God gave ten commandments to Abraham’s descendants when he created them as the nation of Israel. When followed, these commandments establish a grand vision for God’s good life of stability, wisdom, happiness, and wholeness. His first commandment was that they wake up to the One Holy Creator of all and prioritize their lives around Him.
The second command, related to the first, says in Exodus 20:4-5, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them.”
Given the West’s love of art, including sculpture, this could seem an alarming command. At this moment, I can see my cast bronze of a bucking bronco who has tossed his rider, a soap stone elephant hollowed out with another inside it. I have a stuffed penguin, a stuffed pig and gorilla, an Army guy, and even a Humanoid asparagus… that veggie has got some tales to tell, I’m sure. All of them are special to me for one reason or another. And this is just my office.
“Those are NOT idols,” you say, “We DO NOT worship them,” you insist?
You are quite correct.
In Israel’s experience, however, the lure to idolatry was strong, for all the nations about them were trapped in a pagan worldview. The prophets of Israel had a dickens of a time preventing the Israelites from sliding back into idol worship. The very existence of images was a problem for them… like being a recovering alcoholic who gets a job as a bartender.
But we live in a world where Christianity largely defeated paganism; idol worship is the farthest thing from most people’s minds when they see a replica of something, especially when it’s crafted in plastics, resins, and stuffed cloth. I don’t believe for one second that our art violates this second commandment. That, however, doesn’t mean that we don’t violate it in other ways that are more to the point.
It may seem strange to us, but idol worship came with seductive ideas about god, man, and reality, and promised wanton access to sexual delights. In fact, it commanded them. Paganism says you can be “righteous” and still live how you want, because, in paganism, the worshipper served divine powers in ritual in order to get those powers to satisfy the worshipper’s own desires. How cool is that?! A god who does what YOU want!!! Sign me up!!!
Just kidding. Don’t sign me up… I’ll go join the picket line instead.
Here is the rub; idolatry is bigger than worshipping gods through statues. The Word of the Lord in Ezekiel 14:3 describes this phenomenon expertly, saying “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity.” The replica is just an object; the idol lives in the pagan heart. Paganism is a worldview, a comprehensive perception of god, man, and reality. The ideas remain even if the statues change form or have no form.
Paganism, at its heart, uses ritual actions and ritual words to turn the power of a god to fulfill the will of the worshipper. Paganism reduces the idea of god to a function that can be accessed and exploited through man’s actions. Christians can even do this by thinking that taking communion, fasting, praying, weeping, or even quoting Scripture at God will get them what they want from God.
When King Saul tries just such a trick with Yahweh (the Creator) in 1 Samuel 15, the Prophet Samuel sets him straight saying in verses 22-23, “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? …For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.” In the face of Saul’s pagan-minded games, the great Prophet decrees that ritual tricks cannot manipulate the One True God, for He is wholly other than man and invulnerable to human deceit and to their ludicrous attempts at controlling Him.
When Samuel is sent to the boy David’s house to anoint King Saul’s replacement, he is instantly impressed with David’s oldest brother. They didn’t even bother bringing David in for the selection. God says to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 2 Chronicles 16:9 echoes this well, “…the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.”
An Idol then, is both more than and less than the carved images against which the verbiage of the 2nd commandment seems rallied. The great preacher A. W. Tozer encapsulated the essence of Idolatry perfectly. I summarize. We are idol worshipers when we look to receive from that which is NOT God, what only God can give. We are idol worshippers when we give to that which is NOT God what only God should receive.
True meaning and purpose are found in God and God’s commission in Genesis. Are you, instead, seeking meaning in your race? Your gender? Your career? Your nationality? Are you seeking a satisfaction of soul in sex that can only be found in communion with your Maker? Are you obedient to the cry of substances in defiance of the call of God? Are you willing to cast off God and His commands when they demand that you take a stand against your child? Your spouse? Your family? Your culture?
My bronze bucking bronco is not an idol, but our misaligned commitments just may be. Seek insight from God. He will give it and help you align your soul aright.
~Andrew D. Sargent, PhD
