(originally posted January 23, 2009)
God really does not like it when we worship anything or anyone other than Him. He likens it to the act of having sexual relations with someone who is not your spouse. The prophet Ezekiel had a vision of idolatry occuring within the temple of God, where His Spirit left the sanctuary because of the elders who worshipped false idols in dark areas of the temple (see Ezekiel 8). The opening chapters of Jeremiah use the analogy of the LORD as a husband to Israel, the bride who forsakes God and is described as "laying down like a prostitute" on every hill and under every tree (see Jeremiah chapters 2 through 5).
This allusion to sex is not just metaphorical, because the Scripture shows us that sex was in fact part of the system of idol worship. The worship of Baal in Peor was characterized by three things: the eating of foods that were sacrificed to idols, the worship of those idols, and sexual intercourse with the women of Moab who invited the men of Israel to participate in idol worship (Numbers 25:1-3).
Though we are not given Balaam's name in the early verses of Numbers 25, there are other Scriptures that reveal Balaam's role in causing Israel to commit sexual immorality and spiritual adultery.
Balaam's error is exposed in the words of the resurrected Christ as He addresses the church in Pergamum: "Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality" (Revelation 2:14, italics mine). The risen Christ, our Lord and King, has faulted Balaam. The way of Balaam is the way that leads to death. It is the way that will place you in the position of being fought against by the One who has the sword (Revelation 2:12, 2:16).
In Numbers 31 we read Moses' testimony: "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people" (Numbers 31:16). The response to this idolatry and immorality was to immediately remove it from the community. That removal, as recorded in Numbers 25, came in two forms:
Death by the sword.
Death by plague.
"So Moses said to Israel's judges, 'Each of you must put to death those of your men who have joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor.' Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping... When Phineas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them- through the Israelite and into the woman's body. Then the plague against Israel was stopped; but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000... the LORD said to Moses, 'Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them, because they treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the affair of Peor..." (see Numbers 25:5-18).
Well, that was then. This is now. And God still hates idolatry and immorality.
If a modern-day Eleazar were to follow you home, who would he find you embracing?
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