While reading the Old Testament, have you ever thought to yourself, "Boy, these Israelites just didn't get it!"? God warned them over and over about worshipping idols, and yet time and again we read of idol worship taking place in Israel. Since we don't have idols in our culture (at least not of the same type as in the O.T.), it may be difficult for us to grasp why idolatry was so attractive to the ancient Hebrews. Here is where Douglas Stuart's excellent commentary on Exodus (NAC) helps us out. Consider these partial quotes from Dr. Stuart about the attractions of idolatry:
Worship through idolatry was attractive to Israel because it was...
"1. Guaranteed: When a statue of a given god was carved and certain ritual incantations spoken over that statue to cause the essence of the god to enter it, the statue was then understood to become a functioning conduit for anything done in its presence from the worshiper to that god. In the same way that a modern person might speak to and look into a sound-equipped television camera knowing that their words and actions were being transmitted accurately to other locations, ancient people believed that the offerings they brought before an idol of a god and the prayers they said in the idol’s presence were fully and unfailingly perceived by the god whom that idol represented.
2. Selfish: Idolatry was an entire materialistic system of thinking and behaving, sometimes called the “fertility cult,” built on the idea that the gods could do virtually anything but feed themselves. The one sort of “hold” or advantage humans had over the gods was the ability to feed them. Accordingly, it was felt that if one fed a given god, that god was in turn obligated to use his power on behalf of the feeder-worshiper.
3. Easy: Frequency and generosity of worship (offering sacrifices) were the sole significant requirements of faithful idolatrous religion. Idolatry minimized the importance of ethical behavior…[it] was easy, requiring sacrifices but little else.
4. Convenient: Ubiquitous idol shrines allowed worshipers to take a sacrifice to the god or goddess of their choice virtually any time of day, any day of the week, and at a location nearby any place they happened to be. By contrast, Yahweh’s covenant required all Israelites to report to a single, central location three times a year, necessitating costly and time-consuming travel for many and prohibiting worship anywhere in the land but that single, approved sanctuary.
5. Normal: Idolatry was the common way of religion – without exception outside Israel – in the ancient world…If an Israelite asked a Canaanite neighbor, “How do you farm around here?” the Canaanite neighbor probably would start his explanation with a description of how to make proper offerings to Baal and Asherah in advance of preparing the fields…
6. Logical: It was unthinkable to most ancients that a single god could be the only God. The idea of a “general practitioner” having to be responsible for all the various divine duties was simply not part of the mind-set of ancient peoples…Ancient people believed in three categories of gods: the personal god, the family god, and the national god. For most Israelites at most times, and for all other people who knew anything about Israel’s God, Yahweh was merely a national god.
7. Pleasing to the senses: Idolatry provided worshipers with images of divinity pleasing to the eyes, spawned a whole, entrenched industry of image making (cf. Acts 19:24-27), and appealed to the sensual, even, broadly speaking, to the “artistic” in the people. It was hard to appreciate the beauty or attractiveness of someone who refused to be seen, that is, Yahweh.
8. Indulgent: Although the Israelites were permitted by the covenant to eat meat whenever they chose (Deut 12:15), the usual pagan practice was to eat meat only as part of a worship sacrifice to an idol…”Pigging out” thus typified pagan sacrifices…Heavy drinking and drunkenness also were considered proper in idol worship feasts because debauching oneself was simply part of being generous to a god.
9. Erotic: Ancient pagan worshipers were taught that if they, taking the symbolic role of, say, Baal, would have sex with a temple prostitute symbolically portraying, say, Asherah, this act
would stimulate Baal and Asherah to have sex in heaven, which in turn would stimulate things to be born on earth: the young of flocks and herds, as well as the seedlings of all desired plants. Sex thus became a regular aspect of idol worship."
Dr. Stuart's commentary is filled with notes and excurses like these that are very helpful in understanding Old Testament Israel. Even if you are not planning to preach / teach / study Exodus for a while with your church, it's a great book to peruse.
"1. Guaranteed: When a statue of a given god was carved and certain ritual incantations spoken over that statue to cause the essence of the god to enter it, the statue was then understood to become a functioning conduit for anything done in its presence from the worshiper to that god. In the same way that a modern person might speak to and look into a sound-equipped television camera knowing that their words and actions were being transmitted accurately to other locations, ancient people believed that the offerings they brought before an idol of a god and the prayers they said in the idol’s presence were fully and unfailingly perceived by the god whom that idol represented.
