Idolatry

In Jeremiah's letter to the exiles, it says, among other things, the following. Letter of Jeremiah 1:1-72 (sometimes inserted in Baruch 6). The biblical excerpt has been given below.

It says: "The eunuch shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. " In Deuteronomy 23.2.

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Book of Deuteronomy 23, 2

Deut 23.2: He whose testicles have been crushed or whose urethra has been cut off shall not enter the assembly of Yahweh.

Jeremiah 1:1-72 (sometimes transposed into Baruch 6:1-72) - On idols

Jer 1, 1-72 | Ba 6, 1-72 : Copy of the letter Jeremiah sent to those who were about to be taken captive to Babylon by the king of the Babylonians, to tell them what God had commanded them to say. Because of the sins you have committed before God, you are to be taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians. So when you get to Babylon, you will stay there for many years and a long time, up to seven generations; and after that I will bring you out in peace. Now you will see in Babylon gods of silver, gold and wood, which are carried on the shoulders and inspire fear in the nations. Take heed, then, that you too do not imitate these foreigners and allow yourselves to be seized by the fear of these gods. When you see crowds of people thronging before and behind them, and paying them homage, say in your heart, "It is you, Master, who must be worshipped." For my angel is with you, and cares for your life.

For the tongue of these gods has been polished by a workman; it is overlaid with gold and silver, but they are only lies, and cannot speak. As for a girl who loves finery, gold has been taken, and crowns have been prepared to place on the heads of these gods. The priests go so far as to steal gold and silver from their gods, and use it for their own purposes; they even give it to the prostitutes in their houses. They adorn them with rich garments, like men, these gods of silver, gold and wood; but these can defend themselves neither from rust nor from worms. When they have been clothed in purple garments, they still have to wipe their faces, because the dust of the house covers them with a thick layer. Here's one holding a scepter, like a provincial governor: he won't kill anyone who offends him. This other carries a sword or an axe in his hand, but he cannot defend himself against the enemy or thieves. It is clear that these are not gods, so do not fear them.

As a man's vessel, when broken, becomes useless: so are their gods. If you place them in a house, their eyes fill with the dust of the feet of those who enter. Just as prison doors are carefully closed on a man who has offended the king, or on a man about to be led to his death, so the priests defend the dwelling of their gods with strong doors, with locks and bolts, lest they be robbed by thieves. They light lamps, and even more of them than for themselves, and these gods can see none. They are like one of the beams of the house, and it is said that their hearts are eaten away by the vermin that comes out of the ground, and devours them and their clothes, without their feeling it. Their faces turn black with the smoke that rises from the house. On their bodies and heads flutter the owls, swallows and other birds; and similarly frolic the cats themselves. By this you will know that they are not gods, so do not fear them.

The gold with which they are covered to embellish them, if someone does not remove the rust, they will not make it shine; for they did not even feel anything when they were melted down. These idols were bought at the highest price, and there is no breath of life in them. Having no feet, they are carried on shoulders, showing men their shameful impotence. May those who serve them be confused with them! If they fall to the ground, they won't get up of their own accord; and if someone puts them upright, they won't set themselves in motion; and if they lean, they won't straighten. It is as if offerings were placed before the dead. The priests sell the victims offered to them and make a profit from them; their wives salt them and give nothing to the poor or infirm. Women in childbirth or in an impure state touch their sacrifices. Knowing therefore from these things that they are not gods, do not fear them.

And why call them gods? For it is women who come to bring their offerings to these gods of silver, gold and wood. And in their temples the priests sit, their tunics torn, their heads and faces shaven, and their heads uncovered. They roar and shout before their gods, as if at a funeral feast. Their priests strip them of their garments, and they clothe their wives and children in them. Whether harm or good is done to them, they can give neither back; they are unable to establish a king or overthrow him. Nor can they give wealth, or even a coin. If someone, having made a vow to them, does not fulfill it, they do not claim. They will not save a man from death, nor snatch the weak from the hand of the powerful. They will not restore sight to the blind, nor deliver the distressed. They will not have pity on the widow, nor do good to the orphan. These idols of wood, overlaid with gold and silver, are like rocks cut out of the mountain, and those who serve them will be put to shame. How can we believe or say that they are gods?

The Chaldeans themselves dishonor them, when, seeing a man who cannot speak, they present him to Bel asking that the mute speak, as if the god could hear anything. And though they realize it, they cannot abandon these idols; for they have no feeling. The women, wrapped in rope, go and sit on the paths, burning coarse flour; and, when one of them, drawn by some passer-by, has slept with him, she reproaches her neighbor for not having been deemed worthy of the same honor, and for not having seen her rush braid broken. Everything that is said about idols is a lie. How then can we believe or say that they are gods?

They have been fashioned by craftsmen and goldsmiths; they cannot be otherwise than the workers want them to be. And the workers who fashioned them don't have long to live: how then could their works be of long duration? They have left nothing but lies and disgrace to posterity. Whether war comes, or some other calamity, the priests deliberate among themselves as to where they will hide with their gods: how then is it not understood that these are not gods, who cannot save themselves from war or some other calamity?

These idols of wood, overlaid with gold and silver, will later be recognized as lies; for all nations and kings it will be obvious that they are not gods, but works of men's hands, and that there is no divine work in them. To whom, then, would it not be obvious that they are not gods?

They will never establish a king over a land, nor give rain to men. They will not know how to judge their own affairs, nor will they protect against injustice, since they can do nothing, like crows that stand between heaven and your earth. And when the fire falls on the house of these wooden gods, overlaid with gold and silver, their priests will flee and be saved; but they will be consumed like beams in the midst of the flames. They will resist neither a king nor an enemy army. How can we admit or think that they are gods?

They will not escape thieves and robbers, these gods of wood, covered in silver and gold. Men more powerful than them will take away the silver and gold, and walk away with the rich clothes with which they've been covered, and these gods won't be able to help themselves. So it is better to be a king displaying his strength, or a useful vessel in the house, which the master uses, than to be these false gods; or a door to a house, guarding what is there, than to be these false gods; or a wooden pillar in a king's house, than to be these false gods. The sun, the light and the stars, which are bright and sent for the benefit of men, obey God. Likewise the lightning, when it appears, is beautiful to behold; the wind also blows over all the land; and the clouds, when God commands them to cover the whole earth, carry out what they are ordered to do. Fire too, when sent from on high to consume the mountains and forests, does as it is commanded. But idols are not comparable, either in beauty or in power, to all these things. We must therefore neither think nor say that they are gods, since they can neither discern what is right, nor do good to men. Knowing therefore that they are not gods, do not fear them.

They cannot curse or bless kings. They don't show the nations signs in the sky; they don't shine like the sun, they don't shine like the moon. Beasts are better than them, since they can flee to find shelter and be useful to themselves. So in no way is it obvious to us that they are gods; so don't fear them.

Just as a scarecrow in a field of cucumbers protects from nothing, so it is with their wooden gods, covered in gold and silver. Just like a thorn bush in a garden, on which all the birds land, or a dead man thrown into a dark place, so are their wooden gods, overlaid with gold and silver. The very purple and scarlet that spoil on them make it clear that they are no gods. They themselves will eventually be devoured and become a disgrace in the land. Better is the righteous man who has no idols; he will not have to fear confusion.

Truly, truly, I say to you that Moses broke the Tables of the Law in anger at the sight of the idolatrous people, then returned to the mountain, prayed, worshipped and obtained mercy. Recalling what we read in Exodus, chapters 32 to 34.

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Book of Exodus, 32-34

Ex 32-34:

(Chapter 32) When the people saw that Moses was slow to come down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him: "Come, make us a god who will go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him." Aaron said to them, "Take off the golden rings that are in the ears of your wives, sons and daughters, and bring them to me." Everyone took off the gold rings they had in their ears, and they brought them to Aaron. He received them from their hands, fashioned the gold with a chisel, and made a cast-iron calf out of it. And they said, "Israel, this is your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before the image, and cried out, "Tomorrow there will be a feast in honor of Yahweh." The next day, having risen early in the morning, they offered burnt offerings and presented peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and then they rose to enjoy themselves.

