Words'nTone

Vain worship or phony spirituality is actually a form of idolatry itself, for such worship, in fact, does not place God at the center, but the worshipper, in that we put on an act of worship or offer phony spirituality in order to make God accept us and do something for us.  In this sense we seek to control God by our actions rather than respond to God with actions appropriate to the obedience reflected by His kingdom and laws.  This leads me to the issue of idolatry and poverty, and later, in another post, the prosperity of the city.

The hardness of our hearts, our idolatry
In verses 11-12 we can see clearly that the people of Israel had broken the first commandment:

“But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing.  They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.”

Throughout the Old Testament imagery “stubborn” body parts references back to the false worship of the golden calf in Exodus:

Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.  They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.  Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation” (32:1-10).

The word obstinate (Zech 7:9) puts a body-part imagery before the reader/listener.  The NIV literalizes the imagery by translating it a stiff-necked people as do most other translations.  This is the typical way the worshippers of the “golden calf” are referenced (Ex 32:9; 33:3, 5; 34:9; Dt 9:6, 13; 10:16; 31:27).  In other OT texts the image of “stiff-necked” or stubborn is used to depict vain worshippers of God (Isa 48:4-8; 2 Kings 17:14; 2 Chron 36:13; Jer 19:15; cf. Neh 9:16-17; Jer 7:26; 17:23).  Later in the history of Israel we hear

    Since Israel is stubborn
      Like a stubborn heifer,
      Can the LORD now pasture them
      Like a lamb in a large field? (Hosea 4:16).

This is a clear reference back to the Exodus golden calf episode used to describe and judge the vain spirituality and phony worship of Israel.  Body part language is often used to highlight the idolatry and idolatrous practices performed by people.  The image is likened unto a stubborn calf or cow (the original reference of the “golden calf” of the exodus) that will not move in the direction the farmer or herder desires.  The imagery highlights two things: 1) A reference back to the covenant keeping expectations and covenant breaking in the book of Exodus and 2) the connotation that the people cannot or will not hear.  A very persistent problem associated with idolatry as reflected in the Zechariah 7 passage as they refused to pay attention…and stopped their ears from hearing (v 11).  So just as He called and they would not listen (v 12a), Yahweh would not listen when they called (12b).

But idolatrous worship is not solely related to the cultus of Israel (in church language, Sunday morning worship with all the trappings), but to Israel’s socioeconomic relationships…to be continued in the next post…

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.