The second commandment

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Exodus 20:4 4"Youshall not make for yourself an
image in the form of anything in heaven aboveor on
the earth beneath or in the waters below.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The First And SecededCommandments:Against Polytheism And Image-
worship
Exodus 20:3-6
D. Young
These two commandments seemto be bound togethernaturally by the reason
given in ver. 5. There Jehovahsays, "I am a jealous God;" obviously such a
feeling of jealousyapplies with as much force to the worship of other gods as
to the making of graven images. Consider -
I. THE POSSIBLE TRANSGRESSION HERE INDICATED.The having of
other gods than Jehovah, and the representationof them by images of created
things. The declarationhere is not againstmore gods than one. Such a
declarationwould have been incomprehensible to the Israelite at this time,
even to Moses himself. The utter emptiness of all idolatry, the non-existence,
exceptas the imagination of a superstitious and darkenedmind, of any other
Deity than Jehovahwas a truth not yet appreciable by those to whom Jehovah
spoke. He had to take his people as they stood, believers in the existence and
powerof other gods, and proclaim to them with all the impressiveness that

came from the demonstrations of Sinai, that none of these gods was to be in
the smallestdegree recognised. An idolater in the midst of his idolatries, and
not yet laid hold of by Jehovah's hand, might as well have a thousand gods as
one. Jehovahspeaks here to those who are already bound to himself. Have
they not made their promise? Did not the people answerand say, "All that the
Lord hath spokenwe will do"? It was the right and dutiful course of every
Israelite to worship him, serve him, and depend upon him. The greatand
pressing peril was that, side by side with Jehovah, the people should try to put
other gods. And to have other gods meant, practically, to have images of them.
How necessaryand appropriate these two commandments were to come at
this particular time and in this particular order, is seenwhen we considerthe
image-making into which Israelfell during the seclusionof Mosesin the
mount. This seems to have been the accordantactof the whole people;Aaron,
who was soonto be the chief officialin Jehovah's ritual, being the eager
instrument to gratify their desires. Norwas this a mere passing danger to the
Israelites, a something which in due time they would outgrow. The peril lies
deep in the infirmities of human nature. Those whom Jehovahhas brought in
any measure to himself, need to be reminded that he is master. Jesus has put
the thing as plain as it canbe put, "No man canserve two masters." We
canner serve God and Mammon. Dependence onsomething else than God,
even though there be nothing of religious form in the dependence, is a peril
into which we are all liable to come. It is hard to fight - harder than we
imagine till we are fairly put to the struggle - againstthe allurements of the
seenand temporal. Even when we admit that there is an invisible God whose
claims are supreme, and whose gifts, presentand future, are beyond anything
that the seenin its pride and beauty canafford - even then we have the utmost
difficulty in carrying our admission into practice.
II. CONSIDERIN PARTICULAR HOW THE COMMANDMENT
AGAINST IMAGE-WORSHIP MAY APPLY TO US. Those who go in the
way of right worship are in the wayto a profitable knowledge ofGod. They
come to be recognisedby him, acceptedby him, and blessedby him. Having
graven images inevitably led away from Jehovah. There was no possibility of
keeping the first commandment, even in the leastdegree, if the secondevenin
the leastdegree was broken. Certainly we are under no temptation to make

images, but it comes to the same thing if we have images ready made. It is
conceivable that the day may come when not an image shall be left in the
world, except on museum shelves, and the trade of Demetrius thus come to an
end. But what of that? The change may simply be one of form. Why men
should first have made images and called them gods is an impenetrable
mystery. We cannot but wonderwho was the first man to make an image and
why he made it. But that image-making, once established, shouldcontinue and
return into practice again and again in spite of all attempts to destroy it, is
easyenough to understand. Habit, tradition, training, will accountfor
everything in this way. Yet the practice of image-worship, atall events in its
grossestforms, can only exist togetherwith dense intellectual darkness. When
men begin to think and question as to the foundation of things, when they get
awayfrom their mother's knee, then the simple faith in what they have been
taught deserts them. There is a frequent and natural enough lamentation that
those who have been taught concerning Christ in childhood, oftentimes in
manhood depart from him by the way of scepticism, into utter disbelief and
denial. Yet we must remember that it is exactly by this kind of process
thousands in still image-worshipping lands have broken awayfrom their
image-worship. It has not satisfiedthe awakenedand expanding intellect.
There is this difference, however, that whereas the awakenedintellect
forsaking Christ may come back to him, and indeed actually does so oftener
than we think, the awakenedintellectforsaking image-worshipcannotgo
back to it. But to something as a dependent creature he must go. A man
leaving his old idolatries and not finding Christ, must needs turn to some new
idolatry, none the less real as an idolatry, none the less injurious to his best
interests because the image-form is absent. We must not make to ourselves
anything whatever to take the place of God, intercept the sight of him, or
deaden his voice. We may contradictthe spirit of the secondcommandment,
in doing things which we think profitable to the religious life and glorifying to
God. A greatdeal that is reckonedbeneficialand even indispensable in the
Church of Christ, that has grownwith its growthand strengthened with its
strength, might come to look very questionable, if only the spirit of this
commandment were exactly appreciated. How many splendid buildings, how
many triumphs of the architect, how many combined results of many arts
would then be utterly swept away!Men delude themselves with the notion

that these things bring them nearerto God, whereas they simply take his
place. In worshipping him we should regard with the utmost jealousyall mere
indulgence of the sensesand even of the intellect.
III. THE DIVINE REASON GIVEN FOR ATTENDING TO THESE
COMMANDMENTS, Manyreasons might have been given, as for instance,
the vanity of graven images, their uselessnessin the hour of need, the
degradationin which they involved the worshippers. But God brings forward
a reasonwhich needed to be brought forward, and put in the very front place,
where human thought might continually be directed to it. Polytheism and
image-worshipare indeed degrading and mischievous to man - but what is of
far greatermoment, they are also dishonouring to the glory of Deity. Those
who were sliding awayinto the service of other gods were showing that they
had no truly reverent appreciation of Jehovah;and in order to intimate the
severity of his requirements with respectto exclusive and devoted service,
Jehovahspeaks ofhimself as possessing a feeling which, when found among
men is like a devouring and unquenchable fire. A jealous man does well to be
jealous, if he has sufficient ground for the feeling at all, if the affection,
service, and sympathies that should be reservedfor him are turned elsewhere.
Think then of such a feeling, exalted into the pure intensity of a holy anger
and bursting into actionfrom God himself, and then you have the measure of
his wrath with those who think that the glory of the incorruptible God can be
changedinto an image made like to corruptible man. He makes his jealousy
apparent in unquestionable, deeply penetrating action. It is the actionof the
greatI AM, who controls thousands of generations. Goddoes, as a matter of
fact, visit the iniquities of the fathers on the children, and the magnitude of
what he does is accountedfor by the intensity of his feelings with respectto
those who give his glory to another. His almighty hand comes down with a
blow the afflictive energies ofwhich cannot be exhausted in one or even two
generations. Saynot that there is something unjust about this. That each
generationmust take something in the way of suffering from preceding
generations is a fact only too plain, altogetherapart from the Scriptures. The
mercy of God is that he here gives us something in explanation of the fact, and
of how to distinguish its working and at lastdestroy it. To serve idols, to
depend upon anything else than God, anything less than him, anything more

easilyreachedand more easilysatisfied - this, when stripped of all disguise,
amounts to hating God. And a man living in this wayis preparing, not only
punishments for himself, but miseries for those who come after him. Many
times we have advice given us to think of posterity. Depend upon it, he thinks
most of posterity who serves the will of God most humbly and lovingly, with
the utmost concentrationand assiduity, in his own generation. Note here also
the unmistakable revelation of God's merciful disposition. He visits iniquity to
the third and fourth generationof them that hate him. But those who love him
are blessedto thousands of generations. Notthat the blessing will be actually
operative, for, alas, there may come in many things to hinder. But the
expresseddispositionof Godremains. If the posterity of the faithful to God
are unblessed, it is because they themselves are utterly carelessas to the
peculiar privileges into which they have been introduced. - Y.
Biblical Illustrator
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.
Exodus 20:4-6

