The Origins of Idolatry

Wisdom of Solomon 14:12–21

1st Century

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A major theme of the Wisdom of Solomon is the folly of idol worship. This passage offers an interesting theory about the origins of idolatry, perhaps reflecting resistance to the growing inclination in the Roman Empire toward worship of the emperor.

12For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication,
and the invention of them was the corruption of life;
13for they did not exist from the beginning,
nor will they last forever.
14For from human vanity they entered the world,
and therefore their speedy end has been planned.

15For a father, consumed with grief at an untimely bereavement,
made an image of his child who had been suddenly taken from him;
he now honored as a god what was once a dead human being,
and handed on to his dependents secret rites and initiations.
16Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law,
and at the command of monarchs carved images were worshipped.
17When people could not honor monarchs in their presence, since they lived at a distance,
they imagined their appearance far away,
and made a visible image of the king whom they honored,
so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one as though present.

18Then the ambition of the artisan impelled
even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship.
19For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler,
skilfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form,
20and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work,
now regarded as an object of worship the one whom shortly before they had honored as a human being.
21And this became a hidden trap for humankind,
because people, in bondage to misfortune or to royal authority,
bestowed on objects of stone or wood the name that ought not to be shared.

Translation from the New Revised Standard Version.

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Credits

New Revised Standard Version Bible copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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A major theme of the Wisdom of Solomon is the folly of idol worship. This passage offers an interesting theory about the origins of idolatry, perhaps reflecting resistance to the growing inclination in the Roman Empire toward worship of the emperor.

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