The Ancient Obelisk
Ancient Obelisks were
Idols of Gods' Anger
The Lord referred to them as idols of jealousy and swore that He would destroy the obelisks of Heliopolis and "overthrow idolatry." The above image is from Heliopolis which was the Greek name of the Hebrew Beth-shemesh. It was erected by Senwosret I of Egypt, 2000 BC. Ancient Heliopolis was located 8 miles northeast of modern Cairo and was world famous as the Egyptian city of science.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness
of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that
is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God
am a jealous God"
- Exodus 20:3-5
"He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire."
- Jeremiah
43:13
"And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed."
- Ezekiel 30:8
"Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness."
- Ezekiel 16:36-37
"And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars,
even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven."
- Deut 4:19
The Bible mentions a lot regarding idols:
Romans 2:22 - Thou that
sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?
thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
2 Kings
21:21 - And he walked in all the way that his father walked
in, and served the idols that his father served, and
worshipped them:
Ezekiel
22:4 - Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast
shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which
thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art
come [even] unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach
unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
Jeremiah
50:2 - Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up
a standard; publish, [and] conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel
is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols
are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
Micah 1:7
- And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and
all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the
idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered [it]
of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an
harlot.
Ezekiel 6:6
- In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the
high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste
and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and
cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be
abolished.
Habakkuk
2:18 - What profiteth the graven image that the maker
thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies,
that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb
idols?
2 Kings
21:11 - Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these
abominations, [and] hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites
did, which [were] before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with
his idols:
Ezekiel
18:12 - Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by
violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes
to the idols, hath committed abomination,
2
Corinthians 6:16 - And what agreement hath the temple of God
with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God;
as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I
will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Isaiah 19:1
- The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud,
and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt
shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in
the midst of it.
Ezekiel
18:6 - [And] hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath
lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of
Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come
near to a menstruous woman,
Ezekiel
23:37 - That they have committed adultery, and blood [is] in
their hands, and with their idols have they committed
adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me,
to pass for them through [the fire], to devour [them].
Ezekiel
30:13 - Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the
idols, and I will cause [their] images to cease out of
Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and
I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.
Zechariah 13:2 - And it shall come to pass in that day,
saith the LORD of hosts, [that] I will cut off the names of the
idols out of the land, and they shall no more be
remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean
spirit to pass out of the land.
2
Chronicles 15:8 - And when Asa heard these words, and the
prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the
abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and
Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount
Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that [was] before the
porch of the LORD.
Ezekiel
14:7 - For every one of the house of Israel, or of the
stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from
me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth
the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a
prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him
by myself:
Revelation 2:14 - But I have a few things against thee,
because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who
taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel,
to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit
fornication.
2 Kings
23:24 - Moreover the [workers with] familiar spirits, and
the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all
the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in
Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of
the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found
in the house of the LORD.
Ezekiel
18:15 - [That] hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither
hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of
Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife,
Leviticus 26:1 - Ye shall make you no idols
nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither
shall ye set up [any] image of stone in your land, to bow down unto
it: for I [am] the LORD your God.
Psalms
106:38 - And shed innocent blood, [even] the blood of their
sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the
idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
Revelation 2:20 - Notwithstanding I have a few things
against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which
calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to
commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Ezekiel
20:8 - But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken
unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their
eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt:
then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my
anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
Ezekiel
20:31 - For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons
to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your
idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by
you, O house of Israel? [As] I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not
be enquired of by you.
Isaiah 19:3
- And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I
will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the
idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar
spirits, and to the wizards.
Ezekiel
44:12 - Because they ministered unto them before their
idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into
iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith
the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.
1
Corinthians 10:19 - What say I then? that the idol is any
thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols
is any thing?
Ezekiel 6:9
- And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations
whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with
their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their
eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they
shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in
all their abominations.
Ezekiel
36:25 - Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye
shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your
idols, will I cleanse you.