The law of worship
W. J. Woods, B. A.
I. A REVELATION OF THE WILL OF GOD.
1. What is forbidden is not the culture of the plastic arts, but their abuse in
furnishing symbols for purposes of devotion. Statuary is lawful, and painting
is lawful; but sculptor and artist are alike restricted from attempting to
representthe Deity; and all men are prohibited from taking such
representations as objects ofworship.
2. There was a specialreasonfor this prohibition as it affectedthe Hebrews.
They had come awayfrom Egypt — a country where the employment of
beasts and images in religious symbolism had descendedto the very nadir of
human degradation. They were on their way to Canaan, a land given to them
because its inhabitants had outragedall forbearance by the filthy and bloody
rites of Baaland Astarte. Above all, the chief reasonoftheir own electionas
the chosennation was that they might become faithful witnesses ofJehovah.
3. The bearing of this law upon Christian duty is manifest. Materialimages
are forbidden, but mental images may be framed, provided always that they
be fashioned out of the Divine manifestations. Every historic act, in which
God is seenby the individual or the community, is a revelation of God; and
the sum of such revelations gives a mental image of the Divine Being which we
can and may adore. Furthermore, the focus of all God's self-revelationis the
Lord Jesus Christ.
II. A REVELATION OF THE CHARACTER OF GOD.
1. God is jealous for the truth of His ownnature. How could any gravenimage
ever be an accurate oran adequate similitude of the infinite invisible Spirit?
2. God is jealous for the characterof His people. By the act of homage men
acknowledge themselvesinferior to that which they adore; so that every
degradationof the Object of worship involves a simultaneous abasementof
the worshipper.

3. God is jealous for the influence of His people upon the world. Israelwas
appointed to be a guardian of truth, an apostle of the one God, a harbour-
light for benighted nations upon the sea oftime. It was peculiarly wounding to
the King of Heaven that they should insult Him by representing Him as a calf
of gold, and should degrade themselves by their debasing homage.
III. A REVELATION OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.
1. Hereditary penalties follow the breachof this law of spiritual worship.
Sensuous worshipleads to sensuous living; and the fruits of sensuous living
may linger on in miseries untold which our children shall suffer when we who
did the wrong lie forgotten in the grave.
2. On the other hand, hereditary blessings follow the keeping of this law. True
spiritual life begets true spiritual life, and hands on a heritage of reward to
succeeding generations.
3. And it is the fittest which survives the longest!Evil is for a time; goodis for
eternity.
(W. J. Woods, B. A.)
The SecondCommandment
G. D. Boardman.
I. THE DIVINE PROHIBITION.
1. Observe preciselywhat this secondcommandment forbids.(1) And, first,
negatively: It does not forbid all use of art in worship. ForJehovahHimself
commanded Moses to adorn the tabernacle with figures of cherubim, and
trees, and flowers, and pomegranates,and bells, and all manner of cunning
workmanship. The imaging faculty, or faculty of making images —
imagination in the primary sense ofthe term — is itself a Divine endowment,
and must therefore be cultivated.(2)What, then, does the second
commandment forbid? It forbids all idolatrous representations ofDeity (see
John 4:24). We must worship God according to His nature; His nature is

spiritual, and, therefore, we must worship Him spiritually — spirit-wise, not
image-wise;for only what is spiritual in us can worship what is spiritual above
us.
2. The prohibition, then, of the secondcommandment is a universal need.(1)
The Jew at the foot of Mount Sinai needed it. He had just emergedfrom
idolatrous Egypt — that Egypt which was wholly given overto image-
worship.(2)Modern Christianity needs it. We need not go to the Roman
Catholic Church for examples of image-worship. Beholdour own Protestant
Ecclesiolatry, orworship of the Church as an institution, bowing down before
her ordinances as though they were ends instead of using them as means,
worshipping her sacraments and creeds and traditions and ceremonies.
Behold our Protestant Bibliolatry, or rabbinic worship of the Bible as a letter
and even sacrament, These,and such as these, are, practically speaking, more
or less revered as symbols of Deity.
II. THE DIVINE REASON FOR THE PROHIBITION.
1. Jehovahour God is a jealous God.
2. Law of heredity (see Galatians 6:7).(1)The merciless aspectofheredity.
Everybody knows that there are hereditary diseases;for instance, leprosy,
scrofula, consumption, insanity, and a nameless diseasefar more dreadful.
And as there are hereditary diseases, so there are hereditary vices;for
example, indolence, mendacity, avarice, intemperance, crime. Moralhabit is
as hereditable as bodily gait. As Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes has somewhere
stated: "A man is an omnibus, in which all his ancestors are seated." Yes;the
soul, not less than the body, has its physiology. This law it is which accounts
for the sad factof the universal sinfulness. But you interrupt me with an
objection. "This law of heredity," you tell me, "tends to quench personal
responsibility." Learn, then, I answer, a lessonfrom the analogyof the human
body: although confessedlypropagated, it is also confessedlya separate,
independent individuality. Again: it is of the utmost importance in this
discussionto keepclearlyand steadily in mind the distinction between
personalguilt and inherited disaster, or, as the philosophers phrase it,
unfortunate "environment." But I hear anotherobjection: "This law of

heredity," you tell me, "is unjust and cruel; it makes the innocent suffer for
the guilty. How, then, will you reconcile the awful working of this law of
heredity with the characterofa holy and loving God?" Answer: Man is
mortal. How, then, shall the continuance of the race on earth be secured? I
can conceive ofbut two ways. First, by the continuous creationof men, or a
perpetual repetition of the miracle of Eden, the ceaseless bringing into the
world, fresh from the Maker's hand, of a successionof createdAdams, or
parentless Melchizedeks. But under such a condition of things there would be,
in all probability, a repetition of Adam's painful story. Secondly, the
continuance of the race on earth can be securedin the way in which the
Creatordoes actually secure it — namely, by the law of propagation. Heredity
it is which renders this profound fact — Society— possible. There is such a
thing as man-kind, because there is such a thing as men-kinned. It is almost
impossible to overestimate the value of consanguinity as a curbing, uplifting,
unifying force. Heredity! Why it is my real hope under God for humanity.(2)
Merciful aspectof heredity. This law is a real inspiration for foreign missions.
Specialpains must be taken to save the heathen children; for converted
children are, according to God's own law, the mighty hope of our world's
future. Lessons:
1. Heredity the key to socialregeneration. Men, not less than animals, can be
improved by stirpiculture, or selective breeding.
2. A summons to personal heroism. God judges us, not by our capacities, but
by our efforts.
3. Worship the Divine Man Himself. He is the Image of the Invisible God, and
we need no other.
(G. D. Boardman.)
Idolatry
C. Bradley. M. A.

