(Vers. 10.). For indeed that which was made, namely the idol, together with him who made it, that is, with the idolatrous craftsman, shall suffer torments.
Concerning the idolater this is clear: but concerning the idol, how can it be true, namely that it suffers torment, since it is an inanimate thing?
It must be said that he speaks of the idol by reason of the malign spirit presiding in it, not on the part of the figure or matter of the idol itself.
But to the contrary: The idolater does not make the malign spirit that presides.
It must be said that although he does not make it in itself, he nevertheless causes it to preside in the idol; just as we are said to exalt and magnify God, not in Himself, but in ourselves; in the Psalm: "Magnify the Lord with me" etc. Both therefore shall be punished: Sirach 14: "Every corruptible work shall fail in the end, and he who works it shall go with it"; and 27: "The offense shall be crushed together with the offender."
(Vers. 11.). For this reason, namely because they are hateful to God, and, that is also, upon the idols of the nations, that is, upon the demons presiding in the idols of the gentiles, of which it is said in the Psalm: "All the gods of the nations are demons" etc.; there shall be no regard, namely of clemency: which is against Origen, who said that Christ would suffer for the demons in the air at the end, and that thus they would be saved; against which it is said here and in Sirach 39: "There are spirits who were created for vengeance, and in their fury they have confirmed their torments." Because etc.: and deservedly, because
creatures of God, that is, made by God, such as gold and silver: whence Hosea 2: "I multiplied silver and gold for them" etc.; were made into an object of hatred, namely of the irascible power, so that men might hate God, like the demons, concerning whom in the Psalm: "The pride of those who hate you ascends always." And into a temptation of the souls of men, that is, of the concupiscible power, so that men might freely subject themselves to whatever powers according to the will or suggestion of their gods. And into a snare, that is, a deception of the rational power, and a mousetrap is called an instrument by which mice are caught: for the feet, namely the interior ones, that is, of the soul, not the exterior ones, namely of the body: of the foolish, that is, of the unbelieving: Job 18: "His snare is hidden in the ground"; likewise Jeremiah 5: "Wicked men are found among my people, lying in wait like fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men."
(Vers. 12.). For the beginning etc. I said well that the creatures of God etc.: for the beginning of fornication, namely spiritual fornication, which consists in withdrawing from God, is etc.; whence the Gloss: "The worst kind of fornication is that by which the soul withdraws from God and fornicates with idols"; whence Jeremiah 3: "She committed adultery with wood and stone." Such are destroyed or ruined by God, according to that word of the Psalm: "You have destroyed all who fornicate from you." For the beginning, I say, of fornication, the aforesaid, is the seeking out of idols.
But to the contrary: Ecclesiasticus 10: "The beginning of all sin is pride."
I respond: He does not speak here of fornication which consists in any withdrawal whatsoever from God, as occurs in any mortal sin, but of that by which one withdraws from God by a complete withdrawal, namely even to the subversion of faith, which is the foundation of the entire spiritual edifice; Hebrews 11: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for" etc.; likewise 1 Corinthians 3: "No one can lay another foundation" etc.
And the devising of them is the corruption of life, namely with respect to morals: Romans 1: "For which reason God delivered them over to the desires of their heart, to uncleanness"; in the Psalm: "Give them according to their works and according to the wickedness of their devices."
Third, he detests idols on account of the novelty and manner of their invention.
For they were not. Here the third reason for the detestation of those idols is touched upon, namely from the novelty and manner of their devising. He touches upon several causes of this devising and worship: first, the curious idleness of men; second, the affection of parents toward deceased children: For with bitter grief; third, the fear of tyrants: Then etc.; fourth, the reverence and honor toward princes: Those whom; fifth, the diligence and solicitude of artisans: Moreover it advanced etc.; sixth, he sets forth a recapitulation of the principal causes: And this was of life.
(Vers. 13.). I have rightly said: The seeking out of idols and the invention etc.; for they were not from the beginning, namely idols, which is evident, because they are not the Creator: whence Jeremiah 10: "The gods who did not make heaven and earth shall perish from the earth"; nor even a creature, because every creature is from God, but idols are not from God, but are a fiction of men: on account of which it is said in 1 Corinthians 8: "An idol is nothing in the world," namely with respect to the divine being which is believed by idolaters to belong to it. Nor shall they exist forever, rather they shall be destroyed, when men are converted to the worship of the one God; Isaiah 19: "The Lord shall ascend upon a light cloud and shall enter Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence."
(Vers. 14.). For the vanity, that is, the idleness, of men devised these things etc.: Sirach 33: "Idleness has taught much wickedness," namely to the idle, who were unwilling to labor to seek the one true God and to worship Him worthily; upon the earth, for in heaven no such error ever existed. And therefore, namely because they did not always exist, a swift end for them was found, namely among the wise. For they were quickly abandoned by the children of Israel in the time of Moses and by the Christian people in the time of Christ or of the new law; Jeremiah 10: "Every craftsman is confounded by his graven image: their works are vain and worthy of ridicule; in the time of their visitation they shall perish."
