r that all the nations round them then, and all
the great heathen nations afterwards, were, as far as we know, the
people of some god or other. Religion and politics were with them
one and the same thing. They had some god, or gods, whom they
looked to as the head or king of their nation, who had a special
favour to them, and would bless and prosper them according as they
showed him special reverence, and after that god the whole nation
was often named.

The Ammonites' god was Ammon, the hidden god, the lord of their
sheep and cattle. The Zidonians had Ashtoreth, the moon. The
Phoenicians worshipped Moloch, the fire. Many of the Canaanites
worshipped Baal, the lord, or Baalim, the lords--the sun, moon, and
stars. The Philistines afterwards (for we read nothing of
Philistines in Moses' time) worshipped Dagon, the fish-god, and so
forth. The Egyptians had gods without number--gods invented out of
beasts, and birds, and the fruits of the earth, and the season, and
the weather, and the sun and moon and stars. Each class and trade,
from the highest to the lowest, and each city and town throughout
the land seems to have had its special god, who was worshipped
there, and expected to take care of that particular class of men or
that particular place.

What a thought it must have been for the Jews--all these people have
their gods, but they are all wrong. We have the RIGHT God; the only
true God. They are the people of this god, or of that; we are the
people of the one true God. They look to many gods; we look to the
one God, who made all things, and beside whom there is none else.
They look to one god to bless them in one thing, and another in
another; one to send them sunshine, one to send them fruitful
seasons, one to prosper their crops, another their flocks and herds,
and so forth. We look to one God to do all these things for us,
because he is Lord of all at once, and has made all.

Therefore we need not fear the gods of the heathen, or cry to any of
them, even in our utmost distress; for we belong to him who is
before all gods, the God of gods, of whom it is written, 'Worship
him, all ye gods;' and 'It is the Lord who made the heaven and the
earth, the sea and all that therein is. Him only shalt thou
worship, and him only shalt thou serve.' If we obey him, and keep
his commandments; if we trust in him, utterly, through good fortune
and through bad--then we must prosper in peace and war, we and our
child