 6  At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day. 7  So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. 8  And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. 9  And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.

 

King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel intended to overthrow Ahaz and install a puppet king as we learn in Isaiah. Ahaz appealed for help to the King of Assyria, a superpower of that time, for help against them and spent much of the treasure of the king’s palace to do so. Damascus, Syria fell to him and in typical Assyrian fashion he carried them away and killed King Rezin.

 

2Kings 16:10 ¶  And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. 11  And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus. 12  And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon. 13  And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, upon the altar. 14  And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the LORD, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of

the altar. 15  And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the king’s burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brasen altar shall be for me to enquire by. 16  Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded.

 

Ahaz went to show his fealty to the King of Assyria and saw a heathen altar that caught his eye. So, he had Urijah the priest construct one like it. Ahaz would use this altar to satisfy his lust for idolatry.

 

The altar was clearly not built according to specifications in Exodus but was of a heathen configurement and yet Ahaz wanted to offer sacrifices on it. Chronicles will give us more detail but I’ll wait until I get to those histories and combine cross-references from Kings and Isaiah to give a complete picture.

 

Ahaz “remodeling” of the altar and implements of worship continued.

 

1Kings 16:17 ¶  And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones. 18  And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s entry without, turned he from the house of the LORD for the king of Assyria. 19  Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 20  And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

 

To please the King of Assyria and to honor the gods of Damascus and Syria, Ahaz did this great evil of idolatry, explained here. Some of Ahaz’s projects are lost to us but we get the gist of this ungrateful, rebellious, and idolatrous king’s wickedness.

Bible Study on Romans 1, verses 19 to 32, part 8, a stumblingblock

 

See my comments on Numbers, chapter 25;

 

“Numbers 25:1 ¶  And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 2  And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3  And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. 4  And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. 5  And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.

 

The Israelites begin consorting with Moabite women. This also included the worship of their gods.

 

Here is what Balaam was able to accomplish against Israel. He would not curse them. He could not. But he could lay a stumblingblock in their path to service to God, a sexual stumblingblock as we have already learned about the sexual content of ancient religion. First, the point at from where this began would be when Balaam was with Balak who was demanding a curse but getting a blessing.

 

Numbers 23:28  And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon.

 

Numbers 31:16  Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

 

Revelation 2:14  But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

 

Baalpeor  means obviously ‘god of Peor’ or ‘lord of Peor’, a physical location we have seen in the text. The context indicates the sexual nature of the worship of this local god which, unfortunately, like all of the hypersexualized worship of the Canaanites we’ve already looked at was a stumblingblock to this race of former slaves of Egypt. This is not a case of, “oh, them local girls sure are pretty,” considering what you and I have learned about religious customs in Canaan so far. God orders Moses to execute every one who fell to this very sensual worship of this local Canaanite god.

 

Once the Israelites began enjoying physical relations with the Canaanite women spiritual decline was inevitable.

 

1Kings 11:1  But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;

 

Nehemiah 13:26  Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.

 

Put it in a modern perspective. You tried to raise your son or daughter right. You permitted them to go away to school. They announce to you at some point that they have fallen in love with a local girl or boy where they are. Marriage follows and then children, hopefully in that order. But you notice that the children seem to be raised with a different standard than the one you set for your child. Your grandchildren act very differently than your child did growing up, usually with less impulse-control and perhaps even acting a bit disrespectfully. You realize that if your child’s spouse was raised in a more liberal environment with less order than your child this will be reflected in your grandchildren’s behavior. We cannot underestimate the power of a child raised with a lower standard has on even a young person who you think is firm and solid in their beliefs and standards. It can be very disheartening. While you raised your child to be respectful of other’s property and a good guest in someone else’s home your grandchild acts like a Vandal sacking Rome when they visit. Maybe you notice that the family does not attend church faithfully or even, in some cases, bear any resemblance to a Christian family.

Bible Study on Exodus 30, verses 1 to 10, do not mix the heathen and the holy

 

Exodus 30:1 ¶  And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. 2  A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same. 3  And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. 4  And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. 5  And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. 6  And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. 7  And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. 8  And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. 9  Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. 10  And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.

 

In verse 7 there is a form of the verb to dress. To dress something in this context means to prepare it, make ready for use, to maintain. For instance, in dressing an animal one has slaughtered for a meal, caring for a garden, or washing one’s feet.

 

Genesis 18:7  And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.

 

Genesis 2:15  And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

 

2Samuel 19:24  And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace.

 

Paying particular attention to verse 9 you can see again that God does not want pagan worship mingled in with His worship. He demands that no strange incense on this altar. Strange is a synonym for foreign or alien as stranger is a foreigner or alien.

 

Genesis 35:2  Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

 

Exodus 2:22  And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

 

Exodus 18:3  And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land:

 

Psalm 69:8  I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.

 

Ephesians 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

 

Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, will violate this command of God and die for it.

 

Leviticus 10:1  And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. 2  And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

 

What can we take away from this? It reinforces that God does not want pagan elements mixed in with His worship.