I. THE NATURE OF IDOLATRY. A giving to something below God of that
worship which is due to Godalone. It may be outward, or inward; an act of
the body, or an act of the mind.
II. THE EVIL OF IDOLATRY.
1. It has a strange power to perpetuate and increase itself.
2. It ever engenders falsehoodanddeceit.
3. It is almost always accompaniedwith cruelty.The dark places of the earth,
says Scripture, "are full of the habitations of cruelty," and all experience
confirms the saying. Think of Mexico, as she was when first discovered, and of
her fearful hecatombs of slaughteredmen. Think of our country, and of other
countries around it, in Druidical times. Follow Captain Cook in his voyages
from island to island in the greatPacific. Whereverwe find idols we find
bloodshed, bloodshed for those idols. As for idolatrous Rome, I will not speak
of her wholesale slaughtersin years gone by.
4. There is one point more which I wishedto notice, it is the licentiousness that
accompanies idolatry, arising, beyond doubt, in part out of it. English minds
cannot conceive the extent of this, nor the nature of it.
III. There is another thing, far more fearful than the idolatry of Rome, and
far more difficult to keepourselves from — THE IDOLATRY OF THE
MIND AND HEART. We may have idols within us, and, as for worshipping
them, it may be the main business of our lives.
(C. Bradley. M. A.)
Image-worship
To set up an image to represent God is a debasing of the Deity, it is below
God. If one should make images of snakes orspiders, saying he did it to
representhis prince, would not the prince take this in high disdain? What
greaterdisparagementto God, than to representthe infinite God by that

which is finite, — the living God, by that which is without life, and the Maker
of all, by a thing which is made?
1. To make a true image of God is impossible. What is invisible cannotbe
portrayed.
2. To worship God by an image is both absurd and unlawful.(1) It is absurd
and irrational; for, the workman is better than the work:"he who hath
builded the house hath more honour than the house." If the workman be
better than the work, and none bow to the workman, how absurd then is it to
bow to the work of his hands! Is it not an absurd thing to bow down to the
king's picture, when the king himself is present? more so to bow down to an
image of God, when God Himself is everywhere present.(2) It is unlawful to
worship God by an image;for it is againstthe homily of the Church; "the
images of God, our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, are of all others the most
dangerous;therefore the greatestcare oughtto be had that they stand not in
temples and churches."Use:Take heedof idolatry, namely, image-worship.
(1)Getgood principles, that you may be able to oppose the gainsayer.
(2)Getlove to God.
(3)Pray God to keepyou.
( T. Watson.)
The SecondCommandment, and its influence upon the Jews
W. Senior, B. A.
Some go so far as to saythat it forbad the Jew to make any carvedwork at all.
Certainly, judging by national results, it would almost seemas if Israel had so
understood it. The Jews are a people famous for many things, for intellectual
and administrative ability, and for a marvellous powerof sustaining
themselves in the midst of the most difficult circumstances.But whilst there
have been Jewishwarriors and poets, statesmenand financiers, musicians and
singers of world-wide reputation, where are their artists and architects? The

very temple of Solomonwas a Phoenicianstructure. You may count easilya
half-dozen distinguished musical Jewishcomposers — Mozart, Beethoven,
Meyerbeer, Mendelssohn, and Rossini — but where is the distinguished
Jewishsculptor or painter? Still, whilst all this is very suggestive as to the
formative influence of the commandment, it seems most reasonable to decide
that the sentence, "Thoushalt not make," is qualified by the sentence, "Thou
shalt not bow down nor worship." The Jews were really only forbidden to
make carved images as symbols of Deity, as objects of adoration.
(W. Senior, B. A.)
The offence of symbolism
W. Senior, B. A.
It becomes obvious that an imaged representationof the Invisible One must
involve dishonour. Before the Infinite One can be bodied forth He must first
of necessitybe sensualized. Here is the deep insult. And the guilt of
irreverance clings to the human mind in the very factthat it thinks itself
capable of such an impossibility, and fails to perceive how it befouls what it
touches. What difference then is there betweenthe image of the artist and an
intellectual conceptionof God? None in reality. What is the image? It is more
than the carving of the sculptor; it is first his thought. The image is really
thought embodied. Words may be used instead of marble, or wood, or colours,
but essentiallythey are the same if they present to the imagination a shape, a
form, or an intellectual conception. In this sense words are as finite as images
or symbols, and therefore may be as guilty of degradation. Thus it follows that
the reasonofman has no more right to touch the Invisible Creatorthan the
hands. God refuses also to be the subjectof the human intellect. That the
human mind should think itself capable of compassing the Infinite is to insult
Him with deepestirreverence. "Who by searching canfind out God?" God
Himself must instruct us how to conceive of Him, and by what faculties of our
nature we must draw near to Him. And this He has done. Through Abraham
and through Moses,through David and the prophets, and, including all and

perfecting all, through Jesus Christthe Divine Son, He has made Himself
known to man.
(W. Senior, B. A.)
A Jealous God
I. Reverently, let us remember that the LORD IS EXCEEDINGLY
JEALOUS OF HIS DEITY. The whole history of the human race is a record
of the wars of the Lord againstidolatry. The right hand of the Lord hath
dashed in pieces the enemy and castthe ancientidols to the ground. Behold
the heaps of Nineveh! Searchfor the desolations ofBabylon! Look upon the
broken temples of Greece!See the ruins of PaganRome!Journey where you
will, you behold the dilapidated temples of the gods and the ruined empires of
their foolish votaries. The Lord hath made bare His arm and easedHim of His
adversaries, forJehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. With what
jealousymust the Lord regardthe greatmass of the people of this country,
who have another god beside Himself! Even believers may be reproved on this
subject. God is very jealous of His Deity in the hearts of His own people.
II. THE LORD IS JEALOUS OF HIS SOVEREIGNTY. He that made heaven
and earth has a right to rule His creatures as He wills.
1. This reminds us of the Lord's hatred of sin. Every time we sin, we do as
much as say, "I do not acknowledgeGodto be my Sovereign;I will do as I
please."
2. Surely if sin attacks the sovereigntyof God, self-righteousnessis equally
guilty of treason:for as sin boasts, "Iwill not keepGod's law," self-
righteousness exclaims, "Iwill not be saved in God's way; I will make a new
road to heaven."
III. THE LORD IS JEALOUS OF HIS GLORY. God's glory is the result of
His nature and acts.
1. How, careful, then, should we be when we do anything for God, and God is
pleasedto acceptof our doings, that we never congratulate ourselves. The

worms which ate Herod when he gave not God the glory are ready for another
meal; beware of vain glory!
2. How carefulought we to be to walk humbly before the Lord. The moment
we glorify ourselves, since there is room for one glory only in the universe, we
setourselves up as rivals to the MostHigh.
3. Let us see to it that we never misrepresentGod, so as to rob Him of His
honour. If any minister shall preach of God so as to dishonour Him, God will
be jealous againstthat man.
IV. In the highest sense, THE LORD IS JEALOUS OVER HIS OWN
PEOPLE.
1. The Lord Jesus Christ, of whom I now speak, is very jealous ofyour love, O
believer.
2. He is very jealous of your trust. He will not permit you to trust in an arm of
flesh.
3. He is also very jealous of our company. It were well if a Christian could see
nothing but Christ.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
The jealousyof God
R. W. Dale, D. D.
Jealousyis but the angerand pain of injured and insulted love. When God
resents the illegitimate transfer to material symbols of the devotion inspired
by His own acts, it is not because His greatnesssuffers any diminution or
because His authority is impaired. It is His love which is wounded. He cannot
endure to lose any of the affection, trust, or reverence by which He has stirred
our souls. One of the fairest-looking falsehoods by which men excuse
themselves for living a life in which God has no place, is the plea that the
infinite God cannotcare for the love and reverence ofsuch creatures as we

are. When will men understand that no father can everbe greatenough to be
indifferent to the affection, the obedience, and the confidence of his children?
(R. W. Dale, D. D.)
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
Visiting the sins of the fathers on the children
ArchdeaconPaley.
I. THAT THE DENUNCIATION AND SENTENCERELATE TO THE SIN
OF IDOLATRY IN PARTICULAR, IF NOT TO THAT ALONE.
II. THAT IT RELATES TO TEMPORAL, OR, MORE PROPERLY
SPEAKING, TO FAMILY PROSPERITYAND ADVERSITY.
III. THAT IT RELATES TO THE JEWISHECONOMY, IN THAT
PARTICULAR ADMINISTRATION OF A VISIBLE PROVIDENCE
UNDER WHICH THEY LIVED.
IV. THAT AT NO RATE DOES IT AFFECT (OR WAS EVER MEANT TO
AFFECT)THE ACCEPTANCEOR SALVATION OF INDIVIDUALS IN A
FUTURE LIFE.
(ArchdeaconPaley.)
The children bearing the fathers' iniquities
H. Melvill, B. D.
I. As to THE MATTER OF FACT — that God does visit on the children the
iniquities of the fathers — the evidence is so broad and conclusive that,
without a singular carelessnessit cannot be overlooked. The sin of one man
brought death into the world, and causedthat, throughout the vast spreadings
of humanity, wretchedness, both physical and moral, shall hold a kind of
undisputed supremacy.

II. WHETHER SUCH A VISITATION CONSISTSWITHTHE
PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE AND EQUITY. In most men's minds, when this
question is proposed, there is a feeling that the visitation is not thus consistent:
we think it a righteous procedure that every man should bear his own burden;
but we see no equity in the appointment that the innocent should suffer for the
fault of the guilty. It is, however, worthy of observation, that the proceeding
after all cannot be repugnant to our notions of justice, since its exactparallel
occurs in human legislation. If the statute-book of the country enact the
visiting on children the sin of the father, it will be hard to show that the
visitation is counter to common sense and equity. In cases oftreason, we all
know that it is not the traitor alone who is punished: his estates are
confiscated, his honours destroyed; so that, in place of transmitting rank and
affluence to his son, he transmits him nothing but shame and beggary. We do
not saythat the thing must be just because enactedby human laws;we only
say that there canbe no felt and acknowledgedcontradictionbetweenthe
proceeding and the principles of equity, since human laws involve the children
in the doom of the parent. If you can show the child to be innocent, and
therefore to deserve nothing of what it receives, youwill have made goodyour
point that the visitation is unjust; but to maintain the thorough innocence of
the child would be to maintain the purity of human nature. Still, you will say,
the child is confessedlyworse off than it would have been had the parent not
sinned; and though we may deserve all we endure for ourselves, we still
practically suffer for the misdoings of another. We admit this; but at the same
time we contend that you are shifting the argument. If the child endured no
more than it has deservedyou admit that the course ofjustice is unimpeached
— and this is the main thing we are anxious to establish:but, if after
conceding the strict justice of the measure, you profess to think it hard that
the child should endure what, but for the parent's offence, it would not have
deserved, we are ready to follow you into the new field of debate, and to show
you, as we think, the erroneousness ofyour opinion. The child, for example, is
of a diseasedconstitution, of a dishonoured name, of a broken fortune; these
constitute the visitation of whose hardship you complain; but who can prove
to us that the child is really injured by the visitation? Nay, who can prove to
us that the child is not really advantaged? If we were told that, because the
parent died in unrighteousness, the child also must be shipwreckedfor

eternity, the wrought injury would be tremendous and overwhelming: but
there is not the leastground for supposing that the threatenedvisitation
extends to the next world; on the contrary, the whole tenor of Scripture —
inasmuch as salvationis offered to all — requires us to believe, that the
consequencesto the children of the father's transgressionslie confined within
our presentsphere of being. Why then is it certain that the child is dealt with
injuriously, if sentencedfor the parent's iniquity to penury and affliction? Are
penury and affliction never overruled for good? Is it necessarilyan evil to
have been born poor in place of rich — to be of weak healthinstead of strong
— to struggle with adversity, in place of being lapped in prosperity? No man
who feels himself immortal, who is consciousthat this confined theatre of
existence is but the schoolin which he is trained for a wider and nobler still,
will contend for the necessaryinjuriousness of want and calamity: and yet
unless this necessaryinjuriousness is supposed, it cannot be proved that the
children who are visited for the father's iniquity are on the whole worse off
than they would have been had there been no visitation. Thus the argument
againstthe goodness ofthe Almighty as much falls to the ground as that
againstHis justice; for proceeding on the principle that physical evil is never
subservient to moral good, we overthrow our position by assuming what we
know to be false.
(H. Melvill, B. D.)
Inherited character
An old man died a few years ago in the Massachusetts State Prison. He was
seventy-six years old, and had spent the lasteight years of his life in a cell in
that gloomy gaol. His wife for years had been a prisoner there too, and so had
his daughter, and seven of his sons. Were not "the iniquities of the father
visited upon the children"? In that same State, seventy years ago, a good
minister died, who for forty-one years had been a beloved pastor over the
same church. He was the fourteenth eldestson of that same name and family
who had. been a preacher of the gospel. Since his death, one hundred of his
descendants have been Christians, and eight of his sons and grandsons have

also been ministers. Through that blessedfamily, for many long years, the
GreatFather of love has been "showing mercy to thousands in them that love
Him and keepHis commandments."
Showing mercy unto thousands
The place of mercy in the government of God
F. S. Schenck.
Look carefully at a very important feature of the appealwhich is not brought
out clearlyin our English translation. He visits iniquity "unto the third and
fourth," and shows mercy "unto the thousandth," the commandment reads.
Our translators have supplied the word "generation"in italics to the first
numeral, and evidently they were right in doing so, but they should have
supplied for the same reasons the same word to the secondnumeral: "He
visits iniquity unto the third and fourth generation," "He shows mercy unto
the thousandth generation. The third and fourth show an indefinite number,
the thousandth is also an indefinite number, but it is a much largernumber.
The principle of the Divine government has a very decided leaning to the side
of mercy. Now, perhaps you will say: I see that this feature of the Divine
government works with absolute impartiality, with strict justice, but I can see
no indication of its leaning to the side of mercy." Then look again, and more
closely, atthe race and the individual.
1. Look at the individual first. A child inherits an impaired constitution. Two
features of the Divine government respond at once. First, the restorative
forces within the child, the recuperative powers of man's nature; and second,
the restorative forces without, the whole realm of remedies and skill
awakenedin others in their application. The child of ignorant parents is
ignorant. Two features here also are on the side of mercy. The innate thirst of
the mind for knowledge, presentthough weak in the child; and the intelligence
of the community in which the child lives, the atmosphere of enlightenment
which he must breathe while he lives. The child of irreligious parents is
irreligious. Here, too, there are two principles on the side of mercy. However

