10C's: #2 no idols, part d
Exodus 20:4 "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. (ESV for all quotes)
idols are a big thorn in the side of the children of Israel. it's a habit they can't kick so God spends a lot of time refreshing their memory. he comes back to it a couple times in Exodus. in fact, before Moses can come down the mountain with these commandments the people have given up on him and ask Aaron to make something for them. the golden calf was this Sunday morning's lesson for my 3rd and 4th grade class. he made it from gold earrings. the thing that strikes me about idols is they are never cheap. why can't an idol be made of dirt? why the investment? perhaps its a frontloading of worship. unlike the living God who requires our entire life and every facet of it idols, perhaps, are satisfied with a glitzy upfront payment with small daily payments thereafter.
yet God keeps reminding them.
Leviticus 19:4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.
i like the solemn conclusion God puts on that statement. "no idols BECAUSE I'm God!" i don't think God was worried someone would make an idol out of spam. but He made us worshipers and Adam's sin blinded us to true worship. and even when the truth is revealed our sinfulness brings on a spiritual dementia. so He keeps reminding us. He is spirit and he has no form to imitate.
Deuteronomy 4:15 "Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth .
again
Deuteronomy 5:8 "'You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
now a curse on the idolater.
Deuteronomy 27:15 "'Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.'
at the end of the Israel's existence, before they are carried off by Babylon, after they've seen Israel to the North get carried off by the Assyrians for the same sins Jeremiah comes on the scene and tries argument of absurdity ...
Jeremiah 10:3 for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. 4 They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. 5 Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good."
Jeremiah 10:14 Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. 16 Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.
Paul points out to the Romans, idol worshippers themselves, that God has not changed, nor has sinful man...
Romans 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
John tells us that it won't stop until the end of time...
Revelation 9:20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,
Paul gives us a warning...
Ephesians 5:5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
now this is scary, so scary that some translations make idolater a separate descriptor instead of a modifier of the covetous person. perhaps that is a key for us modern idolaters. in case we didn't get it, Paul restates it in his letter to Colosse
Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
the thing i most enjoy about the Bible is the recurring, overlapping, and interwoven themes. the 2nd commandment and the 10th commandment are variations on a theme. James touches on this theme.
James 4:1-4a 1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
He even brings in adultery! none of us are clean. none of us are innocent. i'm convinced that was Jesus' point on the sermon on the mount. no one is righteous. even the invalid sins. we are all in need of a Savior.
idols are a big thorn in the side of the children of Israel. it's a habit they can't kick so God spends a lot of time refreshing their memory. he comes back to it a couple times in Exodus. in fact, before Moses can come down the mountain with these commandments the people have given up on him and ask Aaron to make something for them. the golden calf was this Sunday morning's lesson for my 3rd and 4th grade class. he made it from gold earrings. the thing that strikes me about idols is they are never cheap. why can't an idol be made of dirt? why the investment? perhaps its a frontloading of worship. unlike the living God who requires our entire life and every facet of it idols, perhaps, are satisfied with a glitzy upfront payment with small daily payments thereafter.
yet God keeps reminding them.
Leviticus 19:4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.
i like the solemn conclusion God puts on that statement. "no idols BECAUSE I'm God!" i don't think God was worried someone would make an idol out of spam. but He made us worshipers and Adam's sin blinded us to true worship. and even when the truth is revealed our sinfulness brings on a spiritual dementia. so He keeps reminding us. He is spirit and he has no form to imitate.
Deuteronomy 4:15 "Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth .
again
Deuteronomy 5:8 "'You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
now a curse on the idolater.
Deuteronomy 27:15 "'Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.'
at the end of the Israel's existence, before they are carried off by Babylon, after they've seen Israel to the North get carried off by the Assyrians for the same sins Jeremiah comes on the scene and tries argument of absurdity ...
Jeremiah 10:3 for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. 4 They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. 5 Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good."
Jeremiah 10:14 Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. 16 Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.
Paul points out to the Romans, idol worshippers themselves, that God has not changed, nor has sinful man...
Romans 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
John tells us that it won't stop until the end of time...
Revelation 9:20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,
Paul gives us a warning...
Ephesians 5:5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
now this is scary, so scary that some translations make idolater a separate descriptor instead of a modifier of the covetous person. perhaps that is a key for us modern idolaters. in case we didn't get it, Paul restates it in his letter to Colosse
Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
the thing i most enjoy about the Bible is the recurring, overlapping, and interwoven themes. the 2nd commandment and the 10th commandment are variations on a theme. James touches on this theme.
James 4:1-4a 1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
He even brings in adultery! none of us are clean. none of us are innocent. i'm convinced that was Jesus' point on the sermon on the mount. no one is righteous. even the invalid sins. we are all in need of a Savior.
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