The Ever-present Roots of Idolatry
Life Lessons from the Torah Portion Parshah: Balak Numbers 22:2–25:9
Has idolatry vanished from the world or does it lie at the basis of most of the calamities and evil in our world?
In the Torah portion of Balak we read of a great fear that has enveloped the people of Moav;
“Moab became terrified of the people, for they were numerous, and Moab became disturbed because of the children of Israel. Moab said to the elders of Midian, …."A people has come out of Egypt, and behold, they have covered the "eye" of the land, and they are stationed opposite me. ( Numbers 22:3-5)
Balak the king of Moab then attempts to persuade Bilaam ( Balaam) the “prophet to the Nations” to curse Israel ( Numbers 22:5-6)
It is then that we hear a dramatic declaration“ Oh now, please come and curse this people for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I will be able to wage war against them and drive them out of the land, for I know that whomever you bless is blessed and whomever you curse is cursed."( ibid:6) These are clearly reminiscent of words spoken long before to an ancestor of the same people that Balak now wants to curse. Of Abraham we read the following: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."( Genesis 12:3) That connection between those two statements will help to explain much of what occurred with Balak and Bilaam and what continues to occur unto our very days. The Israelites and in fact the whole world were witnesses to a great event that changed world history and destiny, the revelation at Mount Sinai. The ten statements that were revealed by the Almighty Himself and the Torah that was revealed to Moshe on the top of the mountain was to impact and change all of mankind. Each word etched in stone as a symbol of their eternal character.
In the midst of these words we also hear the following admonition; 1God spoke all these words, to respond: 2"I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3You shall not have the gods of others in My presence. 4You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness which is in the heavens above, which is on the earth below, or which is in the water beneath the earth. 5You shall neither prostrate yourself before them nor worship them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a zealous God, Who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me,( Exodus 20:1-5) We read again and again throughout the Biblical text regarding the prohibition of worshipping anything that is “of the creation” rather than focusing on the Creator. We are admonished to avoid creating images that would give us the impression that we can in fact circumvent that ultimate relationship with the Creator. Yet one wonders how relevant and prevalent those words are today. Is the worship of idols and other man-made structures a reality in our world today. While it is true that there are cultures that seem to mirror those practices but adherents of those cultures will always declare that these are but symbols and reminders. Yet the words of the Creator seem to indicate that the problem will be prevalent until the end of time. To understand this we need to understand the roots of idolatry; Isaiah describes the foolishness of idolatry in the following manner.
12 The metalworker takes a piece of metal and works with it over a fire. His strong arm swings a hammer to pound the metal into shape. As he works, he gets hungry, thirsty, and tired.13 The carpenter measures the wood. He outlines a figure with chalk, carves it out with his tools, and makes it in the form of a man, a handsome human figure, to be placed in his house. 14 He might cut down cedars to use, or choose oak or cypress wood from the forest. Or he might plant a laurel tree and wait for the rain to make it grow. 15 A person uses part of a tree for fuel and part of it for making an idol. With one part he builds a fire to warm himself and bake bread; with the other part he makes a god and worships it. 16 With some of the wood he makes a fire; he roasts meat, eats it, and is satisfied. He warms himself and says, “How nice and warm! What a beautiful fire!” 17 The rest of the wood he makes into an idol, and then he bows down and worships it. He prays to it and says, “You are my god—save me!”18 Such people are too stupid to know what they are doing. They close their eyes and their minds to the truth. 19 The maker of idols hasn't the wit or the sense to say, “Some of the wood I burned up. I baked some bread on the coals, and I roasted meat and ate it. And the rest of the wood I made into an idol. Here I am bowing down to a block of wood!”20 It makes as much sense[a] as eating ashes. His foolish ideas have so misled him that he is beyond help. He won't admit to himself that the idol he holds in his hand is not a god at all.( Isaiah 44:9-20) Beyond the sarcasm lies a very deep and searing truth. The man bows down to an idol because deep inside, he knows that he in fact created that idol in the first place. Idolatry is not about worshipping other little gods. It is really about making ourselves into little gods. We see that truth in the story of Bilaam. Bilaam is aware that there is a true G-d. He acknowledges that truth throughout his story.When the messengers of Balak come to ask him to curse the people of Israel he tells them the following ;
"Even if Balak gives me a house full of silver and gold, I cannot do anything small or great that would transgress the word of the Lord, my God. “( Numbers 22:18) Yet he then tells them the following: Now, you too, please remain here overnight, and I will know what the Lord will continue to speak with me."( ibid:19 ) The message is clear. Bilaam is saying “I can make this happen !”: When Bilaam get permission to go with them ( using the Hebrew word Itam) and not with them ( with Hebrew word Imam), he is being told that he can in fact go with them physically ( Itam) but is forbidden to go with the same purpose ( Imam) . Bilaam jumps at the opportunity. He senses an incredible ability to do all, so he wakes early in the morning and saddles his own donkey. The midrash takes note of this and writes: "Wicked one, my servant Abraham already preempted you when he saddled his donkey personally." Yet Abraham rushed to fulfill G-d’s will rather than his own. Yet the most interesting similarity between Bilaam and Abraham is found in the words of Balak's emissaries. When they attempt to convince Bilaam to come with them they use the following message from the Moabite King Balak;
“..for I know that whomever you bless is blessed and whomever you curse is cursed." We have noted that we read very similar words regarding Abraham (Genesis 12:30 ), The dramatic difference is clear. Bilaam believed that whomever he blesses will be blessed and whomever he curses will be cursed , As a result he was set upon a path to destroy others . Abraham on the other hand never saw himself as the source of blessing and curses. He simply desired to simply be the vessel of G-d’s blessing. As a result “ all peoples of the earth will be blessed”, through him. The source of idolatry is then self worship The result of such idolatry invariably leads to destruction and pain. This truth continues to remain true to this very day. We see the implications of that failure in discernment in the horror and pain left in the wake of those that made themselves into little gods, Perhaps the verse in the Ten commandments can be read slightly differently;” You shall not have ( Lo Yiyeh Lecha )the other gods in My presence (exodus 20:3) can be read in the following manner; You shall not have yourself ( Lo Yiyeh Lecha )as other gods in My Presence. It is that “Idolatry of Self” that continues to vex mankind from the failure of Adam and Eve to our own challenges and disappointments in our days . May we learn to develop the strength to find the power of humility in both our personal and corporate lives. Therein lies the source of Blessing
LeRefuat Yehudit Bat Golda Yocheved
