The Second Best Bible Story (Pt. III)

The people journeyed farther from the land they had known to a place God would show them just as their ancestors had done hundreds of years before.  The man who had stood in God's presence and led the people prepared a message of warning for the people on the eve of entering their new country, saying:

"You yourselves know how we lived before and how we passed through the countries on the way here. You saw among them their worthless idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. Make sure there is no one among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those countries; make sure there is no root among you for it produces such bitter poison.

"When such a person hears the words of his oath to God and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the land. The Lord will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them.

"All the nations will ask: 'Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?'  And the answer will be: 'It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of slavery. They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them'...In furious anger and in great wrath the Lord will uproot them from this land and thrust them into another land."

Faithfulness and undivided hearts to God were the requirement for receiving and keeping this new country.  And so by God's leading and might, they settled in the land by battle and treaties with the people already there.  The people held to God but gradually adopted the practices of their neighbors.  The warning began to come true.  Invasions and military confrontations threatened their peace, but a renewal of devotion to God led to restoration.  In such times, God would raise a leader from among the people to protect them and remind them of the binding relationship they had with him.  This age lasted for over three centuries.

New generations forgot the faithfulness of God; they had not experienced freedom from slavery nor had they been fed from the skies.  They had not watched their numerous enemies defeated by miraculous events in battle.  They had not remembered that the houses and vineyards they enjoyed were built and planted by the enemies of God for their provision.  The people had wandering eyes.  They began to look at neighboring countries and desire more than just their customs.  They chose to practice idol worship with all the revelry and self-satisfaction those religions aroused. The people implemented a monarchy as other countries had.  They still professed to love God, but how could it be with all these new allegiances?  The people persisted in devoting themselves to lifestyles that pushed God out. 

For a time God prospered his treasured people giving them kings and priests who honored him.  Yet even the good kings failed to follow God wholeheartedly.  Some priests even lost their way. And while the splendor of the nation was at its peak, the kingdom began to crumble.  A rebellion arose dividing the nation in two.  The smaller kingdom to the south had God's temple where the worship of the Lord continued. 

The more populous kingdom to the north needed to distinguish its identity from what they had been.  Their new king devised a plot to secure the people's loyalty and prevent them from returning to their former king and to the worship of the Lord.  The king had two golden calves crafted placing them in two prominent towns.  He invented a religion and arbitrarily selected priests to promote it.  He fabricated shrines all over the land.  He made counterfeits of the holidays God had established and selected dates and meanings for them randomly.  The people followed his lead and gave offerings as if this were a legitimate religion.  The king's betrayal to God was institutionalized and the people were deceived.  When their hearts were devoted to inanimate objects instead of God, they intentionally discarded the oath they had made with God.  This is how they purposefully forgot him to do as they pleased.

The Adoration of the Golden Calf by Nicolas Poussin [source]

Text adapted primarily from Deuteronomy 29 and 1 Kings 12.

The Second Best Bible Story (Pt. II)

In an ancient night over 3000 years ago, a people was gathered in a camp at the base of a mountain.  Three months beforehand, they were slaves oppressed by a merciless king in a land not their own.  Their release from captivity was achieved by wonderful and devastating miracles; a land was cursed until these people were free.  Out of thin air and solid rock, God provided for their hunger and thirst.  And on a quiet night at the base of a mountain, God expressed in words a love his actions had already demonstrated to the people, saying:

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.  Now if you obey me full and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.  Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation... 

The people all responded together, "We will do everything the Lord has said."

Then the people took two days to purify themselves, and on the third day they went to the base of the mountain to meet their Lord.  God appeared in the morning as fire on the mountain cloaked by a thick cloud; the blast of a trumpet ushered in his coming.  Thunder boomed, lightning crashed, and the ground quaked beneath their feet.  Yet God was not fully revealed for the people would have perished in his unveiled presence.  Who could behold his holiness?  One man was able to ascend the mountain and approach the living God to learn all this people would need to know.  This was the marriage of God to a nation; a covenant of the people's faithfulness and God's unbridled love.

The man on the mountain had been gone for a long while.  The people began to suspect that he had perished on that flaming hill.  Fraught with uncertainty, they turned to the man's brother and begged for a new god.  Full of doubt himself, the brother collected all the gold earrings from every man, woman, and child in the camp and cast a calf with his hands and tools.  He declared, "This is your god who brought you up out of slavery."  He prepared a place to worship it and led the people to give offerings before it.  There was a raucous party, and the people indulged in food and drink to excess.  They danced unfettered before their crude idol.  But God saw them.  He sent the man on the mountain down to the people to put an end to this folly.  The man burned the handmade calf in a fire, ground the remains into a fine powder, and scattered the remains in the water.  He made the people drink the glittering water.  If they had been tempted to refashion their pseudo-god, it would be impossible to do so out of their own gold.  Then God said, "come to me," to anyone who would acknowledge him as the true God.  There was punishment for those who were unfaithful yet returned.  But for those who rejected his appeal there was only death.  

Tables of the Law with the Golden Calf by Cosimo Rosselli  [source]

It was time to move forward.  The camps were packed up and the people prepared for the journey ahead.  God would lead them to the home he had promised their ancestors.  His desire to do good for them had not wavered in spite of the people's betrayal.  And while God spoke generously of all he would provide (safety from their enemies, a fruitful land, and a prosperous future), the heart of God confessed he would distance himself from them.  Their waywardness had pushed their loving God away from his treasured possession.

Text adapted primarily from Exodus 19, 32, and 33.