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"any graven image, or any likeness of anything . . . . . thou shalt not bow down to them,
nor serve them" (Exod. 20: 4, 5). Idol worship is demon worship:--
"What say I then? that the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to
idols is anything? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to
demons, and not to God" (I Cor. 10: 19, 20).
The gods of Egypt, as well as the Egyptians themselves, were the objects of God's
wrath in the plagues (Exod. 12: 12).
The worship of the golden calf.
"And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the
people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods,
which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the
land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him" (Exod. 32: 1).
There are two points of great importance in this verse. The first has reference to the
word "delayed". The word is the piel form of the verb, which generally indicates
intensity. The verb itself is bosh, meaning "to be, or to feel, shame", and at first sight the
translation "delayed" seems to have no connection. That bosh does mean "to be
ashamed" the following passages will show: Gen. 2: 25; Psa. 6: 10; Isa. 1: 39, and the
A.V. so translates it seventy-one times. Once, the verb is translated "become dry"
(Hos. 13: 15), and yabesh is used in Gen. 1: 9 and Exod. 14: 16 of the "dry land".
This, rather than "ashamed", is at the root of the word, and the transition of the meaning
is as follows: "To flag, fail, grow flaccid, limp, spiritless", then "to languish at long
delay, to feel ashamed, confounded." There is one other reference in the A.V. where the
piel preterite is found, viz., Judg. 5: 28: "Why is the chariot so long in coming?" Here
the mother of Sisera betrays her uneasiness and confusion at the delay of her son.
Exod. 32: 1 therefore tells us that Israel began to flag, to dry up, to feel somewhat
ashamed at the long delay--they felt that something ought to have been done by then,
much as we may feel at being kept waiting for an interview beyond what we may think a
reasonable time. Israel did not realize that one of the first phases of worship is expressed
in the word "wait":--
"Let not them that wait on Thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake"
(Psa. 69: 6).
"Yea, let none that wait on Thee be ashamed" (Psa. 25: 3).
"Let me not be ashamed of my hope" (Psa. 119: 116).
"Hope maketh not ashamed" (Rom. 5: 5).
"According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be
ashamed" (Phil. 1: 20).
Habakkuk had to learn the importance of waiting God's time (Hab. 2: 1-4), and the
same lesson is rehearsed in Heb. 10: 37-39. It was the evil servant who said, "MY Lord
delayeth His coming" (Matt. 24: 48).
Rom. 1: reveals an affinity between idolatry and ingratitude:--