God's Idol

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image. . ." (Exodus 20:4)

Mar 09, 2024

Welcome to the Biblical Imagination, where we attempt to read the Bible with fresh eyes, shedding new light on old truths.

I confess, as I begin, the topic of this post is unfamiliar territory to most of us. I have wrestled with this post for over a month, and still, I remain anxious. The topic may be too unfamiliar. Yikes! It has been a mental workout. What to leave in, what to leave out? How do I make this clear? Do I really understand this myself? These questions forced me to return, review, and rewrite continually. But it's time I post it or toss it, so I'm taking my chances :)

Although the topic may be unfamiliar, I have written assuming you may know more than you think. I trust that most questions that arise can be answered by context or reading between the lines. I offer only a general cultural knowledge of idolatry in the ancient world, only providing enough information to clarify my points—at least, I trust that I have. So much biblical information could have or should have been included but had to go unmentioned. Anyway, the time has come for me to send it out despite my insecurities, lol. So, here goes!

We modern Christians are as familiar with ancient idolatry as we are with a meal of locusts and wild honey. At least the meal evokes a familiar name: John the Baptist. Idolatry, on the other hand, if it doesn't produce a deer-in-the-headlights look in us, what we know of the topic will fit on the head of a pin. Much of the First (Old) Testament was penned in a world saturated in idolatry. Our unfamiliarity with the topic is understandable, but unfortunately, it results in our missing a fascinating biblical truth. While the truth is stated clearly, our unfamiliarity with the cultural background causes us to miss its significance.

To state it plainly, God has done what he prohibits humanity from doing - he made an idol! Do you know what it is? Does this make God an idolator?! I hope I’m stirring your curiosity. I suppose I could briefly state the truth and show you how it is revealed, but doing so seems, well. . . somewhat anticlimactic. So, may I invite you to come with me for a short tour? But I’ll need your undivided attention.

It will take some effort because we’re so unfamiliar with the ancient world. We must spend some time in a foreign land, exploring the world of idolatry with its countless deities, images, and the temples they were believed to inhabit. Then, when we set Israel’s temple and worship of YHWH beside her idolatrous neighbors, this truth I speak of will begin to stand out.

So, without further ado, let’s enter the foreign land.

Overview: Part I

Idolatry in the Ancient World

Uncertainty is one of the most difficult circumstances for humans to live in. We crave security in our finances, health, relationships, and more. The more insecure our circumstances, the more stressed we are. Yet, uncertainty was a daily feature of life in the ancient world. People had no access to things we take for granted: supermarkets, health care, hospitals, adequate clothing, and more. Anxiety was the ominous dark cloud that never went away - endless fears of drought, disease, war, illness, injury, childbirth, scarcity of food, and more.

Unsurprisingly, then, there was a desperate desire for some sense of security, so it seemed natural for them to appeal to the gods and goddesses they believed governed the uncontrollable elements of the world. Idols, it was believed, gave them access to these deities. The temple, with its image of a god or goddess (idol), gave them access to the divine realm, where they could seek the favor and protection of the gods.

With this in mind, we can understand why the ancient world was filled with deities and their temples. To give you some idea of how prolific this pantheon was, the Eerdmans Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible requires some 900 pages to name and describe only those found in the Bible! Specialists suggest there were over three thousand deities in Mesopotamia alone! However, the list of those thought important in any given place tended to be between twenty and fifty, some more and others less. These deities were considered responsible for order and well-being—cosmic, political, social, economic, and personal. All cities had a patron deity who dwelled in the temple built in or near the city and was its protector. 1

Important deities resided in large temple complexes with accompanying gardens built in their honor, while minor deities had none. Carved of coal, wood, stone, or fine metals, most, if not all, gods were represented by an image/idol located in the innermost chambers of the temple, often seated on its throne with its accompanying footstool, and priests were charged with the daily clothing, feeding, and care of the idol.

