They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:
Idols are handmade images fashioned with mouths that cannot speak and eyes that cannot see. They are lifeless, without breath, and move only when moved by human hands. In contrast to these works of human hands stands the living Creator, the Maker of heaven and earth, who cannot be represented by fashioned objects. Those who make idols are themselves superior to them, yet they worship them as gods instead of thanking and worshiping the Creator.
Because they are senseless and powerless, idols cannot hear supplications, respond to prayer, give help in danger or calamity, or bless and save the soul. This includes the images of saints carried through the streets and prayed to for deliverance from cholera and other sudden danger, a trust that is astonishing superstition encouraged by priests. It includes also the gods of the Hindus, and to unite with secret societies is to pay homage to such idols. The contrast applies to modern idolatry as well as to ancient Israel, for false ideas about God and the worship of nature replace the true God with an imagined, powerless substitute.
The verse condemns the folly of trusting in self for salvation and bowing to the works of one's own hands. As idolaters are counted those who trust their own wisdom and devising, depend on riches and power for success, and seek strength through allegiance with men the world calls great while failing to discern the binding claims of God's law. Having eyes but not seeing also describes spiritually blind men in positions of trust who, despite evidence piled upon evidence, fail to discern how and where God is working and to understand the things of God, with ears that do not hear. Such long-continued blindness should end, and the reproofs exposing it should not harden those reproved. The verse also describes those who pervert the truth and make God's law void, especially religious opposers of true education, who though warned remain unaroused with only a superficial experience, spiritually deaf and blind to what they are shown and told.
The difference between powerless idols and the living Creator is most effectively taught to heathen who do not know God through His works in nature, more readily than by any other method. The same is true of the ignorant, neglected colored race in the part of America where slavery once existed. For learning to know God through His works lays a foundation for the spiritual truths of the written word that will elevate and purify character.
Idols are handmade images fashioned with mouths that cannot speak and eyes that cannot see. They are lifeless, without breath, and move only when moved by human hands. In contrast to these works of human hands stands the living Creator, the Maker of heaven and earth, who cannot be represented by fashioned objects. Those who make idols are themselves superior to them, yet they worship them as gods instead of thanking and worshiping the Creator.
Because they are senseless and powerless, idols cannot hear supplications, respond to prayer, give help in danger or calamity, or bless and save the soul. This includes the images of saints carried through the streets and prayed to for deliverance from cholera and other sudden danger, a trust that is astonishing superstition encouraged by priests. It includes also the gods of the Hindus, and to unite with secret societies is to pay homage to such idols. The contrast applies to modern idolatry as well as to ancient Israel, for false ideas about God and the worship of nature replace the true God with an imagined, powerless substitute.
The verse condemns the folly of trusting in self for salvation and bowing to the works of one's own hands. As idolaters are counted those who trust their own wisdom and devising, depend on riches and power for success, and seek strength through allegiance with men the world calls great while failing to discern the binding claims of God's law. Having eyes but not seeing also describes spiritually blind men in positions of trust who, despite evidence piled upon evidence, fail to discern how and where God is working and to understand the things of God, with ears that do not hear. Such long-continued blindness should end, and the reproofs exposing it should not harden those reproved. The verse also describes those who pervert the truth and make God's law void, especially religious opposers of true education, who though warned remain unaroused with only a superficial experience, spiritually deaf and blind to what they are shown and told.
The difference between powerless idols and the living Creator is most effectively taught to heathen who do not know God through His works in nature, more readily than by any other method. The same is true of the ignorant, neglected colored race in the part of America where slavery once existed. For learning to know God through His works lays a foundation for the spiritual truths of the written word that will elevate and purify character.