WHY WAS IDOLATRY AS LED BY THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN SUCH A CURSE ?
One of the major bones of contention with the people of Israel and God was their idolatry and a major portion of this idolatry was the Queen of Heaven.
Jeremiah 7:16-18 NKJV 16 "Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. 17 "Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and Jerusalem?
Why is the true God of Israel so angry at the people that He orders His main prophet Jeremiah to no longer pray for them? They have gone beyond the point of no return as regard to really NOT repenting of idolatry. It is hard for us to comprehend God's motivation without seeing the deep dangers of idolatry.
18 "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.
Their worshiping the pagan Queen of Heaven is anathema to God. Related pagan customs include nature worship thru tree worship. Supposedly gifts were given to them by the sacred trees.
Jeremiah 7:9-11 NKJV 9 "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 "and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'? 11 "Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes?... says the LORD.
Jesus quoted this verse regarding the hypocritical evil leaders in His day. Somehow they in Jeremiah's time, reasoned that having the House of God also allowed them to indulge in pure pagan idolatry and decadence. They added pagan worship to their worshiping and were condemned by God for it.
Jeremiah 32:35 NKJV 35 '...built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the FIRE to Molech, which I did not command them...do this abomination..
Jeremiah 10:3-4 NKJV 3 For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. 4 They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not topple.
God delivered His message to the prophet on how angry He was- their offering meant nothing to Him as long as they were IDOLATROUS. Who is the queen of heaven? Commentaries all agree that she is better known as Ishtar. She is the female consort to Baal and to most of the pagan male gods. Ishtar was the goddess of sex , fertility and oddly war.
THE ISRAELITE'S SHOWED A LACK OF FAITH IN GOD COMPARED TO THE GODDESS
After the brutal, disastrous siege and fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC the remnant that remained, were given one of their own as governor by the Babylonian conquerors. Gadaliah the Governor was murdered , and the remnant felt that the Babylonians would return in wrath. Therefore they decided to ask the one true prophet, Jeremiah, to inquire of Jehovah as to what they should do to survive. They had assumed that the only logical course of action was to flee to Egypt and that God would confirm their INSIGHTFUL logic. Jeremiah revealed that God said NO, remain in the land and He would guarantee their protection. God knew that if they entered Egypt with all the Egyptian goddess worship they would be enticed back into open worship of the queen of heaven. God also knew that Egypt would be undermined internally. Is that America's fate for drifting away from God if we keep on the current course? The people promised to follow the advice from God, if Jeremiah would ask for them he did, However:
Jeremiah 42:19-22 NKJV 19 "The LORD has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, 'Do not go to Egypt!' Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. 20 "For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, 'Pray for us to the LORD our God, and according to all that the LORD your God says, so declare to us and we will do it.'
But when God said what they did not expect or want- they reneged on that promise to obey. They demonstrated NO real faith in God or His prophet Jeremiah. Yet they still believed that Jeremiah would be a good luck charm to receive God's protection. It is a confusing kind of half baked faith.
21 "And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, or anything which He has sent you by me. 22 "Now therefore, know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to dwell."
But who did they believe in regarding blessings in a superstitious manner-the Queen of Heaven.
Jeremiah 44:17-19 NKJV 17 "But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth,to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem..... 18 "But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine."
They had allowed themselves to be completely deceived by idolatry and credited God's patience and blessing to the Queen. Woe!
WHY IS IDOLATRY SO DETRIMENTAL TO MANKIND'S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD ?
Why is putting God first in our lives the number one commandment, forbidding any kind of idols. WHY! Believers must also first love God before we can effectively love our fellow man.
Matthew 22:36-38 NKJV 36 "...which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the first and great commandment.
What is the ultimate goal of God in dealing with mankind? Isn't it the creation of sons and daughters who are like Him and love Him. That relationship is the number one goal of all our experiences. Idols degrade that love relationship by misguiding our affections. The Queen of Heaven was one of the worst and most constant throughout the pagan worlds. She was known by various names in varying languages. Hislop reports that Semiramis’ name became synonymous with the pagan goddesses Ishtar, Astarte, and Ashtore Astarte or Aphrodite's we could also add, Diana or Artemis and Venus. Note the level of fanatical support for the goddess.
Acts 19:26-29 NKJV 26 "...all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands... but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship." 28 Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" 29 So the whole city was filled with confusion,
A large mob rampaged thru the city for hours screaming' Great is Diana' because their version of the Queen of Heaven seemed threatened by the truth.
Acts 19:35 DBY 35...said, Ephesians, what man is there then who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of Artemis the great, and of the image which fell down from heaven?
Idolatry led people to commit horrible practices that degraded them such as throwing screaming babies to the pagan fires inside idols, and varying forms of temple prostitution both male and female prostitutes. Most of these temple workers were sold or given as sex slaves as children to pagan systems of worship. The primary MOTIVATION of pagan idolatry was to replace God in the hearts of men.
Genesis 10:8-9 YLT 8 And Cush hath begotten Nimrod; 9 he hath begun to be a hero in the land; he hath been a hero in hunting before Jehovah; therefore it is said, `As Nimrod the hero in hunting before Jehovah.'
It is believed that Nimrod and his female consort Semiramis replaced God in the eyes of many as the new heroes. They created the basis of the Babylonian false religion. Nimrod, Semiramis and their reborn son out of a dead log Tammuz, led the way to replacing God with paganism in hearts of many. Ancients were taught to accept this premise or versions of it and the Queen of Heaven is the portion of it that bedeviled Israel the most in Jeremiahs time.
