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Golden Calves vs. Baal – Response to a Counterpoint
There are a limited number of possible verses that seem to possibly associate the golden calves and Baal worship. One example is the passage below: 2 Kings 17:16-17 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the…
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Roots of the Samaritan Religion
A further evidence for the fact that Jeroboamic worship of the golden calves was an attempt to worship the Lord by images can be seen from the unusual post-exilic religion in the region of Israel, from which the Samaritan religion appears to have been derived. The account of that religion’s origin can be seen in…
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The Worship of the High Places
When we read in Scripture about the worship in the “high places,” some of us may automatically assume that this is a reference to pagan worship. That assumption is not fully justified. Although the people of Israel were not commanded to worship God in “high places,” nevertheless it seems that they did. The first clear…
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Baal vs. Golden Calves – Part 3
In two previous posts (post 1 – post 2) I have advocated for the idea that the golden calves represent a deficient worship of the LORD (one that like Roman worship purports to worship the living God through dead images) not Baal worship or the worship of an equivalent non-existent pagan deity. There’s at least…
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Distinguishing Baal-Worship from Jeroboamic Idolatry
There are at least two additional passages (beyond those we last discussed) that provide us with further evidence of the distinction between Baal-worship and the institution of the golden calves of Jeroboam, which were intended in service to the God who brought Israel up out of Egypt. 1 Kings 22:51-53 Ahaziah the son of Ahab…
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Ahab vs. Jeroboam | 1st Command vs. 2nd Commandment
Not all sins are equally heinous in God’s eyes. The sin of Jeroboam was to set up a rival worship of God according to his own imagination, with his own priests, and images, namely golden calves. He set up one of those in Dan and the other in Bethel. 1 Kings 12:28 Whereupon the king…