Tag: Babylon

Re’eh holds some of the severest judgments for idolatry. The “odds and ends” that follow are not a disconnected jumble of various instructions. Jewish scholars have been discussing their connections from long ago, but perhaps the easiest summary is found in the Book of Revelation. Israel’s destruction of idol-worship was to create a pattern for the other nations. By destroying the idols, Israel would inherit a land where freedom invited unity, not multiple gods.

The most widely-recognized judgment fulfilled in Revelation is the one pronounced upon an idolatrous city that must be burned to the ground: “Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great…” And it will continue to smoke in order to warn the world away from the deception of idolatry.