Idolatry

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(apparent). An object of worship, other than God (Gen. 31:19); idolatry forbidden (Ex. 20:3-4; 34:13; Deut. 4:16-19; 7:25-26); yet existed largely, especially under the judges and later kings (Ex. 32; Judg. 2:10-23; 1 Kings 11:33; 12:27-33; 14:22-24; Isa. 57:5-8).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

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 (Rom. 1:20-23). From this state Abram was rescued by the God of glory appearing to him. Scripture shows the folly 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 (Isa. 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.
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. Man himself was exalted by some into a god, as with the Greeks and the Romans.
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, “Tomorrow 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” (Ex. 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.
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 demons (Lev. 17:7). They “sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons” (Psa. 106:37). They made their children pass through the fire to Molech (2 Kings 23:10; Ezek. 23:37,39); “slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks” (Isa. 57:5).
As to the sacrificing being to demons, the same thing is said of the idolatry at Corinth, with its Grecian mythology (1 Cor. 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” (1 John 5:21). The word εἴδωλον is from εῖδος, “that which is seen,” and covetousness is specially characterized as idolatry (Col. 3:5).

“194. Idol Groves” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Deuteronomy 16:21. Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee.
Idol temples and altars were surrounded by thick groves and trees, which became the resort of the abandoned of both sexes, and in which, under plea of idolatrous worship, excesses of the vilest kind were perpetrated. For this reason God forbade the planting of trees near his altars, lest his people should become, or seem to be, like the heathen. See also Isaiah 57:5; 65:3; 66:17; Jeremiah 2:20; 3:6; Ezekiel 6:13; 20:28; Hosea 4:13. Some suppose the word “grove” here to mean a high wooden pillar, planted in the ground. See note on Judges 3:7 (#222).

“212. Idolatrous Spots” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Deuteronomy 32:5. They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children.
The spot or blot here spoken of is said to be something that does not belong to the children of God. “Their spot is not of his children.” Allusion is supposed to be made here to the marks which idolaters put upon their persons, particularly on their foreheads, in honor of their deities. It is a very ancient practice, and probably existed before Moses’ time. Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs, says that in India different idolatrous sects have different marks. These are specially common among the two principal sects, the worshipers of Siva and the worshipers of Vishnoo. The marks are horizontal and perpendicular lines; crescents or circles; or representations of leaves, eyes, and other objects. They are impressed on the forehead by the officiating Brahmin with a composition of sandal-wood dust and oil, or the ashes of cow-dung and turmeric. The colors are red, black, white, and yellow. In many cases these marks are renewed daily.
Zophar may have referred to a similar custom when he spoke to Job about lifting up his face without spot (Job 11:15). Eliphaz also spoke of lifting up the face to God (Job 22:26). Job himself subsequently denied that any blot was on his hands. Job 31:7. In the Revelation of John there are several references to idolatrous marks on the forehead and hands. See Revelation 13:16; 14:9; 19:20; 20:4.

“306. A Monstrous Idol” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

1 Kings 15:13. Also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.
Miphletseth, here, and in the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 15:16, rendered “idol,” is defined by Fuerst, “horror, terror, monstrosity.” From the mode of its destruction here noticed this image was evidently of wood. It is supposed to have been an obscene figure, the worship of which shows the demoralizing influence of idolatry. Such figures were often worshiped among the ancient idolaters, and are still worshiped in India.

“310. Lacerations in Idol Worship” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

1 Kings 18:28. They cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
It was customary among the heathen to make lacerations in their flesh, not only as a mark of mourning for the dead, as shown in the note on Leviticus 19:28 (#166), but also as an act of idolatrous worship. This custom was not, however, of Egyptian origin, as were many of the customs practiced in Canaan. Wilkinson says that the Egyptians beat themselves at the close of their sacrifices, as is shown by paintings in the tombs. He also says that the custom of cutting was from Syria. The same practice is followed at the present day among idolaters of different nations. They cut their flesh in various ways until they are streaming with blood. They consider that this voluntary blood-shedding is meritorious, and will help to wash away their sins.

