The Israelites were
surrounded by other deities. They had more gods than they could count or keep
track of. Read just a sampling from Judges 10:6: "Again the Israelites did
evil in the eyes of the Lord. They
served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram ,
the gods of Sidon , the gods of Moab
Have you ever wondered why
there were so many gods? Why they didn't just find one and stick with it? Why
they felt the need to "play the field" so to speak? Imagine living in
a world where you did not know where your
next meal would come from. You didn't know if the rain was going to come
and water your crops. You didn't know if your cows would survive a drought. You
didn't know if your sheep would breed. You didn't know if your goats would give
milk. You didn't know if the streams would dry up in the heat of the summer
sun. What would you do? If we are talking about 3000 years ago, you would
harness every possible power. And for them, the powers that were available were
found in the gods. So you would sacrifice to the fertility gods to make sure
that you would have kids and your crops grew. You would pray to the storm god
to make sure it rained. And on and on it would go. You would make sure that
every possible angle was covered and every possible god was appeased. Idolatry
is about control and power.
It may sound old and silly,
but we do the same things. If you have a stock portfolio, what do you do? You
diversify so if one or more does poorly you have others that will hopefully
pick up the slack. We like to make sure that we are in control and that we are
not surprised or caught off guard by circumstances—just like the ancient
world—even if the methods we use have changed. It revolves around power and
trust. And it is into this context that God speaks his first command: "You
shall have no other gods before me."
