5 You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree; you sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags. 6 The idols among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion; indeed, they are your lot. Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings and offered grain offerings. In view of all this, should I relent? 7 You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill; there you went up to offer your sacrifices. 8 Behind your doors and your doorposts you have put your pagan symbols. Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed, you climbed into it and opened it wide; you made a pact with those whose beds you love, and you looked with lust on their naked bodies. (Isaiah 57:5-8).
For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do--living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. (1 Peter 4:3 NIV)
(Canaanite Fertility godess- mixed idolatry with adultery)Thoughts: Idolatry was often compared to spiritual adultery in the scriptures. It is exchanging our first love for another lover- exchanging our God who is true to us and we have a covenant with for an idol who is a harsh task master. The question this command raises is not whether there is a god contained in the idol, or how much the idol symbolizes a god. The key to this sin is whether our heart is going after another god or not. That is detestable as Peter says. To exchange the living God for a scarecrow symbol of a non-god is truly the utmost ingratitude and detestable.
Prayer: Keep my heart true to you, O Lord.
John Calvin Abridged: The Lord compares idolatry to those who are driven by love of a harlot by which we are blinded by eagerness (Jer. 3:1; Hos. 2:2; 4:5); Idolaters have no moderation and will not be reclaimed from their madness by listening to arguments- for it is a base fornication.
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