The Law of Idolatry

This chapter investigates the law of idolatry, highlighting the tension between biblical and rabbinic attitudes towards gentile idolatry. The Bible consistently forbids idolatrous actions for Israelites while distinctly not excluding such behavior among gentiles. As gentiles are not participants in the Sinai covenant, they cannot be guilty of idolatry, even if their cult is consistently scorned in the Bible. Contrary to the biblical permission of pagan idolatry, the rabbis forbade anyone, Jew or gentile, to practice idolatry. According to one rabbinic line of thinking, all gentiles are idolaters, while another distinguished between contemporary and ancient idolatry. In either case, a radical innovation was introduced: idolatry was to be removed everywhere. For medieval Jewish thinkers, idolatry was believing that something finite was in fact infinite, and worthy of worship.