Men have always had a tendency to misuse symbols.
The problem is we either emotionally or intellectually transfer our faith from the invisible God of Israel who resides in the heavens to some physical symbol here on earth.
A perfect example is the bronze serpent on that pole that Moses erected out in the wilderness to stop the plague caused by them poisonous snakebites.
After this incident, the pole was transported into the Holy Land and for centuries was used as an object of worship.
Apparently, the Israelites had forgotten that pole was supposed to be used only once to save them from their wicked rebellion against the Lord.
However, because it worked so well, the Israelites assumed it must contain some special power that they could call upon whenever they wanted.
They had unknowingly turned that bronze serpent staff into an idol.
Remember, that once you assign divine power to a symbol, you’ve just turned that symbol into an idol.
The Menorah was a God-ordained symbol…
But in and of itself it contained no power.
The Ark of the Covenant was a God-ordained symbol…
But that object, as holy as it was, still contained no power in and of itself.
The same could be said of the Star of David and even crucifixes which Christians like to place all over the freakin’ place.
It’s total nonsense when you see folks in movies using crosses to ward off vampires or perform exorcisms.
Again, a cross is a manmade symbol and doesn’t have any power in and of itself.
Finally, the same goes for Samson’s long hair.
The truth be told, he didn’t derive divine power from his hair.
It was just a symbol that when properly honored resulted in God bestowing power upon him.
Having said all this, I ain’t saying there’s anything necessarily wrong with symbols…
But for crying out loud keep them in their proper place man!
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