2. Selfish: Idolatry was an entire materialistic system of thinking and behaving, sometimes called the “fertility cult,” built on the idea that the gods could do virtually anything but feed themselves. The one sort of “hold” or advantage humans had over the gods was the ability to feed them. Accordingly, it was felt that if one fed a given god, that god was in turn obligated to use his power on behalf of the feeder-worshiper.
3. Easy: Frequency and generosity of worship (offering sacrifices) were the sole significant requirements of faithful idolatrous religion. Idolatry minimized the importance of ethical behavior…[it] was easy, requiring sacrifices but little else.
4. Convenient: Ubiquitous idol shrines allowed worshipers to take a sacrifice to the god or goddess of their choice virtually any time of day, any day of the week, and at a location nearby any place they happened to be. By contrast, Yahweh’s covenant required all Israelites to report to a single, central location three times a year, necessitating costly and time-consuming travel for many and prohibiting worship anywhere in the land but that single, approved sanctuary.
5. Normal: Idolatry was the common way of religion – without exception outside Israel – in the ancient world…If an Israelite asked a Canaanite neighbor, “How do you farm around here?” the Canaanite neighbor probably would start his explanation with a description of how to make proper offerings to Baal and Asherah in advance of preparing the fields…
6. Logical: It was unthinkable to most ancients that a single god could be the only God. The idea of a “general practitioner” having to be responsible for all the various divine duties was simply not part of the mind-set of ancient peoples…Ancient people believed in three categories of gods: the personal god, the family god, and the national god. For most Israelites at most times, and for all other people who knew anything about Israel’s God, Yahweh was merely a national god.
7. Pleasing to the senses: Idolatry provided worshipers with images of divinity pleasing to the eyes, spawned a whole, entrenched industry of image making (cf. Acts 19:24-27), and appealed to the sensual, even, broadly speaking, to the “artistic” in the people. It was hard to appreciate the beauty or attractiveness of someone who refused to be seen, that is, Yahweh.
8. Indulgent: Although the Israelites were permitted by the covenant to eat meat whenever they chose (Deut 12:15), the usual pagan practice was to eat meat only as part of a worship sacrifice to an idol…”Pigging out” thus typified pagan sacrifices…Heavy drinking and drunkenness also were considered proper in idol worship feasts because debauching oneself was simply part of being generous to a god.
9. Erotic: Ancient pagan worshipers were taught that if they, taking the symbolic role of, say, Baal, would have sex with a temple prostitute symbolically portraying, say, Asherah, this act
would stimulate Baal and Asherah to have sex in heaven, which in turn would stimulate things to be born on earth: the young of flocks and herds, as well as the seedlings of all desired plants. Sex thus became a regular aspect of idol worship."Dr. Stuart's commentary is filled with notes and excurses like these that are very helpful in understanding Old Testament Israel. Even if you are not planning to preach / teach / study Exodus for a while with your church, it's a great book to peruse.
P.S. Are there any particular commentaries that have been uniquely helpful to you?
2 comments:
Being born here in the USA it does seem very strange that anyone would worship man-made idols. However, I have seen several in my 2 trip to India. They are all around. It is very cultural and is ingrained from early childhood that you must please the gods. I have some pictures that I will try to post on here sometime soon if I can find them. I actually saw a guy come up the cage that an idol was in. He unlocked the door, turned on the light, and rang a bell (I assume to wake the god up). He then proceeded to go through the motions that I assume were required for worship. It is very sad. I thank God that He never sleeps. I thank God that He is not man-made. And I thank God that He has chosen to allow me to see Him as the true God.
When I was in Africa, a man professed belief in Christ after hearing the gospel. A few days later, I heard that he was continuing to make sacrifices to his idols.
I spent several nights in a small tribal village of about 400. One night we heard the drums of the idol worship all night long even into the morning.
Part of the lure must be the fact that you can see and feel your god. When someone asks, "Where's your god?", you can say "Here it is."
It is so easy for us to see the emptiness in those lumps of wood, stone, or concrete. They place value in things that are worthless. We don't have the same blind spots that many idol worshipers have.
Ours may be that we don't consider the things we worship as idols. Or that we don't really understand what worship is... and therefore, we don't realize we're worshiping all kinds of things made of wood, stone, concrete.
I have the NAC for several books in both the OT and NT. Some have been helpful, others not so much.
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