Idolatry Is As Dangerous Today As It Ever Was

“I, the LORD, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty. [Isaiah 13.11] 

The backdrop for Isaiah's writings is widespread idolatry and the punishment unleashed on the nations participating in it. Isaiah's writings cannot be separated from this fact and must be considered in light of it.

As I looked back over my previous year's articles on this date (and this same passage), I realized I wrote about pride and arrogance. There was nothing wrong with those previous articles except that I had not addressed the aforementioned societal undercurrent of idolatry prevalent in Isaiah's time.

God warned of idolatry nearly from the beginning. God warned of idols when Israel entered the Promised Land. God warned that the occupants of the Promised Land were to be driven out because of their idolatrous ways and that surrounding nations (like Babylon and Moab in today's One Year Chronological Bible reading) must also be avoided at all cost for the same reason. God warned Israel from becoming like them - from worshiping their idols, the products of man's manufacture, expertise and skill. God warned Israel against trusting in other nations for protection, and especially so for trusting in idolatrous nations!

Because idols are the product of man's design and making, they represent man's pride and arrogance. Regardless how spiritual it sounds to declare that God gave the wisdom for man to develop debt, insurance, medicine and technology, it MUST be remembered that man made them just like Aaron made the gold calf while Moses was delayed on Mount Sinai. Aaron tried to say they just threw the gold in and out came the calf (as if they really had no contribution in it) but to no avail. Their hand in forming the gold calf rendered it an idol and, as such, a violation of God's Word:

“You must not have any other god but me. [Exodus 20.3]

If God gives us wisdom to do anything, it is wisdom to trust Him alone. Wisdom to solve our own problems independent of God is the beginning of idolatry. All the Old Testament proves this over and again. There are too many references in the Bible about wisdom to list them all here, but this passage from Proverbs says it all.

Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. [Proverbs 9.10] 

It might accurately be said here that the foundation of wisdom is found in the First Commandment: You must not have any other god but me.

It must also be understood that the Biblically-acclaimed wisest man to ever live eventually turned to brazen idolatry:

In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the LORD his God, as his father, David, had been. Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the LORD’s sight; he refused to follow the LORD completely, as his father, David, had done. On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods. The LORD was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. [1 Kings 11.4-9]

Anything we must defend, we are proud of. The fact that men are compelled to defend debt, insurance, medicine and technology by saying "God gave them" is evidence enough that they are indeed idols. Isaiah says God "will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty."

Idolatry is as dangerous today as it ever was. In some ways, because it is so highly developed, it is even more dangerous.

Father, may our eyes be opened to the truth of Your Word concerning idols and the pride they hide behind. So be it.