In a polytheistic world, Israel affirmed that the only true creator, the only God worthy of worship, was YHWH:
For I know that the LORD is great;
our Lord is above all gods.
Whatever the LORD pleases he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps. (Ps 135:5-6, NRSV)
He sustains creation (135:7); in history, he redeemed his people from slavery, defended them from aggressors, and gave them their own land (135:8-12).
By contrast, “The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
they have eyes, but they do not see;
they have ears, but they do not hear,
and there is no breath in their mouths.
Those who make them
and all who trust them
shall become like them. (Ps 135:15-18, NRSV)
The real God authored creation and guided his people in history; false gods were authored and guided by their own makers, who refused to acknowledge the true God who made them. Like their own idols, they were blind and deaf to truth.
In much of the world today, people do not create idols designed with mouths, eyes and ears. But instead of recognizing the God who acts in history, we weave fictions that present the morals we want, or even treat true salvation history as if it were fiction. (I’m not commenting on all fiction—what are parables, after all? I mean replacing God’s truth with fictions.) Instead of acknowledging the God who has revealed himself, we weave theological myths to create a god more to our liking, following the whims of our society’s values instead of the message God freely gave us in Israel’s Scripture.
Perhaps the modern world is not as sophisticated as we think. Perhaps we, like generations before us, fashion a god in our image rather than acknowledge the true God who gave us life.
