Like eating ashes, which provide no nourishment, idolatry is a deception, from which the sinner gets nothing but judgement.
Commentary from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for Isaiah 44:20.
Idol
The Final World System
Inside the basket was sitting a woman, personifying the final wicked system found in Revelation 17:3-5. The wicked system is represented as a basket with a woman held captive inside under a lead lid. Since storks are unclean birds (Leviticus 11:19; Deuteronomy 14:18) these must be agents of evil, demonic forces, protective of the wicked secularism, who set up the final system of evil. The destination of the women bearing the basket was Shinar. There it will be placed in a “house,” possibly referring to a temple, in which it would be set on a base or pedestal as an idol. The secular commercialism is central to the final world system. The vision is unmistakably looking forward to the final Babylon of Revelation 17, 18 at the second coming of Christ.
Commentary from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for Zechariah chapter 5.
All That I Need
There was a barrier keeping the young man in Mark 10:17-31 out of the kingdom: his love of money. Money represented his pride of accomplishment and self-effort. Ironically, his attitude made him unable to keep the first commandment, to let nothing be more important than God. This man came to Jesus wondering what he could do; he left seeing what he was unable to do.
Jesus said it was very difficult for the rich to get into the kingdom of God because the rich have most of their basic physical needs met and thus often become self-reliant. When they feel empty, they can buy something new to dull the pain that was meant to drive them toward God. Their abundance becomes their deficiency. Jesus explained that in the world to come, the values of this world will be reversed.
Commentary from The One Year NIV Devotional NT, April 20, Tyndale House Publishers. 2003.
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