In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger, and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this."

This and the following passages are very straightforward, unadorned examples of syncretism (the blending of the elements of other religions) in the eyes of the LORD, God, the Almighty. The Word of God is very explicit; He will not share the Fear of the LORD with any other being, with any other mode of worship other than what He has specified, or any created object or being. (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), Exodus 34:14

Can't you see the Israelites watching the customs of the neighboring nations and thinking that looks like fun? Let's do a little orgy with our feast or let's show Moloch how much we honor him by pitching our most prized possessions, our children, into his fiery maw.

Today's readings in the Psalms:

Morning: Psalm 143

Mid-day: 119:81-88

Evening: Psalm 68

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