“Question & Answer”

Question:

How does Isaiah deal with idolatry?

Answer:

Isaiah was a prophet who spoke for God to the people of Judah, who were facing exile because of their idolatry and disobedience. Isaiah denounced idolatry as foolishness and insanity, and contrasted the powerlessness of idols with the sovereignty and glory of the holy one of Israel. Isaiah also proclaimed God’s promise of a new exodus and a new creation for his faithful remnant, who would be redeemed by the suffering servant.
It reads in Isaiah 2:8 ESV> Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.
It reads in Isaiah 2:20 ESV>In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold; which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats,
It reads in Isaiah 17:8 ESV> He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim ” Asherim is a sacred wooden post, pole, or pillar that stood near the altar in various Canaanite high places and that symbolized the goddess Asherah. Asherim is also an ancient Semitic goddess, sometimes identified with Ashtoreth and Astarte, worshiped by the Phoenicians and Canaanites. It is also any of various upright wooden objects serving as a sacred symbol of Asherah.” or the altars of incense.
It reads in Isaiah 31:7 ESV> For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.
Isaiah 44:9-20 is a vivid example of Isaiah’s polemic against idolatry. He mocks the idol-makers who use the same wood to make a fire, bake bread, and carve a god. He exposes the absurdity of worshipping something that one has made with one’s own hands, and that cannot see, hear, or save. He also reveals the spiritual blindness and deception that idolatry causes in the human heart.