Idols Turning

Scripture Reading: Psalm 130; Ezekiel 22-23; 1 Peter 1

Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side…”

In Ezekiel 23, God creates two new names, one for Samaria and one for Judah. He calls Samaria Oholah and Judah Oholibah. The first means “Her own tent,” and the second means, “My tent in her.” The tent refers to the place of worship. The idea is that Samaria, beginning with their first king, created a counterfeit worship while Judah had the tent of God.

The fact that Judah had the true worship of God established within her borders makes her idolatry even worse. God compares he idolatry to adultery – a common metaphor in the Old Testament.

Here in this verse, God is saying that the very people who Judah idolized and made evil attachments to, her lovers, would turn against her and be the source of her destruction.

This is a word of caution to us today. The very things we turn into idols in our own lives, the things we take into our lives that take the place of Christ, will become our enemies. They will eventually turn against us and seek to damage and destroy our lives. The idols we love, while appearing to love us back for a while, will eventually turn and hate us.

Don’t let anything become for you what Christ is and should always be.