Isaiah 44:8-20, Good Terms for Idols (2)

We are continuing in 2 Chron. 33:7,15.

·       “Idol” in v7 is the Heb. cemel.  It refers to an image or statue.  It refers to an image that is quite noticeable, impressive.  In Ezek. 8:3,5, in Ezekiel’s vision of Jerusalem when the glory departed, it is used of the “image of jealousy.”  Again, it is an impressive figure, well known to people.  False gods are not impressive in the things they do and say; so they have to be impressive in appearance.

·       “Foreign gods” in v15 is the Heb. neker (strange) elohim.  This is a reminder to us that the term “god/God” is the same.  Israel’s Elohim is YAHWEH; Babylon called their elohim Bel and Merodach.

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. (Ps. 24:4)

·       The context of this is answering the question, Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?  As Jesus said, You cannot serve two masters (Mt. 6:24).  And Paul: What agreement has the temple of God with idols?  For you are the temple of the living God (2 Cor. 6:16).

·       “Idol” is the Heb. shav.  It refers to emptiness, vanity, a falsehood or a lie.  This is a perfect title for a false god, which is no god at all. 

Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them.’ (Isaiah 48:5)

·       God had declared from the beginning things that would happen, so that through the fulfilled prophecy, the people would know that He was at work and that the things befalling Judah could not be attributed to the false god they worshiped.

·       “Idol” is the Heb. otseb, used only four times in the OT.  It is translated idol here because the context calls for it.  The root meaning of the word is sorrow, pain or wickedness.  These are things connected with false gods.  You will always be disappointed by them because they can do nothing.  So, worshiping them brings these things.  One of the uses of this term is well known, in Ps. 139:24a: See if there be any wicked way in me. 

·       “Carved image” is pecel, discussed above in 2 Chron. 33:7.

·       “Molded image” is the Heb. necek.  As the translation indicates, it refers to something poured out.  It is used of “drink offerings.”  But here, in speaking of idols, it refers to another way they were made, by pouring out hot liquid that hardens into an image.  Isaiah 41:29 used this term and gives it two profound adjectives: Indeed they are all worthless; Their works are nothing; Their molded images are wind and confusion.