Mixed love, loyalty, and worship

October 21, 2021 (Thursday)

 

Jeremiah loved his physical images. Let’s track one down today. “Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a strong man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord and his holy words.” [Jeremiah 23:9 NIV] This section is about the corruption, and by implication the disqualification, of prophets and priests.

 

Jeremiah explains his physical reaction, “For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right.” [Jeremiah 23:10 ESV] In the Old Testament, adultery was an image of the worship of false gods. Historically, of immediate concern was the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth (“Queen of Heaven”).

 

Jeremiah has already observed, “The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.” [Jeremiah 7:18 ESV] There is a growing desire to have a feminine god, or feminine side of god in various forms in our world. Eventually, the queen of heaven was worshiped as a consort (wife) or paramour (mistress) of God. This claim was based on tradition (see Jeremiah 44:17).

 

What is happening is the prophets and priests were participating in this error. Thus, the image of adultery. Jeremiah is repulsed by this and charges, “But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.” [Jeremiah 23:14 ESV] Sodom and Gomorrah are often used as a byword for “the worst of the worst.”

 

In adultery, they claim allegiance to God yet, have mixed it with Baal (meaning “Lord”) and Ashtoreth (the Queen of Heaven). They walk, meaning teach and practice, lies. The charge of lying implies knowledge of truth while deliberately deceiving. Because of this, evildoers and evil are unrestricted. While we may shudder at the reality of Sodom and Gomorrah, God puts those who mix their love, loyalty, and worship under the same judgement.

 

Jeremiah continues, “…They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.” [Jeremiah 23:16b ESV] One of the things that alarms me is people speaking authoritatively out of dreams and visions. The skill is to discern what is from God. There is only one standard.

 

“For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened?” [Jeremiah 23:18 ESV] Indeed. Who has paid attention to word of God? One of the ways to identify a cult is what they do with (or to) the Bible. Adding an authority over or equal to the Bible is by definition spiritual adultery. These teachings or traditions blur the clear teaching of Scripture.

 

We are warned not to add to or subtract from the Word of God (see Deuteronomy 4:2, Revelation 22:18 – 19). Doing so, “… you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.” [Jeremiah 23:36c ESV] Catch the threat there? It’s in the word “hosts,” meaning armies. God does not need an army to do anything. God does use the image because we understand it. It means God will war against those that pervert His words. That’s how personal God takes mixing our love, loyalty, and worship.