Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. (Hosea 4:17)

After the people of God split into two nations – Judah and Israel, the largest and most influential tribe in the northern kingdom was Ephraim. Therefore, it isn’t unusual to find the prophets addressing the nation of Israel as “Ephraim.” Here in Hosea 4:17, we have a vivid – and tragic – example of this address: Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.

When the people of God went after idols, it wasn’t because they got a thrill out of bowing down to a statue. It was because the longed for the things the idols represented. Baal was the weather god, and in an agricultural community, farmers often felt they needed to make the weather god happy to ensure rain. Astoreth was the goddess of sex and fertility. People “worshipped” her for the sake of illicit pleasure with a temple prostitute or to appease her for more fertility in the family, flocks, or fields.

When the people of God went after idols, there was rarely a conscious rejection of the Lord God. More often, they just believed they were “adding” the worship of a local deity to their worship of Yahweh. In their minds they said, “We still love the Lord, it’s just that we also want to honor these other gods.” But the Lord God of Israel would have none of it. When He saw that Ephraim was joined to idols, He pronounced His judgment: Let him alone.

On the face of it, it seems like a pretty mild judgment. Let him alone – it doesn’t seem very tough. Most criminals would be happy if the police and courts would just leave them alone. Any debtor would be thrilled if their creditors simply left them alone. But when God leaves us alone, it is judgment.

In the case of ancient Israel, it was judgment because God knew what was coming. When the mighty Assyrian army comes against them, they may fight for themselves – God will let him alone. When a crisis like that comes, suddenly we don’t want God to leave us alone. We desperately beg for His help. But sometimes God says, “You didn’t want Me, so I will respect your wishes. You handle this one on your own.” That’s a bad place to be in.

We don’t want God to leave us alone because we need Him to protect us against our spiritual enemies. Satan wanted to sift Peter like wheat, but Jesus did not leave Peter alone to face the attack. Jesus prayed for Peter, and he emerged victorious (Luke 22:31-32).

We don’t want God to leave us alone because we need Him to protect us against ourselves. Left to ourselves, with our own sinful hearts, we will surely drift away from the Lord. All God must do to make certain a man goes to ruin is to simply let him alone. Our prayer should always be, “Lord, don’t leave me alone. Keep working on me.”

In fact, He never leaves us. It’s just that sometimes He will respect our desire to be left alone. At the end of it all, if you don’t want God to leave you alone, then don’t leave Him alone. Pursue God like the widow who wouldn’t quit (Luke 18:3-5) and you’ll never have to worry about being left alone.

Click here for David’s commentary on Hosea 4

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And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields which Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. (1 Kings 14:26-27)

Solomon’s temple was one of the great achievements of ancient Israel – this beautiful building was filled with treasures that reflected the blessing and glory of Solomon’s kingdom. Understanding that makes it all the more sad to read of what happened to Solomon’s son Rehoboam: He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house. Solomon left great wealth to his son Rehoboam, both in the temple and in the palace. After only five years, that wealth was mostly gone.

1 Kings 10:16-17 tells us more about this, mentioning these 500 shields, 200 large and 300 small. These shields made beautiful displays in the House of the Forest of Lebanon, but they were of no use in battle. Gold was too heavy and too soft to be used as a metal for effective shields. This was an example of the emphasis of image over substance that began in the days of Solomon and worsened in the days of Rehoboam. Because all they were interested in was image, the substance wasted away. These gold shields were given over to the Egyptians. By some estimates, Rehoboam gave over $33 million that was invested in gold ceremonial shields – and was now in the hands of the Egyptians.

We read, King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place. The replacement of gold with bronze is a perfect picture of the decline under the days of Rehoboam. We also read that he committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard. In the days of Solomon, the gold shields hung on display in the House of the House of the Forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 10:16-17). Under Rehoboam, the replacement bronze shields were kept in a protected guardroom until they were specifically needed for state occasions.

We can almost picture King Rehoboam walking through the hall of these shields in his palace, assuring himself that there really wasn’t much of a difference between gold shields and bronze shields. Despite his attempts at self-assurance, this was really a sad attempt to simply keep up former appearances.

This may describe our spiritual condition. We are robbed of spiritual strength and honor by our sin, compromise, and all they open the door to. Yet we work hard to keep up an outward appearance of spiritual interest and busyness. Ritual replaces relationship. We serve God on autopilot instead of a real love. Bronze replaces gold.

