Hosea 8:6

"For from Israel is even this; the workman made it, and it is no God; yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces."

"It is no God ..." Polkinghorne accurately discerned this as proof that, "the calf itself was worshipped, not regarded as a mere throne for the deity."[12] McKeating has an especially irresponsible and inaccurate comment on this place, thus:

"This is a very early example of this type of argument against idolatry. It is also a very superficial argument, since it assumes that the idolater equates his image with the god. The idolater was no more likely to equate his image with his god than the Christian to equate his crucifix with Christ."[13]

This is totally wrong. The masses of the people did worship the idols themselves, as indicated here, not by Hosea's words, but by the Word of God. Furthermore, even if there were sophisticates among the people who did not do this, the very manufacture of such religious items had been condemned in the Decalogue, not merely the worship of them. McKeating's comment is one with the specious type of reasoning by which the Medieval Church has promulgated the adoration of sacred images in our own times; and there can be no doubt whatever of the sinfulness of such things.