The Making of a God

● Idolatry received a noteworthy blow centuries ago from Horace, noted Roman satirist and poet of the first century before the Common Era. As rendered from Latin, the ancient writer penned these words: “Formerly I was the stump of a fig tree, a useless log; when the carpenter, after hesitating whether to make me a god or a stool, at last determined to make me a god. Thus I became a god!”​—Clarke’s Commentary, Vol. IV, p. 175.

● But the utter absurdity of images was even more dramatically shown long before by the prophet Isaiah, who represented the true God, Jehovah, during the eighth century before the Common Era. He wrote, in part: “There is one whose business is to cut down cedars; and he takes a certain species of tree, . . . So he takes part of it that he may warm himself. In fact he builds a fire and actually bakes bread. He also works on a god to which he may bow down. He has made it into a carved image, and he prostrates himself to it. Half of it he actually burns up in a fire. Upon half of it he roasts well the flesh that he eats, and he becomes satisfied. He also warms himself and says: ‘Aha! I have warmed myself. I have seen the firelight.’ But the remainder of it he actually makes into a god itself, into his carved image. He prostrates himself to it and bows down and prays to it and says: ‘Deliver me, for you are my god.’ . . . And no one recalls to his heart or has knowledge or understanding, saying: ‘The half of it I have burned up in a fire, and upon its coals I have also baked bread; I roast flesh and eat. But the rest of it shall I make into a mere detestable thing? To the dried-out wood of a tree shall I prostrate myself?’ He is feeding on ashes. His own heart that has been trifled with has led him astray. And he does not deliver his soul, nor does he say: ‘Is there not a falsehood in my right hand?’”​—Isa. 44:14-20.