Kinds of Pagan Faith in Idols
Pagan faith in idols is of three kinds, beginning with the most widespread in antiquity:
The idol is the god itself. The object made by the pagan himself is the deity.
The idol is an image of a deity far away, which supposedly must look like that.
The idol is an invented image of a deified natural element: the sea, wind, rain, fire, earth.
In all three cases a false god is worshiped, one that does not exist. This is faith in a lie.
It is precisely the first variant that we meet in the Bible: the most widespread pagan faith is the deification of the object itself (of matter).
Pagans Consider the Manufactured Article Itself to Be God
“Even from the beginning I have declared it to you; before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you, lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them, and my carved image and my molded image have commanded them’” (Is. 48:5)
“Their tongues are smoothed by the carpenter, and they themselves are overlaid with gold and silver; but they are false and cannot speak. People take gold and make crowns for the heads of their gods, as they might for a girl who loves ornaments. Sometimes the priests secretly take gold and silver from their gods and spend it on themselves, or even give some of it to the prostitutes on the terrace. They deck their gods out with garments like human beings — these gods of silver and gold and wood that cannot save themselves from rust and corrosion. When they have been dressed in purple robes, their faces are wiped because of the dust from the temple, which is thick upon them. One of them holds a scepter, like a district judge, but is unable to destroy anyone who offends it. Another has a dagger in its right hand, and an ax, but cannot defend itself from war and robbers. From this it is evident that they are not gods (!); so do not fear them. For just as someone’s dish is useless when it is broken, so are their gods when they have been set up in the temples. Their eyes are full of the dust raised by the feet of those who enter. And just as the gates are shut on every side against anyone who has offended a king, as though under sentence of death, so the priests make their temples secure with doors and locks and bars, in order that they may not be plundered by robbers. They light more lamps for them than they light for themselves, though their gods can see none of them. They are just like a beam of the temple, but their hearts, it is said, are eaten away when crawling creatures from the earth devour them and their robes. They do not notice when their faces have been blackened by the smoke of the temple. Bats, swallows, and birds alight on their bodies and heads; and so do cats. From this you will know that they are not gods; so do not fear them. As for the gold that they wear for beauty — it will not shine unless someone wipes off the tarnish; for even when they were being cast, they did not feel it. They are bought without regard to cost, but there is no breath in them. Having no feet, they are carried on the shoulders of others, revealing to humankind their worthlessness. And those who serve them are put to shame because, if any of these gods falls to the ground, they themselves must pick it up. If anyone sets it upright, it cannot move itself; and if it is tipped over, it cannot straighten itself. Gifts are placed before them just as before the dead. The priests sell the sacrifices that are offered to these gods and use the money themselves. Likewise their wives preserve some of the meat with salt, but give none to the poor or helpless. Sacrifices to them may even be touched by women in their periods or at childbirth. Since you know by these things that they are not gods, do not fear them. For how can they be called gods? Women serve meals for gods of silver and gold and wood; and in their temples the priests sit with their clothes torn, their heads and beards shaved, and their heads uncovered. <…> These things that are made of wood and overlaid with gold and silver are like stones from the mountain, and those who serve them will be put to shame. Why then must anyone think that they are gods, or call them gods? <…> They are made by carpenters and goldsmiths; they can be nothing but what the artisans wish them to be. Those who make them will certainly not live very long themselves; how then can the things that are made by them be gods? They have left only lies and reproach for those who come after. <…> How then can one fail to see that these are not gods, for they cannot save themselves from war or calamity? Since they are made of wood and overlaid with gold and silver, it will afterward be known that they are false. It will be manifest to all the nations and kings that they are not gods but the work of human hands, and that there is no work of God in them. Who then can fail to know that they are not gods? For they cannot set up a king over a country or give rain to people. They cannot judge their own cause or deliver one who is wronged, for they have no power; they are like crows between heaven and earth. When fire breaks out in a temple of wooden gods overlaid with gold or silver, their priests will flee and escape, but the gods will be burned up like timbers. Besides, they can offer no resistance to king or enemy. Why then must anyone admit or think that they are gods? Gods made of wood and overlaid with silver and gold are unable to save themselves from thieves or robbers. Anyone who can will strip them of their gold and silver and of the robes they wear, and go off with this booty, and they will not be able to help themselves. So it is better to be a king who shows his courage, or a household utensil that serves its owner’s need, than to be these false gods; better even the door of a house that protects its contents, than these false gods; better also a wooden pillar in a palace, than these false gods. <…> Since you know then that they are not gods, do not fear them. <…> The wild animals are better than they are, for they can flee to shelter and help themselves. So we have no evidence whatever that they are gods; therefore do not fear them. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber bed, which guards nothing, so are their gods of wood, overlaid with gold and silver. In the same way, their gods of wood, overlaid with gold and silver, are like a thornbush in a garden on which every bird perches; or like a corpse thrown out in the darkness. From the purple and linen that rot upon them you will know that they are not gods; and they will finally be consumed themselves, and be a reproach in the land. Better, therefore, is someone upright who has no idols; such a person will be far above reproach” (Ep. Jer. 1:8-31,39-40,45-59,65,68-73)
