I recently BEGAN studying Old Testament Kings and Queens, and I noticed a repeating pattern: It seemed that every other king was either building idols and worshiping them or driving them out of his empire. That is an exaggeration, but the worship of idols has been a problem for monotheists–perhaps forever.

The Ancient Israelites were brutally enslaved in Egypt. They worked at the almost impossible task of making mammoth bricks by hand and lifting them to increible heights.  If an Israelite stumbled from the weight of his labor, he would be whipped unmercifully. It seemed that the plight of the Israelites would never end, but God sent a man and aided him as he freed the Israelites from a tragic situation. To help Moses free his children, God worked one miracle after another–to help Moses free his children and yet, with the chase of Pharaoh’s army barely behind them, the fickle Israelites reverted to their polytheistic habits. They even built a golden calf and worshipped it. Moses had gone up to the mountains to talk with God, and the Israelites grew restless:

The Golden Calf
Exodus 32

32 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods^[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

² Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,^[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. ⁸ They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

The Golden Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods^[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

² Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,^[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. ⁸ They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ ⁹ “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation. Exodus 32:1-10.

What Is Idolatry?

‘In its broadest sense idolatry is the worship of idols or images.

Idolatry in ancient times.

“Ancient man believed that the image was the dwelling place of a superhuman force or being, or was the deity itself. Idols were made of wood, stone, or clay, and sometimes of gold or silver. For the Hebrews, idolatry included the worship of anything other than Jehovah. Rabbinic writers considered idolaters as enemies of Israel. The Talmud says that the three cardinal sins were idolatry, unchastity, and bloodshed. Idolatry was given precedence because it implied a denial of revelation, thus shattering the entire basis of religion and ethics. In the NT, the term was extended to mean obsession with anything to the degree that it took the place of devotion to God.

“Idolatry was the embodiment of human desire and thought. Idols, though made in many shapes and sizes, really represented the image of man, for they expressed his thoughts, desires, and purposes. Man’s pride caused him to trust in himself rather than in God, hence his idols were really expressions of self-worship (Isa 2:8-22). The Bible repeatedly depicts man as debasing himself when he worships that which he made with his own hands.

“Idolatry has been practiced from primitive times. The ancient oriental world was thoroughly polytheistic. Everything that occurred, whether good or bad, was attributed to the gods; for life was not separated into religious and secular categories. Nature and its unexplained forces were prob. the earliest deities worshiped by primitive man. The sun, moon, stars, fire, and lightning were objects of worship; for man could not explain them, and they seemed more powerful than he.

“The various gods of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Canaan were known to the Israelites. Babylon exercised greater formative influence upon Heb. religion than either Egypt or Canaan. Even the father of Abraham worshiped other gods (Josh 24:2). Abraham must have been acquainted with the cult of the moon-god Sin. His contemporaries built impressive temples and ziggurats in honor of the moon-god. It is not inconceivable that Abraham himself was a worshiper of the Babylonian deities before God called him to leave his home and land. His willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac gives evidence that human sacrifice to the gods was not unknown to the patriarch. The ancient Sumerians believed that the universe was directed by a pantheon of gods, the chief ones being An, Ki, Enlil, and Enki, who controlled, respectively, heaven, earth, air, and water. The Mesopotamian pantheon was composed of more than 1,500 gods, some of the better known ones being Shamash, Marduk, Sin, and Ishtar. The fertility gods were esp. honored. Ishtar, goddess of love, descended to the underworld to seek her husband Tammuz. Nabu was the patron of science and learning. Nergal was the god of war and hunting.

“Ancient Egyptian religion was polytheistic and complex. Though the chief gods were represented in human form, most of the numerous deities were depicted in animal form, such as the crocodile god Sobek and Anubis with the head of a jackal. There were cosmic deities, such as Re, the sun-god. Osiris (the patron of agriculture) and Isis (counterpart of Astarte) were associated with regeneration. There were triads of gods such as Osiris, Isis, and their son Horus. Hieroglyphic inscrs. on obelisks on the tombs give the impression that the Egyptians had thousands of deities. Every aspect of nature, animate and inanimate, was thought to be inhabited by a deity. There was even a merger of gods, such as Amon with Re. The ruler himself was considered to be the incarnation of a god; each one while living assumed the name Horus, the deity who avenged the death of Osiris.

