175-176. [35] However, when their God revealed himself to Abraham and called him to leave his native land for Canaan, he did so. [13], Some terms represent the consistently negative moral view with which idols are portrayed by the Bible. Isaiah 10:10-11, 36:19, 46:1; Jeremiah 48:7, 49:3; Hosea 10:5; Daniel 11:8; See, for example, History of Assurbanipal, translated from the cuneiform inscriptions by G. Smith, 1871, p. 298.

e.g. Jeremiah 3:6-9, 5:7, Ezekiel 16:38, 23:37, Hosea 1:2; Adultery: OT Words, in Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Word studies for key English Bible words based on the Hebrew and Greek Texts, Renn, Stephen D., ed., 2005, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.. Ezekiel 6:9; Tuell, Steven, The New International Bible Commentary: Ezekiel, 2009, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., p. 33.

During the time of the exile, Nebuchadnezzar erects a gold statue of himself and commands all subjects to worship it. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him [Jesus] from the dead.

[26], Scholars have discussed whether idol worshipers made a distinction between a spiritual being that existed independently of idols and the physical idols themselves. [65], Although Jews are forbidden in general to mock at anything holy, it is meritorious to deride idols,[66] This apparently originated in ancient times, as some of the several Hebrew words from the Tanakh translated as "idol" are pejorative and even deliberately contemptuous, such as elilim, "powerless ones", and gillulim, "pellets of dung". In dozens of passages, the Hebrew Bible refers to specific practices used to worship idols, including the offering of incense, prayers, food, drink, and blood offerings, singing and dancing, cutting one's flesh, bowing down to and kissing the idol, lewd behavior, passing one's children through the fire, cultic male and female prostitution, and human sacrifice, including child sacrifice. [58], In Judaism, God chooses to reveal his identity, not as an idol or image, but by his words, by his actions in history, and by his working in and through mankind. Much of biblical preaching from the time of Moses to the exile is predicated on the either–or choice between exclusive worship of God and idols. B. Eardmans Publishing Co.. idol, in The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, 1996. As Lev 26:47-55 legislated for cases where Israelites are driven by extreme poverty to sell themselves to a heathen, and when they may be compelled to continue in this service to the year of jubile, and thus be obliged to witness idolatrous practices, the Lawgiver solemnly repeats the two fundamental precepts of Judaism, which they might be in danger of neglecting, viz., to abstain from idol-worship and to keep the Sabbath, which are two essential commandments of the Decalogue. Image of God, The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Freedman, David N, editor-in-chief, 1992, New York: Doubleday. He condemned attendance at idol feasts, where participation was clearly participation with idolatry. [28], The question has been raised whether the ancient view of this command prohibits images of Yahweh.

- Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it. 135:15-18; St. Augustine (Bishop of Hippo), Expositions on the Psalms: Psalms 126-150, Parker, J.H., London: F. and J. Rivington, 1857, pp.