Beyond Golden Calves, A Comprehensive Biblical Study of Idolatry, Part 3: When Sacred Things Become Idols
Sometimes the most dangerous objects are those with the patina of the divine...
Hello brothers and sisters.
In Part 1, we explored how even the bronze serpent— made at God’s command, used by Him for healing, validated by Jesus as a type of His crucifixion —had to be destroyed because it became an object of worship. In Part 2, we examined obvious forms of idolatry: the golden calf, Baal worship, and the humiliation of Dagon.
If you missed the first 2, you can find them below:
Now we turn to the most subtle and dangerous form of idolatry: when things God Himself has ordained become competitors with God’s glory.
This is where the line becomes razor-thin. This is where sincere believers stumble. This is where orthodoxy can mask heterodoxy, where right practices can flow from wrong hearts, where the means of grace can become obstacles to grace.
The Israelites didn’t make Nehushtan. God commanded Moses to make it. The Ark of the Covenant wasn’t a pagan invention; God gave Moses explicit instructions for its construction. The Temple wasn’t a human idea; David desired it and Solomon built it according to divine specification.
Yet all three— Nehushtan, the Ark, and yes, even the Temple —became idols.
How? Why? And what does this teach us about the ever-present danger of making ultimate things of man-made goods?
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1: The Ark as Lucky Charm
The Context of Defeat (1 Samuel 4)
The story begins with a disaster. Israel goes to war against the Philistines and suffers a crushing defeat. 4,000 men killed in battle (1 Samuel 4:1-2). The elders gather in the aftermath, stunned and confused.
Notice their first question: “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines?” (1 Samuel 4:3).
On the surface, this sounds spiritual. They’re acknowledging that the battle’s outcome was in God’s hands. They’re not blaming military incompetence or superior Philistine weaponry. They recognize divine sovereignty over the result.
But watch what comes next: “Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.”
Do you see the shift? From recognizing God’s sovereignty to attempting to manipulate it. From submitting to His judgment to devising a strategy to force His hand. From spiritual humility to superstitious manipulation.
The Hebrew text is telling. The elders say the Ark will יֹושִׁעֵנוּ (yoshi’enu), “save us.” Not “that through it God might save us,” but that it will save us. The Septuagint renders this with σώσῃ ἡμᾶς (sōsē hēmas), “may save us,” using a verb that typically requires God as the subject.
They weren’t calling on God. They were trying to deploy a divine weapon.
The Fatal Misunderstanding
The text tells us they sent men to Shiloh— the place where the tabernacle stood, where the Ark normally resided —and brought back אֲרוֹן בְּרִית־יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת (aron berit-Yahweh tseva’ot), “the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts.”
The full title is significant. The narrator emphasizes that this is the Ark of the covenant of “the LORD of hosts”: יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת (YHWH Tseva’ot), literally “YHWH of armies.” He’s the God of angelic armies, the Commander of heaven’s forces. The phrase continues: יֹשֵׁב הַכְּרֻבִים (yoshev ha-keruvim), “who sits enthroned on the cherubim.”
The Septuagint uses equally exalted language: κυρίου σαβαωθ καθημένου χερουβιμ (kyriou sabaōth kathēmenou cherubim)”: the Lord Sabaoth seated upon the cherubim.”
This description serves a literary purpose. The author is creating irony. He’s using the most majestic titles for God while showing how Israel was treating Him with contempt. They’re using His throne as a talisman, His covenant symbol as a magic charm, His holy Ark as a lucky rabbit’s foot.
The Celebration and the Crash
When the Ark arrived in camp, the response was dramatic:
“And as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded.” (1 Samuel 4:5)
The Hebrew says they gave a תְּרוּעָה גְדוֹלָה (teru’ah gedolah), “a great shout” or “a mighty roar.” The ground תֵּהֹם הָאָרֶץ (tehom ha’arets), literally “roared” or “resounded.” The Septuagint describes it as ἤχησεν ἡ γῆ (ēchēsen hē gē): “the earth echoed.”
Imagine the scene. Tens of thousands of Israelite soldiers screaming at the top of their lungs. The ground shaking with the noise. The celebration was deafening, overwhelming, visceral.
From a distance, it would have looked like a great revival meeting. It would have appeared to be powerful faith, overwhelming confidence in God, exuberant worship.
But it was none of those things. It was superstition disguised as spirituality.
They were confident in the Ark, not in God. They were trusting in the symbol rather than in the reality it symbolized. They were treating a created object— however God-directed its creation and sacred its purpose —as if it possessed inherent power.
Even the Philistines misunderstood the situation the same way Israel did. When they heard the shouting and learned the Ark had arrived, they said:
“Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness.” (1 Samuel 4:7-8)
The Philistines called the Ark “these gods” (plural)—הָאֱלֹהִים הָאַדִּרִים הָאֵלֶּה (ha’elohim ha’addirim ha’elleh). Being polytheists, they naturally assumed Israel’s Ark represented multiple deities. The LXX renders this as τῶν θεῶν τούτων (tōn theōn toutōn), “these gods.”
But notice: while the Philistines’ theology was wrong, their instinct wasn’t entirely off. They recognized that whoever had defeated Egypt was powerful. The Israelites, by contrast, had the right theology but the wrong practice. They knew Adonai was one God, but they were acting as if His power could be channeled through an object apart from His will.
The Devastating Result
The next battle was an even worse catastrophe:
