Idols

Deuteronomy 5:8-10

Have you ever looked at a duck-billed platypus? It looks like a otter, duck, and beaver all mated and some strange amalgamation was produced. It looks like something a kindergartener drew. They are strange. I have heard it said that the platypus was created when God threw together His remaining spare parts at creation. Regardless of how we joke about it, they really are strange looking animals. Strange or not, they show us the creativity of God in His universe. He could and can do whatever He wants.

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"You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."

Deuteronomy 5:8-10

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When studying ancient mythologies, the pagan gods were either human in form or weird. For instance, the Egyptian god, Set, was a mixture of a human and a jackal. Ra was a man with the head of an eagle. The Hindu deity, Shiva, was human, but with 4 arms. Brahma also has four arms, but also has four heads. In Greek mythology Chiron was a centaur (a horse with the upper body of a man). In the Bible, the Philistine god, Dagon, was half fish and half man. Moloch was a man with the head of a bull. Chemosh, the Moabite god, is also depicted this way. These are strange looking things!

The second commandment God gave to the children was that they were not to make an image. God the Father took no form when He appeared to Moses. Since He took no form, He commanded that His people not try and make a form for Him. They were to simply worship Him without having to have something to look at or bow to. In each case of the above mentioned deities, man took what he considered strength and combined it to show that strength. Sometimes it was for physical strength, like the bull. Other times it was to show intellectual strength like the eagle or man. Some were to show grace and agility. Some were to show fertility. The coastal cultures often incorporated a fish into their gods because that was where their livelihood came from. Man took what he considered important characteristics.

The problem is, each of these have limitations that God does not have. Any physical form will have limitations. That is why God did not appear in a physical form. He has no limitations. He told the children of Israel to not make idols so that they did not ascribe limitations to Him. This is important to note because so much of each culture's mythologies is about exploiting the limitations of the gods. Man cannot exploit a weakness that God does not possess.

This is why people have a problem with God, or try to describe Him in a way that the Bible does not. They want to make Him less than what He is. If they can do that, then it brings God down closer to their level. If done enough, then they command God, rather than Him reigning over them. That is the heart of false religion.

Father, there is no weakness in You. When we would tear You down, we can only do so in our imaginations. Help us to accept who You are. Help us to see You high and lifted up. Then, we will glorify Your Name and worship You.