Reliefs: royal worshiper before a deity on a throne; human-headed bulls below. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Gift, 1991)

Proper care of the image, correct sacrifices, and rituals designed to please the deity were carefully followed so that it might protect the city. Failure to properly care for the temple and image was thought to cause famines, defeats, disease, and economic failure.

Contrary to what we might expect, the temple was not a gathering place for a worshipping congregation. Rather, the structure and its garden were the earthly home and estate of the deity. While the god or goddess was thought to dwell in the temple, it was not his/her permanent residence. The gods continued to dwell in the temple of their natural habitats, which were inaccessible to humans, yet they also came to dwell in earthly temples, bridging the gap between human and divine worlds.

The structure was designed and adorned to reflect the deity’s cosmic residence, be that in the heavens, the seas, or the underworld below the sea. A city might have dozens of temples; different cities often have temples dedicated to the same deity.

Creating and installing the idol into its temple involved elaborate rituals, including inviting the god's spirit to inhabit it. The features of the image may be those of animals, humans, or a combination of both. These were not necessarily meant to represent the deity's physical appearance but were often symbolic. Horns, for example, represented power, and armor symbolized authority and protection. Some, such as Artemis of Ephesus, who had multiple bulb-like appendages around her midsection, have features that scholars continue to debate over precisely what they represent.

A statue of a woman wearing an elaborate headdress and clothing, her arms partially extended in front of her body.

Indeed, Artemis of Ephesus is a good representative of our exploration here. Her temple in Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. She was well known and admired across the Roman Empire, so people came from all over the empire to offer her worship, sacrifices, and prayers. She was a warrior goddess who was deadly with her bow and arrows. At the same time, she was also a midwife who could help a birthing mother deliver safely and who had the power with gentle arrows to relieve pain in childbirth. And, should the delivery turn deadly, she could euthanize, killing quickly, sparing the mother a slow, agonizing death. 2

This brief overview illustrates for us how, on the national level, an important goddess was widely worshipped as the protector of a large, prosperous city and surrounding region, and on a personal level, she was regularly sought out as a divine midwife by young pregnant mothers.

Overview: Part II

Israel’s Temple and Worship

Israel, too, worshipped her God, YHWH, in a temple complex built by Solomon in Jerusalem based on the pattern of the portable tabernacle revealed to Moses in the book of Exodus. The temple was the center of Israel’s worship of YHWY until it was destroyed by the Roman general Titus in 70 A.D. 3

Moses oversaw the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, which God revealed to him (Exodus 25-31). Two artisans, Bezalel and Oholiab, were filled with God's Spirit to decorate the building according to God's plans. We will examine some of these details below. Some items, such as the mercy seat and the ark of the covenant, were transferred directly from the Tabernacle into the permanent temple built later by King Solomon. At the same time, other furnishings were constructed to match the permanent building.

Like most temples in the ancient world, Israel’s temple was built on a hill or mountain, Mt Zion. Likewise, it was the place of God’s presence, the “house of the LORD.” The most distinctive feature of Israel’s temple, particularly within a culture filled with deities and temples, is that there was no image within, only a wooden box called the Ark, which held a copy of the Covenant and book of the law. Two cherubim were guarding each side of the ark.

The first and second commandments, given by Moses from Mount Sinai, prohibited the worship of other gods and their images or idols. The prohibition was strictly against idolatry, not, as some mistakenly have thought, against all images, including art.

Obviously, Israel’s worship of her God was similar to her idolatrous neighbors, be they in Egypt, Samaria, or Mesopotamia. There were similarities and differences. Similarities include the temple as a divine abode, its location on mountain, built by the King, and decorated to reflect the deity’s cosmic abode. Priests were in charge of sacrifices, rituals and the daily functioning of the temple system. The most notable differences were the absence of an idol or image of God inside, and that the people of Israel did assemble for worship within the temple complex

Having introduced the general features of ancient idolatry and Israel’s worship of YHWH, we must now turn to a brief survey of a subject only hinted at above: the creation stories of the Ancient Near East (ANE) contrasted with Israel’s version.

