Today I found myself caught up in the numerous areas by which The Lord draws attention to idol worship. In particular was the stern warning against mingling with the locals; like the Egyptians the Canaanites were an idolatrous people and, in no uncertain terms, Moses was to forbid the Israelites from cavorting with these people...
EXODUS 34:15-16
15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;The terminology, "a whoring after their Gods," is vivid in its usage and quite applicable in that one must give up something precious for gain. In this instance, The Lord is warning Moses that the sons of Israel will give up their precious beliefs and succumb to idol worship in order to please the locals (the Canaanite women). Matthew Henry explains it like this...
16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
...If they espoused [married off] their children, they would be in danger of espousing their gods; such is the corruption of nature that the bad are much more likely to debauch the good than the good to reform the bad. The way of sin is downhill: those that are in league with idolaters will come by degrees to be in love with idolatry; and those that are prevailed upon to eat of the idolatrous sacrifice will come at length to offer it.
Obsta principiis—Nip the mischief in the bud.Great insight don't you think? Nip the possibility of sin early, while in the bud of thought, and sin will be avoided. If the boys are forbidden from socializing with the locals they will avoid the mishap of falling for one and thereby also avoid the downhill slide that will lead to idol worship.
~Kipling
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