Jeremiah Watches Craftsmen Gild a Wooden Idolby emmanuel_higgins

Isaiah 44:11

Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.

Isaiah 44:11 belongs to Isaiah's revelation of God's purpose for His people. In that setting it warns God's people not to turn away from God and His wisdom to look to finite human beings for wisdom. Those who fashion idols, together with their fellows who support, worship, and rely on them, will fear and be put to shame together.

They will be ashamed because their gods are merely works of human hands and human workmanship, not the true God, the Maker of heaven and earth. That idolatry took the resources God Himself had provided, formed them into images, then taught children to regard and worship these objects as gods, thereby rejecting the Creator and giving honor to the work of their own hands. The worship of images and appeals to saints for deliverance from danger are examples of the idolatry condemned in the surrounding passage. The contrast between human-made idols and the Creator can be taught through God's works in nature, helping people recognize Him and preparing them to understand the spiritual truths of Scripture.