corrupt he may be, there is something in the soul of the child at unrest for
God which may be touched into power; and the surrounding Christianity —
the Christ who has loved and died to save — lives in many believing hearts
through whom He seeksto save the child.
2. Now, concerning the race, it may be saidthat the limit of degradationseems
to be fixed, but the limit of progress cannotbe even imagined. How far man
will advance in the controland use of the powers of nature, we who witness to-
day the stupendous achievements of Christian civilization will not even dare to
conjecture. And how far man will be lifted up, in the knowledge and
fellowship of God, the Bible tells us that we cannoteven imagine. In the whole
race, also, the two principles we have seenworking in individuals on the side
of mercy exist. However corrupted in idolatry men may become, however
greatthe ascendancyofthe flesh over the spirit in man, the spirit still exists,
and in its very nature cannotbe satisfieduntil it finds and lays hold upon the
living God. There is something within men that cannot be satisfiedwith
idolatry, or with sensualcorruption, something that may be touched into
strong and glorious life. And there is something to touch it. God makes the
appeal of His infinite love in Jesus Christ, who has at infinite costtakenaway
sin and brought in new life to all who receive Him. And we who receive Him,
as He lives in us, will touch all the dark souls we canreachwith His light and
life. We have receivedfrom our fathers the elevationand happiness of our
Christian land. Let us cherish and transmit to our children the glorious
inheritance, and let us send the light into the whole earth. Let us, receiving
forgiveness and new life in our Saviour, bring our whole being into a shape
worthy of God in moral likeness.
(F. S. Schenck.)
God's mercies
I. WHAT ARE THE QUALIFICATIONS?

1. The spring of mercy which God shows is free and spontaneous. Saynot
then, I am unworthy; for mercy is free. If God should show mercy only to
such as deserve it, He must show mercy to none at all.
2. The mercy God shows is powerful. How powerful is that mercy which
softens a heart of stone!Of what sovereignpowerand efficacyis that mercy
which subdues the pride and enmity of the heart, and beats off those chains of
sin in which the soul is held!
3. The mercy which God shows is superabundant; "abundant in goodness,
keeping mercy for thousands." The vial of God's wrath doth but drop; but the
fountain of His mercy runs.
4. The mercy God shows is abiding (Psalm 103:17).
II. HOW MANY WAYS IS GOD SAID TO SHOW MERCY?
1. We are all living monuments of God's mercy. He shows mercy to us in daily
supplying us.
2. God shows mercyin lengthening out our gospelliberties.
3. God shows mercyin preventing many evils from invading us.
4. God shows mercyin delivering us.
5. God shows mercyin restraining us from sin; lusts within, are worse than
lions without.
6. God shows mercyin guiding and directing us.
7. God shows mercyin correcting us. God is angry in love; He smites that He
may save. Every cross to a child of Godis like Paul's cross wind, which though
it broke the ship, it brought Paul to shore upon the broken pieces.
8. God shows mercyin pardoning us; "who is a God like Thee, That
pardonest iniquity?" It is mercy to feed us, rich mercy to pardon us.
9. God shows His mercy in sanctifying us (Leviticus 20:8). This prepares for
happiness, as the seedprepares for harvest.

10. God shows mercy in hearing our prayers. God may sometimes delay an
answer, when He will not deny. You do not presently throw a musician
money, because you love to hear his music: God loves the music of prayer,
therefore doth not presently let us hear from Him, but in due seasonHe will
give an answerof peace.
11. God shows mercy in saving us: "according to His mercy He savedus."
This is the top-stone of mercy, and it is laid in heaven. Now mercy displays
itself in all its orient colours;now mercy is mercy indeed, when God shall
perfectly refine us from all the lees and dregs of corruption. As an argument
againstdespair: see whata great encouragementhere is to serve God, — He
shows mercy to thousands.(1)Hope in God's mercies, "the Lord takes
pleasure in them that fear Him, and hope in His mercy."(2) If God shows
mercy to thousands, labour to know that His mercy is for you, "He is the God
of my mercy." A man that was ready to drown saw a rainbow; said he, "What
am I the better, though God will not drown the world, if I drown?" so, what
are we the better God is merciful, if we perish? Let us labour to know God's
specialmercy is for us.
( T. Watson.)
"Them that love Me"
I. HOW MUST OUR LOVE TO GOD BE QUALIFIED?
1. Love to God must be pure and genuine; He must be loved chiefly for
Himself. We must love God, not only for His benefits, but for those intrinsic
excellencieswherewithHe is crowned; we must love God not only for the good
which flows from Him, but the good which is in Him.
2. Love to God must be with all the heart, "thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart." We must not love God a little, — give God a drop or two
of our love, — but the main stream of our love must run after Him; the mind
must think of God, the will choose Him, the affections pant after Him.
3. Love to God must be flaming; to love coldly is all one as not to love.

II. HOW MAY WE KNOW WHETHER WE LOVE GOD?
1. He that loves God desires His sweetpresence;lovers cannot be long
asunder, they have their fainting fits, they want a sight of the objectof their
love. A souldeeply in love with God desires the enjoyment of Him in His
ordinances, in word, prayer, sacraments.
2. He who loves God doth not love sin; "ye that love the Lord hate evil." The
love of God and the love of sin can no more mix togetherthan iron and clay;
every sin loved strikes at the being of God, but he who loves God hath an
antipathy againstsin.
3. He who loves God is not much in love with anything else;his love is very
coolto worldly things; his love to God moves as the sun in the firmament,
swiftly; his love to the world moves as the sun on the dial, very slow.
4. He who loves God cannot live without Him.
5. He who loves God will be at any pains to getHim. Doth he love his friend
that will not make a journey to see him?
6. He that loves God prefers Him before estate and life. Before estate:"For
whom I have suffered the loss of all things." Who that loves a rich jewelwould
not part with a flower for it? Before life: "They loved not their lives to the
death." Love to God carries the soul above the love of life and the fear of
death.
7. He who loves God loves His favourites, namely, the saints (1 John 5:1).
8. If we love God, as we cannot but be fearful of dishonouring Him (the more
a child loves his father, the more he is afraid to displease him), so we weepand
mourn when we have offended Him.
III. WHAT ARE THE INCENTIVES TO PROVOKE AND INFLAME OUR
LOVE TO GOD?
1. God's benefits bestowedon us. Greatis the love that is excited by love.
Kindness works on a brute; the ox knows his owner.
2. Love to God would make duties of religion facile and pleasant.

3. It is advantageous (1 Corinthians 2:9).
4. By our loving God we may know that He loves us (1 John 4:19). If the ice
melts, it is because the sun has shined upon it; if the frozen heart melts in love,
it is because the Sun of Righteousnesshath shined upon it.
IV. WHAT MEANS MAY BE USED TO EXCITE OUR LOVE TO GOD?
1. Labour to know God aright.
2. Make the Scriptures familiar to you.
3. Meditate much of God, and this will be a means to love Him; "while I was
musing, the fire burned." Meditationis the bellows of the affections. Who can
meditate on God's love? who can tread on these hot coals, and his heart not
burn in love to God?
( T. Watson.)
"And keepMy commandments"
Love and obedience, like two sisters, must go hand in hand. A good Christian
is like the sun, which doth not only send forth light, but goes its circuit round
the world: so he hath not only the light of knowledge, but goes his circuit too,
and moves in the sphere of obedience. In what manner must we keepGod's
commandments?
1. Our keeping the commandments must be fiducial. Our obedience to God's
commandments must spring from faith; therefore it is called"the obedience
of faith."
2. Our keeping the commandments must be uniform. We must make
conscienceofone commandment as well as another; "then shall I not be
ashamed, when I have respectto all Thy commandments." Physicians have a
rule, when the body sweats in one part, but is cold in another, it is a sign of a
distemper: so when men seemzealous in some duties of religion, but are cold
and frozen in others, it is a sign of hypocrisy. We must have respectto all
God's commandments.

