For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
Psalm 78:58 records Israel’s idolatry after God had brought the nation into the land He gave them. Verses 55-57 say that He drove out the heathen, divided their inheritance, and made Israel dwell in their tents, yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, kept not His testimonies, and “turned aside like a deceitful bow” (v.57). The “for” of verse 58 explains that turning aside: they provoked Him with high places and graven images. Judgment then follows: “When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand” (vv.59-61; I Samuel 4). This is historical instruction sung before God, warning His worshippers that idolatry and corrupt worship provoke the very God who had planted and blessed them.
“For they provoked him to anger.” The conjunction “for” gives the reason for Israel’s turning aside in the preceding verse. Their rebellion was not vague. They had forsaken God’s appointed worship for practices learned from the nations. Judges records the same sin after Joshua’s generation: Israel forsook the God of their fathers, followed the gods of the people that were round about them, bowed themselves unto them, and “provoked the LORD to anger” (Judges 2:12). Their idolatry was not an innocent custom. It was disobedience toward the God who had redeemed, fed, protected, and settled them.
God’s anger was righteous because His commands were plain. Men may excuse religious inventions by age, sincerity, culture, or popularity, but God judges worship by His own word. Israel could not make a forbidden practice acceptable by attaching His name to it. They had been taught from Sinai that He alone was God and that they must not bow down to graven images (Exodus 20:3-5). The God who had given them the land also had authority to tell them how He would be worshipped. Great mercies increase the evil of rebellion when men answer clear light with willful disobedience.
“With their high places.” Before Israel entered Canaan, Moses commanded them to destroy the places where the nations served their gods upon the high mountains, hills, and under green trees, together with their altars, images, groves, and graven images (Deuteronomy 12:2-3). Those places belonged to false worship. Israel was not told to preserve them and adapt them for Jehovah.
Nor could Israel take a place of heathen worship and devote it to the LORD. Moses warned them not to enquire how the nations served their gods in order to do likewise, and he gave God’s answer: “Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:30-31). Israel tried it anyway. After Manasseh put away the strange gods, the Spirit still records, “Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only” (II Chronicles 33:17). The sacrifice went to the right God, but in a place and manner He had not appointed, and Scripture marks it with a “nevertheless.”
Aaron did the same at Sinai when he built an altar before the calf and proclaimed, “To morrow is a feast to the LORD” (Exodus 32:5). Giving the LORD’s name to what was born in false worship does not make it holy. Men still speak of redeeming for God the days and customs of false worship, such as Halloween, Christmas, and other Roman Catholic holidays, but God never asked His people to cleanse what He commanded them to destroy. “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (Deuteronomy 12:32).
Their high places therefore showed more than disobedience in location; they showed willingness to learn worship from the heathen after God had already given His own order. Worship must follow God’s command rather than man’s invention. Jesus said, “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). Zeal, tradition, and religious feeling cannot sanctify what God has not appointed.
“And moved him to jealousy.” Israel’s idolatry moved God to jealousy because worship belonged to Him alone. Moses had warned, “They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger” (Deuteronomy 32:16). God’s jealousy is not sinful envy. Scripture joins it directly to His exclusive right to worship: “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). Israel belonged to Jehovah, and divided devotion was unfaithfulness against the One who had redeemed them. His people must fear giving His honor to any rival.
“With their graven images.” The commandment had been plain from Sinai. Israel was forbidden to make a graven image for worship, bow down to it, or serve it (Exodus 20:4-5). Yet men fashioned visible objects with their hands and then treated those works as gods. Psalm 135 exposes the folly: idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands; they have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, and no breath in their mouths (Psalm 135:15-17). Israel exchanged the worship of the living God for lifeless workmanship.
The New Testament applies Israel’s idolatry directly to the church. Paul says that the Rock that followed them was Christ and that some of them tempted Christ (I Corinthians 10:4,9). He says these events were examples and were written for our admonition (I Corinthians 10:6,11). He then commands, “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry” (I Corinthians 10:14), and asks, “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?” (I Corinthians 10:22). Christians are not free to admire what Israel was judged for doing. The warning keeps the same point as Psalm 78: God will not share the worship and devotion due Him with idols, false religion or pagan inspired holidays.
Fear the jealousy of God and give Him the worship He commands. “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth” (Psalm 96:9). Refuse every rival to His honor, and let your worship show that He alone is God.