Of particular interest for Biblical studies are the gods of the Canaanites because of the syncretism of Israelite religion with the Canaanite fertility cult. The fertility cults were common to Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Canaan, but exerted their strongest influence on the Israelites in Canaan. The chief Canaanite deities were El, the creator of the earth and controller of storms, and Ba’al (both symbolized by the bull as indicative of their procreative powers), and the fertility goddess Astarte (Biblical Ashtaroth). She was immensely popular at the temples, and prostitution was a legalized part of the cult. The consort of El was Asherah, the mother goddess (the symbol of fruitfulness). There were many other Canaanite deities, such as Melkart, Koshar (the Vulcan of the Canaanites), and Hauron, the shepherd god. Mot was the god of death and sterility.

The Canaanite religion was particularly dangerous for the Israelites because of its appeal to carnal human desires, esp. sexual. Ba’al and Astarte were associated with fornication and drunkenness. Sacred prostitution and various orgiastic rites characterized the religion. Amos charged that Hebrew participation in these rites profaned the name of God (Amos 2:7). Canaanite religion was a debasing form of paganism. Deuteronomy 7:4 and 20:18 warn against the dangers of Canaanite influence. Moses instructed the Israelites to destroy all the inhabitants of the land so that they would not be tempted to follow their gods (Deut 7:1-5). They were also instructed to destroy the high places, the wooden asherim, pillars, and graven images (12:2, 3), which were associated with the sexual aspects of Canaanite worship practices.

2. Idolatry in the OT. The worship of idols was an abomination to the protagonists of Heb. monotheism. They condemned as “idolatry” the tendency of the people to adopt the local Canaanite cults. The OT emphasizes that the worst sin was to acknowledge other gods besides Jehovah and to make an image or likeness of the deity. The ban on images was a new concept in the ancient E, even producing a great struggle among the people of Israel, who continually returned to image worship.

Etymology of the principal words tr. as “idol” or “image” in the OT reveal the horror and scorn of the Bib. writers toward idolatry: גִּלּוּלִים, H1658, something that can be rolled about (Ezek 20:31); אָ֫וֶנ֒, H224, trouble, sorrow (Isa 66:3); אֵימִ֖ים, dread, terror (Jer 50:38); אֱלִיל, H496, weak, nothingness, feeble (Lev 19:4); מִפְלֶ֫צֶת, H5145, a horrible thing, a cause of trembling (1 Kings 15:13); עֲצַבִּ֛ים, cause of sorrow, something shaped (1 Sam 31:9). All these words express the lifelessness and absence of true deity in an idol or image.

A recurring theme in the OT is the ridicule heaped upon those who would make an idol with their hands and then bow down and worship it (Isa 44:9-20; Jer 10:2-10; Hos 8:5; 13:2; Hab 2:18). The OT also emphasizes the powerlessness of idols and the gods of the Canaanites. Gideon destroyed the altar of Ba’al, and his father mocked the irate worshipers (Judg 6:25-32). The image of Dagon fell on the ground before the ark of God (1 Sam 5). Elijah mocked the priests of Ba’al in the contest on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:27).

The extent to which the Hebrews participated in the grosser religious practices in pre-Mosaic times can only be a matter of conjecture. It is a safe assumption that the influence of other religions upon them was great.

The prohibition against idolatry found expression in the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:4), which forbade the representation of God in any form. The commandment was not an attack on artists and sculptors, but on idolaters. To worship idols was to go a-whoring after other gods; therefore idolatry was described as adultery (Hos 1:2; 9:1, 10; Ezek 16:15-17; 23).

There is no period in Heb. history when the people were free from the attraction of idols. Rachel took the teraphim (household gods represented by clay figurines) with her when Jacob and his family fled from Laban (Gen 31:34). The Israelites worshiped the idols of Egypt during their sojourn there and did not give them up even when led by Moses out of bondage (Josh 24:14; Ezek 20:8-18; 23:3-8). They made a molten calf to worship when Moses tarried in the mountain receiving the law from God (Exod 32). God would have destroyed them for their idolatries had not Moses interceded for them. Even as they neared the end of the wilderness wanderings, they joined with the Moabites in the worship of Ba’al (Num 25:1-3; 31:16). Just before they entered the Promised Land, Moses warned them not to make any images or to worship other gods (Deut 4:15-19; 7:1-5), or they would perish (8:19). The one who would entice his fellow Heb. to worship other gods was to be put to death (13:6-16). Deuteronomy 17:2-5 required the stoning of the person who worshiped other gods.

