Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
—1 Samuel 7:3-11, 15-17
by: Matthew Berg.
Samuel’s call to get rid of the foreign gods and goddesses in Israel was a call to separate from the surrounding culture. Baal (the male) and Ashtoreth (the female) were the dominant deities of the Canaanite culture. They were the local fertility deities, which meant that their worshippers may have been involved in both male and female cultic prostitution. Their belief was that gods could be bribed to prosper humans. A great deal of contemporary religion is little more than trying to manipulate God in order to get something from him. We must separate from that popular mentality and pour ourselves, instead, into serving Him as the One, True God.