For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
Psalm 78:58 records Israel’s idolatry after God had brought the nation into the land He gave them. Verses 55-57 say that He drove out the heathen, divided their inheritance, and made Israel dwell in their tents, yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, kept not His testimonies, and “turned aside like a deceitful bow” (v.57). The “for” of verse 58 explains that turning aside: they provoked Him with high places and graven images. Judgment then follows: “When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand” (vv.59-61; I Samuel 4). This is historical instruction sung before God, warning His worshippers that idolatry and corrupt worship provoke the very God who had planted and blessed them.
“For they provoked him to anger.” The conjunction “for” gives the reason for Israel’s turning aside in the preceding verse. Their rebellion was not vague. They had forsaken God’s appointed worship for practices learned from the nations. Judges records the same sin after Joshua’s generation: Israel forsook the God of their fathers, followed the gods of the people that were round about them, bowed themselves unto them, and “provoked the LORD to anger” (Judges 2:12). Their idolatry was not an innocent custom. It was disobedience toward the God who had redeemed, fed, protected, and settled them.
God’s anger was righteous because His commands were plain. Men may excuse religious inventions by age, sincerity, culture, or popularity, but God judges worship by His own word. Israel could not make a forbidden practice acceptable by attaching His name to it. They had been taught from Sinai that He alone was God and that they must not bow down to graven images (Exodus 20:3-5). The God who had given them the land also had authority to tell them how He would be worshipped. Great mercies increase the evil of rebellion when men answer clear light with willful disobedience.
“With their high places.” Before Israel entered Canaan, Moses commanded them to destroy the places where the nations served their gods upon the high mountains, hills, and under green trees, together with their altars, images, groves, and graven images (Deuteronomy 12:2-3). Those places belonged to false worship. Israel was not told to preserve them and adapt them for Jehovah.
Nor could Israel take a place of heathen worship and devote it to the LORD. Moses warned them not to enquire how the nations served their gods in order to do likewise, and he gave God’s answer: “Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:30-31). Israel tried it anyway. After Manasseh put away the strange gods, the Spirit still records, “Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only” (II Chronicles 33:17). The sacrifice went to the right God, but in a place and manner He had not appointed, and Scripture marks it with a “nevertheless.”
Aaron did the same at Sinai when he built an altar before the calf and proclaimed, “To morrow is a feast to the LORD” (Exodus 32:5). Giving the LORD’s name to what was born in false worship does not make it holy. Men still speak of redeeming for God the days and customs of false worship, such as Halloween, Christmas, and other Roman Catholic holidays, but God never asked His people to cleanse what He commanded them to destroy. “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (Deuteronomy 12:32).
Their high places therefore showed more than disobedience in location; they showed willingness to learn worship from the heathen after God had already given His own order. Worship must follow God’s command rather than man’s invention. Jesus said, “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). Zeal, tradition, and religious feeling cannot sanctify what God has not appointed.
“And moved him to jealousy.” Israel’s idolatry moved God to jealousy because worship belonged to Him alone. Moses had warned, “They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger” (Deuteronomy 32:16). God’s jealousy is not sinful envy. Scripture joins it directly to His exclusive right to worship: “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). Israel belonged to Jehovah, and divided devotion was unfaithfulness against the One who had redeemed them. His people must fear giving His honor to any rival.
“With their graven images.” The commandment had been plain from Sinai. Israel was forbidden to make a graven image for worship, bow down to it, or serve it (Exodus 20:4-5). Yet men fashioned visible objects with their hands and then treated those works as gods. Psalm 135 exposes the folly: idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands; they have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, and no breath in their mouths (Psalm 135:15-17). Israel exchanged the worship of the living God for lifeless workmanship.
The New Testament applies Israel’s idolatry directly to the church. Paul says that the Rock that followed them was Christ and that some of them tempted Christ (I Corinthians 10:4,9). He says these events were examples and were written for our admonition (I Corinthians 10:6,11). He then commands, “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry” (I Corinthians 10:14), and asks, “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?” (I Corinthians 10:22). Christians are not free to admire what Israel was judged for doing. The warning keeps the same point as Psalm 78: God will not share the worship and devotion due Him with idols, false religion or pagan inspired holidays.
Fear the jealousy of God and give Him the worship He commands. “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth” (Psalm 96:9). Refuse every rival to His honor, and let your worship show that He alone is God.