Israel had a persistent problem with idols and idolatry.
The yearning for idols first appeared in Abraham’s granddaughter (by marriage) who stole her father’s idols when she left his home to marry Jacob (Gen. 31). And idols were a problem for Micah (not the prophet; cf. Judges 17-18), Michal (1 Sam. 19), Solomon (1 Kings 11), and all of the kings of Israel (e.g., 1 Kings 16:13, 26), many of the kings of Judah (2 Kings 21:11; 23:5), and the people of Israel and Judah who undiscerningly followed their ungodly leaders.
All of these desires for idols were cultivated in spite of repeated warnings of the dangers and discipline for idolatry, beginning with the first laws of the Mosaic law (Ex. 20:5; cf. also Lev. 19:4; 26:1, 30; Deut. 4:25; 5:8; 27:15; 32:21). Idols not only were inanimate and incapable of providing what they supposedly promised, but they also turned the hearts of the people away from God.
The New Testament affirms this conclusion by asserting that idolatry is a work of the flesh (Gal. 5:20), an act of unbelievers and unbelief (1 Cor. 12:2), that idols are powerless and “nothing” (1 Cor. 8:4; 10:19), and that when one trusts Christ, idols are put away (you can’t have both Christ and the idolatrous desire, 2 Cor. 6:16; Col. 3:5; 1 Thess. 1:9). So John concludes, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (1 Jn. 5:21) and Paul exhorts, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (1 Cor. 10:14).
While the Old Testament tends to focus on physical idols that were a snare for the Israelites (like the golden calf, Ex. 32:1ff), the New Testament tends not to focus on the object, but the desire behind an object — the idea that something apart from God will satisfy the worshipper (e.g., Gal. 5:19-24; Col. 3:5ff).
Tony Reinke has rightly observed the God-replacement temptation of idols:
“Idols are dangerous when a worshiper, having lost patience in God, transfers his hope and joy into a deity represented by a handmade thing and cries to it: ‘Awake and arise!’ In this move, human anticipation and expectation animate the dead idol into a deceptive liar. Whittled things become replacements for a seemingly far-off god the moment we implicitly expect our spectacles to arise and awaken and to grant us the joy and security only to be found in the living God of the universe.”[Competing Spectacles]
The psalmist unflinchingly declares the authority of God alone (Ps. 115:3):
But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.
There is no one above God in authority and there is no one who supersedes God in power. He is supreme.
The psalmist then contrasts that position, power, and work of God with idols:
- They are inanimate and powerless to complete what they promise (115:4-7).
Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of man’s hands.
They have mouths, but they cannot speak;
They have eyes, but they cannot see;
They have ears, but they cannot hear;
They have noses, but they cannot smell;
They have hands, but they cannot feel;
They have feet, but they cannot walk;
They cannot make a sound with their throat.
Idols are not supreme in the heavens, they are created, not self-existent, and they not only are powerless to help the worshipper, but they are incapable of even helping themselves (unable to do anything for themselves).
- They transform the idolator into a form of the idol (115:8).
Those who make them will become like them,
Everyone who trusts in them.
The lie of idols is not that they offer something that they cannot give, but that they transform the worshipper into what the idol is. Reinke identifies the problem: “If our idols have no hands to embrace us, no eyes to see us, no mouths to assure us, and no ears to hear us, then we who worship idols become like them: spiritually powerless, blind, mute, and deaf. Our idols dehumanize us; they petrify our souls, and dumb and dull and deaden all of our spiritual senses.” [12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You] Idols deaden us and kill our souls (inner man). Inwardly, we are just as incapable and powerless as a totem pole or an iPhone.
- Worst of all, idols distract us from our God who is in the heavens who does as He pleases (115:3).
Here is the greatest problem of idols and idolatry. The great harm is not that they lead to wasted lives (though they will), or that they are incapable of fulfilling our desires and needs (thought they cannot), or that they will deaden our souls (though they will do that also). The greatest problem of idols is that they lead us away from the One true God. There is only One who is capable, powerful, adequate, and sufficient. He is God. And every idol is on a pathway away from Him.
Idols abound all around us, and even in our less-than-God-centered desires. What is the escape from our idolatrous temptations? “The only way to free ourselves from the destructive influence of counterfeit gods is to turn back to the true one.” [Tim Keller] The escape hatch from idolatry is a resolute commitment to cultivate a delighted worship and trust in God.
O Israel, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.…
You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD;
He is their help and their shield.…
But as for us, we will bless the LORD
From this time forth and forever.
Praise the LORD! (Ps. 115:9, 11, 18)
“Babylonian Clay Idols” by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. is marked with CC0 1.0.
Words of Grace 