Amos the
prophet shared the LORD's words concerning the judgment that was to
come upon Israel, and though they continued their acts of worship to
God, He rejected them on account of their disobedience. In chapter
five and verse twenty-six of his prophesy, Amos addressed the images
of the false gods “Moloch and Chiun” that Israel's people
worshipped where we read:
The
verse begins, “But you have borne the tabernacle of your
Moloch and Chiun your images,...” Amos
begins with the word, “But”
which is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be
written takes precedence over what was just stated, “you
have borne” or “lifted up,
taken, endured and exalted” “the tabernacle”
which refers to “the booth or tent” “of your Moloch”
which means “Israel's king” “and Chiun”
which means “an image or pillar” and was “probably a
statue of the Assyrian-Babylonian god of the planet Saturn and used
to symbolize Israelite apostasy”
“your images” or
“their likenesses, resemblance and mere empty semblance of
themselves”. Rather than make the LORD their divine ruler, the
people of Israel exalted the images of false kings and gods.
The
verse continues, “the star of your god, which you made to
yourselves.” Amos added, “the
star” or “brothers, youth,
numerous progeny, personification of God's omniscience” “of
your god” which means “divine
ruler and judge”, “which you made”
or “fashioned, accomplished and produced” “to
yourselves” which refers to
the people of Israel. The gods which were worshiped by the people of
Israel were thought to have been made with a “star” in their
foreheads.
When
we meditate upon these words of Amos, we see the specific names and
“images” the people of Israel were fashioning and worshiping.
Though they portended worship toward the LORD, they set up
“tabernacles” of worship to false gods. Jesus Christ is to
be the only LORD we worship, and should we have any other gods to
which we devote our time, energy and money, let us put them away from
us and worship the one and only true God.
Next
time Amos shares how the LORD will cause the people of Israel “to
go into captivity beyond Damascus”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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