Habakkuk 2:18-The Lord Ridicules Idolatry and the Idolater
Bill Wenstrom
Habakkuk Chapter Two • Sermon • Submitted • 1:05:25
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Habakkuk 2:18 “Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.” (NIV)
Habakkuk 2:18 “What value is an idol when its carver has fashioned it, a cast idol, which is a teacher of deception? For the one who fashions it for the benefit of the idol is trusting in his own creation when he makes mute idols.” (My translation)
Habakkuk 2:18 continues the Lord’s response to Habakkuk’s argument against His choice of the Babylonians to discipline the apostate citizenry of the southern kingdom of Judah and which argument is recorded in Habakkuk 1:12-17.
This response began in Habakkuk 2:2 and ends in Habakkuk 2:20.
Habakkuk 2:2-20 presents the Lord’s decision to judge the Babylonian empire in the future for their unrepentant sinful behavior.
Specifically, He will judge them because of their evil treatment of those nations they conquered in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world at the end of the seventh century B.C. and at the beginning of the sixth century B.C.
However, Habakkuk 2:18-19 reveals that the Lord will also judge the Babylonians because they are also unrepentant idolators.
In fact, these verses constitute the fifth and final woe directed at the Babylonians by the Lord God of Israel.
Habakkuk 2:18 begins with the Lord God of Israel solemnly posing a rhetorical question to the prophet Habakkuk and the faithful remnant of Judah.
The Lord asks, “what value is an idol when its carver has fashioned it, a cast idol, which is a teacher of deception?”
This rhetorical question demands an emphatic negative response from its recipients.
Therefore, it is emphatically asserting that an idol, a cast idol which is a teacher of deception, has absolutely no value whatsoever whose carver has fashioned it.
The noun pě·sěl (פֶּסֶל), “idol” pertains to a pagan and material effigy that is worshipped as a representation or in lieu of a deity.
It usually indicates either an image carved from stone or wood (Is. 40:20; 44:15, 17; 45:20; Nah. 1:14; Hab. 2:18f) or a statue cast in a mold made from gold or silver (Jdg. 17:3f; Is. 40:19; Jer. 10:14; 51:17; Nah. 1:14).
The Lord describes this idol as having been carved, which is indicated by the verb pā·sǎl (פָּסַל), “carver,” which pertains to piercing or cutting by digging into an object such as wood or stone or gold and silver.
Therefore, this verb is expressing the idea of a Babylonian carving out an idol from wood, stone, gold and silver.
The Lord also describes the idol as having been fashioned which is indicated by the verb yā·ṣǎr (יָצַר), which is used to describe the activity of human beings in shaping or forming various objects out of materials.
It is used of techniques of shaping objects from raw materials.
Here it speaks of a craftsman who carves the shape of a graven image or an idol out of either wood, stone, gold and silver.
Therefore, this verb is expressing the idea of an idol having been fashioned out from wood, stone, gold and silver by a craftsman.
The Lord also describes the idol with the noun mǎs·sē·ḵā(h) (מַסֵּכָה), “a cast idol” which we noted pertains to a cast metal image that served as an idol of a god.
It is a term for metallurgy, which is the science or technique of separating metals from their ores and is used with respect to the production of objects.
Contexts of several passages in which the noun mǎs∙sē∙ḵā(h) is found suggest a method other than casting.
The people of the ancient world made their idols with a wooden center and were merely overlaid with gold such as Isaiah 40:19 and 30:22 demonstrate.
Aaron’s molten calf was also made in this way.
It was first of all formed of wood, and then covered with gold plate.
This is evident from the way in which it was destroyed.
The image was first of all burnt, and then beaten or crushed to pieces, and pounded or ground to powder (Deut 9:21); i.e., the wooden centre was first burnt into charcoal, and then the golden covering beaten or rubbed to pieces (v. 20 compared with Deut 9:20-21).
Then, the Lord describes this cast idol as a teacher of deception.
The noun šě·qěr (שֶׁקֶר), “deception” pertains to a misleading falsehood and speaks of a state or condition which is utterly false and causes mistaken belief.
Therefore, the Lord is describing these idols or cast idol as leading people away from worshiping Him who is the true and living God.
These promote the false idea that there are other gods who are worthy of worship and who can govern one’s life.
Now, this rhetorical question in Habakkuk 2:18 is followed by a causal clause which presents the reason for the emphatic negative response to the previous rhetorical question.
This causal clause asserts that the one who fashions the idol is for the benefit of the idol trusting in his own creation when he makes mute idols.
Therefore, this indicates that an idol which teaches deception is of absolutely no value whatsoever because the one who makes the idol for the benefit of this idol is trusting in his or her own creation.
The implication is that the idol is of absolutely no value whatsoever because it is not a god which is worthy to be worshipped and not the true and living God, the God of Israel.
When the Lord says that the idolator trusts in this idol, He means that they are relying upon it or placing their confidence in this idol to the point of reliance upon it to govern their life.
Then, to add to the absurdity of this, the Lord ridicules the idolator and his idols by asserting that these idols are mute.
Why trust in a god which cannot even speak and is an inanimate object?
Habakkuk 2:18 is not the first time that the book of Habakkuk has condemned the Babylonians for their idolatry since they are condemned for their practice of idolatry by both the prophet Habakkuk in Habakkuk 1:16 and the Lord Himself in Habakkuk 1:11.
However, both passages condemn the Babylonians for practicing idolatry because they worshipped themselves and their military power.
By way of definition, idolatry pertains to the worship of something created as opposed to the worship of the Creator Himself.
It is not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion, which belongs to God alone, but also is putting anything ahead of your relationship with God and which would prevent you from doing His will (1 Cor. 10:14; Gal. 5:20; Col. 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).
The practice of idolatry is a violation of the first and second commandments of the Ten Commandments which are recorded in written form for Israel in Exodus 20:3-4.
They are also written on the hearts of every human being whether regenerate or unregenerate according to Paul’s teaching in Romans 2:14-15.
Therefore, the content of the Ten Commandments is not really new since the book of Genesis reveals the fact that these formalized laws were already followed or assumed as a moral standard.
All Ten Commandments had been part of the Law of God previously written on hearts instead of stone, for all ten appear, in one way or another, in Genesis.
In Romans 1:18-23, Paul describes the entire human race as involved in idolatry. Deuteronomy 32:17 and 1 Corinthians 10:20 teach that the worship of idols is connected to the worship of demons since the sacrificing to idols is in reality sacrificing to demons who promote the worship of idols.
Idolatry is the worship of something created as opposed to the worship of the Creator Himself.
Scores of references to idolatry appear in the Old Testament. Joshua 24:2 states that Abraham’s father served idols.
The most noteworthy instance of idolatry in the history of Israel was Aaron’s making of the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai (Ex 32:1-4).
Idolatry originally meant the worship of idols, or the worship of false gods by means of idols but came to mean among the Old Testament Hebrews any worship of false gods, whether by images or otherwise or the worship of the Lord through visible symbols (Hos 8:5-6; 10:5).
Ultimately in the New Testament idolatry came to mean, not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion which belonged to God alone, but the giving to any human desire a precedence over God's will (1 Cor. 10:14; Gal. 5:20; Col. 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).