The Perils of Idolatry: Then and Now
July 10, 2024 - Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12
In today's excerpt from Hosea, the prophet speaks about prosperity that leads to idolatry. I have already mentioned that during the times when Hosea and Amos preached God's word to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel, the economic situation of the nation was at its best. Hosea uses a metaphor of a "luxuriant vine" and speaks about abundant growth to describe the prosperity of the nation. But, strange as it may seem to us, with the growing wealth, the places of idol worship multiplied. It was as if the ancient Israelites ascribed that prosperity to those idols.
Many biblical scholars have asked why idolatry was so attractive to ancient Israelites. One possible answer is that the local idols, like the local deities in Taiwan, seemed approachable and manageable compared with the all-powerful, awe-inspiring God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who resides in the highest heaven. These local idols did not make any demands on the quality of your life. You just offered some cakes, poured out some drinks, bowed a few times, and that was all. The God of the Bible, on the other hand, expects justice and calls you to account for transgressing His commandments.
But perhaps we can ask another question: what makes us worship something that does not exist? All the idols, whether ancient or contemporary, are products of our imagination. The prophets fought hard against the folly of idolatry, and we see how biblical faith has transformed societies and liberated humanity from the illusion that other gods besides the only one true God exist. There are enlightening passages in the Bible that make this point clear in the writings of Isaiah, Baruch, and the Book of Wisdom, for example (see Isaiah 44:9-20; Baruch 6:7-72; Wisdom 13:1-15:17). And the message that comes from them is clear: "Thus says the LORD: (...) I am the first and I am the last; besides me, there is no god" (Isaiah 44:6).
Centuries after Hosea and Isaiah, Saint Paul spent over three years in Ephesus preaching that "gods made with hands are not gods" (Acts 19:26). Ephesus was at that time a center of worship for Artemis, a goddess of nature and childbirth. Paul's message caused a riot in the city that forced the apostle to leave the city. Today, we learn about ancient Greek and Roman mythology, all those gods and goddesses in history or literature courses, but nobody worships them anymore. The Gospel has exposed idolatry for what it really is—an illusion.
But although it is an illusion, it can lead to a dangerous delusion. Hosea predicted that Israel's idolatry would bring disaster upon the nation: "The king of Samaria shall disappear, like foam upon the waters" (Hosea 10:7). Paul saw idolatry as the main cause of moral decay within society (see Romans 1:18-32). And so, we should take seriously the advice of St. John with which he ended his first letter: "keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21).
Idolatry is defined as 'extreme admiration, love, or reverence for something or someone' (Oxford Languages) other than God. Many see contemporary forms of idolatry in our addiction to wealth, power, and status. However, there are two primary idols that the contemporary world worships: the idol of money and the idol of war. If we do not stop worshipping these idols, we risk losing not just a piece of land but the entire planet.