Pagan Israelites Considered the Manufactured Article Itself to Be God, and Also the Elements
“Those who make an image, all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not profit; they are their own witnesses; they neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed. Who would form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing? Surely all his companions would be ashamed; and the workmen, they are mere men. Let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, they shall be ashamed together. The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms. Even so, he is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The craftsman stretches out his rule, he marks one out with chalk; he fashions it with a plane, he marks it out with the compass, and makes it like the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house. He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak; he secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it. Then it shall be for a man to burn, for he will take some of it and warm himself; yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; indeed he makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire; with this half he eats meat; he roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, ‘Ah! I am warm, I have seen the fire.’ And the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!’ (!) They do not know nor understand; for He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. And no one considers in his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, ‘I have burned half of it in the fire, yes, I have also baked bread on its coals; I have roasted meat and eaten it; and shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?’” (Is. 44:9-19)
“For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists, nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works; but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air, or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water, or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world. If through delight in the beauty of these things people assumed them to be gods, let them know how much better than these is their Lord, for the author of beauty created them. And if people were amazed at their power and working, let them perceive from them how much more powerful is the one who formed them. For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator. Yet these people are little to be blamed, for perhaps they go astray while seeking God and desiring to find him. For while they live among his works, they keep searching, and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful. Yet again, not even they are to be excused; for if they had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things? But miserable, with their hopes set on dead things, are those who give the name ‘gods’ to the works of human hands (!), gold and silver fashioned with skill, and likenesses of animals, or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand. A skilled woodcutter may saw down a tree easy to handle and skillfully strip off all its bark, and then with pleasing workmanship make a useful vessel that serves life’s needs, and burn the cast-off pieces of his work to prepare his food, and eat his fill. But a cast-off piece from among them, useful for nothing, a stick crooked and full of knots, he takes and carves with care in his leisure, and shapes it with skill gained in idleness; he forms it in the likeness (!) of a human being [NOT OF A GOD], or makes it like some worthless animal, giving it a coat of red paint and coloring its surface red and covering every blemish in it with paint; then he makes a suitable niche for it, and sets it in the wall, and fastens it there with iron. He takes thought for it, so that it may not fall, because he knows that it cannot help itself, for it is only an image and has need of help. When he prays about possessions and his marriage and children, he is not ashamed to address a lifeless thing. For health he appeals to a thing that is weak; for life he prays to a thing that is dead; for aid he entreats a thing that is utterly inexperienced; for a prosperous journey, a thing that cannot take a step; for money-making and work and success with his hands he asks strength of a thing whose hands have no strength” (Wis. 13:1-19)
“Again, one preparing to sail and about to voyage over raging waves calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the ship that carries him. <…> But the idol made with hands is accursed, and so is the one who made it — he for having made it, and the perishable thing because it was named a god. <…> For through human vanity they entered the world, and therefore their speedy end has been planned. For a father, consumed with grief at an untimely bereavement, made an image of his child, who had been suddenly taken from him; he now honored as a god [THE IMAGE] what was once a dead human being, and handed on to his dependents secret rites and initiations. Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law, and at the command of monarchs carved images (!) were worshiped. When people could not honor monarchs in their presence, since they lived at a distance, they imagined their appearance far away, and made a visible image of the king whom they honored, so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one as though present. Then the ambition of the artisan impelled even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship. For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler, skillfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form, and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work, now regarded as an object of worship the one whom shortly before they had honored as a human being [EARLIER THEY HONORED THE STATUE OF A GREAT MAN]. And this became a hidden trap for humankind, because people, in bondage to misfortune or to royal authority, bestowed on objects of stone or wood the name that ought not to be shared” (Wis. 14:1,8,14-21)
At the foot of Mount Sinai the Israelites literally asked to have a god made for them:
“Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ <…> And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ <…> For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him’” (Ex. 32:1-2,4,23)
“Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, ‘Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold!’” (Ex. 32:31)
They burned incense not to God but to the serpent, gave it a name — that is, they invented a god:
“He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan” (2 Kin. 18:4)
