In Second Kings, chapter seventeen, verse six, after two hundred and ten years of idolatry, spiritual rebellion, and moral corruption, God decreed the ultimate fall and exile of the nation Israel: the example of the ten tribes of the northern kingdom. The relentless progress of evil among God’s people had reached a point of no return. Their measure of iniquity was full. God’s only recourse was a judgment that dissolved the nation. Only a believing and faithful remnant was left to experience the fulfillment of God’s promises, as in Romans nine, verse twenty-seven.
All sins are attempts to break the chain that binds us to God: A chain woven of a thousand linked benefits. All practically deny His possession of us, and ours of Him, and display the short memory which ingratitude has. All have that other feature hinted at here, so absurd if not so sad, between the worth and power of the God who is left and the other gods preferred.
The folly of Israel and essential meanness are repeatedly by every heart departing from the living God. Idolatry is imported and home-made. We have little conception of the strength of faith and courage needed to keep the Jews from becoming idolaters, surrounded as they were by such. But the same are necessities today to keep us from learning the worldly ways and getting a snare to our souls. Now, as ever, walking with God means walking in the opposite direction from the crowd, which requires some firm nerve. The influence of influential people, if exerted against the service of God, is hard to resist. However, it is no excuse for sin that it is fashionable.
The blindness of Israel back then to the consequences of their sin is hinted at about the fate of the nations they imitated. We, too, have examples enough of what godless lives come to if we had the sense to profit from them. Outward privileges make idolatry or any sin more sinful and punishment more severe.