Unintentionally Humorous Texts: Look What I Just Made!

Introduction: Idols, man-made objects of worship, have been around and have been used for thousands of years. These items were made out of stone, clay, various metals, as well as wood. Now imagine the carpenters or other craftsmen who made these objects, knowing what they had made, and what they had used in the process, then bowing down to these objects in worship!

Text: Isaiah 44:12-17, KJV: 12 The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. 14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. 15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. 16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

The history

Isaiah knew the signs and symbols of idolatry—the worship of man-made images—very well indeed. During his lifetime, Ahaz was one of Judah’s kings and Ahaz did his best (worst?) to install Baal worship into Judah (2 Kings 16:1-4, 2 Chronicles 28:1-4). There is no need to describe the various images people made, but all of these were forbidden under Commandments 2 and 3 of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-4).

Israel, though, had time and again forsaken the God of Israel in order to worship these man-made things. Why they thought they could get by with it is something I’ve never understood. But now, the LORD, the God of Israel, is going to make a satire or give Israel a behind the scenes look at just how these images were made.

The humor

Isaiah first describes the smith making, perhaps, a ‘molten” image, or something made of metal, like the golden calf Aaron had allowed at Mount Sinai (Exodus 32) or the silver images which Micah of Ephraim had set up to worship (Judges 17-18). I haven’t yet found out how hot a fire has to be to melt gold, but in this sketch about the “smith”, it had to be very hot indeed for him to lose his strength due to thirst!

Then Isaiah speaks of the carpenter who uses various tools to basically convert part of a tree trunk or log into an object of worship! Isaiah notes how the carpenter used the rule, the line (maybe an Isaiah-era chalk line?), and somehow using a compass to make the log look like a human being.

And after that, Isaiah talks about this carpenter selecting trees and planting some others. Even then some folks knew about the properties of various types of lumber and which would be perhaps easier to work than others. There is another reason for this forestry, and that was to use part of it—the chosen log—as fuel for warmth and for heating food. Understandable.

But the main reason was to make an idol from a tree! Isaiah paints a verbal picture by saying after all that the carpenter had done, using part of the tree trunk for warmth and for heating his food, he used the remainder—of all things—to make an idol, or “graven (carved) image” and then bow down to the thing in prayer!

I mean, what could be more humorous than this? Suppose I go to a local lumberyard, gather some scraps of lumber, and then nail these pieces into some kind of image. Trust me, if you know my carpentry skills, or lack of same, you’d be laughing out loud by now. Now suppose I call that thing or “image” by the name “Oren (Hebrew for “fir”, https://biblehub.com/hebrew/766.htm)” and pray to it.

You’d think I had lost my marbles or something! No, idols have no power, because they’re made by HUMANS. It’s anybody’s guess how many people of Isaiah’s day saw the humor in how these idols were made, but we can look at them today, laugh, and rejoice that we can know The Only God That There Is—and experience the salvation He alone can provide.

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)