Bible Study on Romans 1, verses 19 to 32, part 7, the perversion of ancient religions

 

Exodus 32:25  And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)

 

To explain further, in ancient Greece and Rome orgia was a sacred word denoting worship in the mystery cults such as that devoted to Dionysus. It included dancing, singing, and drinking as well as promiscuous sexual behavior. You cannot underestimate the sexual perversion of ancient religion after the Flood. The ancient Egyptians practiced every kind of perversion in their religion.”

 

In ancient Near Eastern religion the sex act was important to the worship of heathen gods. Temples were attended by heterosexual and homosexual prostitutes. Throughout the Bible this was condemned and amazingly this behavior was brought into God’s temple, making it a house of prostitution like the pagan world around them.

 

Deuteronomy 23:17  There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.18  Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God. [dog in this context is slang for a homosexual temple prostitute or sodomite]

 

God gave mankind over to this perversion because of the wickedness of their hearts. Do you see how we in America are returning to that?

With regard to idolatry please note the warning Moses gave in Deuteronomy, chapter 4.

Deuteronomy 4:1 ¶  Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. 2  Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. 3  Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you. 4  But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day. 5  Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6  Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7  For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things

that we call upon him for? 8  And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? 9  Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; 10  Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. 11  And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. 12  And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. 13  And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of

stone. 14  And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. 15  Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: 16  Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17  The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, 18  The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: 19 

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. 20  But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

 

You remember discussing Baalpeor, don’t you? The entire incident suggested the degradation of the Israelites downward into the prevalent religious impulses of the day.

 

A Psalm for Sunday, Psalm 81, verses 8 to 16, they walked in their own counsels

 

Psalm 81:8 ¶  Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; 9  There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god. 10  I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11  But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. 12  So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels. 13  Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! 14  I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. 15  The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. 16  He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

 

If the Israelites will just listen to God, if they will just listen. They were told not to worship foreign gods, but the God who led them out of Egypt. For strange as foreign see;

The word stranger is used to denote a foreigner, an alien to a people, who lives among that people.

Genesis 15:13  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Genesis 17:12  And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

Leviticus 24:22  Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.

Jacob put away his strange gods.

Genesis 35:1 ¶  And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 2  Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: 3  And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. 4  And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 5  And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

Remember the Law given to Moses;

Exodus 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

See verse 12 and how God will give people over to their own delusions. See the religious history of mankind summarized by Paul in Romans.

Romans 1:16 ¶  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. 18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

    19 ¶  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. 28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29  Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30  Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31  Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32  Who knowing the

 

judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

If the Israelites had obeyed God would have done good things for them as He says here in this Psalm. Let this be a warning to you that your life will go much better, even though you will have persecution and tribulation just by virtue of living in a fallen world in a fallen body, but life will go much better and the Lord God will bless you if you obey Him and stay close. Let God speak to you through His word daily and often and do what you understand from the Bible what God wants you to do. Praise God and don’t make the mistake of the Israelites in ignoring His admonitions and commands on your life.

Bible Study on Romans 1, verses 19 to 32, part 6, the degraded vision of God's glory

 

But, for verse 23 let’s go back to the beginning of mankind’s history after the Flood. Man degraded their own vision of God’s glory and began to worship representations of created beings.  

Genesis 3:6 ¶  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

There were things that were pleasant to the eyes to mankind that he grew to worship in place of God.

Exodus 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

 

Exodus 32:8  They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

 

Numbers 33:52   Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:

 

You had gods like the Philistine Dagon, which some authorities link to the Assyrian art of a merman; half man, half fish. The Egyptians were known for gods that were manifested by animals, according to some authorities, like Thoth’s dog-headed baboon, or Isis, Hethor, or Nut’s cow. The giving of the tablets of the Ten Commandments in Exodus may be the beginning of the alphabet that we use, the precursor to it. God created the writing that contrasted with the pictograms of hieroglyphics and cuneiform writing that dominated the ancient world. From China, Sumeria, and Egypt to the civilizations of the ancient Americas pictures were used to convey ideas and history and as representations of things worshipped. The basic units of writing, the letters, become symbols for ideas rather than pictures representing things to be worshipped as idols. ‘A’, instead of a symbol for a bull or an ox, is Aleph in Hebrew and Alpha in Greek, and ‘A’ for modern purposes. A good study for this is Marc A. Ouaknin’s Mysteries of the Alphabet. This could be part of God drawing a people out of a world of idolatrous pictures or creatures to be adored and turning their writing into ideas to be expressed by symbols.

What came along with this idolatry was a peculiar form of worship involving sexual acts. Returning to comments I originally made in Exodus.

“Exodus 32:1 ¶  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2  And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. 6  And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

 

These people who have spent so long in Egypt with the worship of heathen gods want Aaron to make gods for them to worship. That is what they have known for hundreds of years and they are quick to abandon the singular devotion to the magnificent God who created them and called them out of Egypt with such mighty signs. This is a problem for Christians as we are often not willing to wait for God to do something in our lives and rather quickly began looking backwards into the things that we leaned on before we came to Christ.

