Articles
Are You an Idolator?
The Psalmist teaches about idols and the people who worship them. The Psalmist says, “Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.” (Psalm 115:8 NASB) Perhaps the greatest example of idolatry leading to hard hearts, eyes, and ears is Israel. The prophet Ezekiel said that Israel had become worse than Sodom. God proclaimed through Ezekiel,
“As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. “Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.” (Ezek. 16:48-50 NASB)
Sodom's sin was worshiping "abundant food and careless ease." It was the desire of their hearts, and their hearts became hard. They would not "help the poor and needy" because nothing was allowed to threaten their "abundant food and careless ease." Their idolatry led to foolishness and depraved indifference (cf. Gen. 19). They followed the pattern that Paul wrote about in Romans (cf. Rom. 1: 18-32). Sodom and Israel's covetousness led to abomination.
God, through Amos, condemned Israel's idolatry and revealed they would go into exile because of it. Israel worshiped "abundant food and careless ease." They were a covetous people. Why is covetousness condemned? It is condemned because of the fruit it bears. In Amos 8:4-6, God proclaimed,
“Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales, So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat? ” (Amos 8:4-6 NAS95)
Amos reveals four sins resulting from covetousness. The first is that covetousness harms innocent people. Israel's elite "trample the needy" in their desire "to do away with the humble of the land." Idolatry led to hearts hardened by covetousness, a desire for "abundant food and careless ease" (cf. Amos 4:1-3; 5:10-11).
Amos reveals a second sin that springs from covetousness. Covetousness despises sacred things. Israel practiced syncretic worship, worshiping God through golden calf idols (cf. 1 Kings 12:28). They retained regulations related to festivals and sabbaths. Their hearts were far from God. During worship, they asked, "When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market?" They did not care about God; their only thought was to return to work to provide "abundant food and careless ease." They despised sacred things.
Covetousness employs dishonest practices. Israel's merchants cheated the poor and needy by using two different sets of weights. Amos condemned the practice of making "the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales." Archeologists have uncovered weights for the scales from this time period. One set was for selling and the other for buying. The weights benefitted the merchant. God condemned such dishonesty.
Finally, Amos says, covetousness results in the oppression of the poor. God reveals the dishonesty of Israel's elites and their goal, "to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat." To maintain lives of "abundant food and careless ease," the merchants made debtors of the poor and needy. The poor and needy could only afford to eat by selling their property and themselves into debt slavery. The merchants were so hard-hearted that they mixed refuse off the ground into the wheat, and the food did not benefit the buyer.
The Ten Commandments are clear, “You shall not steal," and “You shall not covet... anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:15, 17 NASB) How could Israel have deceived themselves into believing they were acceptable to God? Paul taught the disciples of Christ, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you...covetousness, which is idolatry." Why should we not be covetous? "On account of these the wrath of God is coming.” (Col. 3:5-6 ESV) Certainly, the Old Testament prophets bear this out. Amos prophesied, “The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds," and “And I will set My eyes against them for evil and not for good.” (Amos 8:7: 9:4 NASB)
Covetousness is idolatry. Are you an idolator? What would you do if your "abundant food and careless ease" were threatened?
