Idolatry As Adultery
Isaiah 57 The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil. They enter into peace. They rest in their beds, each one who walks in uprightness.“But come near, y’all children of a sorceress, Y’all are the offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute. Whom do y’all mock? Against whom do y’all open your mouth and stick out y’all’s tongue? Aren’t y’all children of disobedience and offspring of falsehood, you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion. They, they are your lot. You have even poured a drink offering to them. You have offered an offering. Should I be appeased for these things? On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice. You have set up your memorial behind the doors and the posts, for you have exposed yourself to someone besides me, and have gone up. You have enlarged your bed and made you a covenant with them. You loved what you saw on their bed. You went to the king with oil, increased your perfumes, sent your ambassadors far off, and degraded yourself even to Sheol.+57:9 Sheol is the place of the dead. You were wearied with the length of your ways; yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain.’ You found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren’t faint.
“Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven’t I held my peace for a long time, and you don’t fear me? I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they will not benefit you. When you cry, let those whom you have gathered deliver you, but the wind will take them. A breath will carry them all away, but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and will inherit my holy mountain.”