Context No. 3418 of 4322 · Baruch

Baruch 6:40-52: in context

40How could a man then think or say that they are gods, when even the Chaldeans themselves dishonor them? 41If they shall see one mute who can’t speak, they bring him and ask him to call upon Bel, as though he were able to understand. 42Yet they can’t perceive this themselves, and forsake them; for they have no understanding. 43The women also with cords around them sit in the ways, burning bran for incense; but if any of them, drawn by someone who passes by, lies with him, she reproaches her fellow, that she was not thought as worthy as herself and her cord wasn’t broken. 44Whatever is done among them is false. How could a man then think or say that they are gods? 45They are fashioned by carpenters and goldsmiths. They can be nothing else than what the workmen make them to be. 46And they themselves who fashioned them can never continue long. How then should the things that are fashioned by them? 47For they have left lies and reproaches to those who come after. 48For when there comes any war or plague upon them, the priests consult with themselves, where they may be hidden with them. 49How then can’t men understand that they are no gods, which can’t save themselves from war or from plague? 50For seeing they are only wood and overlaid with gold and silver, it will be known hereafter that they are false. 51It will be manifest to all nations and kings that they are no gods, but the works of men’s hands, and that there is no work of God in them. 52Who then may not know that they are not gods?

This letter mocks the utter helplessness of idols with relentless logic. They are made by carpenters and goldsmiths, and can be nothing more than what the workmen make them; the very craftsmen who fashion them do not last, so how could their handiwork be divine? When war or plague comes, even the priests hide the idols to keep them safe, for the gods cannot protect themselves.

The conclusion is inescapable: they are no gods, but the works of human hands, with no breath of God in them. The whole point of the mockery is to free the mind from fear of idols by exposing how helpless they are. An object that cannot save even itself from fire or theft can do nothing for anyone. Whatever we might be tempted to fear or serve in place of God, if it is something made, something that cannot rescue even itself, it is no god at all and deserves neither our fear nor our worship. Only the living God, who made the makers, is worth our trust.

What helpless "idols" am I tempted to fear or serve, and does seeing how helpless they are free me to fear and worship the living God alone?

Sources

Baruch 6:45: "They are fashioned by carpenters and goldsmiths. They can be nothing else than what the workmen make them to be."
Baruch 6:49: "How then can't men understand that they are no gods, which can't save themselves from war or from plague?"
Psalm 115:4: "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands."