IDOLS AND IDOLATRY --- PART 1

Idols are man-made images worshiped as deities or gods:

Idolatry is giving worship to anything other than the one true YHVH. Idolatry is the spiritual worship of an idol. Many idolaters literally serve idols. In ancient Egypt statues of gods were regularly clothed and fed. One account of the worship of a false god Baal, is recorded in 1 Kings. At Mount Carmel the priests of Baal cried and limped around the altar. They cut themselves with swords and lances -- 1 Kings 18:26-29. Baal worship was widely followed by Israel during the period of the monarchy.

In The Old Testament:

Abraham’s ancestors were worshipers of idols in Mesopotamia -- Joshua 24:2. Archaeological digs in that area have revealed the images of numerous deities. Mesopotamian religious literature reveals the worship of many gods. The Israelites’ tendency toward idolatry was in part the expression of the universal human longing for a god, one can see and know through the physical senses. Most of the idolatry of the Israelites was borrowed from their neighbours. The descendants of Jacob spent more than four hundred years in Egypt. There, they were exposed to people who worshiped many gods. At Sinai, while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments from Adonai, the people were demanding that Aaron make gods for them -- Exodus 32:1-6. He fashioned a golden calf, following an Egyptian form. The whole bovine family was worshiped in Egypt. It was after his stay in Egypt -- 1 Kings 11:40, that Jeroboam became king of Israel and set up golden calves. One was at Bethel and one was at Dan -- 12:26-33. That action earned him the label as being the one who made Israel sin -- 2 Kings 3:3. As early as Genesis there are references to the [teraphim] or household gods. The teraphim that Rachel stole from Laban could be hidden in her camel’s saddlebag -- Genesis 31:34. It seems however, that in the time of David such idols were larger.

When Saul’s men came to kill David, Michal, David’s wife and the daughter of Saul, helped David to escape. She then took such an image and placed it in a bed to make the men think that David was sick -- 1 Samuel 19:11-16. The prohibition of idolatry is stated in the second Commandment -- Exodus 20:4-5: [Do not make idols of any kind, whether in the shape of birds or animals or fish. You must never worship or bow down to them, for I, ADONAI your Elohiym, am a jealous YHVH who will not share your affection with any other gods! -- Compare 34:17; Leviticus 19:4; 26:1; Deuteronomy 4:15-19; 27:1-5. This Commandment is an extension of the first, for it seeks to preserve YHVH’s uniqueness and to protect His Glory. The definition of idolatry was broadened during the time of Samuel. He confronted King Saul with the charge that stubbornness is the same as idolatry -- 1 Samuel 15:23. Previous to the conquest of Canaan, Adonai kept warning Israel against marrying the natives. Adonai had ordered Israel to destroy the people of the land. This measure was intended to prevent the weakening of moral life in Israel -- Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3-4. This principle is again unfolded in the New Testament -- compare 1 Corinthians 15:33; 2 Corinthians 6:14. The history of Israel showed the practicality of the prohibition against such marriages. Inevitably, they led to apostasy. Perhaps the saddest example is Solomon -- 1 Kings 11:1-8. When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart to other gods, so that he was not wholly true to the Adonai his Elohiym -- 11:4. In the time of the judges there was a disgraceful case of idol worship -- Judges 17-18:31. The mother of a man named Micah took two hundred pieces of silver and had a silversmith make them into a graven image for her son. He hired a wandering Levite to be his priest, but men from the tribe of Dan came along and took the Levite, the image and his clothes.

They set up this idol at Dan and used it as an object of their worship -- 18:30-31. In Scripture the kings of Israel are evaluated on the basis of what they did with respect to the [high places] or idols. Asa removed all the idols his ancestors had made -- 1 Kings 15:12. He would not let Maacah be queen mother because she had an abominable image made for Asherah. He cut down and burned the image -- 15:13. The Israelite king Ahab however, was an idolater -- 21:26; compare 16:30-33. Hezekiah destroyed the high places, broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim -- 2 Kings 18:4; 2 Chronicles 31:1. He also put an end to a strange cult that illustrates the nature of idolatry. Moses had lifted up on a pole a bronze serpent to save the Israelites from death by snakebite -- Numbers 21:9; compare John 3:14. That rite had been preserved until the time of Hezekiah. But Israel worshiped and burned incense to it. Hezekiah destroyed it -- 2 Kings 18:4, because what had been an instrument for good had become a thing of evil. The prophet Isaiah described the making of an idol in human form -- Isaiah 40:19-20; 44:9-17. Images were cast in a mould using molten metal -- 40:19; Isaiah 44:10. Statues were forged by smiths -- Isaiah 44:12, carved from wood -- 44:13-17 and overlaid with precious metal -- 40:19. Small clay images and plaques were also moulded and fired in a kiln and statues were sculptured from stone. The psalmist spoke out against idols and images -- Psalms 96:5; 97:7; 106:34-39. The helplessness of idols is described in -- 115:4-8 and -- 135:15-18. The northern and southern kingdoms of Israel went into captivity because they forsook YHVH and served idols. The Jews were well aware that idolatry had brought them into captivity. During their time in Babylon, they developed a hatred to idols that has marked Judaism to this very day.