We’re several weeks into our summer idol study and things are really heating up. (See what I did there?) Summer brings slower days and later nights. Well, maybe not “later” nights for me anymore, but believe it or not, there was a time in my life when I actually stayed up late. For what reason?
Board games.
Most of my college memories include hours upon hours of Settlers of Catan. Have you ever played this game? It involves gathering resources, such as sheep or brick, building roads and settlements, and over-all Catan domination. Competition and negotiation for resources is brutal. Friendships have ended over this game. If you play, expect manipulation, lies, betrayal, and blatant backstabbing from folks you thought you knew well. In other words, the game brings out the in best everyone.
As much as I loved my Catan years, I have to admit I felt something was missing. The nerd in me wanted to take this game one step further and include costumes and accents as to achieve the full Catan effect. I was politely told (on several occasions) that I should consider joining a Dungeons and Dragons group instead.
Dungeons and Dragons! Now there’s a game I can get behind! Role playing! Story telling! And these guys:
These are the Hellfire Boys from the hit TV show Stranger Things, a group of friends committed to the game Dungeons and Dragons. The brilliance of this show is the way these characters discover that the creatures they invent in their storytelling games are true to life. Also, the setting of this show is the 1980s, and you really can’t get better than that.
Scary Stories
As we journey through the Bible, it might surprise you to discover that some of the idols of other nations look like they come straight from a game of DnD.
For example: The Moabite god, Chemosh
Yikes. This guy looks like he inspired the writers of Stranger Things.
Chemosh is known as the supreme deity of the Moabites. Worshipping Chemosh was not new to the region, as he was already in ancient Elba in Syria. During that period of history, scholars believed he was called “Kamish,” a god of the underworld associated with famine, drought, plague, and death. It seems that this god caused great fear into the hearts of the people. Based on his depictions, it’s easy to see why.
Moab was the nation located east of the Jordan River. With the Philistines worshipping Dagon to their west, Israel was literally surrounded by false gods.
No wonder it was so difficult to resist worshiping idols.
Chemosh is mentioned in passing a few times early in Scripture, but God’s people were introduced to Chemosh worship in a surprising way:
Their King.
Solomon’s Folly
Although known for his wisdom, King Solomon’s downfall was his love for women. The book of 1 Kings doesn’t shy away from this devastating truth:
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women.
-1 Kings 11:1
Notice the first nation mentioned after Pharaoh’s daughter? Moab.
So, what’s the big deal? So, Solomon enjoyed women. How does that relate to idol worship?
He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart….and his heart was not true to the Lord his God.
-1 Kings 11:3-4
That’s a lot of women to please. And he tried. Over time, Solomon incorporated the worship of each nation’s god with the worship of Yahweh. Though it’s astonishing to read, Scripture is clear:
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab…on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.
-1 Kings 11:7-8
And when we talk about sacrificing to foreign gods, we don’t just mean slaughtering some bulls on an altar. Chemosh was a demanding god.
Brutal Sacrifice
In 2 Kings 3, when the Moabite King, Mesha, is facing defeat in battle against Israel, he does the unthinkable:
Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering [to Chemosh] on the wall.
-2 Kings 3: 27
It’s hard to imagine a world where child sacrifice was normalized, yet Scripture tells the story plainly. When our hearts are divided, when humans believe they can compromise their faith in Yahweh, horrific sin is birthed into the world.
Let’s stop here a moment and consider that we might be quick to judge the people of Scripture for their monstrous choices. Yet, are the idols we worship any better for us? For our families? For our neighbors?
We’re faced with some heavy questions here. But hold on! We’re landing the plane next week with the worst idol yet!