The Israelites did not obey the injunctions given by Moses to destroy the people completely, but settled down among them. They continued to worship the foreign gods they had brought from Egypt (Josh 24:14, 15, 23) and also were enticed by the gods of the Canaanites after they settled in the land (Judg 2:11-13; 6:25-32; see also Judg, chs. 17 and 18). The ephod made by Gideon became an object of worship (8:24-27). The exact nature of the ephod in early Israel is not certain. It was apparently a garment (1 Sam 2:18) worn or carried by the priest (14:3) and used in divination (30:7-18).

Samuel the prophet said the subjugation of the people to the Philistines was due to their idolatry and promised that they would be delivered if they would put away their false gods (7:3, 4). The teraphim placed in David’s bed by Michal when he fled from Saul (19:11-17) has been interpreted as a household idol. However, Albright, basing his argument on the Ras Shamra texts, has identified it as a bundle of rags arranged to look like a sleeping man. The teraphim were used in divination (Ezek 21:21; Zech 10:2), though such use was condemned (1 Sam 15:23). The OT says little about idolatry during the reign of David, but it must have flourished during the reign of Solomon, for he permitted his foreign wives to worship their gods and was, in his old age, enticed to worship them also, including the abominable Chemosh and Molech (1 Kings 11:1-8). His sin prompted God to divide the kingdom upon his death (11:9-13).

Jeroboam, who became ruler of the N tribes that seceded upon the death of Solomon, placed golden calves at Dan and Bethel so that the people would not desire to return to Jerusalem to worship (12:25-33). These calves were either images of the Canaanite deities or pedestals symbolizing their presence, as the Ark was the symbol of the presence of God. This act brought God’s wrath upon the house of Jeroboam (14:7-11). Matters were no better in Judah at this time. Idolatrous practices flourished there also, during the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son (14:21-24). During the reign of Solomon’s grandson Asa, an “abominable image” for Asherah was destroyed, which had been set up by the queen mother Maacah (15:13).

A hundred years later, following a succession of kings who “walked in the way of Jeroboam,” Ahab came to the throne of Israel and established the cult of Ba’al of Sidon at Samaria under the influence of his Phoen. wife Jezebel (16:32). Elijah denounced Ahab and challenged the power of Ba’al (ch. 18). The principal struggle in which Elijah and Elisha were engaged was to see whether God or Ba’al would be acknowledged as God. Jehu, who succeeded the Omride dynasty, made an attempt to uproot Ba’alism by the wholesale destruction of the temple, priests, and worshipers of Ba’al (2 Kings 10:18-28) but was not wholly successful in stamping out idolatry, for he did not “turn from the sins of Jeroboam” (10:29-31).

Beginning with the prophets of the 8th cent. b.c., was an emphatic rejection of any material representations of God. Amos protested against the Canaanite high places and the images of their gods (Amos 5:26). Hosea denounced the stubborn harlotry of Israel (Hos 2:16, 17; 8:4-6; 13:2). Isaiah, looking upon the appalling apostasy of the age, grieved over the golden images, the work of men’s own hands, and the sins of the new-moon festivals (Isa 2:8; 40:18-20; 41:6, 7; 44:9-20; 45:20; 46:1, 2, 5-7). 1 Kings 17:7-18 contains a stinging indictment against Israel as justification for God’s destruction of the N kingdom in 722 b.c. Among the charges made were that they built high places and pillars, served idols, burned their children as offerings, and refused to obey the commandments of God.

Conditions were not much better in Judah as evidenced by the idolatrous practices when Hezekiah came to the throne. The people were worshiping the bronze serpent that Moses had made, so Hezekiah destroyed it (2 Kings 18:4). All the great reforms of Hezekiah were undone, however, by his successor Manasseh, whose idolatries are among the most shocking in all the OT (21:1-18). He revived Ba’al worship and built altars to astrological gods within the very Temple at Jerusalem. He offered his own son as a human sacrifice. An interesting reference to human sacrifice is found in Psalm 106 where the pagan influences upon Israel were denounced.

In the period before the end of the kingdom of Judah, the prophets struggled against the widespread idolatry that filled the land. Zephaniah warned against the worship of astral deities, against Milcom, and against pagan superstitions (Zeph 1:2-9). Habakkuk pronounced woes upon those who would worship a god made with their own hands (Hab 2:18, 19). No prophet fought the apostasies of Judah more vehemently than Jeremiah. He inveighed against the sacrifices to Molech, the worship of the Baalim, the offering of cakes to the queen of heaven, and against the gods that were as many as their cities (Jer 2:23-25; 8:1, 2; 10:2-10; 11:13; 23:13, 14). Even the sweeping reforms of Josiah, which included the destruction of a sanctuary of Chemosh and Milcom built by Solomon (1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13), could not save the nation that was so polluted by her idolatries (23:4-20), for the people immediately returned to their old ways under his successors. Ezekiel revealed that worship of animals, of the vegetation god Tammuz, and of the sun were taking place within the temple area itself in the final years before the destruction of Jerusalem (Ezek 8:7-16). He also denounced the sacrifice of children to the gods (16:20, 21).