This ten-minute video is an outstanding overview of Solomon’s Temple:

Ancient Near East (ANE) Creation Stories

In the thought world of the ANE, including Israel, the heavens and earth do not come into existence out of nothing. Materiality was already present, but it was formless and chaotic. There was no heaven or earth, sky or seas. The biblical creation story begins with “the earth was without form and void, and darkness over the face of the deep” (Ge. 1:2). 4

Creation in Israel being the one exception; the gods of the ANE were not outside the cosmos but a part of it. The most powerful gods had brought function and order to the world. Indeed, it is more accurate to say they were the function and order of the world. They maintained daylight and darkness in regular cycles, weather, rain, sunshine, warm, cold, and hot. They were responsible for the earth’s vegetation; think of planting an inanimate seed in the ground. They enlivened the seed to germinate, root, and grow.

While they were personified, these deities were not personal; they were forces of nature personified as bringing an ordered and functioning world into being. There was little, if any, distinction between natural and supernatural. Nature was the living manifestation of the gods. The sky was a god, the sun was a god, the dry earth was a god, and so too, the seas - everything in the natural world was a manifestation of the gods. Again, more accurately, the gods were what took place in these realms, not the actual objects themselves. One scholar writes, “Nut [the Egyptian sky god] was not so much the sky as what the sky did.” In other words, Nut kept the waters above, the sky, separated from the earth below, forming a dome over the earth. 5

Now, let's return to the temple in relation to creation. In the ANE creation stories, the (cosmic) temple was the last thing to be formed and put into operation. Here is what is important for us to grasp about it.

The cosmic temple was thought to be the operational headquarters or the control room of the creation. It was the Oval Office of the cosmos - the cosmic intersection of heaven and earth. It was the place where the god of creation rests. I italicize the word because, to the ancients, rest doesn’t mean, as it does for us, sitting in the recliner and watching TV, taking a nap, or going to sleep.

No, the gods rest in their temple after the creation is completed, but it is the rest of control. Think here, of setting up a new computer. After clearing your desk, setting up the unit, connecting the wires, wifi, and bluetooth, installing the programs, and setting up passwords, you can then rest, i.e., by sitting down and actually using the computer.

As noted, the earthly temples constructed for the deities were adorned to reflect the deity’s natural abode or temple - often the heavens. The image/idol, animated as it was by the spirit of the god, was placed on a throne in the temple and cared for by priests. People came to the temple to offer prayers, petitions, sacrifices, and other gifts seeking to obtain the deity's favor, and secure blessings for the nation and individuals, the goal was to please the gods and goddesses in return for their benevolence.

Humanity’s Place In Creation

Finally, in the thought world of the ANE, humanity was created by the gods to be their servants by:

taking over the drudgery of their work so they may do their work of running the cosmos.
Serving them in the temple, where they performed rituals and cared for the deities.
In the case of Kings, these were thought to be so close to the gods that they were said to be “the image of god.” In this sense, the king functioned on behalf of the gods as he ruled over the kingdom and its people. Through this close relationship, the king would manifest attributes of the deity as he reigned, which qualified him to be considered in the image or “son of god.” This last point is a bit of an oversimplification, but not much. 6

Hittite cylinder-seal impression showing a divinity guarded by winged creatures with lion, human, and eagle heads. Contrast Israel’s version: two cherubim guarding each end of the Ark - no idol is present

Source: Daniel Bodi, Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts, 2018, 171.

Ok, so far, here's what we've learned.

