What Is Idolatry? – 2 Kings 1

If I think of an example of modern day idolatry I think of the prosperity gospel. Wikipedia has a pretty good definition:

Prosperity theology (sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel, the gospel of success, or seed faith) is a controversial religious belief among some Protestant Christians, who hold that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one’s material wealth. Prosperity theology views the Bible as a contract between God and humans: if humans have faith in God, he will deliver security and prosperity.

It is idolatry because it defines God contrary to Scripture and serves as a way for humans to feel they have some control of God by their actions.

In the nation of Israel, now divided into two nations, the northern and southern kingdoms, idolatry is a problem and God confronts it through His prophet to the northern kingdom, Elijah.

After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.

Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness.” But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus says the LORD, You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah went.

The messengers returned to the king, and he said to them, “Why have you returned?” And they said to him, “There came a man to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?” They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty men with his fifty. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty men with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, “O man of God, this is the king’s order, ‘Come down quickly!’” But Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and entreated him, “O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight. Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties, but now let my life be precious in your sight.” Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?—therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’”

So he died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? (2 Kings 1, ESV)

Ahaziah is the son of Ahab, the vile Baal-worshiping king of Israel. His name means ‘held by Yahweh’ but he does not worship Yahweh but Baal, and is partial to Baal-zebul (Baal the Exalted) of Ekron, a Philistine city.  Scripture sarcastically calls him Baal-zebub, Lord or Baal of the flies.

Elijah has come back from his spiritual coma and Yahweh sends him a divine messenger to have him challenge Ahaziah. Ahaziah should have known from this challenge that Elijah was given knowledge of Ahaziah’s condition supernaturally, by Yahweh, and he should have seen this as a chance to repent, like his father did at one point. But he doesn’t and instead risks the lives of his soldiers trying to bring Elijah in. He dies, nonetheless, and his brother takes the throne in his place, Jehoram, whose name means ‘Yahweh is exalted,’ the same name as the new king of Judah, Jehoshaphat’s son.

Yahweh will not condone idolatry in those who should know better and will not leave it unpunished. And idolatry in the form of worshiping a false representation of God is still rampant among us. We want a god we can define. As John Calvin said, “This far, indeed, we differ from each other, in that everyone appropriates to himself some peculiar error, but we are all alike in this, that we substitute monstrous fictions for the one living and true God – a disease not confined to obtuse and vulgar minds, but affecting the noblest, and those who, in other respects, are singularly acute.”

You must worship God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture, not according to your own fancy.