NOTES for Isa 44:1-28

It is not difficult to renounce outright idolatry once it has been condemned, but it is much harder to stop worshipping things of the created world that are not statues of pagan gods yet become idols in essence, from household appliances and cosmetics, whose moderate use is not sinful, to all-consuming “lofty principles,” in which a fragment of the truth takes the place of its fullness. The fullness of the world is inaccessible to us, and so we constantly risk mistaking our own limitations for wisdom and ultimate truth. More dangerously still, we may succumb to the temptation of attributing the conclusions of our limited reason to the One whose mind is unfathomable. In that case, however much we assure ourselves and others that we believe in the one God, our mental constructs become equivalent to idols made by human hands.

But trust in the Creator can not only save us from the conceit that distorts our perception of reality; it also opens us to hearing His voice, which reveals new horizons and possibilities.

Today's reading continues the theme of merit and achievement in the context of God's relationship with His people. Running through it like a red thread is the thought that, from the very beginning, the Jewish people are wholly and entirely God's creation, whether the subject is the days of Moses or Isaiah of Babylon, individuals or the people as a whole (verses 2, 21, 24). This is precisely what makes possible both the people's very existence (verses 3–5) and their redemption (verse 22). Against this background the polemic against paganism seems somewhat exaggerated (verses 9–20), especially if we remember that in the days of Isaiah of Babylon paganism was no longer an issue within the Jewish community itself.

Yet the example of pagan religiosity reveals with special clarity what recedes into the background or assumes veiled forms in monotheistic religiosity and therefore is not always noticeable. Above all, it reveals what immediately strikes anyone who has seen craftsmen making sacred statues or images: paganism always presupposes that it is the human being who creates gods for himself, and precisely the sort he wants to see. The reverse is also true: whenever a person wants to create gods or God in the form in which he wishes to see them—or Him—he falls into paganism, even if formally he continues to be a monotheist. Such a person, though absolutely convinced that he worships the One, actually begins to worship his own idea of Him, which becomes an idol for him.

This happens, evidently, because a person views his religion as one of the many parts that make up his life. It is no accident that the prophet mentions how wood that is thrown into the fire to cook food is then used to make an idol (verses 14–17). A person needs religion in the same way as food and warmth, no more and no less. He seeks ways to satisfy this need just as he satisfies all the others, using every means at his disposal.

At that point it no longer matters whether this need takes a pagan or a monotheistic form: both are equally far from God. The issue is not that God lacks either the power or the desire to satisfy any human need, provided there is no sin in it. The point is that abiding in the Kingdom cannot in principle be reduced to the satisfaction of needs. The Kingdom is first and foremost relationship: relationship with God and with people, relationships that a human being can never build without His help.

Prophets both before and after the Exile often engaged in outright polemics against paganism, pointing to the absurdity of a religion whose gods are made by human hands. At first glance, these polemics may seem somewhat superficial. Indeed, anyone familiar with ancient—and modern—pagan cults knows perfectly well that even a pagan who gives little thought to spiritual life sees more than wood or metal in sacred statues.

For such a person, there is something else behind the wood and metal, and it is to that something that they entrust their soul and their heart. Yet there is more behind the prophet's words than simple agitation against paganism. That something more is the revelation of God as the One who alone truly is. The essence of Isaiah's preaching comes down to this: only Yahweh truly is.

Or rather, He IS, with a capital letter. Everything else, including the reality with which pagan cults are connected, if it is at all, is only with a small letter. From God's point of view, He alone is. One might think that even a pagan could not dispute this. Indeed, every serious spiritual tradition is always monotheistic at its foundation, whether in Egypt, Greece or India. So it was in antiquity, and so it remains today. The multitude of gods is for the majority.

Yet even a Hindu, for example, if he takes spiritual life seriously, knows perfectly well that God is one. He worships Him, not the host of pagan deities. He regards that host merely as manifestations of the One, as emanations or theophanies, depending on the religious school to which he belongs. What, then, is so terrible about paganism that the prophet rejects it so sharply? If God were simply an impersonal Absolute, pure Being, there would probably be no such rejection. But the point is that He is not merely being: He is a Person. And the existence of any person is determined by that person's will.

One could say that personhood is will. If so, God cannot be worshipped in any form other than the one He Himself has chosen for Himself. Of course, God is present in the world; He is hidden behind each of His creatures. But hidden is precisely what He is. The whole meaning and spiritual fervour of Yahwism, Judaism and Christianity, however, lies in the fact that God does not hide but manifests Himself. He comes out to meet the human person, needing no veils, not even the most splendid of those that people devise for Him.