Think of how far Rehoboam fell in just a few years. He inherited an empire, and five years later he could only protect his small kingdom by bribing his enemies with the treasures inherited from his father. It was said of Solomon’s court that they despised silver (1 Kings 10:21); now his son had to settle for bronze. The dynasty of David went from gold to bronze in five years.

2 Chronicles summarized Rehoboam like this: “And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.” (2 Chronicles 12:14) This speaks to the lack of his of personal relationship with the Lord. It’s a sure way to go from gold to bronze.

Click here for David’s commentary on 1 Kings 14

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” But you would not. (Isaiah 30:15)

Isaiah 30 was written in the context of a terrible invasion by the cruel Assyrian Empire. They threatened to destroy the Kingdom of Judah, even as they had other kingdoms stronger. In the shadow of this threat, Judah chose to not trust God and instead chose to trust in an alliance with Egypt.

God wanted them to know that He really could protect them against the Assyrians. If they would only trust in Him, then “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” God offered to Judah the promise of protection from Assyria. They didn’t need to look to Egypt for help. They could have trusted God for His promise. Isaiah 30:15 shows us how to trust God’s promise.

Trusting God’s promise means returning. If there is known disobedience in our lives, we must return to the Lord’s ways. Outright sin is never consistent with real trust in God’s promise. Returning also has the idea of drawing close to the Lord.

Trusting God’s promise means rest. When we trust God, we don’t have to strive to protect and guard ourselves. We have the best Protector and Guard in God. We can rest in Him, and when we do, it shows we are really trusting in His promise.

Trusting God’s promise means quietness. You don’t need to argue for your side when God is on your side. Be quiet before Him and before others. It shows that you really trust Him.

Trusting God’s promise means confidence. You aren’t given to despair or fear, because you trust God’s promise. You know He can and will come through, and you have a profound confidence in the God who loves you.

All of these things together mean a real trust in God’s promise, and it means that we shall be saved, and it means that we will find strength. There is no person walking this earth more powerful than a child of God boldly and properly trusting the promise of the living God!

Sadly, this was not the case with Judah in the days of Isaiah. He describes the sad fate they faced in rejecting God’s promise: “But you would not.” If they would have trusted God’s promise they would have had no reason to flee and would have seen the Lord’s salvation and strength instead.

How much better it is to simply believe God and His promises for us; to know that “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” He is good enough and great enough to keep that promise.

Click here for David’s commentary on Isaiah 30

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. (1 John 2:20)

All too often, when Christians hear the word anointing, they hear it said in an unusual, super-spiritual and kind-of-strange sort of voice that lets everyone know something really holy is being talked about. Sometimes the word is dramatically drawn out and said with a certain tremor in the voice. More than anything, the word is said with an attitude that anointing is something some Christians have and other Christians don’t.

The New Testament doesn’t know anything about such a particular anointing. John simply says, writing to all Christians: You have an anointing. John spoke of a common anointing that belongs to all believers; an anointing that makes discernment possible for those who seek it in the Lord.

When the New Testament speaks of anointing, it speaks of it as the common property of all believers, though some may not appreciate or use the anointing God gives. Among some Christians today, there is a rather magical or superstitious approach to this idea of anointing. In their mind, “the anointing” is like a virus or a germ, which can be spread by casual contact or infect a whole group. Usually these folks think that when one “catches” the anointing, you can tell because they start talking and acting really weird. This isn’t the Bible’s idea of anointing!

Anointing has the idea of being filled with, and blessed by, the Holy Spirit. This is the common property of all Christians, but something we can and should become more submitted and responsive to. God has blessed you with the Holy Spirit: are you submitted and responsive to Him? God has given you resources of spiritual discernment and wisdom – you can know all things.

To know all things certainly does not mean to know everything as God knows everything, and also does not mean that we never need to learn from other Christians. But you can know everything you need to know to live the life God has put before you. If you need to know it, the Spirit who has anointed you will reveal it as you seek Him.

This idea of anointing – literally, to be blessed with oil, an emblem of the Holy Spirit – was behind one of the punishments given to the apostle John in persecution. Old accounts say that the Roman emperor Domitian ordered that John be cast into a boiling vat of oil, as if to say, “Here is your anointing!”

John came out from the vat of oil unharmed, because he truly had an anointing from God and God had more for him to do. Submit and respond to God’s anointing in your life, and the Spirit of God will protect and inform you also.

Click here for David’s commentary on 1 John 2