{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-7416","native_reference":{"book_number":290,"chapter_from":41,"chapter_to":41,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":22,"verse_to":22},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Jerome</b>: Another indication is that idols are not gods, because they can neither do good nor do evil. Not that idols, or demons sitting on idols, have often not done evil; but rather, unless power has been granted to them by the Lord, they cannot do this. Finally, they implore in the Gospel to have power over a herd of pigs (Matthew VIII). And in Job we read, without the Lord's command (Diabolus) that a holy man was not even able to destroy animals and possessions. And it is not surprising that this is true about God, for the Apostle Paul also teaches that certain people belong to Satan, so that they may learn not to blaspheme. Or this may be said, that mute images of humans and insensible things are neither able to do good nor evil, nor to know the past nor the future, because they are made out of nothing and out of that which does not exist, and not they themselves, but rather the one who worships them, is deserving of abomination. For the idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see (Psalm 115: 4-6). So how can they know and proclaim the future or recount the past, and do good or evil, when they have no understanding like humans and animals? It does not matter what material they appear to be made of, since they are all earthly.<br/><i>— Commentary on Isaiah</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: (Verse 22) Let them come near and declare to us what has happened: declare the past events, and we will set our hearts and know their outcome; and reveal to us what is yet to come. LXX: Let them draw near and announce to us what is to come: or tell us the former things that have happened, and we will set our minds on them: and we will know the last things. 'Tell us,' he says, 'either about the past or the future, and demonstrate your power from the events of things.' However, this signifies that after the coming of Christ, all the idols fell silent: where is Apollo of Delphi, and Loxias, and Delius, and Clarus, and the other idols, promising knowledge of the future, which deceived the most powerful kings? Why could they not predict anything about Christ; nothing about his Apostles; nothing about the ruin and destruction of the temples? If they could not predict their own demise, how could they announce the fate of others, whether good or evil? But if someone were to say that many things have been predicted by idols, it must be understood that they have always joined falsehood with truth, and thus moderated their statements, so that whatever happened, whether good or bad, could be interpreted in either way. Like the saying of King Pyrrhus of the Epirotes: I assure you, descendant of Aeacus, that you are able to conquer the Romans. And as for Croesus: Craesus, having crossed the river Halys, will lose his vast kingdom.<br/><i>— Commentary on Isaiah</i></p><p><b>Theodoret of Cyrus</b>: If you do not want to demonstrate your personal strength from your knowledge or prescience, then do so through a demonstration of your power. Demonstrate your power, whether it be kind or punishing. \"It is I who will put to death and I who will bring to life, I who will strike down and I who will heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hands.\" But because you are lacking in knowledge and in power, I will now expose your emptiness. \"They have dug you from the ground as an abomination.\" For whether they are wooden or from gold, silver or bronze, they all have their origin from the earth.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON Isaiah 12:41.24</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"9f5b4bf7056ba6204950866d3b1fa9be06f55e8e7a7259593301a4668c268a20","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":7416,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"6204a0a8384c5ac90df1156d4b7f14a4bef72f39f0d7a1a0e1c63e0ba1a822cb","translator":null,"work":null}