The worship of God was to be
spiritual, not material. Israel was forbidden from worshiping idols and also
from making images of God. Those who thus are influenced to hate God
will be punished by Him. By contrast He is loyal to those who love Him
and who show that love by their obedience to Him.[2]
2. Idols:
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in
heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
Idol which comes from the word, pesel, “carved wood or stone,” from pāsal, “to
carve.” Later (Exodus 34:17, “Do not make cast
idols.”) “cast idols” anything made from molten metal were forbidden. Since God
is spiritual no material representation can possibly resemble Him. To make an
idol of God like something in the sky (sun, moon, stars), or on the earth (animals),
or in the waters below (fish, crocodiles, or other sea life) was
forbidden. How can we worship what God
created as god?
God also wants to be
special. Other false gods were made of
idols. God wanted to be worshipped with
a personal relationship and not just ritual worship of an image.
The Golden Calf: Exodus 32:1-4, When the people saw that Moses
was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and
said, “Come, make us gods who will
go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t
know what has happened to him.” 2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that
your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their
earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and
made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool.
Then they said, “These are your gods,
O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” [3]
The people became fearful
because of Moses’ delay (he was on the mountain 40 days) so they went to
Aaron, their temporary leader. In suggesting that Aaron make them
gods they were not asking for gods to replace the Lord but for a
visible, tangible object to follow.
Granting their request, Aaron suggested the people give
him their gold earrings, which he then melted into an idol cast in
the shape of a calf. Some commentators have suggested that this represented
the Egyptian bull-god Apis, but this seems unlikely because Apis was not
worshiped as an image. Even so, the bull symbolized fertility and sexual
strength. This explicitly violated the second commandment, which the people had
already received from God verbally through Moses. Perhaps the people considered the calf-idol
an image of God. Since only one idol was made, the word gods may refer
both to the idol and to God whom it supposedly represented. It seems
unlikely that Aaron would attribute the Exodus to anyone but the true
God.[4]
4. Other Idols in the Bible
(1) Judges 6:25-26, That same night the Lord said to him (Gideon), “Take the second bull from your
father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to
Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside
it. 26 Then build a proper
kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height.
Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as
a burnt offering.” [5]
Asherah, or Ashtaroth, the
chief goddess of Tyre, referred to as the lady of the sea. Gideon destroyed a
statue of this consort of Baal, that had been worshiped by his own father.[6]
(2) 1 Samuel 5:1-5, After the Philistines had
captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s
temple and set it beside Dagon. 3
When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon,
fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But the following morning when they
rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken
off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 5 That is why to this day neither the
priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the
threshold. [7]
Dagon, the chief Philistine
agriculture god and father of Baal. The Ark of the Covenant destroyed an idol
of Dagon in its own temple. [8]
(3) 1 Kings 11:7, On a hill east of Jerusalem,
Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for
Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.[9]
Molech, the god of the
Ammonites and the most horrible idol in the Scriptures. Children were
sacrificed to this Semitic deity. Solomon built an altar to Molech at Tophet in
the Valley of Hinnom. Later both King Ahaz and his godless grandson Manasseh
sacrificed their children to this blood-demanding idol.[10]
2 Chronicles 28:1-4, Ahaz was
twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen
years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the
Lord. 2 He walked in the ways of the kings
of Israel and also made cast idols for worshiping the Baals. 3 He burned sacrifices in the Valley
of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his sons in the fire, following the detestable
ways of the nations the Lord had
driven out before the Israelites. 4
He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the
hilltops and under every spreading tree. [11]
(4) Acts 19:35, The city clerk quieted the crowd
and said: “Men of Ephesus, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus
is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell
from heaven?[12]
Diana, or Artemis, a
grotesque, many-breasted goddess, believed to be the nursing mother of other
gods, men, animals, and even plants. Paul encountered Diana while in Ephesus.[13]
(5) Revelation 13:14, Because of the signs he was
given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of
the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was
wounded by the sword and yet lived.[14]
5. Other World Idols
(1) Worlds Greatest Idolaters: The world’s greatest worshipers of gods may
be said to be the Hindus. They have 330 million gods and goddesses, or 8 to
every Hindu family. Hindu religion teaches the sanctity of animal life. And so,
while they themselves usually live in abject poverty the animals among them are
maintained in idleness. India’s 450 million Hindus have roughly 75 million cows
to worship. Moreover, they allow monkeys, rats and other pests to eat and
damage their crops. [15]
(2) Beheading Those Buddha’s: Modern times had its strangest criminal trials related to idols. In Foochow, China, one of the 15 wooden Buddha’s on a temple shelf accidentally toppled on a man, killing him. His family demanded a court trial of the Buddha’s for murder. The court found the other 14 Buddha’s also guilty and sentenced them to death. They were beheaded in public execution. [16]
6. Jealous God:
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.
