Idolatry in Action
Woe, offending nation, people weighed down with crime, seed of evildoers, sons acting ruinously. They have forsaken the LORD, scorned Israel’s Holy One, they have fallen behind. Isaiah 1:4 Robert Alter
Have forsaken – Now we turn to the first of three verbs describing the cause of Israel’s crime wave: ʿāzab. “The basic meaning of ʿāzab is clearly seen in its literal use where it has three distinct emphases: to depart, to abandon, and to loose.”[1] In this case, the theme begins in Deuteronomy and continues through Judges, the Kings, and the Prophets. It is a caustic description of Israel’s idolatry. It’s not simply turning away from God. It’s substituting another god or gods for the One True God of Israel. Mircea Eliade points out that until recent times Man has always been characterized as homo religiosus. He does not exist without a religious bent. Today perhaps there are homo sapiens who have no spirituality (but are they really “human”?) but in the ancient world such conditions were impossible. Even in Rome, atheism was a capital crime. The world understood that God or the gods had to be acknowledged for men to survive. YHVH makes it clear that more than acknowledgement is necessary for men to survive peacefully. To forsake the Lord is to court inevitable disaster. History proves so.
Alter chooses “forsake” rather than “abandon” (see NASB below) because “forsake” has the personal nuance needed to express God’s view of this matter. Israel didn’t just fall away (abandon). It deliberately walked out on God. The action was taken with full knowledge of the consequences (the violation of the Covenant). Israel just didn’t care. As a result, two other verbs come into play.
Notice the sequence in the NASB:
They have abandoned the Lord,
They have despised the Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away from Him.
Alter uses “forsake,” “scorn,” and “fall behind.” The two additional verbs are nāʾaṣ (to despise, abhor) and zûr (to be a stranger, but there is a second root with the same spelling). Perhaps “despised” is close enough to “scorn,” but I suggest that “scorn” retains the personal tone whereas “despise” can be applied to things other than people. At any rate, the imagery is clear. God feels the brunt of Israel’s idolatry as a personal stab, a sign of indifference, followed by deliberate distance. I know what this is like. Perhaps you do too. Relationships that suddenly and for no apparent reason sour and those who were once prized and close now act as if you are nothing but a stranger. The distance between is a measure of the tear in your heart. God feels the same way.
Finally we come to zûr, and here I would suggest we need to pay attention to both roots. The first is “to be a stranger.” TWOT notes, “The basic thought is of non-acquaintance or non-relatedness.”[2] But there is another root with the same consonants. Scholars claim it is used only once (Job 19:17) but the nuance fits this verse in Isaiah. It means “to be loathsome.” God’s description of the tragedy of idolatry is not simply the creation of deliberate distance. It is treating the former relationship as if it is now detestable, repugnant, or contemptible. It is indifference coupled with hatred.
If we accept the biblical paradigm, then the consequences of forsaking the Covenant, treating YHVH with indifference, and deliberately creating distance from Him are societal and social destruction. It’s not just personal guilt that hangs in the balance. It’s the collapse of community. The result of idolatry is chaos, crime, disregard for persons and property, rancor, and corruption. If your society exhibits these symptoms, then the root cause isn’t a lack of diversity, equity, or inclusion. The root cause is idolatry.
Topical Index: idolatry, forsake, ʿāzab, scorn, nāʾa, stranger, zûr, Isaiah 1:4
[1] Schultz, C. (1999). 1594 עָזַב. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 658). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Wood, L. J. (1999). 541 זוּר. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 238). Chicago: Moody Press.
.. “The root cause is idolatry.” Emet. And the root cause of idolatry is scorning and forsaking the True and only One who— in his own surpassing glory— is inherently worthy of worship. “And just as they did not see fit to have God in proper recognition, God gave them over to a mind proven of the inability to do good,” and “who exchanged the truth [the True Reality] of God with a lie, and worshiped and served the creature [that is, themselves] rather than the Creator, who is blessed for eternity. Amen.”
This is the state of mankind whereby reconciliation and redemption is man’s only hope and why reconciliation and redemption can come to man only from God by the movement of God toward man in the act of His own self-sacrificing love. Man’s indifference to God comes by way of man’s debased self-reflected concern and self-worship. It is only because reconciliation and redemption are found in the ground of the supreme love of God… the very nature of his own being (“God is love…”)… that mankind may possess hope for anything beyond death than the fullness of his destruction.
It’s good to try and define idolatry, but I like the symptomology approach. I might not think I have “other gods”, but I can recognize the symptoms of idolatry around me and in my own life.
Similarly, I remember reading about the ‘symptoms’ of God’s grace and how it instructs us in Titus 2:11-14. I thought, “Uh oh. I don’t have these indicators God’s grace working in my life!” I could give a definition of God’s grace and I would say I’m a sinner depending on God’s grace – but the ‘symptoms’ of His grace working weren’t there, or were at the very least waning over time.