The ANE was a pantheistic world filled with deities. While personified, nevertheless, they were indistinguishable from what we know as the natural world, nor could they be distinguished from what they do.
Inaccessible to humans, deities live in cosmic temples they constructed following their creative accomplishments.
The temple was both the home and control center of the deity from which he/she rests. I.e., From which it controls the activities appropriate to its creative realm. Thus, the structure was often referred to as a palace-temple.
Humans were created to be servants or slaves of the gods.
Seeking to please the deities and secure their blessing and protection, humans built temples for the deity, inviting them to be present among them where they will be worshipped.
Within the earthly temple was an image of the god/goddess, i.e., an idol, in which the presence or spirit of the deity was thought to dwell.
Elaborate ceremonies invited the spirit of the god to indwell the image.
Priests were in charge of the daily care of the image, including feeding, dressing, and moving the idol about. It was very important the god was pleased
People visited the temple to offer their sacrifices and prayers to the deity. All were designed to influence the deity for his protection and care of their city or region.
Israel, too, believed her God dwelled in a realm inaccessible to them, the heavens, and they worshipped their God, YHWH, in a man-made temple, but in this temple, there was no image.

We’ve covered a lot of ground in a brief space, but there is more. We must now briefly survey certain aspects of Israel’s creation story and temple, noting key similarities and differences.

Creation In The Bible

Genesis has two renderings of the creation story: the first is a view from afar, while the second is a close-up, focusing on the first man and woman and the Garden of Eden.

What stands in sharp relief in the biblical account of creation is that God stands outside his creation. Likewise, his authority: he has only to speak a word, and the formless and void are transformed into a fully functional world teaming with all manner of creatures. His first words begin to give form to the formless. This is the subject of the creative days 1, 2, and 3. He then fills that which he has formed but is void or empty - the subject of days 4, 5, and 6.

On day 1, he creates light; on day three, the luminaries of the sun, and the moon. On day 2, separating the waters above from below, he forms sky and sea. Correspondingly, on day 5, he fills the sky with birds and other winged creatures and the sea with fish and swimming creatures. On day 3, he separates land from the sea, correspondingly, on day 6, he populates the land with animals and humanity. The account climaxes as he creates humanity in his image he puts them in charge of the planet, giving them dominion over every living thing, and commanding them to multiply and fill the earth. On Day 7, God rests (Genesis 1:1 - 2:3).

This story contrasts sharply with other creation stories of the ANE, which took eons of time and, in some accounts, epic battles between the gods over extended periods to bring forth a functioning and ordered world. In other words, creation comes about in these stories through extended power struggles.

It is significant that in the second story, the couple is placed in a garden sanctuary, a location partitioned off from the world. We learn from Ezekiel that Eden is a mountain; thus, the garden is likely at its base (Ez 28:13-14). Even more significant is that God is also present in the garden, with clear hints of fellowship between himself, the couple, and with angels likely present.

These features and others suggest the Garden of Eden was a temple. 7 The couple is given charge of the garden. They are to work and keep the garden (Ge 2:15), two key Hebrew words closely associated with priests' duties in the Tabernacle of Exodus. We will briefly identify some of these features below. But, first, I want to highlight a few key aspects of Israel’s Tabernacle/Temple, particularly how the temple mirrors creation and God's heavenly temple.

Israel’s Tabernacle-Temple

As we’ve seen, Israel's neighbors' creation accounts conclude with the deity resting in a temple he/she has built. Although no single account exists, there is ample evidence that YHWH does likewise. The First Testament is awash with architectural imagery when describing creation.

The First Testament speaks of establishing the foundations of the earth, the pillars of the earth and the heavens, the windows of the heavens, channels of water, the stretching out of the heavens like a canopy and storehouses.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent.” (Psalm 104:1-2).

The clearest statement regarding God’s cosmic temple is found in Isaiah:

Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. . .

Isaiah 66:1-2

We should not miss the statement, “The earth is my footstool.” It affirms that the earth is part of God's temple where he rests. The image here is that of God sitting upon his throne within his palace temple, resting his feet on the footstool of the earth - at rest, i.e., fully in control of the cosmos.

