Context No. 3741 of 4322 · Baruch
Context · Reflection
Baruch 6:33-39: in context
33The priests also take off garments from them and clothe their wives and children with them. 34Whether it is evil or good what one does to them, they are not able to repay it. They can’t set up a king or put him down. 35In like manner, they can neither give riches nor money. Though a man make a vow to them and doesn’t keep it, they will never exact it. 36They can save no man from death. They can’t deliver the weak from the mighty. 37They can’t restore a blind man to his sight, or deliver anyone who is in distress. 38They can show no mercy to the widow, or do good to the fatherless. 39They are like the stones that are cut out of the mountain, these gods of wood that are overlaid with gold and with silver. Those who minister to them will be confounded.
This passage, from a letter warning the exiles against idolatry, exposes the utter helplessness of idols by listing all the things they cannot do. They can save no one from death, cannot deliver the weak, cannot restore sight to the blind, cannot show mercy to the widow or do good to the orphan.
They are only wood overlaid with gold and silver, unable to help even those who serve them. The contrast with the living God is the whole point. Everything the idols cannot do, the true God does: he saves from death, delivers the weak, gives sight to the blind, and cares for the widow and the orphan. To trust an idol, whatever form it takes, is to trust something that can do nothing for us. There is a searching question here about where we place our confidence. Anything we make into an idol, wealth, status, our own strength, is finally as helpless as wood and gold; only the living God can actually save and help us.
Where have I placed my trust, in something that, like an idol, can do nothing to save me, or in the living God who actually delivers the weak and cares for the helpless?
Sources
- Baruch 6:36: "They can save no man from death. They can't deliver the weak from the mighty."
- Baruch 6:38: "They can show no mercy to the widow, or do good to the fatherless."
- Baruch 6:39: "They are like the stones... these gods of wood that are overlaid with gold and with silver. Those who minister to them will be confounded."