“516. How Idols Were Made” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Isaiah 44:10. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
The term “molten” does not necessarily mean that the image was cast of solid metal. Such may sometimes have been made, especially of small size; but the metallic part of idols was usually a thin plating of metal on a wooden image. See note on Exodus 32:4 (#132). Thus the carpenter and the goldsmith worked together. See Isaiah 40:19-20; 41:7; Jeremiah 10:3-4.
The work of the carpenter was to take the rude log and fashion it into an image ready to receive the metallic plates. This is aptly described in the thirteenth verse of this chapter: “The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.” The figure was first marked on the log with a chalk line, and then cut and carved with the proper tools until it assumed the shape and size required. Denon, in his Travels in Egypt, (cited by Burder, Oriental Customs, No. 720,) speaks of an idol which he found “on one of the columns of the portico of Tentyra; it was covered with stucco and painted. The stucco being partly scaled off; gave me the opportunity of discovering lines traced as if with red chalk. Curiosity prompted me to take away the whole of the stucco, and I found the form of the figure sketched, with corrections of the outline; a division into twenty-two parts: the separation of the thighs being in the middle of the whole height of the figure, and the head comprising rather less than a seventh part.”
It was after some such plan, probably, that idols were made in the time of Isaiah. The wooden image, once made, could be worshiped as it was, or it could be covered with plaster or with metal. On the other hand, the metallic outside might not always have had an interior of wood, but may sometimes have been filled with clay, as idols in India are at tins day.

“535. Idolatrous Feasts” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Isaiah 65:11. But ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
For “troop” and “that number” the margin substitutes the original words pad and meni. The precise meaning of these two terms is a matter of diversified opinion. Gesenius defines gad to be the god Fortune, the same as Baal or Bel, that is, the planet Jupiter, which was regarded throughout the East as the giver of good fortune. There was a city called Baal-Gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon. Gesenius gives to meni the definition of fate, fortune, destiny, and thinks the planet Venus was intended. Venus was identical with Astarte, and was regarded by the ancient Semitic nations as the source of good fortune, and as such was coupled with the planet Jupiter; Jupiter being the “Greater Good Fortune,” and Venus the “Lesser Good Fortune.” Füerst is undecided whether gad refers to Jupiter or Venus; he supposes meni to refer to the moon, and that both were deities who were supposed to control fate.
Many interpreters have refused to render the two words as names of idols, and have “referred the whole clause either to convivial assemblies, perhaps connected with idolatrous worship, or to the troop of planets and the multitude of stars, as objects of such worship” (Alexander, Commentary in loco.
All, however, are agreed on one point, that the whole passage has reference to idolatrous worship of some sort; the “table” and the “drink offering” give evidence of that. The kind of offering referred to is supposed to be identical with the lectisternia of the Romans. These were feasts spread for the consumption of the gods on occasions of extraordinary solemnities. Images of the gods reclined on conches, while before them were placed tables filled with viands, as if the gods were really partaking of the things offered in sacrifice. The custom is thought to have been of Egyptian origin, and from the Egyptians the Hebrews probably learned it. Jerome states that in every city in Egypt, and especially in Alexandria, they were in the habit, on the last day of each year, of covering a table with dishes of various kinds, and with a cup filled with a liquor made of water, wine, and honey, either in acknowledgment of the fertility of the past year, or to implore fruitfulness for the year to come.
See also notes on Numbers 22:41 (#184) and 1 Kings 11:5 (#304).

“602. Idolatrous Customs” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

Amos 2:8. They lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.
Henderson’s translation gives the sense of the passage more clearly than the authorized version. He renders it: “They stretch themselves upon pledged garments close to every altar, and drink the wine of the amerced in the house of their gods.” The text refers to the unjust habits and to the idolatrous practices of the backslidden Israelites, especially of those in authority. They took money which they had exacted by the imposition of fines, which were in all probability fixed at an amount higher than justice demanded, and with it purchased wine, which is therefore called “the wine of the amerced.” This wine they drank in heathen temples. In addition to this they took from the poor as a pledge for debts their outer garments, which were their covering through the night as well as during the day. Instead of returning these at sundown, as the law required (Deut. 24:12; see also the note on that text, #205) they kept them all night, and stretched themselves upon them in the heathen temples. This stretching may refer either to the reclining at the idolatrous feasts, or to the custom, sometimes practiced among the heathen, of sleeping near the altars of their gods, that they might obtain communications in dreams.
Keil translates the verse: “And they stretch themselves upon pawned clothes by every altar, and they drink the wine of the punished in the house of their God.” He does not believe that the prophet refers to feasts in idolatrous temples, but in drinking carousals which were held in the house of God. He says that “Amos had in his mind the sacred places in Bethel and Dan, in which the Israelites worshiped Jehovah as their God under the symbol of an ox, (calf)” (Commentary in loco).

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