As a family, we’ve been studying 1 and 2 Kings, and it is shocking how quickly the kings became wicked right after Solomon. One of the repeated themes that stuck out to me this time is how the foreign wives of the Israelite kings negatively influenced their husbands and sons to follow foreign gods rather than the One True God. This was the very reason God commanded the Israelites not to intermarry. He knew the idolatry of foreign spouses would lead them into a wicked, downward spiral. Eventually, God sent Israel and Judah into exile.
However, once they returned from exile and rebuilt the temple, they fell
right back into old sins of unfaithfulness, dumping God’s love, as the prophet Malachi
confronts in this next section.
Malachi 2:10-12
10 Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God
create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being
unfaithful to one another?
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A
detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has
desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women
who worship a foreign god. 12 As for the man who
does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the
tents of Jacob—even though he brings an offering to
the Lord Almighty.
God created us, loves us, made a covenant with us, and is always faithful
to us. However, like the Israelites, we aren’t always loving and faithful to
Him. We can dump God in favor of someone or something far inferior.
What pulls you and me away from recognizing and experiencing God’s perfect
Fatherly love as our Creator? How will you and I faithfully love Him in return
today?
Alice
