The Folly Of Idolatry

Sometimes all we need to do is think through the process of how something is made to understand how foolish it is to trust in it. And God illustrated the foolishness of idolatry by highlighting how they are made. It is actually quite comical when the light is shown for what they are. The futility of idolatry worship shine bright under the bright light of truth.

How is an idol made? They are made by craftsmen who fashion them for profit. First of all, the craftsmen themselves are mere men. So God calls them together to expose their foolish works. They are mere men,  let them tremble before God and be put to shame. 

One craftsman take iron and shapes it with a cutting tool. He heats it up over hot coals and hammers it into a shape with his strong arms until he gets tired. He gets hungry, so he takes a break and eats food. He gets thirsty and has to take a water break. Another craftsman takes wood and shapes it. He outlines it with red chalk, works it with planes, draws on it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man so that it man sit in his house. He goes out and cuts down cedar, cypress, or red oak and then goes and raises it among the trees, as if it grew like that in the in the forest in the form of an idol. 

He plants a fir and the rain makes it grow. Then it becomes something for a man to burn. So he takes on for himself, cutting it into pieces. He splits part of it for firewood, some he uses in the oven to bake bread over. Another portion he uses to form a graven image, then he falls down before it to worship it. Some he burns for warmth, some he burns to roast meat over, the rest he worships. He bows before it and prays to it saying, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god.’

This is the foolishness of idolatry. Those who partake do not connect the chains of events together so they can understand that their idols are the work of weak men. God has blinded their eyes and removed their understanding, having given them over to their senseless works. They cannot comprehend. They do not recall cutting down the tree, burning some for warmth, some for cooking, and the rest was made into the abomination they worship! 

God puts it this way: ‘I fall down before a block of wood!’ The man feeds on ashes, his deceived heart has turned him aside. That man cannot deliver himself, nor can the idol he made deliver him. He will never be able to look at the idol he made in his hand and state, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?’ 

Idolatry is so foolish, yet Israel fell for it time and time again. And so have countless billions since the first idol was fashioned until now. Billions worship falsehood without the comprehension that they worship what cannot save them.