Scarecrows in a Cucumber Field
1 Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel! 2 Yahweh says, “Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can’t move. 5 They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” 6 There is no one like you, Yahweh. You are great, and your name is great in might. 7 Who shouldn’t fear you, King of the nations? For it belongs to you. Because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is no one like you. 8 But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood. 9 There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the engraver and of the hands of the goldsmith. Their clothing is blue and purple. They are all the work of skillful men. 10 But Yahweh is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation. 11 “You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’” 12 God has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens. 13 When he utters his voice, the waters in the heavens roar, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries. 14 Every man has become brutish and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish. 16 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. Yahweh of Armies is his name.
An idol is described strictly by its manufacture, and the argument against fearing it is that it cannot do harm any more than it can do good.
The passage begins with the fear of omens — do not be dismayed at the signs of the sky, for the nations are dismayed at them. That is the setting for everything that follows. Judah is about to be swallowed by an empire whose reputation rested on reading the heavens. The temptation will be to conclude that the gods of the winners are stronger. The answer given is not a counter-prediction. It is a description of how such gods are made.
The description is deliberately reduced to a sequence of workshop operations. A tree is cut from the forest with an ax. It is shaped by a workman, plated with silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, dressed in blue and purple, and fastened with hammer and nails so that it can't move. Every verb has a human subject. The final detail is the one that closes the argument. The nails are needed to stop the god falling over. Then the summary: they must be carried, because they cannot walk. And the verdict that follows is stranger than mockery — Don't be afraid of them; for they can't do evil, neither is it in them to do good. Fear of idols is refuted by their harmlessness rather than by their wickedness.
Against the manufactured thing the passage sets a series of statements about the living God, and each is chosen as an exact opposite. He is not made but makes: the earth by his power, the world by his wisdom, the heavens stretched out by his understanding. He is not silent but speaks, and the waters roar when he does. He is not carried, but sends the wind out of his treasuries. And where the idols have no breath in them, he is called the living God and an everlasting King. The contrast is not between a strong god and weak gods. It is between what exists and what has been assembled.
One verse in this passage stands out because it is in Aramaic rather than Hebrew — the trade and diplomatic language of the empires — and it is a sentence to be said back to them: the gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from under the heavens. It is given in the language of the people who would hear it, which is a small detail with a large implication. Judah's exiles are handed a reply to use abroad, in a foreign tongue, before they have gone. The section then ends by naming what Israel has instead, and it is a person rather than an object. The portion of Jacob is the maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. Both halves of that are possessive, and they run in both directions.
settled What this mark means