“The idols of the
nations are of silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but
cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear; indeed, there is no breath in their
mouths. Those who make them are just
like them, as are all who trust in them.” (Psalm 135:15-18)
What a great description of idols
and of the idiocy of idolatry! And how
prophetic. The psalmist obviously witnessed
the resurgence of idolatry in his day, and, by the time of Jeremiah the
prophet, the last prophet of the Lord before His destruction judgment on Judah
and Jerusalem, idolatry was full blown.
Idols were even placed in the Temple.
Listen to Jeremiah: “Hear this you foolish and senseless people. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear.”
(Jeremiah 5:21) Jeremiah was NOT,
however, talking about the idols.
Instead, he was talking about the people! They had, in fact, become like what they had
worshiped. They had eyes but couldn’t
see and ears but couldn’t hear.
Fast-forward past the exile, the
return, and the intertestamental period and see Jesus in the synagogue of
Capernaum. Standing before Him was a man
with a paralyzed hand. In Jesus’ eyes,
this was a need. In the eyes of the
Pharisees and other religious rulers, it was a test. Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath. Need met.
Test failed, in the eyes of the Pharisees, so they committed to destroy
Jesus. How interesting that the
Pharisees and others like them had eyes but could not see, and ears but could
not hear.
Idolatry is not just the worship of
metal or wood images. It is the worship
of anything that is lifeless, anything other than God. And the worship of anything or anyone other than
God is sheer futility and foolishness. We
become like what we worship.
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