AP

2 Kings 1:3  But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’  

Perhaps the greatest and most dangerous sin committed by God’s Covenant people in the Old Testament – certainly in the Northern Kingdom of Israel – was syncretism.  This was the practice of mixing their religious observances with those of the nations among whom they had come to dwell – despite the fact that the very first of the Ten Commandments given to them at Sinai was, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).  The meaning of this in the original language was that no other gods were to be tolerated in the LORD’s presence, not that ‘multiculturalism’ was OK as long as the LORD was kept in first place!  Moreover, it is not surprising that Moses gave repeated warnings before they entered the Promised Land that the peoples they were to be replacing were to be totally removed, and certainly no intermarrying was to occur (Deuteronomy 7:3, 16).  What is surprising is that they completely ignored both the commandment and the warning!

‘Baal-Zebub’ (in Hebrew ‘zebub’ is an onomatopoeic word for ‘fly’, so Baal-Zebub’ is literally ‘Lord of the Flies’) was one of the main rivals for the LORD’s rightful place in Israel’s belief system and became symbolic of all their spiritual unfaithfulness.  While ever the people were worshipping the LORD as well as Baal-Zebub they couldn’t see any problem!  Even in Jesus’ day, the Pharisees brought the accusation against Jesus: “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow [Jesus] drives out demons” (Matthew 12:24), which is setting the stage for the blasphemy of failing to acknowledge Jesus, God’s Only Son, alone as their Saviour!

Ahaziah, Ahab’s successor as ruler over the Northern Kingdom, was no exception to the general pattern of syncretism championed by Jeroboam when the ten tribes first broke away.  Elijah’s condemnation of the practice of syncretism was consistent and persistent – and took its own toll on this faithful prophet.  We feel for him; but it is good for us to be reminded about how easily we are led into seeking solutions to our own problems in ways other than taking them to the Lord Jesus in prayer.  What ‘other gods’ do we look to beside the Lord in times of need?  Do we tend to depend on our skill and native cunning, or our own intellectual and financial resources, to get us through?  Is the Holy Spirit our true Counsellor, or are we too often dependent on or influenced by human wisdom?  Is ‘Worry’ our ‘Lord of the Flies’?

Is an ‘angel of the LORD’ sending Elijah to ask us today, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to Worry instead of praying?”?  I find this question particularly challenging!  And, at a national level, how much has the established culture of ‘multiculturalism’ morphed into syncretism so that we are beiing labelled as unAustralian for proclaiming the good news that Jesus is God’s provision of a Saviour, but the only Saviour, and the only way back to him?  Is not the recognised observation of Christmas and Easter as holy-days, while at the same time completely ignoring the clear teaching of God’s Inspired Word being authoritative for life and practice, syncretism at its worst?  Oh that ‘These [were] the Days of Elijah, declaring the Word of the Lord’ (Robin Mark)!

– Bruce Christian