I’ve been unable to discover when the English word “idol” first began to be used in a positive sense. The first use of the term “idolize” in relation to honoring a human being appears to be from the late 16th century. But a term which in the Bible and for at least three quarters of the Christian era functioned solely as a pejorative term for foreign gods now is in common use to denote a person who is respected, or at least popular, and who is often held up as an example for others. Though such usage clearly predates the television show “American Idol,” that bit of popular culture has engraved the secondary use upon the American mind and probably supplanted the primary meaning of the term. It’s likely many currently would find nothing pejorative in the term “idol” at all.
Yet the usage of “idol” in Scripture is uniformly negative. The second commandment forbids idols. In Acts 17, Paul is grieved when he walks through Athens and finds the city “full of idols.” And in the prophets, idolatry is roundly and repeatedly condemned and even mocked. For our sermon text this week I’ve selected a couple of passages from our reading of Isaiah in Prophets, Isaiah 41:1-10 and Isaiah 44:6-20. I noticed verse 7 in the first passage years ago and thought the image of an idol being nailed down so it would not fall over was especially humorous, especially in light of the story in I Samuel 5 about the Philistine idol of their god Dagon falling on its face in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant.
The second passage from Isaiah 44 is an extended bit of idol mockery, detailing the process of idol carving and then pointing out that wooden idols, in particular, are made from the same material one burns to cook food.
What is interesting and instructive in both texts is that mocking the worship of idols is not an end in itself. In both texts and throughout the prophets, idols are denigrated in comparison to the true God. There is often, as there is in these texts, an account of what God has done for His people, followed by the question, implied or explicit, of whether an idol would be capable of anything like that. Thus in verse 17 of chapter 44 the idol maker is pictured completing his work, then falling down before the image he has made and saying, “Rescue me! For you are my god!” The implication being that it is only the uncreated God who made all things who rescues and saves.
One might wonders if the prophets are being a bit unfair to the idolators in and around Israel. One imagines they might have created images with the same intent that Christian statues, paintings, icons, etc. are made today. They are not objects of worship in themselves, but vehicles by which a supernatural being being represented is honored. It seems fairly clear that statues of the classical gods of Greece and Rome were understood in that representative way. Paul seems to acknowledge that in Acts 17 when he suggests that a Greek shrine to an “Unknown God” is actually directed toward the true God who created the world.
That more charitable construal of idols is worth considering in both intramural dialogue both between Christians about images and in interfaith dialogue with non-Christians. Though there has certainly been and continues to be much simple and foolish belief in magical/supernatural power invested in material objects, the larger point is the comparison of every lesser object of worship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Contemporary Christians tend to be conscious that the idols of our time are often less explicitly physical images of gods. As that secondary use of the term “idol” suggests, the idols which tempt us can often be other people. They can also be flags or political parties, possessions (Jesus made us very aware of the idol often named “Mammon”) or ideologies other than the Gospel. Yet all of these need to be held up to the prophet’s vivid comparison. Can any of these rescue us like God can rescue us?
To that end of keeping that comparison front and center, we may want to reign in our own tendency to mock or denigrate the idols or gods of others and emphasize our celebration of the glory and salvation of our God as displayed in Christ our Savior. Like Isaiah, we might freely invite comparison and let our Lord speak for Himself as He does in Isaiah 44:6, 7, “I am the First and the Last; there is no other God. Who is like me?”