Intercession And Idolatry

I prayed, “O my God, I am utterly ashamed; I blush to lift up my face to you. For our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached to the heavens. From the days of our ancestors until now, we have been steeped in sin. That is why we and our kings and our priests have been at the mercy of the pagan kings of the land. We have been killed, captured, robbed, and disgraced, just as we are today. [Ezra 9.6-7] 

Two things are on bold display in today's One Year Chronological Bible reading: intercession and idolatry.

First, Ezra's prayer of intercession is profound. Ezra confessed and repented for the sin of the people as his own. This is the same Ezra who was so intent on trusting in God alone that he was ashamed to ask for protection from anywhere (anyone) else (see Christians, Have We No Shame?).

Ezra's intercession names the sin and names the sinners. In Ezra chapter 10, there is literally a list of the people who had committed the sin. The effort taken to make this list tells us clearly that all the Bible references instructing God's people to pray for others are legitimate. Making and praying over (interceding for - asking forgiveness for) lists of people is the right thing to do. Just look at Ezra 10.18-44.

Secondly, just like Ezra named the sinners, so the sin must be recognized and named. Ezra did this in the following passages:

When these things had been done, the Jewish leaders came to me and said, “Many of the people of Israel, and even some of the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the other peoples living in the land. They have taken up the detestable practices of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. For the men of Israel have married women from these people and have taken them as wives for their sons. So the holy race has become polluted by these mixed marriages. Worse yet, the leaders and officials have led the way in this outrage.” [Ezra 9.1-2]

“And now, O our God, what can we say after all of this? For once again we have abandoned your commands! Your servants the prophets warned us when they said, ‘The land you are entering to possess is totally defiled by the detestable practices of the people living there. From one end to the other, the land is filled with corruption. [Ezra 9.10-11] 

But even so, we are again breaking your commands and intermarrying with people who do these detestable things. Won’t your anger be enough to destroy us, so that even this little remnant no longer survives? [Ezra 9.14] 

In a word, the sin was idolatry. The first four of the Ten Commandments detail what idolatry against God looks like and the last six commandments detail how violation of the first four commandments affects mankind around us: the people abandoned God's commands yielding every sort of detestable practice.

It is not un-Biblical to say that mankind will never successfully overcome detestable practices until it has first traced those practices back to idolatry (violation of the first four commandments) and repent of them.

Now, for those thinking here I have slipped off into Old Testament "works" ignoring the grace that Jesus brought to mankind, let me explain with all conviction and truth that Jesus IS the fourth commandment! Jesus IS the Sabbath of Rest (Hebrews 4).

Ezra's account of intercession for the people's idolatry is a timeless example for us today. Idolatry still exists and so intercession is very much necessary. Ezra's prayer above is as relevant today as it ever was.

Father, help Your people to see the relevance of intercession as it relates to idolatry today. Help us to see that Jesus (Immanuel - God With Us - our Sabbath Rest) is our only hope and therefore the only One worthy of our trust. Help us to trace all our detestable practices back to our violation of singular trust in You alone. May we be found genuinely repentant as we decidedly and actively trust You alone - divorcing everything that offers us an alternative to the care and protection offered by You. Forgive us, Father, we have sinned against You. So be it.