 

As far as they were concerned, Moses might have died on the mountain. Aaron is either a creature of public opinion, maybe afraid of the masses, or he also doubts whether Moses will return. So, he calls for their earrings.

Earrings had a special significance, which I pointed out in Genesis. Jewelry played a part in ancient worship. Earrings were not merely ornamentation for both men and women but were, scholars tell us, sometimes amulets and charms to protect the openings of the face and head from entry by evil spirits. They were clearly part of the idol worship of the ancient world, the spiritual system that developed after the Flood.  If you have difficulty seeing that side of facial jewelry just look at the hundreds of occult earrings on a website like Etsy.com. Some verses of note regarding men and women wearing earrings and of a possible link to their occultic practices are;

Genesis 35:4  And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

Judges 8:24  And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) 25  And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey.

In the passage in Genesis, chapter 35, and here in Exodus we have a very clear indication that something linked earrings to the spirit world.

Verse 4 is an astounding statement that makes Aaron worthy of death. Of course, if you think about it, we do very much the same thing when we say, “good luck!” or, “oh, how lucky you were.” When we, even absent-mindedly, attribute our good fortune or our trouble to something or someone other than God we do blaspheme His name and diminish the glory due Him.

Malachi 2:2  If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

Aaron made a molten calf. The calf/bull was a commonly worshipped as a god in the Ancient Near East and in Egypt. While Moses was receiving what may have been the introduction of the alphabet over pictographic writing the Hebrews were falling down to worship the object symbolized by the pictographic rendering of a calf, a young bull. Aleph, the first letter of Hebrew, is derived from the pictographic representation of the young bull. Alpha, the Greek letter, was derived from Aleph. With the ‘alpha-bet’ God removed the pictures that were worshipped to letters that represented thoughts and ideas only rather than sacred objects representing thoughts and ideas.

 

This is a return to Egypt in a religious sense. The ensuing nudity and orgy was in keeping with the sexual aspects of Ancient Near Eastern religion. See verse 25 in this chapter coming up.

 

Exodus 32:25  And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)

Bible Study on Isaiah 8, verses 1 to 15, broken in pieces

 

Isaiah 8:1 ¶  Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz. 2  And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. 3  And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz. 4  For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria. 5  The LORD spake also unto me again, saying, 6  Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; 7  Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: 8  And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.

 

Let’s do a comparison between Isaiah, chapter 8, and the 8^th book of the Bible for those who believe that the chapters in Isaiah match a book of the Bible. Those who believe in the comparison, calling Isaiah a mini-Bible, refer to the 8^th book called Ruth They both contain themes of a witness, a conception, and baring a son.

 

2  And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. . 3  And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz.

 

Ruth 4:11a  And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses…13 ¶  So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son.

 

Isaiah is told to prophesy that he will have a son and before the son can even so much as cry out and say father and mother these enemies, Israel and Syria, spoken of in chapter 7, will be spoiled by the Assyrians. This puts events as being very close.

 

Assyria will even invade Judah because they have, as ancient Jewish sources are reported by Gill to have interpreted, refused the gentle rule of the house of David. They will get the oppression and destruction of Assyria. This is what the reference to the waters of Shiloah is about. Israel might have rejected the harshness of Rehoboam but it was nothing compared to what is going to come upon them.

 

Strong’s says that Mahershalalhashbaz means, “swift is the booty, speedy is the prey,” referring to the imminency of the Assyrian oppression.

 

Isaiah 8:9 ¶  Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. 10  Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. 11  For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, 12  Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 13  Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14  And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15  And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

 

Another note of significance is the Jewish understanding of Isaiah, chapter 8, in regard to the Messiah to come. The Targums were the Second Temple Period, the time of Jesus, and their interpretation in Aramaic of the Hebrew scriptures so the Jews taught this at the time of Jesus’ ministry.

 

Verse 14 regarding a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense is spoken of as a Messianic stone in certain Jewish Targums and we will see soon how this is applied in the Christian New Testament.

 

First, from Paul;

 

Romans 9:30 ¶  What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. 31  But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32  Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; 33  As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

 

Then from Peter;

 

1Peter 2:7  Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

8  And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

 

Isaiah prophecies in verse 9 of chapter 8 that the confederacy against Judah will be broken. He says not to fear Israel and Syria but to only fear God, the only one you should truly be afraid of.

 

Syria was taken by Assyria.

 

2Kings 16:9  And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.

 

Then, Assyria took Ephraim and Israel.

 

2Kings 17:6  In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

 

Remember in verse 10, the sign of Immanuel promising the defeat of the confederacy against Judah from;

 

Isaiah 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

 

Defined for us in the text from;

 

Matthew 1:23  Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

 

Here is the statement that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, identified by cross-referencing, is God. There is a striking and definitive doctrinal statement that we should acknowledge.