Page 37 - Attractive Deception - The False Hope of the Hebrew Roots Movement

Hanukkah - The Jewish Saturnalia

Idolatry has always been a snare to Yahweh’s chosen people. Abram, the first of the Hebrews, was
called out of Ur of the Chaldees by Yahweh. Ur lay in the land of Babylonia, the most ancient source
of idolatry. Undoubtedly, when Yahweh appeared to Abram calling him to “Go forth from your
country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you”
(Genesis 12:1), the instruction was to leave the idolatrous practices of his family, and of the land of
the Chaldeans behind. It is not speculation to suggest that Abram came from a family of idolaters.
The Scriptures inform us of the fact.

Joshua 24:2-3
And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your
fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and
they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him
through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants...’”

The Chaldean name Ur translates as “flame,” or “light.” The Chaldeans were renowned for their
astrology, a mixture of astronomy and deity worship. Ur’s designation as “the Light of the
Chaldeans” was almost certainly a reference to the heavenly lights that were the focus of their
worship. Indeed, the prominence of astral worship was so great among the inhabitants of Chaldea
that the name Chaldean has become synonymous with “astrologer.” Abraham’s descendants
demonstrated a penchant for returning to the worship of the celestial lights. This proclivity toward
worship of the Sun, moon, and starry hosts (including the planets) was so strong that Yahweh was
induced to warn the Hebrews against the practice.

Deuteronomy 4:19
And beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the
host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them...

These words were spoken four centuries after the death of Abraham, at a time when Moses was
leading the Israelites out from captivity in Egypt. When the Israelites came up from Egypt, they were
not the pure and devoted worshipers of Yahweh that some imagine them to be. The prophet Amos
provides the following testimony.

Amos 5:25-27
Did you bring to Me sacrifices and cereal offerings during those forty years in the wilderness, O
house of Israel? No but instead of bringing Me the appointed sacrifices you carried about the tent