What can we learn from these 2 accounts of spiritual adultery? How can we keep from committing spiritual adultery ourselves? This is important because one of the names of God, which describes his character, is “Jealous.” He is Almighty God and doesn’t like having second place.
After all the amazing victories God gave to Gideon. the fifth judge of Israel (Judges ch 7 and ch 8), the men of Israel wanted Gideon to be their king, but he wisely declined. But then he did a very foolish thing that became a horrible snare
Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the LORD shall rule over you. (Judges 8:22-23)
Gideon made an ephod of [the golden earrings taken in battle], and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel played the prostitute after it there; and it became a snare to Gideon, and to his house. (Judges 8:27)
And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god. And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side: Neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel. (Judges 8:33-35)
Christians are prone to do the same thing. They take something from the Bible and make a copy for themselves. Sometimes innocently. Sometimes foolishly. But then it becomes an idol that draws hearts away from God in spiritual adultery. When this happens, God will remind, warn, and judge. Please read the book of Hosea for the full story.
When the LORD first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute [commits spiritual prostitution] by turning against the LORD and worshiping other gods.” (Hosea 1:2 NLT)
They ask a piece of wood for advice!
They think a stick can tell them the future!
Longing after idols
has made them foolish.
They have played the prostitute,
serving other gods and deserting their God.
They offer sacrifices to idols on the mountaintops.
They go up into the hills to burn incense
in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees. (Hosea 4:11-13 NLT)
“The leaders of Judah have become like thieves.
So I will pour my anger on them like a waterfall.
The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment
because they are determined to worship idols.
I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool.
I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood. (Hosea 5:10-12 NLT)
For a shocking study on spiritual adultery, search for the words harlot and harlotry in the Bible. The King James Bible calls it “whoredom.” Don’t let anything become an idol to draw your heart away from God. Don’t commit spiritual adultery with other Gods. Examine yourselves daily to make sure you are walking in the faith.
If you think this only happened in Biblical times, let me tell you about a very godly man I knew who foolishly started a church called Maranatha Tabernacle (our Lord comes to the meeting place) back in the 1940’s. It was based on spiritual fundamentals, but it quickly turned into the cult of the one true church as the leaders began to think of themselves as Moses for the twentieth century based on poor scholarship of Old Testament types and shadows. There are still a handful of members who ironically consider themselves to be the only ones walking in “The Truth” and everyone else to be committing spiritual adultery. This kind of man-made religion won’t end well at the Judgment Seat of Christ. If you find yourself in this kind of small exclusive, divisive, separatist group, run!
For deeper study:
- Why did Hezekiah smash the bronze snake that Moses had made? (2 Kings 18:4) – Hezekiah was one of two good kings in a long line of bad kings that descended from Solomon’s sin of idolatry. Why did he do this very surprising thing?
- Jesus Christ is El Shaddai and Jehovah – Jesus Christ is Elohim the creator, the Rock of Israel, the Passover Lamb, the Redeemer, The Lord Adonai the promise maker, and Jehovah the promise keeper
- I fear that you will be corrupted by religion – But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent
- Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine – In proving his own apostolic authority to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul appealed to their experience of Christ in themselves. How about you?
- Ministry of restoration (restoring a right relationship with God) – Has someone wandered from the truth and been trapped by wrongdoing? Are you ready to throw the first stone? Or be part of the ministry of restoration?