Genesis 11:23Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

When he engaged in idol-making, he began to revere them alongside the pagans, leading him to corrupt his household by imparting the same craft to his son Nahor, who in turn instructed his son Pharr, the father of Abraham. While the Chaldeans esteemed fire as their deity, the Egyptians worshipped water, creating an idol named Kanopos, which lent its name to a city located at the mouth of the Nile river in Egypt. When Assyrians, who were also Chaldeans, conquered Egypt during Semiramis's reign, a contention erupted between the Chaldean and Egyptian priests regarding their deities. The Chaldeans proclaimed that their god, fire, triumphed over all, as fire consumed wooden idols, shattered stone idols, and melted metals like copper, silver, and gold. In response, the Egyptians constructed a large vessel resembling their idol Kanopos, puncturing it with numerous tiny holes, filling them with wax and resin, and then filling the idol with water. When the Chaldeans sought to demonstrate fire's supremacy by surrounding the Kanopos idol with flames, the wax and resin melted, releasing water that extinguished the surrounding fire. The Egyptians rejoiced, exclaiming, "Our god is greater than your god, for he has vanquished your god!" The Chaldeans were left humiliated. In those ancient times, lifeless idols were worshipped by misguided individuals, yet today, our sinful desires can take on a god-like status. The ancients, lacking the illumination of truth, fell into the sin of idolatry; we, who have been enlightened by holy faith, often indulge our ordinary passions as if they were deities. Many were compelled to worship idols by the edicts of rulers and torturers; however, we willingly submit to our sinful cravings without external coercion. Christ reminds us, "Whosoever committeth sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). Alas, how wretched is our disposition, which likens us to those ancient idolaters, deserving of the same punishment—and perhaps more—since to sin knowingly is a graver offense than to sin in ignorance. The notion that our sinful passions are treated as idols becomes evident in St. Paul's words: "Many are walking, whom I have often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly" (Phil. 3:18-19). He further states: "They that serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly" (Rom. 16:18). So why is our belly our god? Because we gratify it as if it were divine, often prioritizing it above the one true God. We may claim to work for Jesus through fasting and abstaining, yet we might actually toil more for our own selfish desires through eating, drinking, and indulging in carnal pleasures. This applies similarly to other sinful passions: if we allow ourselves to be enslaved by them, they become our gods. Blessed Jerome elucidates this in the Divine Law, "Thou shalt not have any other gods before me" (Ex. 20:3), stating that for one whose belly is a god, a new god has emerged; as we accumulate a multitude of passions, we consequently create many new gods based on what we desire and pursue. Gluttony and drunkenness might ascribe to Bacchus, anger to Mars, and impurity to Venus, with us becoming idolaters through our actions. St. Chrysostom highlights this moral idolatry, saying: "Do not tell me that you do not worship a golden idol; rather, show me that you do not obey the commands of gold. Different forms of idolatry exist: some serve Mammon, others their appetites, and still others some other all-consuming desire. Even if you do not offer sacrifices to them as the Greeks did, your soul remains hardened in disobedience, yielding to their commands." The Greeks were deemed vile for deifying human passions, naming lust Aphrodite, rage Ares, and intoxication Dionysius. If you do not fashion idolatrous sculptures, still, you fervently succumb to those same passions, "making the members of Christ the members of a harlot" (1 Cor. 6:15) and defiling yourselves through various transgressions. Thus, every sinful inclination and habitual sin within us represents an idol within our hearts, establishing sinful idolatry. Just as idolatry fosters sin, the rejection of Christ fosters a license for wicked thoughts and desires; offering sacrifices to idols translates to concrete actions geared toward planned sins. That is how one becomes an idolater, bound to sinful passions. This moral idolatry proliferates within us, indicating the need for spiritual martyrdom, suffering without the shedding of blood. Just as there were countless holy martyrs in times when unbelievers worshipped idols, believers today must also strive to be martyrs—though bloodless—by subduing their passions and dying to sin daily, aiming to render themselves ineffective in committing sin and avoiding the allure of sinful pleasures. As habitual sin constitutes an idol within our disposition, the struggle against sin becomes an act of martyrdom. The tormentor may manifest as an intense desire, a wicked temperament, or temptations from the enemy. The devil's agents are malign thoughts that lure us toward sin and people who entice us to err. This struggle embodies the torment of confronting wicked thoughts, passions, and desires (Gal. 5:24), thus yielding the spiritual martyr of Christ, who, though not shedding blood, earns the martyrs' crown. St. Chrysostom offers this insight on spiritual martyrdom: "Someone may wonder how we can emulate the martyrs when there is no persecution today. Indeed, it is true that we do not face rampant persecution, but we endure a time of martyrdom. Our battles may not involve physical fights, but they yield crowns; men do not persecute us—rather, it is the demons who assail us. The tormentor may not present burning coals, but the flames of desire rage white hot. Whereas the ancient martyrs trampled upon coals, we must conquer our innate desires, and while they faced wild beasts, we must master anger as a wild beast itself. Those who resisted intolerable afflictions overcame them, but you shall prevail over the wicked thoughts rising from your heart, thus becoming a true follower of the martyrs. 'Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, the rulers of darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places' (Eph. 6:12). The natural desire functions as a fierce, unquenchable fire, akin to a fierce dog. A thousand times you may conquer it, yet each time it returns in relentless pursuit, never ceasing in its torment. The fire is intense; however, the flames of desire can often inflict deeper wounds, creating an ongoing battle without end as long as we exist. This continuous effort towards spiritual triumph shall ultimately yield the brightest crown.” Thus, St. Chrysostom articulates the notion that the subjugation of our sinful passions manifests a bloodless martyrdom.