1.
That the Jews have fallen under the heavy wrath of God because they have forsaken the Lord, and have followed idols.
In Exodus the people said to Aaron: "Arise and make us gods which shall go before us: because as for this man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt, we know not what has become of him." 1 In the same place also Moses says to the Lord: "O Lord, I pray thee, this people have sinned a great sin. They have made to themselves gods of gold and silver. And now, if thou wilt forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out of the book which Thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, If any one hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." 2 Likewise in Deuteronomy: They sacrificed unto demons, and not unto God." 3 In the book of Judges too: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and offended the Lord, and forsook God, and served Baal." 4 Also in the same place: "And the children of Israel added again to do evil 5 in the sight of the Lord, and served Baal and the gods of the strangers, and forsook the Lord, and served Him not." 6 In Malachi: "Judah is forsaken, and has become an abomination in Israel and in Jerusalem, because Judah has profaned the holiness of the Lord in those things wherein He hath loved, and courted strange gods. The Lord will cut off the man who doeth this, and he shall be made base in the tabernacles of Jacob." 7
