Idolatry

Idolatry — the worship of images or the rendering of divine honor to any created thing — is one of the central prohibitions of the biblical covenant. Its origins in human history are traced in Romans 1:21–23: knowing God, humanity exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of created things. The Old Testament shows idolatry already present among Abraham's ancestors in Mesopotamia (Joshua 24:2) and within Rachel's own household (Genesis 31:19), and it remained a persistent temptation throughout Israel's history despite the prophets' repeated condemnation.

The covenant at Sinai made the prohibition of idolatry the first and second of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3–6). Israel's departure into idolatry — particularly the worship of Baal, Asherah, and the calf images set up at Bethel and Dan by Jeroboam — is treated in the historical books as the primary cause of the divine judgments that led to exile. The prophets used the metaphor of marital unfaithfulness to describe idolatry's covenantal character (Hosea; Ezekiel 16; 20). In the New Testament, covetousness is identified as a form of idolatry (Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5), expanding the concept beyond physical images to any displacement of God from his proper place of ultimate allegiance.