3. Our keeping God's commandments must be willing; "if ye be willing and
obedient." A musician is not commended for playing long, but for playing
well; it is obeying God willingly is accepted;the Lord hates that which is
forced, it is rather paying a tax than an offering. If a willing mind be wanting,
there wants that flower which should perfume our obedience, and make it a
sweetsmelling savour to God. That we may keepGod's commandments
willingly, let these things be well weighed. Our willingness is more esteemed
than our service;therefore David counsels Solomonnot only to serve God, but
with a willing mind. The will makes sin to be worse, andmakes duty to be
better. To obey willingly shows we do it with love; and this crowns all our
services. There is that in the Lawgiver, which may make us willing to obey the
commandments, namely, God's indulgence to us.There is that in God's
commandments which may make us willing; they are not burdensome.
1. Fora Christian, so far as he is regenerate, consents to God's commands —
"I consentto the law that it is good."
2. God's commandments are sweetenedwith joy and peace. Cicero questions
whether that can properly be calleda burden which one carries with delight
and pleasure. If a man carries a bag of money given him, it is heavy, but the
delight takes offthe burden; when God gives inward joy, that makes the
commandments delightful.
3. God's commandments are advantageous.(1)Preventive of evil. Had He not
setthem as a hedge or bar in our way, we might have run to hell, and never
stopped.(2)Nothing in them but what is for our good. Notso much our duty as
our privilege.
4. God's commandments are ornamental. It is an honour to be employed in a
king's service.
5. The commands of God are infinitely better than the commands of sin, these
are intolerable. Many have gone with more pains to hell than others have to
heaven. This may make us obey the commandments willingly.
6. Willingness in obedience makes us resemble the angels. Use:It reproves
them who live in a wilful breach of God's commandments, — in malice,

uncleanness, intemperance, — they walk antipodes to the commandment.To
live in a wilful breach of the commandment is —
1. Against reason.
2. Against equity.
3. Against nature.
4. Against kindness.
( T. Watson.)
Keeping the commandments
Bp. E. King.
I. ONE CONDITION,THEN, OF OBTAINING GOD'S MERCYIS
OBEDIENCE. Butwhat am I to obey? But I desire to ask whether, at heart,
some of you do not:know sufficiently the answerthat should be given? Can
you saythat you know no difference betweenright and wrong? Is the liar and
the man of truth the same to you? May we go together, then, thus far, that we
admit the difference betweenright and wrong? A secondstep will, I think, be
then admitted — to right and wrong we must add the words "ought" and
"ought not." In other words, the distinction betweenright and wrong brings
with it the words "ought," "oughtnot," "responsibility," "duty." Here it may
be well further remind you that in this word "duty" lies hid an inexplicable
treasure of infinite value — I mean our freedom. In the "I ought" is
practically included the "I can." But let me ask you, yet again, whence comes
this powerto distinguish right from wrong? Here we may differ in words, but
in the existence ofthe poweritself many will agree. We may callit moral
feeling, moral sense, Divine reason, or use the word to which we have been
accustomed— conscience. But, once more, why do we give to this mysterious
powerso much importance? Why, if this moral feeling, this conscience, is part
of ourselves, why not deal with it as we please, and listen or not as it may serve
our turn? The real answer, I believe (though all may not be able to give it), is
because consciencedoes notspeak as for herself, but as for another. She

brings us to a bar of another, whom we fear and may resist, but One higher
than ourselves, evenGod. Here is surely a point worthy of your most careful
consideration. II, The text offers mercy for thousands, mercy for all, but on
two conditions — obedience and love. Obedience of a kind we may practise to
the moral law; but LOVE REQUIRES PERSONALITY. We must, by God's
help, rise above the contemplation of the law to the Personof the Lawgiver,
and love the law for His sake — "Lord, what love have I unto Thy law!" —
and then love Him because He is what He is.
1. The first test I would suggestto you is this — what use do you make of your
Bible? The step from obedience to love, we said, implied the step from an
impersonal law to the personal Lawgiver, and this, the belief in one Personal
God, we said, required for its fulness the aid of Divine revelation. Here, then,
is one test— our Bible. Let me say it as plainly as I can: if you neglectthe
study, the habitual devotionalstudy, of the one Book that above all others
makes knownto you the one PersonalGod, you will be in danger of living a
mere moral life — fulfilling, in a sense, the condition of obedience, but falling
short of the higher condition of love, and a narrow, selfish, unloving,
uninfluential humanity will be the result.
2. Let me offer you anothertest which eachcaneasily make for himself. What
is your relation to prayer? Prayer is the testof belief in a PersonalGod. The
man who never prays, never rises above himself, may be moral, may be
obedient to the moral law, but he has lost one proof of his belief in a Personal
Lawgiver, to whom the law was intended to lead him; has lostone proof that
he has a PersonalGuide through the perils of his life; has lostone proof that
he is preserving the condition of love. If we can pray, we have faith in a
PersonalGod;we may deplore our coldness from time to time, we may even
pray from a sense ofduty many times, but we have not lost the greatcondition
of love, and we know by experience how our hearts may become againas the
rivers in the south — dry water-beds for a season, but in due time flowing like
a flood.
3. Let me give you but one more test, by which you may know whether you
are fulfilling this condition of love, the greatcondition on which God's
plentiful mercy may be obtained. It is the testof the love of our neighbour.

(Bp. E. King.)
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
Thou shalt not make unto thee any gravenimage - As the word ‫לספ‬ pasal
signifies to hew, carve, grave, etc., ‫לספ‬ peselmay here signify any kind of
image, either of wood, stone, or metal, on which the axe, the chisel, or the
graving tool has been employed. This commandment includes in its
prohibitions every species ofidolatry known to have been practiced among the
Egyptians. The reader will see this the more plainly by consulting the notes on
the ten plagues, particularly those on Exodus 12.
Or any likeness, etc. - To know the full spirit and extent of this
commandment, this place must be collatedwith Deuteronomy4:15, etc.:Take
ye therefore goodheed unto yourselves - lest ye corrupt yourselves - and make
you a gravenimage, the similitude of any figure, the likeness ofMale or
Female. All who have even the slightestacquaintance with the ancient history
of Egypt, know that Osiris and his wife Isis were supreme divinities among
that people.
The likeness ofany Beast - .refieh eht dna xo ehtsa hcus ,hameheb‫בהמה‬
Among the Egyptians the ox was not only sacredbut adored, because they
supposedthat in one of these animals Osiris took up his residence:hence they
always had a living ox, which they supposedto be the habitation of this deity;
and they imagined that on the death of one he entered into the body of
another, and so on successively. This famous ox-godthey calledApis and
Mnevis.
The likeness ofany wingedFowl - The ibis, or stork, or crane, and hawk, may
be here intended, for all these were objects of Egyptian idolatry.

The likeness ofany thing that Creepeth - The crocodile, serpents, the
scarabeus orbeetle, were all objects of their adoration; and Mr. Bryant has
rendered it very probable that even the frog itself was a sacredanimal, as
from its inflation it was emblematic of the prophetic influence, for they
supposedthat the god inflated or distended the body of the personby whom
he gave oracularanswers.
The likeness ofany Fish - All fish were esteemedsacredanimals among the
Egyptians. One calledOxurunchus had, according to Strabo, lib. xvii., a
temple, and divine honors paid to it. Another fish, calledPhagrus, was
worshipped at Syene, according to Clemens Alexandrinus in his Cohortatio.
And the Lepidotus and eelwere objects of their adoration, as we find from
Herodotus, lib. ii., cap. 72. In short, oxen, heifers, sheep, goats, lions, dogs,
monkeys, and cats;the ibis, the crane, and the hawk; the crocodile, serpents,
frogs, flies, and the scarabeusorbeetle; the Nile and its fish; the sun, moon,
planets, and stars;fire, light, air, darkness, andnight, were all objects of
Egyptian idolatry, and all included in this very circumstantial prohibition as
detailed in Deuteronomy, and very forcibly in the generalterms of the text:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any gravenimage, or any likeness of any thing
that is in the Heavens above, or that is in the Earth beneath, or that is in the
Waterunder the earth. And the reasonof this becomes self-evident, when the
various objects of Egyptian idolatry are considered.
To countenance its image worship, the RomanCatholic Church has left the
whole of this secondcommandment out of the decalogue, andthus lost one
whole commandment out of the ten; but to keepup the number they have
divided the tenth into two. This is totally contrary to the faith of God's elect
and to the acknowledgmentofthat truth which is according to godliness. The
verse is found in every MS. of the Hebrew Pentateuchthat has everyet been
discovered. It is in all the ancient versions, Samaritan, Chaldee, Syriac,
Septuagint, Vulgate, Coptic, and Arabic; also in the Persian, and in all
modern versions. There is not one word of the whole verse wanting in the
many hundreds of MSS. collectedby Kennicott and De Rossi. This corruption
of the word of God by the Roman Catholic Church stamps it, as a false and
hereticalChurch, with the deepestbrand of ever-during infamy! This
commandment also prohibits every species ofexternal idolatry, as the first

does all idolatry that may be called internal or mental. All false worship may
be consideredof this kind, togetherwith all image worship, and all other
superstitious rites and ceremonies. See Clarke's note on Exodus 20:23.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Exodus 20:4". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/exodus-
20.html. 1832.
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John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
Thou shalt not make unto thee any gravenimage,.... An image of anything
graven by art or man's device, cut out of woodof stone, and so anything that
was molten, or castinto a mould or form, engravedby men, and this in order
to be worshipped; for otherwise images of things might be made for other uses
and purposes, as the cherubim over the mercy seat, and the brazen serpent,
and images and impressions on coin, which we do not find the Jews
themselves scrupled to make use of in Christ's time on that account;though
they vehemently opposedthe setting up any images of the Caesars or
emperors in their temple, because they seemedto be placed there as deities,
and had a show of religious worship: however, any image of God was not to be
made at all, since no similitude was everseenof him, or any likeness couldbe
conceived;and it must be a gross piece ofignorance, madness, and
impudence, to pretend to make one, and greatimpiety to make it in order to
be the objectof religious worship; on which account, not any image or the
image of anything whateverwas to be made:
or any likeness ofanything that is in heavenabove; any form, figure, portrait,
or picture of anything or creature whatever, whether in the supreme, starry,
or airy heaven; as of angels, whichsome have gone into the worship of; and of

the sun, moon, and stars, the host of heaven; and of any of the birds of the air,
as the hawk by the Egyptians, and the dove by the Assyrians:
or that is in the earth beneath; as oxen, sheep, goats, cats, dogs, &c. suchas
were the gods of Egypt:
or that is in the waterunder the earth: as of fishes, such as were the crocodile
of Egypt, the Dagonof the Philistines, and the Derceto ofthe Syrians: this is
the secondcommand, as the Targum of Jonathan expresslycalls it; that is, the
first part of it, which forbids the making of gravenimages for worship; the
other part follows, which is the worship of them itself: Clemens of
AlexandriaF4 observes, thatNuma, king of the Romans, took this from Moses,
and forbid the Romans to make any image of God, like to man or beast.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved,
Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on Exodus 20:4". "The New John Gill Exposition of
the Entire Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/exodus-
20.html. 1999.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
4.Thoushalt not make unto thee any gravenimage. In the First
Commandment, after He had taught who was the true God, He commanded
that He alone should e worshipped; and now He defines what is His

Legitimate Worship. Now, since these are two distinct things, we conclude
that the commandments are also distinct, in which different things are treated
of. The former indeed precedes in order, viz., that believers are to be
contentedwith one God; but it would not be sufficient for us to be instructed
to worship him alone, unless we also knew the manner in which He would be
worshipped. The sum is, that the worship of God must be spiritual, in order
that it may correspondwith His nature. Foralthough Mosesonly speaks of
idolatry, yet there is no doubt but that by synecdoche, as in all the rest of the
Law, he condemns all fictitious services whichmen in their ingenuity have
invented. For hence have arisenthe carnalmixtures whereby God’s worship
has been profaned, that they estimate Him according to their own reason, and
thus in a manner metamorphose Him. It is necessary, then, to remember what
God is, lestwe should form any gross or earthly ideas respecting Him. The
words simply express that it is wrong (79) for men to seek the presence of God
in any visible image, because He cannot be representedto our eyes. The
command that they should not make any likeness, eitherof any thing which is
in heaven, or in the earth, or in the waters under the earth, is derived from the
evil customwhich had everywhere prevailed; for, since superstition is never
uniform, but is drawn aside in various directions, some thought that God was
representedunder the form of fishes, others under that of birds, others in that
of brutes; and history especiallyrecounts by what shameless delusions Egypt
was led astray. And hence too the vanity of men is declared, since,
whithersoeverthey turn their eyes, they everywhere lay hold of the materials
of error, notwithstanding that God’s glory shines on every side, and whatever
is seenabove or below, invites us to the true God.
Since, therefore, men are thus deluded, so as to frame for themselves the
materials of error from all things they behold, Moses now elevatesthem above
the whole fabric and elements of the world; for by the things that are “in
heaven above,” he designates not only the birds, but the sun, and the moon,
and all the stars also;as will soonbe seen. He declares, then, that a true image
of God is not to be found in all the world; and hence that His glory is defiled,
and His truth corrupted by the lie, whenever He is set before our eyes in a
visible form. Now we must remark, that there are two parts in the
Commandment — the first forbids the erectionof a graven image, or any

likeness;the secondprohibits the transferring of the worship which God
claims for Himself alone, to any of these phantoms or delusive shows.
Therefore, to devise any image of God, is in itself impious; because by this
corruption His Majestyis adulterated, and He is figured to be other than He
is. There is no need of refuting the foolish fancy of some, that all sculptures
and pictures are here condemned by Moses, forhe had no other objectthan to
rescue God’s glory from all the imaginations which tend to corrupt it. And
assuredlyit is a most gross indecencyto make God like a stock or a stone.
Some expound the words, “Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven image,
which thou mayest adore;” (80) as if it were allowable to make a visible image
of God, provided it be not adored; but the expositions which will follow will
easilyrefute their error. Meanwhile, I do not deny that these things are to be
takenconnectedly, since superstitious worship is hardly ever separatedfrom
the preceding error; for as soonas any one has permitted himself to devise an
image of God, he immediately falls into false worship. And surely whosoever
reverently and soberly feels and thinks about God Himself, is far from this
absurdity; nor does any desire or presumption to metamorphose God ever
creepin, except when coarse andcarnal imaginations occupy our minds.
Hence it comes to pass, that those, who frame for themselves gods of
corruptible materials, superstitiously adore the work of their own hands. I
will then readily allow these two things, which are inseparable, to be joined
together;only let us recollectthat God is insulted, not only when His worship
is transferred to idols, but when we try to representHim by any outward
similitude.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Calvin, John. "Commentary on Exodus 20:4". "Calvin's Commentary on the
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/exodus-20.html.
1840-57.

