“Adonai will scatter you among the peoples; and among the nations to which Adonai will lead you away, you will be left few in number. There you will serve gods which are the product of human hands, made of wood and stone, which can’t see, hear, eat or smell.”-Deuteronomy 4:27-28
Notice that Moses says “WHEN you start worshipping idols“…
…as opposed to “IF you start worshipping idols”.
In hindsight, we now know there was a strong prophetic element to his sermon here in Deuteronomy 4.
Because that is indeed what happened.
Due to falling into idolatry, Israel was scattered throughout all the gentile nations where many were killed or were forced to assimilate resulting in a loss to their Hebrew identities which if you think about it is also a form of murder.
Let’s take a look at a statement whose meaning is not usually completely understood.
“There you will serve gods which are the product of human hands, made of wood and stone, which can’t see, hear, eat or smell.”
The common understanding is that when the Hebrews are dispersed, in the nations of their exile they will be forced to bow down and worship the gods of those nations.
While that did happen in certain rare cases such as the time when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into a burning furnace for refusing to bow down to the gods of Babylon, such incidents were few and far between.
Here’s the truth.
Most of the time the Hebrews were NOT forced to worship other gods.
That simply was not how Middle Eastern conquerers of the Biblical Era thought or acted.
Rather, what happened most of the time is that the Israelites were forced to assimilate into whatever culture they had been exiled to.
In other words, the government of whatever pagan government they were residing in prohibited the Hebrews from practicing their well-established worship practices.
This was hell to the Hebrew because it forced him to compromise on his relationship with HASHEM.
Since they were no longer residing inside the Promised Land, they couldn’t go to the temple…
…and the temple was the only place where they could sacrifice and be cleansed from their impurities.
This meant that the spiritual status of all Hebrews who were living outside the land was one of being UNCLEAN.
They had been defiled and were impure and there was nothing they could do about it.
This meant only one thing.
They could not continue to maintain their relationship with HASHEM.
To the Hebrew mind, there was nothing more terrifying.
Try to really imagine how it must have felt to have been a Hebrew who was in exile?
They were not just separated from their homeland but they were separated from God Himself.
The food they ate was un-kosher.
They couldn’t properly observe Shabbat.
The women couldn’t properly cleanse themselves after their monthly cycles.
The men couldn’t purify themselves after having sex with their wives.
They weren’t able to make the three required pilgrimages each year to Jerusalem to observe the God-ordained festivals.
The priests were unable to perform their sacrificial rituals and the common Israelite was unable to offer sacrifices of atonement.
It was as if the very air they were breathing was defiled!
If that isn’t the definition of hell for an ancient Israelite, I don’t know what is.
I’m well aware that it’s practically impossible for the typical gentile believer to comprehend how horrifying assimilation was for the ancient Israelite, so let me try to put it into terms that will hopefully enable you to relate better.
Imagine from tomorrow you were suddenly yanked away from your home and family and sentenced to do hard labor in North Korea?
If you live in a free and democratic nation, can you imagine anything more terrifying than that?
All of your creature comforts gone.
All of your friends and family now a distant memory.
And worse, there’s now no hope for the future but to pray for death and then a complete obliteration of your existence after your last breath.
It’s not just your earthly life that has been turned upside down but you’ve lost your salvation as well.
This is tantamount to what Moses is saying is going to happen to Israel if they stray from the covenant.
And I’m grieved to report that it did happen.
Oh, and by the way, do you know the main reason why Israel was exiled?
IDOLATRY is the answer.
There’s a good reason why a religious Jew is forbidden from even stepping into a lawless Christian church.
I’m done.
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