“Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, ““Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers and has not listened to me,”
~ Judges 2:20
Hi James and Ellen,
If you know that your Father God has told you to do something, would you do what your Father God has told you to do? If you know that your Father God has told you to purge the land area that He told you that you would always have to live in as your very own land, would you do what your Father God has told you to do? If you know that your Father God has told you to only worship Him, would you do what your Father God has told you to do? How do you think that your Father God feels about what He says? Do you think that when your Father God says something that He really means it? Do you think that when your Father God makes an agreement or covenant with a guy or gal, that He will keep His side of the agreement or covenant that He has made with the guy or gal? If you had the opportunity to worship an inanimate object that had been handmade from molten metal that stood on the back of a manmade bull or to worship an invisible God Who is the divine Creator of all things, what or Who would you worship? The inanimate handmade thing that stood on the back of a manmade bull was a Baal. Baal means lord. The guys and gals from the Phoenician and Canaanite people groups worshipped Baals. When God’s specially chosen guys and gals moved into the land that God told them that they would always have to live in as their very own land, the guys and gals in the Canaanite people group – along with guys and gals in other people groups, were inhabiting the land of Canaan. Baal is supposedly the son of the pagan gods – El and Dagon. There are other names that are used for Baal. Baal in Aram – which is the land of Syria, was called Hadad. Baal in Babylonia was called Adad. Baal’s supposed ability was making a gal’s womb fertile for becoming pregnant and sending life-giving rain to planet Earth. Baals supposedly rode storm clouds chariots to get them to where they were going. A Baal’s voice was supposedly the thunder that is heard in thunderstorms. The lightning flashes that are seen in thunderstorms were supposedly a Baal’s spears and arrows. To allegedly keep Baals happy, a dad and ma would sometimes have to sacrifice one of their kids to a Baal. To keep God happy, the laws that He gave to His specially chosen guys and gals had to be obeyed and sheep, bulls, goats, oil and flour had to be sacrificed to Him at the appointed times on an altar.
Baals could be seen. Your grandpaa believes that Baals were inhabited by evil spirits. The evil spirits would be Satan’s minions. Fear drove guys and gals to want to worship a Baal. There were Baals scattered throughout the land area that God told His specially chosen guys and gals that they would always have to live in as their very own land. The guys and gals who were the enemies of God’s specially chosen guys and gals did not just worship Baals; they also worshipped Ashtoreths. Ashtoreths were the gal deities or gods that the guys and gals who were from the different people groups who were living in the land area that God told His specially chosen guys and gals that they would always have to live in as their very own land while the Baals were the guy deities or gods for these same people groups. An Ashtoreth was associated with the evening star. An Ashtoreth was seen as the beautiful goddess of war and fertility. Ashtoreth was also known by other names. Ashtoreth in Babylonia was called Ishtar. Ashtoreth in Aram – which is the land of Syria, was called Athtart. Ashtoreth was called Astarte or Aphrodite by the Greeks. Ashtoreth was called Venus by the Romans. To allegedly keep an Ashtoreth happy, guys and gals who worshipped Ashtoreth had to live their lives in a totally immoral, uninhibited and sinful way. An Ashtoreth could be seen just as a Baal could be seen. Your Father God cannot be seen. Your Father God’s worship expectations of His specially chosen guys and gals 3450 years ago was that they were to worship Him His way or else. Instead of faithfully worshipping their Creator God – Who had delivered them from being Egyptian slaves, God’s specially chosen guys and gals would adopt the same spiritual practices that their pagan neighbors observed – which was to try to appease through abhorrent, aberrant, deviant and worthless attempts a couple of handmade inanimate idol gods.
Your grandpaa is not a real fan of Joshua. Joshua was one of the two spies – out of twelve spies who went into the land of Canaan to spy out the land, who came back saying that ‘we can do it now’. Moses would make Joshua his number two guy. Judges 2 is a quick overview of Joshua’s failures. Joshua failed to per God’s orders purge or kill every single guy, gal and kid who were in the people groups who were living in the land area that God told His specially chosen guys and gals that they would always have to live in as their very own land. Moses mentored Joshua to replace him when he died. Nothing is written anyplace that reports Joshua mentored a guy to replace him when he died. Because Joshua did not take the time to choose a guy and then to spend a lot of time with that guy to help him become a strong able leader of God’s specially chosen guys and gals, God’s specially chosen guys and gals had to in the first centuries of their existence suffer through cycles of apostasy, oppression, crying out for help and being graciously delivered by God. Early on while Joshua was still alive, God sent an angel of the Lord with a message to His specially chosen guys and gals to tell them that He would never give up on them. God’s specially chosen guys and gals admitted their mistakes to God in a place called Bokim but . . . God’s specially chosen guys and gals just went right back to really ticking off their Creator God. Verse 20 says, “Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, ““Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers and has not listened to me,” What you do is to be done for God’s sake for the purpose of bringing glory to His name.
Judges 2 (496)