Exposition of the Moral Law, Book 1 · Commandment 2 · Exercitation 10
EXERCITAT. X. Of the increaſe of idolatrie, and how it increaſed and ſpread through the world. Commandement II.
Ier. 16.11. Your fathers have forſaken mee, ſaith the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and ſerved them, and worſhiped them, and ye have done worſe then your fathers.
IDolatrie is a worke of the fleſh, Gal. 5.20. And there is no worke of the fleſh that man is ſo prone unto as to idolatrie:The firſt period, of Idolatry. The firſt period of idolatrie began not long after the creation. Gen. 4.24. Then began men to prophane the name of the Lord. Pſal. 49.12. Man being in honour abideth not, he is like the beaſts that periſh. Idolatrie maketh a man brutiſh.Idolatry maketh a man brutiſh. Ier. 10.14. Every man is brutiſh in his knowledge, every founder is confounded by his gra…en image.
There were three notable men, from the creation to the floud, who kept the truth in ſinceritie and puritie in their families; Adam, Methuſalem, and Noah, and then the Lord drowned the world for wickedneſſe.
After the floud,The ſecond period of idolatry. as people increaſed they began to build a towre to get themſelves a name, and the Lord ſcattered them, and they who went to the eaſt worſhiped idols, and this was called foreign, the Perſians called the Scythians with whom they were converſant, Sakas, a Sach vel Sackſah, which ſignifieth a multitude, becauſe they were gathered together in multitudes; So the Arabians had their names from Gnarabh, foreign miſcelanea turba a foreign miſcuit▪miſcere, turba miſcellanea, a confuſed multitude. Gen. 14.1. Tidall King of nations, Symmachus tranſlateth it King of the Scythians; and theſe worſhiped their conquerours and captaines as gods. The church all this time remained with Heber and his poſteritie, Melchizedeck and ſome few others who dwelt in Canaan. The Churh in the third period remained with the poſteritie of of Hebe… and with ſome few others.Thoſe of Hebers poſterity who went to Syria fell to idolatrie, and therefore an Aramite is put for an idolater in the ſcriptures; Terah Abrahams father an idolater, Abraham himſelfe was an idolater, Laban the Syrian an idolater, Naaman the Syrian an idolater, and Balaam the Syrian an idolater.
There were ſome others who were not of the poſteritie of Heber who kept the truth amongſt them. Gen. 20.4. Lord wilt thou ſlay alſo a righteous nation?
Third period of idolatrie.The third period after the floud when idolatrie increaſed, was, when they ſet up a molten calfe which Moſes cauſed bray to powder; and made them drinke it in deteſtation of that idoll which they had worſhiped.
After Moſes death, Satan laboured to make an idoll of the body of Moſes, Satan laboured to make an idoll of Moſes body.and that which he could not doe by him when he was living, he goeth about to effect it by his body when he was dead; but Michael withſtood him. Iud. 9. and buried his body where no man knew; and here we may ſee that the reliques of the Saints are made idolls.
The fourth period of idolatrie.The fourth period of idolatrie was under the Iudges, and here we ſhall marke foure things. Firſt that none of the Iudges themſelves were idolaters, as moſt of the King of Iuda and all the Kings of Iſrael were, and that was the cauſe why idolatrie got not ſuch footing in the time of the Iudges, as it did afterwards.None of the Iudges were idolaters.
Secondly, when they fell to idolatrie, the Lord ſcourged them by the Philiſtims, Ammonites, Madianites, and then they cried unto the Lord, and hee helped them,
Thirdly,Dan an idolatrous tribe. of all the tribes the tribe of Dan was moſt given to idolatrie; therefore they tooke away the Ephod Teraphim, and the graven image out of the houſe of Micah, and ſet it up in Dan, this was the idolatrie of the whole tribe, Is it better for thee to be a Prieſt for the houſe of one man, or that thou be a prieſt unto a tribe and a family in Iſrael? Iud. 18.20.
Fourthly, Ionathan the ſonne of Gerſhon, the ſonne of Manaſſeth was the prieſt to this idoll. Ionathan was the ſonne of Gerſhon, and Gerſhon was the ſonne of Moſes, foreign cum נ ſuſpenſo pro foreignand the Iewes obſerve that they will not have him called the grandchilde of Moſes, but of Manaſſeth, who by anticipation was called Manaſſeth, becauſe he followed him in his idolatrie; yet to ſhew that hee was the grandchild of Moſes, the word is ſo ſet downe that it may be read either Manaſſe or Moſe.The judgements of God upon Dan for their idolatrie.
Becauſe the tribe of Dan was moſt infected with idolatrie, therefore the golden calves were afterward erected in Dan, as a puniſhment of their former idolatry, and for this cauſe it was that they were the firſt of the tribes, who were carried away in the weſt ſide of Iordan. Ier. 8.16. The ſnorting of his horſes was heard from Dan, and Iohn, Rev. 12. When he reckoned up the tribes which were ſealed, he paſſeth by the tribe of Dan.
The fift period of idolatrie was under the Kings,The fift period of idolatrie. the Kings of Iſrael were idolaters, or tolerated idols, All the Kings of Iſrael were ſinners except David, Ezekiah and Ioſias, Ecclus. 49.5. That is, they were idolaters. In this period idolatrie waxed by degrees, firſt it waxed much in Salomons time, he who excelled all the ſonnes of the Eaſt for his knowledg,Idolatrie in the fift period increaſed by degrees. he whoſe heart the Lord had enlarged, he who was a prophet of God and a pen man of the Holy Ghoſt, hee who for his devotion offered to God ſo many thouſand ſacrifices, his prayers, his great care he had to build the Temple, who fell not away untill his old dayes, who would have thought that the dragon with his taile would have pulled downe this great ſtarre? and although the Lord threatned that the kingdome ſhould be rent from him. 1. King. 11.11. Yet he was nothing moved with it; and if we will compare his fooliſh ſonne Rehoboam with his wiſe father, he may ſeeme to be more obedient then hee; for when hee had gathered an armie to fight againſt Ieroboam and the ten tribes, yet when the prophet Shemaiah came to him, 1. King. 12.24. He harkened unto the word of the Lord and went backe againe, but Salemon went on in his ſinnes and idolatrie.
Idolatry came to a greater high in the dayes of Ieroboam.Secondly, it waxed more when the ten tribes were rent from the houſe of David and Salomon; then Ieroboam ſet up the calves in Dan and Bethel, then the ten tribes were Aholah, and yet Aholibah exceeded them in whoredomes. Ezek. 23.
Thirdly, it came to the height in the dayes of Manaſſeth, and ſo it continued with the reſt of the Kings, like a leproſie, untill the captivitie. Then idolatrie died in the captivitie, for there they were purged and fined, and they brought it not backe, neither went a whoring after other gods.
The laſt period was when idolatrie began in the chriſtian church, the beaſt which was dead was quickned againe: Revelat. 17.11. And then the idolatrie of the Gentiles was brought in in the chriſtian church.