This invites us to view the earthly Tabernacle/Temple in Israel as a miniature or microcosm of God’s heavenly temple. Indeed, for centuries, readers of Exodus have seen that the Tabernacle is described in a way that reminds them of Genesis 1. God's instructions to Moses for building the Tabernacle frequently use the language and imagery of the Genesis creation account.

The building of the temple is in seven segments each beginning with "and the Lord said to Moses"
The final instance - the 7th, contains instruction, as does Genesis, to keep the Sabbath. Hence, as in Genesis 1, there is a seven-fold creative act culminating in rest.
The same Hebrew word used in Genesis 2:2 to refer to the completion of God’s creative work, is used of the tabernacle: “All the work of the tabernacle was “finished” (KJV) “completed” (NIV) (Ex 39:32).
In the creation account, God inspects his creative work and “sees” that it was good. Moses' inspection of the finished project is similar; he “inspected the work and saw” that it was done according to plan.
Just as God blessed his finished work at the close of the creation story, so does Moses bless the people after finishing the work. And just as we are told in Genesis that God finished his work, so do we read in Exodus that Moses finished his work. 8

Additionally, the temple's outer court, including the large sea and the altar in the courtyard, has carvings of pomegranates, palms, gourds, and animals (lions and Bulls), suggesting the earthly creation. The inner chambers (The Holy of Holies) have curtains made of the colors of the heavens, blue, scarlet, and purple, with winged cherubim embroidered on them and two over the ark of the covenant. The lampstand represents light. Indeed, when we begin to look closely, there are numerous parallels between the creation story and the symbolism of the temple. 9

In short, the Tabernacle and, later, the Temple are models of YHWH’s cosmic temple: heaven and earth. Like other temples, it was the place of God’s presence on earth, where heaven and earth meet; it is God’s palace temple, his home, “the house of the LORD.” It is the place where he meets with his people. And it is to the Garden we now turn.

The Garden of Eden

Many First Testament scholars insist Eden was the first earthly temple for several reasons, most (but not all) of which are analogies to Israel’s Tabernacle. Because discussing the Garden of Eden with the Tabernacle and Temple can quickly become bogged down in the details, I will highlight but a few to affirm the connection.

Eden was where Adam walked and talked with God. Similarly, the priests experienced God’s unique presence in Israel's Temple. The same Hebrew word used for God’s ‘walking back and forth’ in the Garden (Gen. 3:8) describes God’s presence in the Tabernacle (Lev. 26:12; Deut. 23:14; 2 Sam. 7:6–7).
I have mentioned the keywords “work” and “keep” above. The Hebrew words are usually translated as ‘serve and guard’ elsewhere in the Old Testament. They are frequently associated with the duties of the priests in the Tabernacle and Temple.
The garden's ‘tree of life’ was likely the model for the lampstand placed directly outside the Holy of Holies.’ The lampstand looked like a small, flowering tree with seven protruding branches from a central trunk, three on one side and three on the other, and one straight up from the trunk in the middle. Exodus 25:31–36 pictures the lampstand having the appearance of a tree with ‘bulbs and flowers,’ ‘branches,’ and ‘almond blossoms’
As noted above, the altar, bronze sea, tree, carvings, and decor unmistakably suggest the garden sanctuary.
The ark in the Holy of Holies, which contained the Law (which led to wisdom), echoes the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (which also led to wisdom). Touching both the ark and this tree resulted in death.

These are enough to demonstrate that the Tabernacle and later Temple in Jerusalem were likely models of the first Temple, which was Eden. 10

But why was Eden set apart from the rest of the world? Theologians Greg Beale and Walter address this question:

“God wanted to expand that sacred space and dwelling place from the limited confines of the Garden-temple of Eden to fill the entire earth. As Adam multiplied children in his image, then they would expand God’s dwelling place of his presence into the chaos outside of Eden until it filled the earth, and the whole earth reflected God’s order and his glorious presence. 11

We’ve been weaving in and out of descriptions of creation, temples, and images between Israel and her pagan neighbors, including the concept of rest and the place of humanity. As we have seen, they have much in common, but the truth we are seeking begins to glow when we direct our attention toward the differences. In what follows, I offer a brief recap of the similarities, and then we’ll turn our full attention to the differences.

