BECOMING AWARE OF THE SNARES
By
Ken Graydon
The Book of Judges in the Tanakh talks about the constantly shifting relationship between the ETERNAL and the Hebrews.
Each
Judge was appointed as an answer to the prayers of the people after a period
of drifting away from the life pattern outlined by ETERNAL through Moses.
After
the death of Joshua the people scattered to the land of their tribes’
inheritance but they immediately forgot that they were to drive out the
inhabitants of the land – they had this ‘better’ idea of taking tribute
from the locals and using their labour.
Read
Judges 2: 1- 5. ETERNAL is saying I will not annul My covenant with you BUT
……….. your lack of obedience will be a snare for you.
And
it is – to this day.
The
Hebrews have the need to worship – it is a fundamental desire that we too
have in our genes – but they fall into snares of worshipping almost
anything. ETERNAL goes to extreme lengths to point out this danger. HE warns
against local g-ds, wooden g-ds, gold or silver g-ds, you are not even to use
the gold and silver from other people’s g-ds (Deut 7:25 –26), home made g-ds
and worshipping the Sun, Moon or stars and so on. (Deut 4:25)
In
the story of Gideon, (Judges 8:24-27) a man who in all other respects had been
obedient to ETERNAL, decided to make an Ephod from the captured gold and
silver of the Midianites. Gideon was not a Levite, his home town of Ophrah was
not the place ETERNAL had chosen to rest HIS name, so Gideon was operating out
of what he thought was a good idea. This Ephod became a snare to Israel.
We
cannot take the trappings or the equipment of some other belief system and
adapt it to this walk and then expect ETERNAL will bless our audacity. You do
remember Aaron’s sons who thought they would give ETERNAL an extra
unsolicited serving of incense – the fire from heaven killed them but left
their priestly garments intact! (Leviticus 10: 1-7).
Judges
17 and 18 tell the story of Micah (not the prophet!) who stole silver from his
mother. When he confessed to this crime his mother let him use the silver to
make a carved image and some icons for a house of idolatry. A wandering Levite
becomes a ‘priest’ in this place of idolatry. Subsequently a group from
the tribe of Dan steal the idols, lure the ‘priest’ away and after
frightening off Micah and his men and set up a house of idolatry. These things
can be snares for us. We have seen people who will be ‘priests’ for an
income and security. We have seen people who will misuse other people’s
possessions. We have seen people who think that ‘might is right’. We may
even have seen some of them in the mirror!
There
are some items that are sacred to ETERNAL. The furnishings of the Tabernacle
or the Temple for example. These designs were given to Moses for this specific
use. You probably do not have an Altar of Incense or a Table of Shewbread in
your home. The Menorah is also designed for part of the Temple worship.
There
are snares waiting for us, to lead us off this walk.
The
words of ETERNAL demand our constant obedience and the recognition that it is
the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE who enables us to prosper but who also warns us of
the penalties for disobedience.
Take care lest you forget ETERNAL, by not observing His commandments, His ordinances, and His decrees, which I command you today, lest you eat and be satisfied, and you build good houses and settle, and your cattle and sheep and goats increase, and you increase silver and gold for yourselves and everything that you have will increase – and your heart will become haughty and you will forget ETERNAL ………
And
you may say in your heart “My strength and the might of my hand made me all
this wealth!” Then you shall remember ETERNAL that it was He who gave you
strength to make wealth, in order to establish His covenant that He swore to
your forefathers, as this day.
It
shall be that if you forget ETERNAL and go after the g-ds of others, and
worship them and prostrate yourself to them – I testify against you today
that you will surely perish. (Deut 8: 11- 19).
kennygee@bigpond.com