©John Yerkes
Chapter 17:1-4 (ESV) - “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”
Question to consider: Why did the children know so much more about the worship of demons than the worship of the LORD?
Those who were given the Law at the time of Moses were to learn it inside and out so they would know the LORD their God. They would have seen the ark of the covenant, the lampstand, the table of showbread, and the altars which were moved along with the tabernacle every time that Israel moved through the wilderness. As Israel went up against her enemies, the ark of the covenant was often brought out and kept with the armies as they went into battle.
Once Israel inherited the land, established the city of Jerusalem and built the stone temple, these holy instruments were kept in the Holy Place which was only accessible to the priests, and the Holy of Holies which was only accessible to the high priest once a year when giving a sacrifice for the sins of the people.
Until the high priest, Hilkiah, found the books of the Law in the temple treasury, we can assume that the people of that generation had no exposure to it, let alone a remembrance of it. The altars to Baal and Asherim (Asherah poles) were beside every green tree and on the high hills, on the mountains in the open country. We read back in chapter 7 about the children gathering wood for the family worship of the queen of heaven. It is a rather shocking thought that the children of Israel were well-versed in the worship of Baal and Asherah but completely ignorant of the one true God who was to be the only one they worshiped.
Instead of the word of God being written upon their hearts, their sin was. And so the LORD would give them over to serve these false gods and vomit them out of the land, and all of these temple treasures which the current generation knew nothing about would become spoil for their enemies.
Today, we have access to the word of God like no other time in history, and yet many Christians are completely ignorant of it and fail to teach it to their children. Children are sacrificed on the altar of Hollywood and indoctrinated in social and scientific naturalism and multiculturalism. It should not be a surprise when they abandon the church and rebel against everything that God called good.
Dear heavenly Father, please stir up in us a desire to know You better through Your word and help us to discern the times so that we can see through the deceptions that so easily entangle people today. You have the words of eternal life. Amen.