Idolatry, Social Injustice & Religious Ritualism What did the Prophets of old have to say about

Looking through the Bible we can undoubtedly see that God raised up many mighty prophets in the Old Testament. The common pattern shows that anytime something significant happened there was a prophet on the scene. God used prophets in many ways including, but not limited to, warning God’s people of things to come, crying out against sin, manifestations of signs and wonders and basically just being a voice for the Lord God Almighty. Prophets had a lot to say because God had a lot to say. Idolatry, social injustice, and religious ritualism were three major issues throughout the Old Testament and three prevalent topics prophets addressed over and over again. God dealt with these issues continually and spoke out against them to the Israelites by opening the mouths of prophets and giving them the boldness to say what needed to be spoken. What did God say through the prophets about these things? We will take a look at what the Prophets heard when listening to God’s voice and then declared in the following paragraphs.

Idolatry is defined as the worship of idols. We see many times throughout the Old Testament when idol worship was taking place. One of the first Prophets to address this was Moses in the Ten Commandments. “Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shall not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God…..” (Exodus 20:4-5 KJV) We can also look in the book of Ezekiel in chapter 14 and see what God spoke to the Prophet Ezekiel to say to the elders of Israel. We see God begin to reveal to Ezekiel that the Elders had set up idols in their hearts and it was causing them to sin. God speaks to Ezekiel to prophecy to the Elders “Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.” (Ezekiel 14:6 KJV) In this particular chapter God also talks about how the idolatry in any man heart separates him from God and it puts a stumbling block in front of that person.

A common characteristic in the Prophets of the Old Testament was there strong stance against social injustice. In Amos 5:24 the Prophet Amos says “Let Justice roll down like waters”. He is coming against injustices such as what he talks about in Amos 5:11 about the people who take their cut from hard working people, treats them with contempt and takes bribes. He goes on later to talk about other injustices such as rigging the scales and currency during wheat sales in Amos 8. He comes against social injustice strongly explaining, even demanding, that justice is more desired by God than their worship they offer in the midst of the injustice. A Prophet’s heart is close to God’s heart and a prophet knows that God is a just God so therefore Prophets identified injustice quickly and dealt with it strongly.

In Isaiah chapter 1 the Lord’s anger rises against Israel and their disobedience accompanied by religious ritualism. Another prime and common characteristic of Prophet’s in the Old Testament is their stance on righteousness and holiness. The Lord speaks strongly to the Israelites through the prophet Isaiah about how disobedient the Israelites are. He points out how they have many religious rituals, sacrifices and festivals but they mean nothing to Him because of the disobedience in their lives. “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Saith the Lord. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.…..Bring no more vain oblations,incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them” (Isaiah 1:11-14 KJV) Isaiah is relaying to the people how God is tired of the meaningless religion because it means nothing. Israel’s heart is turned away from God and everything they are doing is empty and done out of tradition and ritual. God is relational and Prophets are well aware of this. Religion is not something that Prophet’s in the Old Testament perpetuated or agreed with and their stance against religious ritualism was strong because it represented hardened hearts and not true relationship with God.

When we refer to the Prophets of the Old Testament and see their bold and adamant stances about topics, such as the ones discussed here, we also have to remember that has not changed over time. Prophets in this hour have the same feelings that the ones over history did. They adhere to the same boldness, same stances and the same mandates. Idolatry is still a sin. Just like Ezekiel dealt with the Elders about the idolatry in their hearts, we often do that as well and we have to remember, they were told it was a stumbling block then and the same truth exists today. Social injustice is no different. God is still a just God and we have to know that he loves people, justice, integrity and what is right. It is important that we acknowledge and fashion our lives in the present day around what is right in God’s eyes. Religious ritualism still goes on today. People still get up, go to church and different events but turn around and live in lifestyles of sin and exhibit no discipleship or the fruits of the Spirit. God still gets angry and hurt just like he did with the Israelites. He makes it clear obedience is better than sacrifice. When we sacrifice our time or a little money here and there along with an occasional praise God it means nothing when it is not supported with a lifestyle of obedience.