(Vers. 15.). For a father, grieving with bitter mourning, namely over the death of his son, as David grieved over the death of Absalom, 2 Kings 18, or over the death of the child whom he first had from Bathsheba, 2 Kings 12, of a son swiftly snatched from him, that is, seized by the violence of death, made an image: The Gloss: "Men fashioned for themselves images of their deceased friends, in the contemplation of which they found some consolation." And him who then, namely recently, had died as a man, whose property it is to be mortal, according to that passage of 2 Kings 14: "We all die" etc.; now, that is, a little later, which is all the more inexcusable, he began to worship as God: The Gloss: "And advancing further, through love of the deceased they began to cultivate their memory." And he established among his servants, who obeyed him out of fear, not reason, sacred rites, namely offerings of incense and praises, and sacrifices, namely the immolation of animals. Moreover, the first to do this, as Isidore says on that passage of Luke 11: "By Beelzebub, the prince of demons" etc., was Ninus, king of the Assyrians, who made an image of his dead father Belus, which he honored with such great veneration that he even spared criminals who fled to it for refuge: on account of which unlearned men began to worship the statue of Belus as God and to multiply statues. Of whom some called that idol Bel, some Baal, some Baalim, some Beelzebub.
(Vers. 16.). Then with the passage of time, that is, a delay of time, as the wicked custom grew strong, which ought rather to be uprooted than maintained, because length of time does not diminish sin, but rather increases it: this error, namely, of worshipping idols, as though it were a law, that is, under a precept, was observed: Jeremiah 10: "The laws of the peoples are vain"; likewise Isaiah 10: "Woe to those who enact wicked laws"! And by the command of tyrants, that is, of wicked rulers, figments were worshipped: whence Antiochus compelled the Jews to the worship of the nations, 1 Maccabees 1; and Nebuchadnezzar forced them to adore his statue, Daniel 3.
(Vers. 17.). Those whom men could not honor openly, that is, in their presence, on this account, namely, because they were far away, from afar, namely, from a distant place, their likeness having been brought, namely, in a painting, a visible image, namely, a sculpted image, I say, of the king whom they wished to honor, they made, namely, bestowing divine honor upon men. Cicero: "Moreover, the life of men and common custom undertook to raise to the heavens by fame and goodwill men who excelled in benefits." (So that him, namely, the king, who was absent, that is, he was away, yet still living, they might worship as though present through their devotion. The Gloss: "On account of the foolishness and depravity of men, who lived a rustic life without any ruler, they exalted the king himself and the whole nation with the highest praises, so that they even called them gods either for their distinguished virtue, or for their benefits, or out of flattery." Those whom etc. The text is to be construed thus: Men made a visible image which they wished to honor, their likeness having been brought from afar: those whom they could not honor openly, that is, in person, on this account, supply, because they were far away: they made, I say, so that him who was absent, etc.
(Vers. 18.). Moreover, it advanced to the worship of these, namely, of idols, worship, and, that is, even, those who were ignorant, that is, the ignorant and unlearned, the extraordinary, that is, the greatest, diligence of the craftsman: of the craftsman, I say, diligently and elaborately fashioning the idol and adorning it, according to that passage in Jeremiah 10: "He adorned it with silver and gold"; likewise Isaiah 44: "He made the image of a man, like a beautiful man dwelling in a house."
(Vers. 19.). For he, the craftsman, wishing to please him who engaged him, that is, hired him, namely, to make an idol; this is a wicked pleasing, of which it is said in the Psalm: "God has scattered the bones of those who please men"; likewise Galatians 1: "If I were pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ." He labored with his art, so that the likeness, that is, the image, he might fashion more finely, that is, in the best manner he could: Isaiah 44: "The ironsmith has wrought with a file"; Baruch 6: "As for a maiden who loves ornaments, so having received gold they are fashioned."
(Vers. 20.). But the multitude of men, namely of the foolish; Ecclesiastes 1: "The number of fools is infinite"; led astray, namely from the truth, by the appearance of the work, that is, by its beauty; Proverbs, last chapter: "Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain"; Daniel 13: "Beauty has deceived you"; him who before a time, supply: a short time, had been honored as a man, namely with the honor of dulia; they now esteemed as a God, honoring him with the honor of latria.
(Vers. 21.). And this was the deception of human life, that is, the cause of deception, a cause, I say, that is twofold, as it were a twofold gate of death, namely love and fear, according to the Gloss on that verse of the Psalm: "Set on fire and dug up," etc. For because to their affection, namely their own in the honoring of friends, or to kings, in the veneration of the powerful: the Gloss: "Thus through peoples and regions," namely out of flattery, or out of fear, "various sacred rites were taken up, while men desire to be pleasing to their princes"; serving, that is, devotedly serving, men, against that passage of 1 Corinthians 7: "Do not become slaves of men." The incommunicable name: the Gloss: "of God almighty," because namely the form from which that name God was imposed is incommunicable to creatures, yet communicable to the divine persons: they imposed upon stones and wood, against that precept, Exodus 20: "You shall not take the name of your God in vain."
But to the contrary: Exodus 7: "Behold, I have made you a god to Pharaoh"; likewise in the Psalm: "I said: you are gods," etc.: therefore the name of God is communicable to creatures.
It must be said that God is spoken of in three ways: by nature, by adoption, by appellation. In the first way it is incommunicable; in the second and third ways it is not.
But to the contrary: Because the divine name was communicated to Christ as man: whence Philippians 2: "He gave him the name which is above every name."