10 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the Lord,
“Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens
Although the nations are terrified by them;
3 For the customs of the peoples are [a]delusion;
Because it is wood cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
4 “They decorate it with silver and with gold;
They fasten it with nails and with hammers
So that it will not totter.
5 “Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good.”6 There is none like You, O Lord;
You are great, and great is Your name in might.
7 Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
Indeed it is Your due!
For among all the wise men of the nations
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
8 But they are altogether stupid and foolish
In their discipline of [b]delusion—[c]their idol is wood!
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from Uphaz,
The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;
Violet and purple are their clothing;
They are all the work of skilled men.
10 But the Lord is the true God;
He is the living God and the everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth quakes,
And the nations cannot endure His indignation.
As we read this comparison, one would think the other nations weren’t really worshipping a crafted statue. Yet they were, because that’s all the substance there was. As God makes clear in v. 5, the foreign gods could not walk, nor do any harm, and certainly never did anyone any good. So why was anyone afraid? Coincidence and superstition is all it amounted to, as they would see signs in the heavens, thunder and lightning, or mighty winds, etc.
It’s interesting that one of God’s commands was to not make any graven images. Not just of fake gods, but He didn’t want them worshipping the idol and forgetting who He really was. Even still, they had the ark of the covenant, and in Samuel’s day the people had put their trust in the ark itself. It was obvious that the Philistines had a similar perception, and God reinforced it for them by sending plagues on any city where they moved the ark.
God is everything that these idols were not. Not only is He not a human conception, but He defies our understanding. God is wise and guides us in ways we could not fathom. He is of far more worth than gems, or silver or gold.
“He is the true God; the living God, the everlasting King.” He alone controls the lightning, and earthquakes, and everything we see around us, and He alone cares for all of us. No other God sent their son to die for their creation, but God did. He is great and mighty, and yet stooped to our level without considering it “stooping”. He did it gladly for our sake, which is humbling and incredible all at once.
So do not put your hope in earthly thing, the work of your hands, or even in the earth itself. God is a firm foundation, in whom we can place our trust. He is no scarecrow that totters and waves in the wind, but a rock that cannot be shaken. God is our hope and our salvation, and as David wrote, “our refuge and strength, an ever present help in time of need.” That… is nothing to shake a stick at.