The Tolerance of Idolatry (Part 2)
In the 21st century, idolatry takes many forms. Whether through technology, industrialization, or hedonism, humanity chooses to worship a plethora of gods instead of the one true God. Similarly, His Chosen People endured the presence of idolatry in its own society during the days of the kingdom of Israel. We conclude the study of Israel’s tolerance of idolatry by examining the discovery of a cultic sanctuary found in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is the city in which God chose to place His name forever and the site designated for His anointed, King David, and the coming Messiah (Ps. 132:13–18). Yet, in 2010, on the eastern slope of the City of David above the Gihon Spring, the Israel Antiquities Authority, led by Israeli archaeologist Eli Shukron, uncovered a “unique structure.” It “covers an area of approximately 220 square meters [2,368 square feet] and contains eight rock-hewn rooms, each with different installations: an oil press for producing oil, a winepress for making wine, a carved installation with a drainage channel, identified by researchers as an altar, and a large standing stone (masseba), next to which ritual activity was likely practiced.”¹
By 2024, Shukron and his associates from the Center for Research on Ancient Jerusalem suggested that the residents of Judah used the structure for cultic/religious practice while the First Temple stood nearby. They concluded, “These rock-cut rooms stand out in terms of their architectural features, as well as the artifacts discovered within them, all of which reflect on their function as a cultic complex, likely constructed in the Middle Bronze Age, with its final stage in Iron Age IIB.”² During this period, godly kings ruled from Jerusalem and conducted worship in the First Temple a short distance away.
The only explanation for this unusual concurrence is that syncretism (the worship of other gods alongside YHWH, the one true God of Israel) was tolerated for social or cultural reasons. But in the 8th century BC, King Hezekiah launched a major reform and removed cultic installations from his realm (2 Ki. 18:4). This fact is evident at the city gate shrine in Lachish where the horns of the altar were chopped off, idols were apparently removed, and a toilet was placed in the holy of holies to desecrate and desacralize the site. The same was done to a lesser degree to the cultic sanctuary in Jerusalem.
Scripture records that Kings Asa and Josiah had foreign cultic items, such as idols, dumped in the Kidron Valley outside the city (1 Ki. 15:13; 2 Ki. 23:4). They would not be buried, since burial constituted an act of respect. Archaeologists found bowls and oil lamps that had been used for offerings, but these were left behind because, as common domestic objects, they did not convey a theological message and could be repurposed. Furthermore, the cultic rooms at both Lachish and Jerusalem were sealed, making them inaccessible to the city’s inhabitants.
It is important for us to understand that, in the midst of spiritual darkness, toleration of idolatry eventually ended in Israel. If religious reform happened there (and because the Lord gave us His Word to teach us to follow a godly example, 1 Cor. 10:11), it can happen in our country too. Let us commit to stand only for that which honors the Lord (1 Sam. 2:30) and pray for our country’s leaders and churches to do the same.
ENDNOTES
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- Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, “An Assemblage of Rooms and Rock-Cut Installations of the Iron II Period from the City of David,” in D. Amit, G. D. Stiebel and O. Peleg-Barkat eds. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region. Collected Papers, Vol. V (Jerusalem, 2011), 78–95.
- Eli Shukron, Liora Freud, Helena Roth, Reli Avisar, and Efrat Bocher, “Evidence of Worship in the Rock-Cut Rooms on the Eastern Slope of the City of David, Jerusalem,” Atiqot, Vol. 116 (2024), Article 5 (publications.iaa.org.il/atiqot/vol116/iss1/5).
