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Born That Way Or Learned Behavior
[A lesson from 2 Kings 17.33-41]
First, the ancestors: “They feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. Unto this day they do after the former manner: they fear not Jehovah, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Jehovah had commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; with whom Jehovah had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, ‘Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: but Jehovah, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him shall ye fear, and unto him shall ye bow yourselves, and to him shall ye sacrifice: and the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods: and the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods: but Jehovah your God shall ye fear; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.’ Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner. So these nations fear Jehovah, and served their graven images.”
The effects upon the future generations: “…their children likewise, and their children’s children, as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.”
Thought question: Were the children idolaters by birth, or was their idolatry learned behavior?