Similarities

The ANE was filled with all manner of gods and goddesses. In this context, YHWH was one among many.
The deities reside in cosmic palace-temples, they have built, where they rest.
The gods also inhabit earthly temples built by humans, who seek to please them through worship and sacrifices.
It was believed the deity's spirit resided in the idol within the temple. God’s Spirit was present in Israel’s Temple apart from any idol or image.

Differences

While the pagan gods are part of their creation, Israel’s God, YHWH, stands firmly outside of his creation.
Likewise, the authority and power of the biblical God stand in stark contrast to ANE creation stories. He is the first to speak in the Bible. He speaks and brings forth the created realm.
While the pagan gods are impersonal, YHWH, Israel's God, is personal.
Israel’s Tabernacle/Temple was not the first temple but a model of the first - The Garden of Eden. With this in mind, we can now begin to understand why there is no image in the Tabernacle or Temple.

God’s Idol

In the pagan world, humans built temples for their deities. In the biblical story YHWH is the temple builder. Likewise, HE formed the first idol - an image and likeness of himself. Having formed the image HE then blew his Spirit or the breath of life into the creature. HE then planted the Garden in the East and placed within it, the image HE had formed of himself.

“Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.”

Genesis 2:7-8 ESV

The biblical account of the temple and its image turns the pagan stories on their head. Yes, both YHWH and the ANE gods construct their own cosmic temple, and later, the deity instructs humans how to build an earthly replica and install it’s image, including proper care for and worship of the image.
But in contrast, Israel’s story tells us that YHWH God, himself, constructs the earthly sanctuary/temple, not humanity. HE built the temple, the garden paradise. HE formed the image in his likeness and places it in the temple. HE blew his Spirit into the image such that it became a living being. His glory is reflected in the image, and HE commands his image to multiply and fill the earth - and therefore, with his glory! All this is outstanding, but particularly notable is just this: The image of the God worships YHWH, and has fellowship with him!

The pagan stories aimed to gain some sense of security by bribing the gods, building elaborate temples, and inviting them into their communities, hoping they would bless and protect them. They sought security through their imaginations and machinations, attempting to manipulate blessing.

But the biblical story reveals a God whose desire from the beginning was to extend his fellowship to his children in the garden sanctuary! He did not create humans to be slaves but to be family! He created a family to fill the earth! This is important. Being in fellowship with God, humanity reflects his likeness and image – much like our children reflect our likeness because they are always around us. We are imaging creatures; i.e., we take on the character and likeness of those with whom we are most frequently present. Another way to put it is to say those in fellowship with God will reflect His glory.

God creates the earth and commands those he created in his likeness and image, His Idol, to fill the earth! Quoting Beale and Kim again, “As Adam multiplied children in his image, they would expand the dwelling God’s presence into the chaos outside of Eden until it filled the earth. In this way, the whole earth will be filled with his glory” (Ps 72:19). Or as the prophet Habakkuk says:

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea!

(Habakkuk 2:14)

The words of Habakkuk echo the long-standing hope that pulsates throughout the First Testament, occurring first in the book of Numbers and then again and again in the Psalms and the Prophets (Nu 14:21. Ps. 72:14. Is 6:3. 11:9. Hab 2:14. Zc 14:9. Mal 1:11), and coming to full realization in the closing chapters of the book of Revelation, when the earth becomes the temple.

Of course, we know all too well what happened later in the garden that, in effect, derailed God’s original plan. But God’s purposes are only thwarted temporarily. It was my intention when I began to write this piece to show how he puts his train back on the rails, rolling and arriving at the station in Revelation. Yes, the whole earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea! The rest of the story will require a Part II.

So, until then - Thank you for reading!

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