During the period of the Babylonian captivity, Nebuchadnezzar built a great image and demanded that the people worship it. The refusal of Daniel’s three friends to worship the image would have cost them their lives except for divine intervention (Dan 3).

In the postexilic period, Malachi, Ezra, and Nehemiah violently opposed marriages with foreigners that were taking place. They undoubtedly remembered that such alliances had been denounced in the past and had contributed to the introduction of idolatrous practices that eventually caused God to destroy the nation.

In the 2nd cent. b.c., the Seleucid rulers of Pal. attempted to revive the worship of local fertility gods and the Hel. deities. Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 b.c.) issued an edict establishing one religion for all his subjects. He erected an altar to Zeus over the altar of burnt offering in the Temple at Jerusalem. He required the Jews to take part in the heathen festivals or be slain. His oppressive measures brought about the Maccabean revolt that resulted in a brief period of religious and political freedom for the Jews.

3. Idolatry in the NT. Idolatry is not mentioned as frequently in the NT as in the OT. In the NT, idolatry includes the worship of any gods other than the living and true God. The Christian Church arose in a world given to idolatry, but also out of a Jewish background that maintained a stubborn protest against image worship.

Paul pictures the widespread idolatry of the pagan world (Rom 1:18-25). He observed that idol worship was so multifarious that the Athenians had even erected an altar to an unknown god (Acts 17:23). He never intimated an interpretation widely held today that idolatry represents a primitive phase of religious development. Paul considered it a perversion, a turning away from the knowledge of the true God. Paul called idolatry a work of the flesh (Gal 5:20), and warned the Christians to shun the worship of idols (1 Cor 10:14).

Church members who lived in heathen communities had to be careful not to compromise themselves with idolatry (Acts 15:29). One problem for early Christians was the eating of meat that had been offered to idols. Paul said that idols had no real existence, so eating meat offered to them would not be wrong, but he added that a Christian should do nothing that would cause a weaker brother to stumble (1 Cor 8:1-13; 10:14-33). Paul warned that one may abhor idols but commit other sins (Rom 2:22). He emphatically denied that idols have any real existence (1 Cor 12:2; Gal 4:8; 1 Thess 1:9). His protest against idolatry was so effective in Ephesus that it hurt the business of those engaged in making silver images of Diana (Acts 19:23-27). Idolatry is used fig. by Paul to include covetousness (Eph 5:5; Col 3:5) and gluttony (Phil 3:19).

Mystery religions, where the individual or the community sought to appropriate the experiences of dying or rising nature gods such as Osiris, were widespread in the Greco-Roman world of Paul’s time. Emperor worship was an accepted practice. Herod the Great established the cult of Augustus at Samaria. Caligula (a.d. 37-41) ordered his image to be set up in the Temple at Jerusalem. Christians suffered severely at the hands of Domitian (a.d. 81-96) who insisted that he be worshiped as “God” and “Lord.” The Book of Revelation appeared at such a time with its warning against the danger of idolatry (Rev 2:14, 20). It affirms the powerlessness of idols (9:20) and warns against worshiping an image of the beast (13:14, 15; 14:9-11), and promises the exaltation of those who refuse to worship the beast or its image (20:4).

4. Why idolatry is condemned in the Bible. Idolatry is vigorously condemned both in the OT and NT because it degrades both God and man. It denies the existence of the true God who created the world and mankind, and whose glory cannot be adequately captured in any tangible form. It is absurd that a person could carve an idol with his own hands and then be afraid of what he has made. Some religions claim that an image is an aid to worship, though not an object of worship. The danger of such reasoning is that two people may have a different idea of what the image signifies. One person may look upon it as a representation and void of value or power in itself, but another may regard it as the abode of the god and fraught with power, and therefore he will worship the image. A visible representation of the deity tends to restrict a person’s concept of God, for he will base his concept of God, consciously or unconsciously, upon the image or picture. Finally, man becomes like that which he worships (Hos 9:10). If his god is lifeless and cold, it can bring him no real hope or comfort. Only the true and living God can fulfill the hope of eternal life.” The Encyclopedia of the Bible