God's rivals, as it were

"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

(Deuteronomy 30:15-20 ESV)

“While God’s people can choose to do wrong in any number of ways—sin comes in many forms—the choice we face basically boils down to two ways to live: we can bow down to the one true God or we can bow down to other gods, or idols. … Not only is our decision to choose God personal to us, it is personally significant toward God. He regards our choices and our sins quite personally. Whatever the particulars when you sin you serve an idol; you serve someone or something other than God. And this is a personal affront to God. … At the root, sin is basically not trusting God. And idols are the focus of this mistrust. They are God’s rivals, as it were, for the hearts of his people. To make the point even more sharply, the Bible will refer to idolatry as spiritual unfaithfulness and adultery.”

(Mark Dever, The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made, p. 165)

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