They stole gods (although they stole merely manufactured articles), that is, the articles themselves are called gods:
“And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?” Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.’ With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them” (Gen. 31:30-32)
Gods made by hands, which they worshiped, are forbidden:
“Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the LORD your God” (Lev. 19:4)
“Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made” (Is. 2:8)
The Reason Idols Were Made in Israel
“And Jeroboam said in his heart, ‘Now the kingdom may return to the house of David [THIS IS THE REASON FOR MAKING THE IDOLS]: If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.’ Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods [TWO CALVES — TWO GODS, NOT TWO IMAGES OF ONE AND THE SAME GOD], O Israel, which brought you up [PLURAL] from the land of Egypt!’ And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. <…> Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves [THE SACRIFICES WERE OFFERED TO THE BULLS THEMSELVES] that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made” (1 Kin. 12:26-29,32)
In Babylon They Considered the Bronze Article Itself to Be God, and Also an Animal
“The Babylonians had an idol named Bel, and every day they spent on it twenty great measures of fine flour, forty sheep and six measures of wine. The king revered it and went every day to worship it; but Daniel worshiped his own God. And the king said to him, ‘Why do you not worship Bel?’ He answered, ‘Because I do not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, who created heaven and earth and has dominion over all flesh.’ The king said, ‘Do you not think that Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?’ Daniel smiled and said, ‘Do not be deceived, O king; for this is clay inside and bronze outside, and it never ate or drank anything.’ Then the king was angry and called his priests and said to them, ‘If you do not tell me who is eating all this, you shall die. But if you prove that Bel is eating it, Daniel shall die, because he has blasphemed Bel.’ And Daniel said to the king, ‘Let it be according to your word.’ There were seventy priests of Bel, besides their wives and children. And the king went with Daniel to the temple of Bel, and the priests of Bel said, ‘Behold, we will go out, and you, O king, set out the food and mix the wine, shut the door and seal it with your signet. And if tomorrow you come and do not find that everything has been eaten by Bel, we will die; or else Daniel, who is lying about us.’ They were not concerned, for they had made a hidden entrance under the table, and through it they used to go in regularly and consume the provisions. When they had gone out, the king set out the food for Bel, and Daniel ordered his servants, and they brought ashes and scattered them over the whole temple in the presence of the king alone; then they went out, shut the door, sealed it with the king’s signet, and departed. In the night the priests came, as they were accustomed, with their wives and children, and they ate and drank everything. Early the next day the king rose, and Daniel with him. And he said, ‘Are the seals unbroken, Daniel?’ He said, ‘They are unbroken, O king.’ And as soon as the doors were opened, the king looked at the table and shouted in a loud voice, ‘You are great, O Bel, and there is no deceit in you!’ Daniel smiled and held the king back from going in, and said, ‘Look at the floor and notice whose footprints these are.’ The king said, ‘I see the footprints of men and women and children.’ Then the king was enraged, and he seized the priests and their wives and children; and they showed him the secret doors through which they used to enter and devour what was on the table. Therefore the king put them to death, and gave Bel over to Daniel, who destroyed it and its temple. There was also a great dragon in that place, which the Babylonians revered. And the king said to Daniel, ‘You cannot say of this one too that it is bronze? Behold, it is alive, and eats and drinks; you cannot deny that this is a living god; so worship it.’ Daniel said, ‘I worship the Lord my God, for He is the living God. But give me permission, O king, and I will kill the dragon without sword or club.’ The king said, ‘I give you permission.’ Then Daniel took pitch, fat and hair, and boiled them together and made cakes, which he threw into the dragon’s mouth, and the dragon burst open. And Daniel said, ‘See what you have been worshiping!’ When the Babylonians heard it, they were very indignant and conspired against the king, saying, ‘The king has become a Jew; he has destroyed Bel, and killed the dragon, and slaughtered the priests’” (Bel and the Dragon (Dan. 14:3-28); translated from the Russian Synodal)
An Idol Can Do Nothing and Itself Requires Care
Attention is constantly drawn to the fact that idols can do nothing:
“Of what use to an idol is a sacrifice? For it can neither eat nor smell” (Sir. 30:19)
“But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk” (Rev. 9:20)
But if an idol were only an image, there would be no need to say that it can do nothing. The pagans themselves would laugh and say: of course it can’t, it’s only an image.
Without the Idol, the Service of the Idol Is Not Performed
“As for you, O house of Israel,” thus says the Lord GOD: “Go, serve every one of you his idols — and hereafter — if you will not obey Me; but profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols” (Ezek. 20:39)
On Idols in the New Testament
The idol itself is considered a god:
“For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana (Artemis), brought no small profit to the craftsmen. He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: ‘Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands. So not only is this trade of ours in danger (!) of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship’” (Act. 19:24-27)
The True God Gives No Answer to a Worshiper of Idols
“For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will not be inquired of by you” (Ezek. 20:31)
“that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols” (Ezek. 14:5)
Other
“For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication, and the invention of them was the corruption of life” (Wis. 14:12)
“For the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil” (Wis. 14:27)
“for because they trust in lifeless idols they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm” (Wis. 14:29)
“I went out to meet the foreigner, and he cursed me by his idols” (Ps. 151:6, LXX; translated from the Greek: ἐξῆλθον εἰς συνάντησιν τῷ ἀλλοφύλῳ, καὶ ἐπικατηράσατό με ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτοῦ)