Difference between revisions of "Idolatry"

<li> [[Hero]] worship, the worship of deceased ancestors, or of heroes. <p> In Scripture, idolatry is regarded as of heathen origin, and as being imported among the Hebrews through contact with heathen nations. The first allusion to idolatry is in the account of Rachel stealing her father's teraphim (&nbsp;Genesis 31:19 ), which were the relics of the worship of other gods by Laban's progenitors "on the other side of the river in old time" (&nbsp;Joshua 24:2 ). During their long residence in Egypt the Hebrews fell into idolatry, and it was long before they were delivered from it (&nbsp;Joshua 24:14; &nbsp;Ezekiel 20:7 ). Many a token of God's displeasure fell upon them because of this sin. </p> <p> The idolatry learned in Egypt was probably rooted out from among the people during the forty years' wanderings; but when the Jews entered Palestine, they came into contact with the monuments and associations of the idolatry of the old [[Canaanitish]] races, and showed a constant tendency to depart from the living God and follow the idolatrous practices of those heathen nations. It was their great national sin, which was only effectually rebuked by the Babylonian exile. That exile finally purified the Jews of all idolatrous tendencies. </p> <p> The first and second commandments are directed against idolatry of every form. Individuals and communities were equally amenable to the rigorous code. The individual offender was devoted to destruction (&nbsp;Exodus 22:20 ). His nearest relatives were not only bound to denounce him and deliver him up to punishment (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 13:20-10 ), but their hands were to strike the first blow when, on the evidence of two witnesses at least, he was stoned (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 17:2-7 ). To attempt to seduce others to false worship was a crime of equal enormity (13:6-10). An idolatrous nation shared the same fate. No facts are more strongly declared in the Old [[Testament]] than that the extermination of the Canaanites was the punishment of their idolatry (&nbsp;Exodus 34:15,16; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 7; &nbsp;12:29-31; &nbsp;20:17 ), and that the calamities of the Israelites were due to the same cause (&nbsp;Jeremiah 2:17 ). "A city guilty of idolatry was looked upon as a cancer in the state; it was considered to be in rebellion, and treated according to the laws of war. Its inhabitants and all their cattle were put to death." Jehovah was the theocratic King of Israel, the civil Head of the commonwealth, and therefore to an Israelite idolatry was a state offence (&nbsp;1 Samuel 15:23 ), high treason. On taking possession of the land, the Jews were commanded to destroy all traces of every kind of the existing idolatry of the Canaanites (&nbsp;Exodus 23:24,32; &nbsp;34:13; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 7:5,25; &nbsp;12:1-3 ). </p> <p> In the New Testament the term idolatry is used to designate covetousness (&nbsp;Matthew 6:24; &nbsp;Luke 16:13; &nbsp;Colossians 3:5; &nbsp;Ephesians 5:5 ). </p> <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Idolatry'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/i/idolatry.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>

<p> The worship of idols — a sin which is mentioned as committed after the flood. There seems to have been a universal giving up of the knowledge of the true God. Paul, speaking of men, says that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, notwithstanding that what may be known of God in nature, His eternal power and Godhead, was manifested to them. They degraded the worship of the true God everywhere, and idolatry became universal. In this, man had no excuse. Images were made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. &nbsp;Romans 1:20-23 . From this state [[Abram]] was rescued by the God of glory appearing to him. Scripture shows the <i> folly </i> of a man cutting down a tree, and burning part of it to cook his food and to warm himself, and yet making a god of the rest, and worshipping it, &nbsp; Isaiah 44:14-17; and yet Israel, to whom God had revealed Himself, not only as Creator but in redemption, adopted these wicked follies. There were also molten images and images of stone. </p> <p> Imaginary creatures were regarded as gods, and these were feared and propitiated. Some believed in a fetish of good and a fetish of evil. Others had an elaborate system of mythology, as the Greeks, with husbands and wives and sons and daughters of the gods and goddesses. <i> Man </i> himself was exalted by some into a god, as with the Greeks and the Romans. </p> <p> In Israel at first there might have been the thought that the idol was only a representative of God, just as the [[Egyptians]] professed to have representations of their unseen gods. When the golden calf was made Aaron built an altar before it, and said, "To-morrow is a feast to Jehovah;" but the people said, "These be thy gods, [[O]] Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." &nbsp;Exodus 32:4,5 . Yet they had been commanded to make no graven image, because they saw no similitude when God spake to them at Horeb. This species of idolatry is seen further developed in the case of Micah, who had a house of gods. See MICAH. </p> <p> The secret of all the abominations in idolatry is, that Satan is the grand mover of it. To Israel it was said that they were no more to offer sacrifices unto <i> demons. </i> &nbsp;Leviticus 17:7 . They "sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto <i> demons </i> ." &nbsp;Psalm 106:37 . They made their children pass through the fire to Molech, &nbsp;2 Kings 23:10; &nbsp;Ezekiel 23:37,39; "slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks." &nbsp;Isaiah 57:5 . </p> <p> As to the sacrificing being to demons, the same thing is said of the idolatry at Corinth, with its [[Grecian]] mythology. &nbsp;1 Corinthians 10:20 . Satan being the real promoter of it all, he knows how to lead a poor unintelligent heathen to be satisfied with an imaginary fetish; the Greeks and Romans to be pleased with their stately statues; and the [[Brahmins]] and Hindus to pride themselves in their superior and refined mysticism. Satan has also succeeded in introducing into the professing church the worship of the Virgin Mary and of the saints. To this must be added another species of idolatry to which Christians are sometimes enticed, namely, that of letting anything but Christ have the first place in the heart; for in Him God is revealed, He "is the image of the invisible God" — "He is the true God." "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." &nbsp;1 John 5:21 . The word εἴδωλον is from εἶδος, 'that which is <i> seen, </i> ' and covetousness is specially characterised as idolatry. &nbsp;Colossians 3:5 . </p>

<div> '''1: εἰδωλολατρία ''' (Strong'S #1495 — Noun [[Feminine]] — eidololatria — i-do-lol-at-ri'-ah ) </div> <p> whence Eng., "idolatry," (from eidolon, and latreia, "service"), is found in &nbsp;1 Corinthians 10:14; &nbsp;Galatians 5:20; &nbsp;Colossians 3:5; and, in the plural, in &nbsp;1 Peter 4:3 . </p> &nbsp;1 Corinthians 10:19&nbsp;Romans 1:22-25&nbsp;Ephesians 2:3&nbsp;Galatians 4:8,9&nbsp;Titus 3:3

<p> IDOL, IDOLATRY </p> <p> These things have been generally confined to the idea of the worshipping of creatures or images, but, in fact, may be properly applied to every thing which men set up in their hearts to regard, and which tend to the lessening their reverence for the Lord. (&nbsp;Exodus 20:3-4; &nbsp;Ezekiel 14:1; Eze 14:5) </p>

<p> In giving a summary view of the forms of idolatry which are mentioned in the Bible, it is expedient to exclude all notice of those illegal images which were indeed designed to bear some symbolical reference to the worship of the true God, but which partook of the nature of idolatry; such, for example, as the golden calf of Aaron (cf. ); those of Jeroboam; the singular ephods of [[Gideon]] and Micah ; and the Teraphim. </p> <p> Idolatry was the most heinous offence against the Mosaic law, which is most particular in defining the acts that constitute the crime, and severe in apportioning the punishment. Thus, it is forbidden to make any image of a strange god to prostrate oneself before such an image, or before those natural objects which were also worshipped without images, as the sun and moon to suffer the altars, images, or groves of idols to stand or to keep the gold and silver of which their images were made, and to suffer it to enter the house to sacrifice to idols, most especially to offer human sacrifices; to eat of the victims offered to idols by others; to prophesy in the name of a strange god; and to adopt any of the rites used in idolatrous worship, and to transfer them to the worship of the Lord . As for punishment, the law orders that if an individual committed idolatry he should be stoned to death that if a town was guilty of this sin, its inhabitants and cattle should be slain, and its spoils burnt together with the town itself . To what degree also the whole spirit of the Old Testament is abhorrent from idolatry, is evident (besides legal prohibitions, prophetic denunciations, and energetic appeals like that in ) from the literal sense of the terms which are used as synonyms for idols and their worship. Thus idols are called the inane vanities ; nothing abominations and their worship is called whoredom. </p> <p> The early existence of idolatry is evinced by , where it is stated that Abram and his immediate ancestors dwelling in [[Mesopotamia]] 'served other gods.' The terms in , and particularly the plural form of the verb, seem to show that some members of Terah's family had each different gods. From , and , we learn that the Israelites, during their sojourn in Egypt, were seduced to worship the idols of that country; although we possess no particular account of their transgression. In , and , it is stated that they committed idolatry in their journey through the wilderness; and in , sq., that they worshipped the Moabite idol Baal-peor at Shittim. After the Israelites had obtained possession of the [[Promised]] Land, we find that they were continually tempted to adopt the idolatries of the Canaanite nations with which they came in contact. The book of Judges enumerates several successive relapses into this sin. The gods which they served during this period were Baal and Ashtoreth, and their modifications; and Syria, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia, are named in , as the sources from which they derived their idolatries. Then Samuel appears to have exercised a beneficial influence in weaning the people from this folly (1 Samuel 7); and the worship of the Lord acquired a gradually increasing hold on the nation until the time of Solomon, who was induced in his old age to permit the establishment of idolatry at Jerusalem. On the division of the nation, the kingdom of Israel (besides adhering to the sin of Jeroboam to the last) was specially devoted to the worship of Baal, which Ahab had renewed and carried to an unprecedented height; and although the energetic measures adopted by Jehu, and afterwards by the priest Jehoiada, to suppress this idolatry, may have been the cause why there is no later express mention of Baal, yet it is evident from; , that the worship of [[Asherah]] continued until the deportation of the ten tribes. This event also introduced the peculiar idolatries of the Assyrian colonists into Samaria. In the kingdom of Judah, on the other hand, idolatry continued during the two succeeding reigns; was suppressed for a time by Asa was revived in consequence of [[Joram]] marrying into the family of Ahab; was continued by Ahaz; received a check from Hezekiah; broke out again more violently under Manasseh; until Josiah made the most vigorous attempt to suppress it. But even Josiah's efforts to restore the worship of the Lord were ineffectual; for the later prophets, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, still continue to utter reproofs against idolatry. Nor did the capture of Jerusalem under Jehoiachim awaken this peculiarly sensual people; for Ezekiel (1 Kings 8) shows that those who were left in Jerusalem under the government of [[Zedekiah]] had given themselves up to many kinds of idolatry; and Jeremiah charges those inhabitants of Judah who had found an asylum in Egypt, with having turned to serve the gods of that country. On the restoration of the Jews after the Babylonian captivity, they appear, for the first time in their history, to have been permanently impressed with a sense of the degree to which their former idolatries had been an insult to God, and a degradation of their own understanding—an advance in the culture of the nation which may in part be ascribed to the influence of the Persian abhorrence of images, as well as to the effects of the exile as a chastisement. In this state they continued until Antiochus Epiphanes made the last and fruitless attempt to establish the Greek idolatry in Palestine (1 [[Maccabees]] 1). </p> <p> The particular forms of idolatry into which the Israelites fell are described under the names of the different gods which they worshipped [ASHTORETH, BAAL, etc.]: the general features of their idolatry require a brief notice here. According to Movers, the religion of all the idolatrous Syro-Arabian nations was a deification of the powers and laws of nature, an adoration of those objects in which these powers are considered to abide, and by which they act. The deity is thus the invisible power in nature itself, that power which manifests itself as the generator, sustainer, and destroyer of its works. This view admits of two modifications: either the separate powers of nature are regarded as so many different gods, and the objects by which these powers are manifested—as the sun, moon, etc.—are regarded as their images and supporters; or the power of nature is considered to be one and indivisible, and only to differ as to the forms under which it manifests itself. Both views coexist in almost all religions. The most simple and ancient notion, however, is that which conceives the deity to be in a human form, as male and female, and which considers the male sex to be the type of its active, generative, and destructive power; while that passive power of nature whose function is to conceive and bring forth, is embodied under the female form. The human form and the diversity of sex lead naturally to the different ages of life—to the old man and the youth, the matron and the virgin—according to the modifications of the conception; and the myths which represent the influences, the changes, the laws, and the relations of these natural powers under the sacred histories of such gods, constitute a harmonious development of such a religious system. </p> <p> Those who saw the deity manifested by, or conceived him as resident in, any natural objects, could not fail to regard the sun and moon as the potent rulers of day and night, and the sources of those influences on which all animated nature depends. Hence star-worship forms a prominent feature in all the false religions mentioned in the Bible. Of this character chiefly were the Egyptian, the Canaanite, the Chaldean, and the Persian religions. The Persian form of astrolatry, however, deserves to be distinguished from the others; for it allowed no images nor temples of the god, but worshipped him in his purest symbol, fire. It is understood that this form is alluded to in most of those passages which mention the worship of the sun, moon, and heavenly host, by incense, on heights (;; ). The other form of astrolatry, in which the idea of the sun, moon, and planets is blended with the worship of the god in the form of an idol, and with the addition of a mythology (as may be seen in the relations of Baal and his cognates to the sun), easily degenerates into lasciviousness and cruel rites. </p> <p> The images of the gods were, as to material, of stone, wood, silver, and gold. Those of metal had a trunk or stock of wood, and were covered with plates of silver or gold or were cast. The general rites of idolatrous worship consist in burning incense; in offering bloodless sacrifices, as the dough-cakes and libations in , and the raisin-cakes in; in sacrificing victims , and especially in human sacrifices [MOLOCH]. These offerings were made on high places, hills, and roofs of houses, or in shady groves and valleys. Some forms of idolatrous worship had libidinous orgies [ASHTORETH]. Divinations, oracles , and rabdomancy form a part of many of these false religions. The priesthood was generally a numerous body; and where persons of both sexes were attached to the service of any god, that service was infamously immoral. It is remarkable that the Pentateuch makes no mention of any temple of idols; afterwards we read often of such. </p>