Isaiah 40 marks a pivotal point in this remarkable book of prophecy. Chapter 39 concluded with the Lord’s message to Hezekiah that not only would Babylon plunder Judah of all her riches, but would also take the people captive (vss. 6-7). However, that message of doom was followed by a message of hope: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1–2, ESV)
But why should this people have hope? Because the “glory of the Lord” was going to be revealed (vs. 5) and He would come with great might (vss. 10-17). However, there would be no hope for those who worshipped idols: “To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.” (Isaiah 40:18–20, ESV)
All of this begs the question: why would anyone worship an idol, a created thing, in the first place?
Why Would Anyone Worship An Idol?
Idols in the ANE took a wide variety of forms, from the very simple shaping of rocks or wood to extremely ornate statues, murals, etc. The idols may have anthropomorphic, zoomorphic or astral features, all intended to emphasize some attribute of the worshipped god. Thus Baal (Phoenician storm and fertility god) was often depicted as wielding a lightning bolt while the Ephesian goddess Diana (mother goddess) was portrayed with numerous breasts and the Egyptian god Apis (agriculture) was represented by a bull. The object of worship, the idol, represented some important truth about the god.
Baal
Ephesian Artemis
However, those living in these ancient civilizations didn’t merely view the idol as a representation; they believed the god or goddess inhabited the idol! “To the Egyptians and Mesopotamians—and almost certainly to the Canaanites as well—images were not the inanimate objects that the Hebrew prophets insisted they were; rather, they were living, feeling beings in which the deity was actually present. The primary significance of images lay in the fact that the life of the deity was thought to be present in the statue. The Egyptian view is expressed in a passage from the Memphite Theology which says, ‘He placed the gods in their shrines, He settled their offerings, He established their shrines, He made their bodies according to their wishes. Thus the gods entered into their bodies, Of every wood, every stone, every clay’ (AEL 1: 55)… It is this living presence of the deity in the statue that accounts for the Mesopotamian practice of taking away the gods of a conquered people and depositing them in the temple of the victorious deity. This demonstrated the power of the conquering god and removed the deity from the conquered area so that he or she would not be able to help the people overthrow the conqueror’s authority.” (Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary)
With that backdrop, let’s return to the basic tenets of God’s covenant with Israel (Exodus 20). We noted in our last lesson that the prime commandment was that Israel must not admit any other god into the presence of Jehovah, no matter how much power that god seemed to possess (Exodus 20.3). Now we must consider the second commandment, the prohibition against the making and worshipping of any idol (Exodus 20.4-6).
God’s Prohibition
Without doubt, God’s prohibition against the making of images (idols) applied to the worship of other gods. However, the Lord had already declared that Israel must not worship any other god, so the main focus of the second commandment was that Israel must not worship the Lord God in the same way that the nations worshipped their gods; Israel must not make any representation of Jehovah. Yet, that is exactly what Israel would try to do at various points in her history.
After fashioning the golden calf Aaron declared that “these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32.4). The word translated as “gods” is elohim, the word used for God throughout Scripture. Aaron was declaring that the Lord was present in the golden calf, an attempt to manipulate the will of the Lord to suit the desires of the people. Likewise, when Jeroboam sought to consolidate his kingdom he made two golden calves and declared, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” (1Kings 12.28). Why should the people go to Jerusalem, if they could worship the Lord with the golden calves? One only need read the aftermath of both instances to see that the Lord was serious in His prohibition against the making of any image (Exodus 20.4-6). But why was the Lord so insistent that His people not worship Him in the way that the nations worshipped their gods?
God’s Reason: The Lord Is A Jealous God
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:4–6, ESV)
To us, jealousy is a moral failing that should be avoided (see Galatians 5.20). However, the concept of jealousy is actually value neutral; it is neither inherently good or evil. The Hebrew word qanna is translated as “jealous” in Exodus 20.4 and “expresses a very strong emotion whereby some quality or possession of the object is desired by the subject… It may prove helpful to think of ‘zeal’ as the original sense from which derived the notions ‘zeal for another’s property’ =‘envy’ and ‘zeal for one’s own property’ = ‘jealousy.’” (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament) Consider that the Law gave tests for infidelity should a “spirit of jealousy” come over a husband and he is “jealous of his wife” (Numbers 5.14). It’s not a sin for a man to desire his wife and want to keep her to himself; jealousy isn’t always wrong.
So, what is the Lord “jealous” of and what does his jealousy have to do with idols? First, Scripture declares that the Lord is “jealous for my holy name” (Ezekiel 39.25). His jealousy for his name/reputation was why Israel had been punished for her transgressions and why He was going to have mercy and restore her fortunes. And jealousy for His name was one reason Israel must not make images of the Lord, for “whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?” (Isaiah 40.18). Any attempt to make an image of the Lord would be an attempt to bring Him down to our level… and He is most certainly not on our level (see Isaiah 40.25-26). He has a right to be jealous for His name.
Second, the Lord is jealous for His people. Should they worship another god it would provoke Him to jealousy (Exodus 34.14). Likewise, bowing down to an image or idol would provoke His jealousy (Deuteronomy 4.23-24). To better understand why, consider that one of the terms used to describe idols/images is the word selem (the metal or molten image in Numbers 33.52). That same term is used in Genesis 1.26-27 to describe man… we are the image of God. “God fashioned humans in the image of God. Humans, in contrast, may not fashion God in the image of humans or anything else.” (IVP Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch) If Israel would keep the Lord’s covenant, they would be in the image of God (see Lev. 11.44-45). The Lord was to be represented by His people, not by any carved or molten image. Thus, God’s punishment and His favor were tied to the people following His ways (Exodus 20.5-6).
Takeaways:
- The making of idols has historically been an attempt by man to bring his god down to his level; and if the god is on our level than there is some level of control that man can exert over him. That is not the case with the Lord! Any attempt to bring Him down to our level must be abandoned, whether by the making of images or by thinking of Him in solely human terms (for instance, “since God is my Father, He will accept me no matter what I do.”)
- God will not allow us to make images that represent Him, because He has already made images of Himself. We are created in His image (Genesis 1.26-27) and need to take our roles as His image bearers seriously (Ephesians 4.22-24).
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