God is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14, Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a
jealous God. [17]),
that is, He is zealous that devotion be given exclusively to Him. His
uniqueness requires unique devotion.
Since He is the one true God and the only God, to worship anything else
is disrespectful. Absence of such
dedication is sin and has its effect on future generations.
The Golden Calf: Exodus 32:7-10, Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because
your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away
from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape
of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These
are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ 9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a
stiff-necked people. 10 Now
leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy
them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” [18]
7. Punishing:
Punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and
fourth generation of those who hate me.
The Lord did not destroy
Israel as He said He would in verse 10.
Moses had pleaded with the Lord to not destroy them and so the Lord
spared them. He did punish them as we
see starting in verse 26.
The Golden Calf: Exodus 32:26-35, So he stood at the entrance
to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord,
come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him. 27 Then he said to them, “This is
what the Lord, the God of Israel,
says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp
from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded,
and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, “You have been set
apart to the Lord today, for you
were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.” 30
The next day Moses said to the
people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for
your sin.” 31
So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin
these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their
sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” 33
The Lord
replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the
place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes
for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 35
And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they
did with the calf Aaron had made. [19]
God punished the Hebrews for
there lack of faith and worship of idols.
And later when Israel lead by Solomon worship idols again, he destroyed
there nation.
1 Kings 11:9-11, The Lord became angry with Solomon because
his heart had turned away from the Lord,
the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon
to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s
command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is
your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I
commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it
to one of your subordinates.[20]
After Solomon the nation of
Israel was spilt into and then sent into exile.
It was hundreds of years later that they had before they would return,
but never to the glory it had before.
8. Loving:
But showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep
my commandments.
1 John 2:5, But if anyone
obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know
we are in him.[21]
Example 1: The Christian Church is over 1 billion
members strong. It has had the greatest
impact ever on the world.
Example 2: The United State is the worlds lone super
power. One reason Ronald Reagan called
the Soviet Union the “Evil Empire” was that it did not believe in God. The “Evil Empire” no longer stands, but
America is stronger than ever. While we
are not a perfect nation, we are still based on the founding principles of
Christian faith in God. And it is those
principles that allow us to have such prosperity.
9. What does Jesus say?
Luke 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the
one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and Money.”[22]
This verse comes from the
parable of the Shrewd Manager. There is
actual a lot to learn in this one parable, but here what we want to learn is
that anything can be an idol. Money can
be your idol if it is what you worship over God. Idols can be more than just images of god,
but things that become your god. It can
be money, your home, or even this church building. We should be able to worship God anywhere and
not just in this building. If we only
worship God in this place, then we don’t worship God, but this building. Whatever is your master is your God and that
can even be an object that has no soul.
10. Abraham’s Object Of Worship
The Jews have a legend that
when Abraham started on his journeys he saw the stars in the heavens and said, “I
will worship the stars.” But ere long the stars set. Then Abraham saw the
constellations—the Pleiades and the rest of them—and he said, “I will worship
the constellations.” But the constellations also set. Then Abraham saw the moon
sailing high in the heavens and he said, “I will worship the moon.” But the
moon also vanished when her season was over.
Then Abraham saw the sun in
all his majesty, coming out of his chamber like a bridegroom and rejoicing as a
strong man to run a race. But when the day was spent, he saw the sun sink on
the western horizon. Stars, constellations, moon, and sun—all were unworthy of
his worship, for all had set and all had disappeared. Then Abraham said, “I
will worship God, for he abides forever.”[23]
[2] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary.
1983-c1985. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures.
Victor Books: Wheaton, IL
[4] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary.
1983-c1985. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures.
Victor Books: Wheaton, IL
[15] Tan, P. L. 1996, c1979. Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : [a treasury of illustrations, anecdotes,
facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers]. Bible
Communications: Garland TX
[16] Tan, P. L. 1996, c1979. Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : [a treasury of illustrations, anecdotes,
facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers]. Bible
Communications: Garland TX
[23] Tan, P. L. 1996, c1979. Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : [a treasury of illustrations, anecdotes,
facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers]. Bible
Communications: Garland TX
