That was the same thing I was thinking. It only took them a few years before they built a golden calf despite the miracles they had seen.
The Old Testament is basically an account of how Israel went off the rails over and over again. So it’s not surprising that they find archaeological evidence of Israel’s idolatry.
And there is all that mention of the asherah poles that had to be taken down.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_asherah_pole_mentioned_in_the_Old_Testament
I have a 2.5 hour round trip commute every day. I’ve been listening to the OT from cover to cover over the last few weeks. It’s really amazing to get it read to you like a book. It comes across very differently from when you are studying it through reading. I’m up to Ezekiel 16 so far.
And I was thinking just what you posted when I read the article.
Pretty much. IIRC, treating Yahweh as a member of a pantheon of false gods was one of the ways Israel fell into idolatry. I think Asherah had something to do with it.
Exactly.
also don’t forget all around them were pagan religions that did worship female deities.
Solomon for crying out loud worshipped other gods. Plenty of wicked israelite kings after Solomon worshipped other gods.
It wouldn’t be surprising if they altered images and added figures to carvings.
It’s hardly mind-blowing. It is to be expected given the history recounted in the Bible.
Yeah, that was kind of, oh, I don’t know, most of the OT.
I was thinking the same thing. Didn't this author bother to read the Bible? God has chosen the people of Israel. He extends the hand of mercy by rescuing them from Egypt. Within two months they have built a Golden Calf. God punishes them. They repent - for awhile. They return to idolatry. Repeat cycle... Until He sends His Son and shortly thereafter destroys the Temple and Jerusalem (the second time).
But you are right, the Prophets (speaking the Word of God) are constantly telling the people to stop committing spiritual adultery by worshiping these idols...
1 Kings 11:5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
1 Kings 11:33 Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
2 Kings 17:16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
Jeremiah 19:12-13 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet: And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.
Acts 7:41-43 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Of course we all need to tear down our own idols.
Yep