The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 277

but that which he worshipped was the unseen powers of which that idol was the symbol. No doubt idolatry degenerates into actual idol-worship. That with which something Divine bas been so long associated comes to be regarded as itself Divine and worshipped accordingly. And then idolatry has sunk down into fetishism: And it may be often seen where you would least expect it. But originally idolatry was not the worship of images. That worship may probably bo thus explained. 1. Man cannot do without a deity of whom, in some form or other, he must be conscious, and whose presence he can realize so as to be able to look to him in tim9 of need. Man cannot be a thorough atheist. His instinctive religiousness and ten- dency to worship ca.nnot be ever kept under. For a while it ma.y, but let heavy sorrow come,-or let fea.r and dread fill his mind, and he will, he must, then call upon G~~- 2. Bu~ God will not revea.l himself to us except to our spirits. He can be only spmtnally discerned. Not through any of our senses, or through our intellect, but through the Spirit alone. "They that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." 3. But such coming to God involves purity of heart and life. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." And not only purity, but great spiritual effort. How difficult we find it to realize the presence of God, to hold down our minds, and to summon the energies of the will when we pray I " We know not how to pray as we onght." And permitted sin, defiling the conscience and destroying our con- fidence, will ever hinder spiritual worship. 4. But these imperative conditions of worship -that it should be in spirit, and that it should be pure-men like not. Still, they must worship. What, then, is to be done? The idol is the solution. To avoid the strain and effort of the spirit, men ha.ve taken as a symbol some material thing-as the Israelites at Sinai took the golden ea.If-and so have sought to represent God to their minds. The idolater persuades himself he cannot know the Deity directly, and there- fore will avail himself of the aid some sensuous object will afford. And such symbol he can carry about with him, and there is no need of purity of heart for such wor- ship-it can be done without. What wonder, then, that man, averse to spiritual exercises and sensual-hearted, should ha.ve everywhere fled to idolatry, as in fact he has done? It is an endeavour to have the favour of God on cheaper terms than he demands; on conditions easier and more agreeable to our fallen nature. But in regard to the idolatries into which Judah and Jerusalem so often fell, there must be remem- bered not only the force of those universal causes of idolatry now considered, but the further force of powerful example all around them. Who were the mighty nations with whom they had most to do? Egypt, Assyria, Babylon. Tyre also, in her wee.Ith and might, stood on their northern border, and yet others, who~e fame reached them from alar, flourished and grew strong. But all these worshipped idols. Happiness, success, strength, and power seemed to be with these nations and not with the wor- shippers of Jehovah. And all this Judah saw and deeply observed, and at length came to believe that it was better for them to serve idols than to serve God (cf. for proof of this, eh. xliv. 17-19). For Israel to keep from idolatry was to swim agaiust wind and tide, and to do so when wind and tide promised to bear them on to a condition of prosperity greater than they had ever known. And Jeremiah knew that in Babylon, where they were going, they would be exposed to the full force of this temptation. The devil of idolatry would come to them, and, pointing to the glory of Babylon, would say, "All these things will I give thee, if," etc. And to fortify them against this temptation was the object of the prophet's earnest appea.l. 'l'he tempter would suggest to them, "You have lost everything by worshipping God. Your conquerors, who hold you now in their power, and have destroyed your city, your temple, your la.nd, have gained all their glory by worshipping their gods. Do you the same; learn their ways." V. lTs co:KSEQUENCEB. These have been very terrible. With Israel God dealt very sternly. His direct vengeance came upon them again and again. J t was hanging over them at this time as a dark thunder-cloud. But besides this, there were the natural results of such worship-results which were conspicuous in Judah and Jerusalem, and have ever beeu so in all idolatrous nations (cf. ver. 8)., '.l'hey became" brutish,"" givlla over to vile affections" (cf. Rom. i. 20-32). VI. hs so11E BUT ONLY ANTIDOTE. Living faith in the living God-this alone, but tllis s~rely, would enable thetu to resist, noi only the cle.1Uour and, crn vin~ of their on. L l-'"-25.] 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PltOFHET j:~R1<:.MiA11.