![]() This led to captivity and subjugation by foreign powers, which caused the people great hardship. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” (Exodus 20:3-4)ĭespite this clear commandment and covenant, which carried blessings for keeping it and curses for breaking it (Deuteronomy 28), much of Israel’s history was a sad, repetitive cycle of turning away from God and worshipping the gods of the nations around them (Judges 2:12). The first two commandments demand that our worship be exclusive to God alone: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. ![]() When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, the pinnacle and foundation of the Law was the passage we know as the Ten Commandments. Jeremiah’s rebuke had its roots deep in Hebrew (and Christian) law. This lesson and warning apply to each of us today. He begins his public condemnation by pleading with the people to turn away from what neighboring nations were doing, which meant forsaking worship of the one true God. Here, Jeremiah speaks out against one of the primary sins of the people of Judah that brought about God’s judgment: pagan religious practices and superstitions, including idol worship. The book that bears his name contains an array of prophecies and laments, as well as historical accounts from that time. He spoke on God’s behalf to the king, the priests, and the people themselves in the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem by invaders from Babylon and Judah’s subsequent exile. Jeremiah was God’s messenger during the last decades of the kingdom of Judah. Are we able to recognize when we begin to idolize these things? By God’s grace, we can overcome the temptation to worship them in God’s place.Thus saith the LORD, “Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven for the heathen are dismayed at them.” (Jeremiah 10:2) The same may occur with virtually every other element of success, including preparation, hard work, creativity, risk, wealth and other resources, and even chance. Idolatry begins when we place our trust and hope in these things more than in God. Yet when we imagine that by achieving them our safety and prosperity will be secured, we have begun to fall into idolatry. They are not idols, per se, and in fact may be necessary for us to accomplish our roles in God’s creative and redemptive work in the world. In the world of work, it is common to speak of money, fame, and power as potential idols, and rightly so. The story of a family forging an idol with the intent to manipulate God, and the disastrous personal, social and economic consequences that follow, are memorably told in Judges 17-21. On what do we ultimately pin our hope of well-being and success? Anything that is not capable of fulfilling our hope-that is, anything other than God-is an idol, whether or not it is a physical object. But the issue is really one of trust and devotion. In ancient times, idolatry often took the form of worshiping physical objects. Idols are gods of our own creation, gods that we feel will give us what we want. The second commandment raises the issue of idolatry. ![]()
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