We are in chapter twenty of Exodus with our word for today used for the first time in the Bible. Our word is one of two ways God more specifically defines what it means to have other gods before YHWH the true God. פֶּ֫סֶל idol, image, divine image, graven image, molten image. It is used 31 times in the Old Testament. Our word has the sense of a physical image that represents a false deity in place of the true YHWH reality God.
This activity is condemned by God. Notice God calls this acting corruptly in Deuteronomy 4:15-18 Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves פֶּ֖סֶלan idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. And a few verses later this is identified as being forbidden by God Deuteronomy 4:23 Do not make for yourselves an פֶּ֙סֶל֙ idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden.
This is the exact sense of how our word is used in our chapter today. Exodus 20:4 You shall not make for yourself a פֶ֣֙סֶל֙carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. I love the contrast between YHWH the LORD or the reality God made with idols. Psalm 97:1-7 The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all peoples see his glory. All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in פֶ֗סֶל idols— worship him, all you gods! Did you catch that idols are worthless in that they can’t do anything? Whereas the true reality, I AM YWHW God reigns and is described with all of these amazing things listed in the Psalm. Idols lead to being put to shame as we also see in Isaiah 42:17 But those who trust בַּפָּ֑סֶל in idols, who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back in utter shame. Not only do idols lead to shame but they are also described as nothing. Isaiah 44:9-10 All who make פֶ֤סֶל idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes a god וּפֶ֣סֶל and casts an idol, which can profit nothing? If find it interesting that Jeremiah repeats himself verbatim at the beginning of his book and then again toward the end. I’ll close with this great summary of how ridiculous idols are. Here is the same words in both Jeremiah 10:14 and 51:17 Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame מִפָּ֑סֶל by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.
