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Q1. Breaking God's commandment


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The Israelites broke the 2nd Commandment of the Ten Commandments - "Thou shall have no other gods before me." Yet at every opportunity they did just that.

God expects us to put Him first in our lives. Not to worship anything but Him, this includes much in our present world, ie: money, fame, the good life, television, etc...

I too often do not put Him first, it is a mind set I am working on.

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The Israelites hadn't listened to God's instructions. The particular instruction was a warning not to do what the people around them did, and worship false gods.

I don't think the Israelites deliberately abandoned God, they probably just drifted away from him. God gave them this instruction to act like a boundary, something they knew they shouldn't cross. But it was no use to them if they'd forgotten it, or if they heard it but didn't measure themselves against it; it could only help them if they listened.

I think this passage makes me see why it is important not just to listen with our ears, but also to apply God's word to our lives.

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The reason for Israel's oppressed state was of their own doing and the fact that they had been worshipping other God's and it is clearly stated in the commandments that they should not worship any other God. They had blatently ignored God and gone against His will.

Today it may not be so much other god's that we may worship for instance some can put more emphasis on supporting a particular football team, others can think more of money and the list goes on. These things may not be god's but if we look upon these things as more important than God then it is no different to what the Israelites were doing and we are as guilty as they are.

Most importantly we have to learn not to put so much emphasis into earthly things and to concentrate on our spiritual journey and look forward to the day when Christ will come again and to the promise of eternal life.

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They worshipped other gods and forgot the King of Kings. Much like we can worship work, power, money, status and time, the Israelites worshipped false gods.

When they worshipped false gods, they tune out the one true God.

As we get wrapped up in the activity of our day to day lives, it is easy to forget God. We like to compartmentalize everything - even God. "Oh, worship, that goes in the Sunday drawer". One hour late it goes back in the drawer and out comes the"football drawer"

We need to focus on God everyday and put Him first and all else will fall into place. Easier said than done.

susan

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The reason for Israel's oppressed state is that she had disobeyed God's commandment by worshipping the Gods of the Amorites. They broke God's second commandment to worship only Him and not any other Gods. Christians today are in danger of doing the same thing by worshipping other things besides God such as material success money etc.

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:) The reason for the Israelites present state was that they worshipped the gods of the Amorites. What happened was they broke the second commandment handed down from Moses, "I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me." This is the commandment they didn't listen to.... or had at least forgotten. :(

Kats

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The Israelites broke the commandment "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me". The history of their people should have already taught them what happens when they failed to worship God alone, but like many of us, they were very stubborn......continuing to stray and doing things their own way.

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The Israelites worshiped other gods, rather than Jehovah. Today, we place other things at the center of our lives. I especially like what Geoff B said:

I don't think the Israelites deliberately abandoned God, they probably just drifted away from him.

It doesn't take much to drift away from God. It is so easy to miss a day of quiet time with God, two days can easily come together, and then you have a pattern forming! Pretty soon, it's been a week, or two, or... since you've spent time with God, until your mouth betrays the state of your heart. :ph34r: Then you realize you'd better resume your quiet times!

To keep God on the throne of my life requires that each time something tries to unseat Him, I must push that aside and reinforce His position. As Susan said, "Easier said than done." Because, as Geoff B pointed out, we have to remember to keep applying what we know. Amidst the world's distractions that's not easy.

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How soon we forget to love the lord with all you heart and mind and, to love each other as Christ loves us. Throughout the OT we read of the fleeting memory of the Jews. This passage is just one more example. But are we any different? Do we really put him first? Are all our trials the result of not doing this? I think not. In fact, some of our trials (ie. persecution) are the result of putting Christ first.

But what I can say since I have become a Christian, is that the trials (when they come, and they will) are much more bearable with him in control. Often this is because (a) I can see his hand and, (B) I can see the solution around the corner.

Right now I am going through a lenthy separation from my family because I am in Afghanistan. And while it is not easy, I can say it would be expontentially more difficult w/o him in our lives (from the 3 year old on up).

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They did not listen to God. They broke Thou Shalt have no other gods before Me. They worshipped the gods of the Amorites. We worship the gods of this time whether it be cults without God or whether it be famous people, possesions, money, jobs, etc. It doesn't take a lot sometimes for us to take our eyes off Him and put them on the worldly things.

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2. They worshiped other gods, the gods of the Amorites. They broke the 2nd commandment. God of their fathers is not first in their lives, they have not forgotten him but put him on the back burner and replaced him with other gods, another country's god.

We are doing the same today, replacing God with the love of money, success, society, materialism, sports. What do we put first in our daily lives? God or our passion?

I find myself falling short each day being caught up in business. I tell myself I will set aside my quiet time in a few minutes when I get my laundry done, when I finish the dishes, after I send a letter to my friend, when I get off the phone, after the game tonight, or just before I go to bed.... the next thing I know I am so tired I have no time for God and the lights are turned off.... What kind of a relationship is that? I am no different than the Israelites who have rejected God and turned their backs on him for other things, other gods. A relationship with God on a daily basis takes work, takes time, and it takes a committment.... God forgive me.

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2. The Israelites had disobeyed God and worshipped Baal and other gods and godesses.

They broke the 2nd commandment--do not worship idols. Obviously, then, they had not listened when God commanded their obedience to His laws. Today, we do the same. Many make positon, or power, or money their god, and worship them--spending all their time and effort to get them--no time spent studying God's word to know what He requires of us. Most, if they think of Him at all, consider Him a "sugar daddy" who is there just to give us what we want, and requires nothing of us. We are positioning ourselves to be disciplined just as He did in the Old Testament times.

Helen

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Isrealites broke the 2nd commandment, they prayed to other Gods. God sent them a prophet, that told them what the Lord said, " that he brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He brought them out from the power of Egypt and drove out their enemies and gave the Isrealites their land. But they did not listen to God. It seems to me that a lot of people today are doing the same thing, not listening to God or heeding the armor (Bible) of God. We have let them take prayer out of schools and God out of the pledge and national anthem. We have forgotten our country was built on God.

" In God We Trust "

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They had stopped listening to God. You can not turn your back on God, ignore Him and expect to receive His blessings. They had put other Gods before Him and worshipped the gods of the Amorites. We often put other things before God: family, job, entertainment, etc. They may be good things but our first loyalty must be to God. :unsure:

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GOD's chosen people had chosen themselves another god to worship.... whether out of compliance or disdain....they had broken HIS commandment... Thou Shalt Have No Other gods before me. Literally days after their rescue in exile, they have fallen for the god of the Amorites! Short attention span, huh?

Today?...well there are many so-called gods in Christian hearts....wealth, stature, power, sex, drugs, and the list continues ad nauseum. Yet we seem to be able to over look that, and worship a watered down version of the gospel....whatever works for you attitude! HIS grace & love are new every morning....I rely on that!

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The reason Israel was suffering at that time was purely because of their disobediance to God and the fact that they had turned away from His laws but even worse were worshipping other gods which as we know is one of the ten commandments -

"Worship no god but me. Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals"

We today can just as stubborn as the Israelites and on occasions we do turn away from God as we want to do things our way. However we soon realise that our way is not always the best way unless we have been guided by God in the first place - in other words what we think is the right thing to do is not necessarily what God wants for us and inevitably if we continue to do things our way without guidance from God then we are destined for suffering. At all times we need to focus on God and pray to Him in respect of everything that we do and say - at least that way we can guarantee that what we are doing is God's will.

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The Prophet told Gideon that the people were told to worship God and have no other gods before them. That is the first commandment. They, however, chose to worship the idols of the land they occupied and thus disobeyed God's command to them.

Today, in a lot of respects, we do the same thing. When anything becomes more important in our lives than worshipping and following God, we. in a sense, are worshiping other idols. At times, I believe that happens without our fully acknowledging it. When God does bring it to our attention, which he will either in prayer or through another or simply examining our lives, we must renounce that idol and turn back to God, perhaps asking God for the help needed to renounce that idol.

Money, sex, class, race, etc... are some of the "idols" we deal with today.

Praise God we have the ability to turn to him for help. He will always be there!

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The reason for Israel's Oppression was that the Israelites honored false gods.They sinned agains the First Commandment which states:

I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:2-6

They were specifically told, "I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live." They did not heed this warning and were forced to pay the concequences because of it.

Today, many of us are like the Israelites. We put "things" before Him. We worry more about driving a fine car, living in a home filled with finery, making gobs of money, than we do about worshiping and honoring God. In effect, we worship false gods... wealth, fame and material goods.

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Fear is the reason for Israel's oppressed state according to Jdg. 6:10. The Israelites fear the Midianites and the Amalekites and their Gods. THey are worshipping Baal (Jdg. 6:25). It seems to me that they are more than likely breaking more than one commandment. According to Judges 6:25 they have broken the first two. They had not listened because they continued to live in fear of the Amorites, after God had sent a prophet to tell them "not to fear". They chose to believe their circumstances and their enemy as opposed to what the prophet was saying and teaching of how God was faithful to their forefathers and delivered them from the enemy. This affects us today when we are weak in faith and choose to believe our "poor" circumstances as opposed to God's promises. The enemy sees our weakness of faith as an opportunity for advancement.

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