The Curse of the Secret Idol

Deuteronomy 27:15

“Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.”

And all the people shall answer and say, “Amen!”

Cain killed his brother Abel. When God asked him about the whereabouts of Abel, Cain said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper” (Gen 4.9)? Of course, God knew, and the blood of Abel cried out for justice. Cain’s secret idol was his own presentation of self-work to God. He protected it at a very high cost. Cain’s works were evil and Abel’s were righteous (1 John 3.12). “The way of Cain” (Jude 1.11) is a way of idolatry.

The sin that beleaguered Joshua and Israel at Ai was secret idolatry. Aachen took that which was created by craftsmen (silver and clothing from Babylon) and valued it above obedience to God. He had a perfect hiding place but “there is no creature hidden from His sight, …all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4.13). Good men lost their lives. The nation was set back. Why? The secret idolatry of one man opposed the whole.

If unchecked by Peter, Ananias and Sapphira would have stayed the growth and expansion of the early church in Acts (cf. chapter 5). Their secret idolatry involved how they appeared to men. Would they look as sacrificial and magnanimous as Barnabas? That was important to them. So important and insidious that Acts 5 records they lost their lives for it.

Deuteronomy 27.15 is the first curse in a series of 12. Creating a carved or molded image meant breaking the first or second commandment. This activity was abominable (horrifically detestable) to God because it was the work of a craftsman’s hands. God is not worshiped through a man-made object. Pretty plain and simple until it is done in secret.

If an idol was kept secretly, who would know? Leaders in Israel certainly would not. Yet God pronounces this curse. This must mean that even when we lack knowledge of idolatrous sin it is no less detestable to God. At once, I am reminded of the immutability of God – He does not change.

All the people shouted, “Amen!” That is, they were in agreement. Such a practice deserved the curse of God. I wonder what God sees in secret. What is it that brings His displeasure instead of His blessing? What form of secret idolatry is practiced in churches today? What stays His hand of blessing as we worship that which is created over the Creator Himself?