Page images
PDF
EPUB

heaped treasure together for the last 1 Pet. iv. 7.
days. Behold, the hire of the labour- 1 John ii. 17.
ers which have reaped down your
fields, which is of you kept back by
fraud, crieth, &c. Ye have lived in

2 Pet. iii. 7. 10, 11.

CHAP XXXVIII.

pleasure on the earth, and have been OF IDOLATRY, SETTING UP

wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter; ye have condemned and killed the just. -James v. 1—6.

All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass : the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.-1 Pet. i. 24. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, &c. casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.-1 Pet. v. 6, 7.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world: if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world; and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.-1 John ii. 15-17.

Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world: they are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.-1 John iv. 4, 5.

Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? -1 John v. 4, 5.

The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, &c. -Rev. vi. 15-17.

Heaven and earth shall pass away: all these things shall end.-Matt. xxiv. 35. Ps. cii. 25, 26. Isa. li. 6.

GRAVEN

IMAGES, AND WORSHIPPING STRANGE
GODS.

IDOLS arc called dunghill gods.-
1 Kings xxi. 26. 2 Kings xxi. 21.
Ezek. vi. 6. 9. 13.

Laban said to Jacob, Wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?—Gen. xxxi. 30.

Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, &c. 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.-Gen. xxxv. 2. 4.

I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 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 thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, &c. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. -Exod. xx. 2-5. 23. Deut. iv. 15-18. Ps. lxxxi. 9, 10. Hosea xiii. 4.

He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.-Exod. xxii. 20. Deut. xxx. 17, 18. xxxi. 16-18.

Make no mention of the names of other gods: neither let it be heard out of thy mouth, &c. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images, &c. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods, &c. If thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.-Exod. xxiii.

CHAP. XXXVIII.]

OF IDOLATRY, &c.

13. 24. 32, 33. Ps. cvi. 36. Judges ii. 3.

The people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto hin, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for, as for this Moses, &c. we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, &c. and bring them unto me, &c. And he received then at their hands, 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: and when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, &c. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, &c. And the Lord said unto Moses, &c. Let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, &c. Moses caused the calf to be broken into powder, and scattered, &c.-Exod. xxxii. 1-6. 9,10. 20. Ps. cvi. 19,20. Acts vii. 38, &c.

Ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves; for thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, &c. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.-Exod. xxxiv. 12-17. Numb. xxxiii. 51, 52. And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring, &c.-Levit. xvii. 7.

Turn you not unto idols, nor make
yourselves molten gods: for I am
the Lord your God.-Levit. xix. 4.

Ye shall make you no idols, nor
graven image, neither rear you up a
standing image (or pillar); neither
shall ye set up any image (or figure)
of stone in your land, to bow down
God.
to it: for I am the Lord
-Levit. xxvi. 1.

your

They called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the peo

ple did eat, and bowed down to their
gods; and Israel joined himself unto
Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord
was kindled against Israel.-Numb,
xxv. 2, 3. Ps. cvi. 28.

Upon their gods also the Lord exe-
cuted judgments.-Numb. xxxiii. 4.
Take heed unto yourselves: for ye
saw no manner of similitude, &c. lest
ye corrupt yourselves, and make you
a graven image, the similitude of any
figure.-Deut. iv. 15-18. 23. 25.

Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you: for the Lord thy God is a jealous God.- Deut. vi. 14, 15. xi. 16.

Neither shalt thou make marriages that with them, &c. for they will turn away thy son from following me, they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, &c. Ye shall destroy their altars, &c.-Deut. vii. 3—5. 16. 25.

Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods, and worship them;

and then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit.-Deut. xi. 16, 17.

Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, &c. you shall overthrow their altars, &c. Do not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? &c.-Deut. xii. 2, 3. 30, 31.

Such who should endeavour to draw others to idolatry, were to be put to death.-Deut. xiii.

Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee: neither shalt thou set thee up any image (or statue) which the Lord thy God hateth.-Deut. xvi. 21, 22. and served other hath If any gone gods, and worshipped them; either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not com

manded, he shall be stoned, &c.Deut. xvii. 3. 5.

That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods: so should ye sin against the Lord your God. Deut. xx. 18.

Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, &c. the work of the hands of the craftsman. -Deut. xxvii. 15.

Ye have seen their abominations, and their idols (or dunghill gods); wood, stone, &c.-Deut. xxix. 17, 18. 24, &c.

God said, 'Israel would go after strange gods; and that he would leave them, and much evil should come, &c.-Deut. xxx. 16-18.

They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, &c. They sacrificed to devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, &c.-Deut. xxxii. 17. 21. Ps. cvi. 37.

Neither make mention of the name of their gods, neither cause to swear by them; neither serve them, nor bow yourselves to them.-Josh. xxiii. 7. 16. xxiv. 14. 23.

When Joshua and that generation were dead, and there arose a new generation which knew not the Lord, they forsook the Lord, and followed strange gods.-Judges ii. 10. 12—14. 19. Deut. xxxi. 16. 29. Judges x. 6. 13. iii. 6, 7.

Will ye plead for Baal? &c. If he be a god, let him plead for himself. -Judges vi. 31.

Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah; and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and his house. And when Gideon was dead, the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.-Judges viii. 27. 33. x. 6, 7. 13, 14.

The Philistines praise, and offer sacrifice to Dagon their god, for delivering Sampson to them.-Judges xvi. 23, 24.

Micah's mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord, to make a graven image, &c. And she made an image, &c. Micah consecrated the Levite, &c. The Danites take away the idol, and the priest, &c. Then Micah cried out, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away and what have I more? &c. And the children of Dan set up the graven image.-Judges xvii. 3—5. 12. xviii. 16—20. 22—24. 30, 31.

The Philistines, when the god Dagon fell before the ark, would not tread on the threshold on which it fell and broke.-1 Sam. v. 2, &c.

Solomon, in his old age, was drawn away to commit idolatry.-1 Kings xi. 4-10.

Israel, in Ahab's time, worshipped Baal as a god, and called on him.— 1 Kings xviii. 26.

Jeroboam (lest Israel, by going up to Jerusalem to worship, should revolt to Rehoboam) made two calves of gold, and set one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan; and said, Behold thy gods, O Israel! So Israel went, and worshipped. And he made an house of high places ; and made priests of the lowest of the people, &c. ordained a feast, &c. which he had devised, &c.—1 Kings xii. 26-34. xiv. 9, 10. 2 Chron. xi. 15.

They built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.— 1 Kings xiv. 23. 2 Kings xvii. 9— 12. 16.

Asa, king of Judah, removed all the idols, &c. but the high places were not removed. Kings xv. 11-15.

Elijah mocked the worshippers of Baal; and said, Cry aloud, for he is a god: either he is talking, pursuing, or in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, &c.-1 Kings xviii. 27.

All the kings of Israel, after Jeroboam, did continue in the same idolatry, till Ahab: and Ahaziah, son

CHAP. XXXVIII.]

OF IDOLATRY, &c.

of Ahab, served Baal, and worshipped him.-1 Kings xvi. xxii. 51-53. Hezekiah destroyed idolatry, removed the high places, brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it, and he called it Nehushtan, &c. So did Josiah the king.-2 Kings xviii. 4. xxiii. 4, &c. Manasseh's idolatry; setting up all his father had pulled down.2 Kings xxi. 3-7.

King Ahaz's idolatry.-2 Chron. xxviii. 23. 25.

If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god, shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.-Ps. xliv. 20, 21.

All the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord (or Jehovah) made the heavens.-Ps. xcvi. 5.

Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols. Worship him, all ye gods.Ps. xcvii. 7.

Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of mens' hands: they have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not, &c. They that make them, are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them.-Ps. cxv. 3-9. cxxxv. 15, &c.

:

Deut. iv. 28. Hab. ii. 18, 19. Their land is also full of idols: they worship the work of their own hands that which their own fingers have made; and the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself, &c. The idols he shall utterly abolish; and they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, &c. In that day, a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles,

and to the bats.-Isa. ii. 8, 9. 18-20-
xxxi. 7.

At that day shall a man look to
his Maker, &c. and he shall not look
to the altars, the work of his hands;
neither shall he respect that which
his fingers have made, either the
groves, or the images.-Isa. xvii. 7, 8.
Hosea xiv. 8.

To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven image, &c.-Isa. xl. 18-20. 25.

The carpenter encouraged the goldsmith (or founder), &c. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, &c. Behold, ye are of nothing (or worse than nothing), and your work of nought an abomination, &c. Their molten images are wind, and confusion.-Isa. xli. 7. 23, 24. 29.

I am the Lord: that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images, &c. They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.-Isa. xlii. 8. 17.

They that make a graven image, are all of them vanity, &c. they see not, nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image, that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, &c. they shall be ashamed together, &c. The carpenter, &c. heweth him down cedar, &c. he will take thereof, and warm himself: yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread: yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it: he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto : he burneth part thereof in the fire, &c. and the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth down and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my god, &c. None considereth in his heart; neither is

there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burnt part of it in the fire, &c. and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of (or that which comes from) a tree ?-Isa. xliv. 9-20.

They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together, that are makers of idols, &c. They have no knowledge, that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.-Isa. xlv. 16. 20. To whom will ye liken me? &c. They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance; and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god; they fall down, yea, and worship: they bear him upon the shoulder; they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry to him: yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.-Isa. xlvi. 5-7.

:

[blocks in formation]

A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face: that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick, &c.— Isa. lxv. 3, 4. Jer. i. 16.

Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit, &c. The house of Israel is ashamed, &c. saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth, &c. But where are thy gods, that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble for according to the number of thy cities, are thy gods, O Judah.—Jer. ii. 11. 26— 28. xi. 12, 13.

:

Israel is gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green tree; and there hath played the har

lot, &c. Her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the. harlot also, &c. committed adultery with stones, and with stocks.-Jer. iii. 6. 8, 9.

Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire; and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.-Jer. vii. 17, 18.

One cutteth a tree out of the forest, &c. they fasten it with nails; they speak not, &c. be not afraid of them, for they can do neither evil nor good, &c. They are altogether brutish, and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities, silver spread into plates, &c. but the Lord is the true God, &c. The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens, &c. Every founder is confounded by the graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them: they are vanity, and the work of errors.— Jer. x. 3—5. 8—11. 14, 15.

Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? Jer. xiv. 22.

The Gentiles shall come, &c. and say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things, wherein is no profit: shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Jer. xvi. 19, 20.

Then all the men which knew that their wives had burnt incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, &c. answered Jeremiah, saying, &c. We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty, &c. So that the

[ocr errors][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »