Why Israel Failed: They Conformed to Other Nations I. Introduction A. Recognition of Israel's failure 1. Israel in the flesh, overall, a failure 2. They did not keep their obligation in the covenant 3. God first punished them, exiled them, and then entirely destroyed their religious system in 70CE (cf. Matthew 24:1-36) 4. Parable of the Vineyard shows what happens (Matthew 21:33-44, Mark 12:1-11)-- original occupants (Israel) removed, new inhabitants (Christians) enter 5. Failure of Israel due to many reasons together-- perhaps a few failures could be endured, but the combination caused downfall 6. Nevertheless, we can learn from each instance of failure B. 1 Corinthians 10:6 1. Failure of Israel is designed to be a lesson for us 2. We must learn so that we may not fall into the same temptations! C. Many failures can be listed 1. In the wilderness, Egypt never left them 2. When conquering the land, they did not fully conquer 3. They did what was right in their own eyes 4. They rejected God's form of government 5. They adapted God's commands E. Let us continue to examine failures of Israel II. Conformity to Other Nations: Previously Considered A. A thread that we have seen in this study is how Israel has gone wrong in doing what other nations around them have done 1. They conformed-- "took the same shape as" 2. They were given something "different," and they did not desire to be "different" B. Opportunity to conform a consequence of not conquering the land (Judges 2) C. When Israel wanted a king, they wanted to be "like the other nations" (1 Samuel 8:5) D. When Jeroboam adapted God's commands, he installed golden calves as images of God, just as the nations did with their idols (cf. 1 Kings 12:28) E. These, however, were but just some of the ways in which Israel conformed to other nations around them F. Let us consider how they became like all the other nations III. Conformity to Other Nations A. We see three major arenas in which Israel conformed to other nations B. Intermarriages 1. It was customary in the ancient Near East to see rulers intermarry 2. It was a way to cement treaties and alliances 3. 1 Kings 11:1-3: Solomon had many such women, even the daughter of Pharaoh! 4. 1 Kings 16:31: Ahab married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of Sidon 5. While this custom suited pagan nations who worshipped each other's gods, it only led Israel into trouble! 6. Ezra 9:1-2: the difficulty with intermarriage 7. Both Solomon and Ahab were induced to worship foreign gods on account of their wives! 8. Conformity in intermarriage led to conformity in religion C. Political Alliances 1. If Israel had no earthly king, the confederation of tribes could have lain low and not attracted the interest of large empires 2. With kings and kingdoms, however, come political scheming and alliances 3. 2 Chronicles 16:2-6: Asa of Judah makes an alliance with the king of Aram to get rid of Baasha's menace 4. 2 Chronicles 16:7-9: God punishes Asa for his faithlessness 5. 2 Chronicles 18: Jehoshaphat, related by marriage to Ahab, agrees to fight Aram with him 6. 2 Chronicles 19:2-3: God displeased 7. 2 Chronicles 28:16-19: Ahaz, not learning from his sin, appeals to the king of Assyria for aid, becomes a vassal 8. 2 Chronicles 32: Hezekiah sees almost complete destruction of Judah by Assyria 9. In all these matters the kings of Judah in particular (kings of Israel did the same) did not look to God as much as the nations around them, and paid dearly 10. God pronounces woes on them who trust in armies or in foreign powers (Isaiah 31) 11. Indeed, both Israel and Judah are taken captive on account of making poor alliance decisions! D. Religious Borrowing 1. Israel also flat out borrowed from neighboring religions 2. Baal, the Asherim, Molech, etc. -- all gods of the neighboring peoples, and whom many Israelites at different times worshiped 3. 2 Kings 16:10-18: Ahaz sees the altar at Damascus, demands that an exact replica be made and installed in the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Temple is changed to conform to Assyrian standards! 4. 2 Chronicles 33:1-8: Manasseh dared to even put altars and images of such gods in the Temple itself! 5. For this idolatry, God cast Israel and Judah into exile (2 Kings 17, 2 Chronicles 34:23-25) IV. Lessons and Application A. We have seen, then, how Israel in many ways conformed to the nations around them B. All three means led to God's displeasure, loss at the hand of an enemy, and/or exile C. We can see clearly, then, that Israel failed greatly when they conformed to the nations around them! D. Romans 12:2 1. We, as Christians, are not to conform to the world! 2. As Israel was unique in certain ways (God ruled over them, given revelation and law of One True God, etc.)... 3. ...Christians are also unique in certain ways (In God's Kingdom, set free from sin, etc.) 4. If we seek to lose our distinctiveness and conform to everyone else, how will we expect to have a different fate than Israel (cf. Matthew 5:13)? E. We must be careful to watch for our arenas that may lead us to conform 1. Marriage-- if we are not married to a believer, we must be on guard that our conduct be pure (1 Peter 3:1-2) 2. In the home-- parental hypocrisy is hard to hide (Ephesians 6:1-4) 3. Work-- in the workplace, we must not allow ourselves to act like everyone else but work as to the Lord (Ephesians 6:5-8) 4. In the community-- it should be manifest to all that we are held to a higher standard (Matthew 5:13-16, 1 Peter 2:15-16) F. In all things, we must be concerned about where our focus lay 1. Israel, despite given access to God's revelation, looked around them for "inspiration" 2. We have seen their end! 3. We need to look "up" for our "inspiration"-- do things according to His Word, by His will (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Colossians 3:17) G. Remember: Israel did not get the idea to conform to the nations from God! V. Conclusion A. Israel erred greatly in conforming to the other nations 1. Intermarriages led to idol worship 2. Alliances represented faithlessness toward God and led to exile 3. Religious borrowing led to exile B. Let us avoid conforming to the world around us (Romans 12:1-2)! C. Let us continue to look to God for our paths, and not toward the world! D. Invitation/songbook