“Therefore son of man speak to the house of Israel and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, in this moreover have your fathers blasphemed me in that they have committed a trespass against me. For when I brought them into the land, which I lifted up my hand (swore) to give to them, then they saw every high hill and every thick (flourishing) tree, and there they offered their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering. There also they made their sweet savour, and there they poured out their drink offerings.

They compounded their rebellion in that when God actually gave them the land He had promised them, in spite of their rebellion, they made use of it to worship other gods. The very basis of the land, the high hills and the flourishing trees (thickly branched and therefore prominent and flourishing) became the means of worship of false gods. Instead of seeing all that was in the land as the blessing of Yahweh, they offered up sacrifices, presented offerings, offered up incense and poured out drink offerings to the so-called gods of the land, utilising the ancient sanctuaries of the Canaanites. Yahweh was sidelined.

Thus they blasphemed the name of Yahweh, for they implied that it was to these gods that they were indebted and not to Him. All the worship that should have been His was poured out on others. No wonder He spoke of the ‘provocation' of their offerings.

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