Yahweh said to Moses: "Go, come down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have behaved very badly. They soon turned aside from the way I had commanded them; they made themselves a molten calf, and worshipped it, and offered sacrifices to it, and said, Israel, this is your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." Yahweh said to Moses, "I see that this people is a stiff-necked people. 10Now leave them to me: let my anger burn against them and consume them! But I will make of you a great nation."

Moses implored Yahweh, his God, and said, "Why, Yahweh, should your anger be kindled against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt by great power and a strong hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'He brought them out for their own hurt, to destroy them in the mountains and to destroy them from the earth? Return from the fierceness of your anger, and repent of the evil you want to do to your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your servants, to whom you said, swearing by yourself, 'I will multiply your seed like the stars of heaven, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall possess it forever.'"

And Yahweh repented of the evil he had spoken of doing to his people. Moses returned and came down from the mountain, having in his hand the two tablets of the testimony, tablets written on their two sides; they were written on both sides. The tablets were God's work, and the writing was God's writing, engraved on the tablets. Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, and he said to Moses, "There is a battle cry in the camp!" Moses replied, "It's neither a noise of shouts of victory, nor a noise of shouts of defeat; I hear the voice of people singing." When he was near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses' anger was kindled; he threw down the tablets with his hands and broke them at the foot of the Mountain. And taking the calf they had made, he burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, poured the powder on the water, and gave it to the children of Israel to drink.

Moses said to Aaron, "What has this people done to you that you have brought upon them such great sin?" Aaron replied: "Let not the anger of my lord be kindled! You yourself know that this people is inclined to evil. 23They said to me, 'Make us a god who will go before us; for as for this Moses, this man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. I said to them, "Let those who have gold strip themselves of it! They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out of it came this calf."

Moses saw that the people had no restraint, because Aaron had taken away all restraint from them, exposing them to become a laughingstock among their enemies. And Moses stood at the gate of the camp, and said, "Mine are those who are for Yahweh!" And all the children of Levi gathered to him. He said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Let each of you put his sword to his side; go through the camp again and again from gate to gate, and let each of you kill his brother, each of you his friend, each of you his kinsman!" The children of Levi did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand of the people perished that day. Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, since every one of you has been against his son and his father, so that he may give you a blessing today."

The next day, Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. And now I will go up to Yahweh: perhaps I will obtain forgiveness for your sin." Moses returned to Yahweh and said, "Ah! this people has committed a great sin! They have made themselves a god of gold. Now forgive their sin; if not, erase me from your book that you have written." Yahweh said to Moses: "It is he who has sinned against me whom I will blot out of my book. Go now, lead the people where I have told you. Behold, my angel will go before you, but on the day of my visitation I will punish them for their sin." Thus Yahweh smote the people, because they had made the calf that Aaron had made.

(Chapter 33) Yahweh said to Moses, "Go, depart from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt; go up to the land I promised with an oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your descendants. I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Chananean, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, so as not to destroy you on the way."

Hearing these harsh words, the people mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to the children of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if I went up among you for a moment, I would destroy you. And now remove your ornaments from over you, and I will know what I have to do to you." 6The children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, right from Mount Horeb.

Moses took the tent and pitched it for himself outside the camp at some distance; he called it the tent of meeting; and whoever sought Yahweh, went to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. And when Moses went to the tent, all the people rose, each standing at the entrance of the tent, and they followed Moses with their eyes, until he entered the tent. As soon as Moses had entered the tent, the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the entrance of the tent, and Yahweh spoke with Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent; and all the people arose, and every man bowed down at the entrance of his tent. And Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses returned to the camp; but his servant Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the midst of the tent.

Moses said to Yahweh: "You say to me: Bring up this people; and you do not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you said, 'I know you by name, and you have found favor in my sight. And now, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways, that I may know you, that I may find favor in your sight. Consider that this nation is your people." Yahweh replied, "My face will go with you, and I will give you rest." Moses said, "If your face does not come, do not send us away from here. How will it be known that I and your people have found favor in your eyes, if not that you will walk with us? This is what will distinguish me and your people from all the peoples on the face of the earth." Yahweh said to Moses, "I will still do what you ask, for you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name."

Moses said, "Show me your glory." Yahweh replied, "I will cause all my goodness to pass before you, and I will speak the name of Yahweh before you: for I show grace to whom I show grace, and mercy to whom I show mercy." Yahweh said, "You will not be able to see my face, for man cannot see me and live." Yahweh said, "Here is a place near me; you shall stand on the rock. When my glory passes, I will put you in the hollow of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed. Then I will withdraw my hand, and you will see me from behind; but my face shall not be seen."

(Chapter 34) Yahweh said to Moses: "Hew out two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets you broke. Be ready for tomorrow, and go up to Mount Sinai in the morning, and stand there before me on the top of the mountain. Let no one go up with you, and let no one show himself anywhere on the mountain, and let neither sheep nor oxen graze on the side of this mountain." So Moses cut two tables of stone like the first ones; and rising early, he went up Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him; and he took the two tables of stone in his hand.

Yahweh came down in the cloud, stood there with him and spoke the name of Yahweh. And Yahweh passed before him and cried out, "Yahweh! Yahweh! Merciful and compassionate God, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness, who preserves his grace to a thousand generations, who forgives iniquity, rebellion and sin; but he does not leave them unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the children's children to the third and fourth generation!" Immediately Moses bowed to the ground and worshipped, 9saying, "If I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, deign the Lord to walk among us, for they are a stiff-necked people; forgive our iniquities and our sins, and take us for your inheritance."

Yahweh said, "Behold, I make a covenant: in the presence of all your people I will do wonders that have not taken place in any land or among any nation; and all the people around you will see the work of Yahweh, for terrible are the things I will do with you.

Take heed to what I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Chananean, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Beware of making a covenant with the inhabitants of the land against which you are marching, lest they be a snare in your midst. 13But you shall overthrow their altars, break their pillars and cut down their Asherim. You shall worship no other god; for Yahweh is called the jealous one, he is a jealous God. So do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they invite you in and you eat of their victims; lest you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters, prostituting themselves to their gods, cause your sons also to prostitute themselves to their gods.

You shall not make gods of molten metal.

You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread: for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I have commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of abib, for in the month of abib you came out of Egypt.

Every firstborn male of your flocks, whether ox or sheep, is mine. You shall redeem the donkey's firstborn with a lamb; and if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. You shall redeem every firstborn of your sons, and they shall not come before me empty-handed.

Six days thou shalt labor, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest, even in the time of plowing and harvesting.

You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, of the first wheat harvest, and the Feast of Harvest at the end of the year.

Three times a year, all the males will present themselves before the Lord, Yahweh, God Israel. For I will drive out the nations from before you and extend your borders; and no one shall covet your land while you go up to present yourself before Yahweh, your God, three times a year.

You shall not offer the blood of my victim with leavened bread, and the sacrifice of the Passover feast shall not be kept overnight until morning.

You shall bring the first-fruits of the first-fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God.

You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk."

Yahweh said to Moses, "You write these words; for according to these words I make a covenant with you and with Israel."

And Moses was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights, neither eating bread nor drinking water. And Yahweh wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words.

Moses came down from Mount Sinai; Moses had the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain; and Moses did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant as he spoke with Yahweh. Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face glowed; and they feared to approach him. Moses called them, and Aaron and all the princes of the congregation came to him, and he spoke to them. Then all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commands he had received from Yahweh on Mount Sinai.

When Moses had finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. When Moses entered before Yahweh to speak with him, he took off the veil, until he came out; then he went out and told the children of Israel what he had been commanded. 35The children of Israel saw Moses' face, they saw that the skin of Moses' face was radiant; and Moses put the veil back on his face, until he entered to speak with Yahweh.