Our God is a jealous God. Exod 20:5; "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, Exod 34:14; —for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— Deut 4:24; "For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Deut 5:9; 'You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, Deut 6:15; for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth. Josh 24:19; Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. Nahum 1:2; A jealous and avenging God is the LORD; The LORD is avenging and wrathful. The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies. The majority of these types of verses are in the old testament. But it seems God loves His people like a husband loves a wife. In the new testament, the church is often referred to as a "bride". There are a few verses in the new testament like this. Paul is writing here. 2 Cor 11:2; For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. Eph 5:23; For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. and yet despite all of this.... it seems Israel and Judah loved to play the harlot and have "other lovers". Lev 17:7; "They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations."' Numb 15:39; "It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, Numb 25:1; While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. Jdg 8:27; Gideon made it into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household. Jdg 8:33; Then it came about, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-berith their god. 1 Chron 5:25; But they acted treacherously against the God of their fathers and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. 2 Chron 21:11; Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot and led Judah astray. Jer 3:1; God says, "If a husband divorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to another man, Will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted? But you are a harlot with many lovers; Yet you turn to Me," declares the LORD. The book of Jeremiah has several verses talking about Israel "the harlot". Ezek 16:17; "You also took your beautiful jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. Ezek 16:26; "You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and multiplied your harlotry to make Me angry. Ezekiel is the same. Hos 4:15; Though you, Israel, play the harlot, Do not let Judah become guilty; Also do not go to Gilgal, Or go up to Beth-aven And take the oath: "As the LORD lives!" The entire book of Hosea is about a prophet who was told by God to "marry a harlot". There are dozens more verses I have not included here... I think the point has been made. .... to be continued.... the wrath of God upon the harlot.
I'm not sure it's in good taste to quote yourself from another thread... so please bare with me here. I wonder when we choose other things over God... I'm not even talking about atheism or false gods here.... I'm just talking about anything... anything we choose over God. Even sin. Do we really realize what we are doing? Do we really see this as being unfaithful to God? ... to be continued ...
Those evil raisin cakes! Hos 3:1; Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes." But seriously... have you ever stopped to see why God was jealous? Why did God get angry with Israel (over 50 times)? Why did God destroy some of them several times? What sin did they do? The generic answer is... they diobeyed God. This is true... but there is a more specific answer. God tells them why over 60 times in the old testament. Lets look at that verse again. Hos 3:1; Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes." Here are the first dozen or so of these verses. (I didn't want to post all 67 here). Exod 20:3; "You shall have no other gods before Me. Exod20:23; 'You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves. Exod 23:13; "Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth. Deut 5:7; 'You shall have no other gods before Me. Deut 6:14; "You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, Deut 7:4; "For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. Deut 8:19; "It shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. Deut 11:16; "Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. Deut 11:28; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known. Deut 13:2; and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,' Deut 13:6; "If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, Deut 13:7; of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), Deut 13:13; some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom you have not known), Deut 29:26; 'They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them. Deut 30:17; "But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, Deut 31:18; "But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods. Deut 31:20; "For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. It seems it's important to God who we worship. He destroyed 23,000 in one day who worshiped a golden calf. These were people who knew who God was. He demonstrated Himself in the wilderness with them everyday. The only other sin that comes close... would be Sodom and Gomorrah. But outside of that, it seems that God punished the Jews for following other Gods more than any other sin... by far. Yet there are many people who don't think it matters which god you worship.