the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Apostasy; Apostate
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
"Forsaking Yahweh" was the characteristic and oft-recurring sin of the chosen people, especially in their contact with idolatrous nations. It constituted their supreme national peril. The tendency appeared in their earliest history, as abundantly seen in the warnings and prohibitions of the laws of Moses (Exodus 20:3 , Exodus 20:4 , Exodus 20:23; Deuteronomy 6:14; Deuteronomy 11:16 ). The fearful consequences of religious and moral apostasy appear in the curses pronounced against this sin, on Mount Ebal, by the representatives of six of the tribes of Israel, elected by Moses (Deuteronomy 27:13-26; 28:15-68). So wayward was the heart of Israel, even in the years immediately following the national emancipation, in the wilderness, that Joshua found it necessary to re-pledge the entire nation to a new fidelity to Yahweh and to their original covenant before they were permitted to enter the Promised Land (Josh 24:1-28). Infidelity to this covenant blighted the nation's prospects and growth during the time of the Judges (Judges 2:11-15; Judges 10:6 , Judges 10:10 , Judges 10:13; 1 Samuel 12:10 ). It was the cause of prolific and ever-increasing evil, civic and moral, from Solomon's day to the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. Many of the kings of the divided kingdom apostatized, leading the people, as in the case of Rehoboam, into the grossest forms of idolatry and immorality (1 Kings 14:22-24; 2 Chronicles 12:1 ). Conspicuous examples of such royal apostasy are Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:28-32 ); Ahab (1 Kings 16:30-33 ); Ahaziah (1 Kings 22:51-53 ); Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:6 , 2 Chronicles 21:10 , 2 Chronicles 21:12-15 ); Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:1-4 ); Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:1-9 ); Amen (2 Chronicles 33:22 ). See IDOLATRY . Prophecy originated as a Divine and imperative protest against this historic tendency to defection from the religion of Yahweh.
In classical Greek, apostasy signified revolt from a military commander. In the roman catholic church it denotes abandonment of religious orders; renunciation of ecclesiastical authority; defection from the faith. The persecutions of the early Christian centuries forced many to deny Christian discipleship and to signify their apostasy by offering incense to a heathen deity or blaspheming the name of Christ. The emperor Julian, who probably never vitally embraced the Christian faith, is known in history as "the Apostate," having renounced Christianity for paganism soon after his accession to the throne.
An apostate's defection from the faith may be intellectual , as in the case of Ernst Haeckel, who, because of his materialistic philosophy, publicly and formally renounced Christianity and the church; or it may be moral and spiritual , as with Judas, who for filthy lucre's sake basely betrayed his Lord. See exhaustive articles on "Apostasy" in the Jewish Encyclopedia .
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Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Apostasy; Apostate'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​isb/​a/apostasy-apostate.html. 1915.