GOD MADE His promises to Israel contingent upon following His statutes and commandments. The blessings He promised for obedience were wonderful—harvests in abundance, peace and safety in the land—but the punishments for rebellion were severe.
We’re in the middle of a long war for control of God’s creation, Earth, and those He charged with serving as His imagers—God’s moral agents—on it. His instruction to the Israelites at Mount Sinai was intended to show them just how serious is this conflict.
We also discuss the Hebrew word translated “idols” and its origin with a fallen angel/false god who dared to call himself “god of gods,” the presence of other “destroying angels” among the curses Israel would suffer for disobedience, and the connection between God’s warning and the prophecy of 70 weeks in chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel.