Scofield's ReferenceNotes
shalt not make
There is a threefold giving of the law. First, orally, in Exodus 20:1-17. This
was pure law, with no provision of priesthood and sacrifice forfailure, and
was accompaniedby the "judgments"; Exodus 21:1 to Exodus 23:13;relating
to the relations of Hebrew with Hebrew; to which were added Exodus 23:14-
19 directions for keeping three annual feasts, and Exodus 23:20-33
instructions for the conquestof Canaan. These words Mosescommunicatedto
the people. Exodus 24:3-8. Immediately, in the persons of their elders, they
were admitted to the fellowship of God. Exodus 24:9-11.
Second, Moseswas then calledup to receive the tables of stone. Exodus 24:12-
18. The story then divides. Moses, in the mount, receives the gracious
instructions concerning the tabernacle, priesthood, and sacrifice (Exodus 25-
31.)Meantime (Exodus 32.), the people, led by Aaron, break the first
commandment. Moses, returning, breaks the tables "written with the finger of
God.";Exodus 31:18;Exodus 32:16-19.
Third, the secondtables were made by Moses, andthe law again written by
the hand of JehovahExodus 34:1; Exodus 34:28;Exodus 34:29; Deuteronomy
10:4.
Copyright Statement
These files are consideredpublic domain and are a derivative of an electronic
edition that is available in the Online Bible Software Library.
Bibliography

Scofield, C. I. "ScofieldReferenceNoteson Exodus 20:4". "Scofield
Reference Notes(1917Edition)".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/srn/exodus-20.html. 1917.
James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
NO GRAVEN IMAGE
‘Thou shalt not make … any graven image,’etc.
Exodus 20:4
I. The primary meaning of this commandment no longerneeds
enforcement.—There is no longerany disposition to worship Jehovahunder
any symbolicalform, whether of a calf or anything else. Evenif anywhere
excessive honourseems to be paid to pictures and statues of our Lord or His
Mother, this can hardly be strictly saidto be a breach of the Second
Commandment. For the essentialsin, againstwhich the Second
Commandment is directed, is the low conceptionof the Divine Being which is
involved in representing Him as adequately symbolised by any createdthing;
and this would not be involved in any excessive reverenceforstatues or
pictures, which only attempt to portray Christ’s humanity. When Godcame
in such a form, that He could be seenand handled as the Son of Man, He
satisfiedthat craving which in earlier ages required restraint. He showedthat
God could be seenand known and worshipped as man without danger of
idolatry. No doubt pictures and images of Christ may be held in a
superstitious reverence, and may in that way weakenour sense ofunseen
realities. But it would be as uncharitable to stigmatise the reverence paid to
them as idolatrous as to callour regardfor the relics of a dead child or friend
idolatrous. Iconoclasm, under whatever guise it poses, is as wanting in lucidity
as it is in charity; while the faults of characterwhich it breeds and fosters are
certainly far more serious than any which it is likely to cure. It is possible, but
only just possible, that a very uneducated Christian might think that the
material atoms composing a painting or statue, which representedChrist,
were more sacredin themselves than the atoms composing a chair or a table.

Such an idea would show a certain confusionof thought, but it would not
involve a breachof the SecondCommandment.
II. The SecondCommandment has still a meaning; it is the safeguardof the
imagination.—It bids us, first of all, think of God as He has revealed
Himself—as the Father; it forbids the misuse of the imaginative faculty in
thinking of Him as other than He is. This is its deepestlesson. It is the germ-
thought which prescribes all high and reverent thought about God. God is to
be honoured with our imagination. And then, in order that we may make it
capable of honouring Him, its use is to be strictly restrained; it must not run
riot and construct false views of life, or paint false and bad pictures within us
and dwell on them. It needs restraint; it needs also cultivation. It cannever be
said too strongly that to use your imagination aright you must spiritualise it.
‘Blessedare the pure in heart, for they shall see God’—theyand only they.
You must keepits delicate fibre untarnished; otherwise you cannotsee that
which is, the real, the Divine.
The SecondCommandment is the safeguardof the imagination; it keeps us
true to high conceptions ofGod: it forbids us to imagine Him as a God from
whom we should shrink if He were a man—a non-natural Being;it forbids
any degradationin our thought of Him. In order to lay hold of its spirit, we
must discipline the imagination so that we may be able to use it aright: we
must train it by keeping it from degradation, but especiallyby filling it with
all that is beautiful and true. For both in the disciplining of the imagination in
ourselves and in the training of it in others, the ‘Thou shalt not,’ the mere
laws of prohibition and restraint are of little use. Practicallywe shall find that
the only way not to exercise the imagination wrongly is to exercise it rightly. If
we would keepit from base uses, we must put it to noble uses. ‘We must walk
in the Spirit’ if we are not to ‘fulfil the lusts of the flesh.’ The Divine law for us
is positive. The grim sign-posts that keepus out of the woods by assuring us
that guns and man-traps are to be found there, will not give us of themselves
the benefits of healthy exercise:they may keepus from dangers, they will not
give us fresh air. The only way of keeping the imagination from poisonis by
presenting it with its true food. Give it realloveliness to dwell on and it will
rejectthe sham, the pretentious, the unworthy.

Illustration
‘Nothing could be more repugnant than for us to bow in worship to an idol.
Every instinct of our souls would rebel. But have you never bestowedon a
friend, on your business, on your money, on yourself, the love and adoration
which belong to God? And there is a still more specialmodern peril. We may
not have placeda material idol in the shrine where we ought to have
worshipped the true and living God, but we have seatedupon His throne that
impersonal energycalled force. Talk about the fascinationand danger of idol
worship! Here is a peril a thousandfold more terrible. Millions of us
(unconsciously, perhaps) are prostrating ourselves before force and law
instead of before mind and heart. These fearful abstractions are benumbing
and paralysing our emotions of love and devotion. I believe that a century of
such prostration (it cannot be called worship) will have as deadly an influence
on the soul as did the worship of Astarte and Baal. Sceptics may sneerat the
idea of God’s being “jealous”as immoral, but one thing is certain, and that is
that Nature, or Force, or whateveryou wish to call that supreme powerthat
shapes the destinies of men, will never let them worship anything but the
highest. With a fearful and inexorable judgment, he (or it) “visits the iniquity”
of worshipping anything less than the highest with infinite misery and shame.
If this jealousycan be in nature without subjecting it to reproach, why should
it be a reproach to nature’s God!’
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Nisbet, James. "Commentaryon Exodus 20:4". Church Pulpit Commentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cpc/exodus-20.html. 1876.

John Trapp Complete Commentary
Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness
[of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or
that [is] in the waterunder the earth:
Ver. 4. Thou shalt not make unto thee,] i.e., For religious use; for civil they
may be made. [Matthew 22:20]Howbeit the Turks will not endure any image,
no not upon their coins, because ofthis secondcommandment. The Papists by
their sacrilegiouspractices,have takenawaythis commandment out of their
vulgar catechism. This is a greatstumbling block to the Jews, anda let to their
conversion:for eversince their return from Babylon, they do infinitely abhor
idolatry. And for their coming to Christian sermons, they say, that as long as
they shall see the preacherdirect his speechand prayer to that little wooden
crucifix that stands on the pulpit by him, to callit his Lord and Saviour to
kneelto it, to embrace it, to kiss it, to weepupon it, as is the fashion of Italy,
this is preaching sufficient for them, and persuades them more with the very
sight of it, to hate Christian religion, than any reasonthat the world can allege
to love it. (a) {See Trapp (for summary of Law) on "Exodus 20:17"}
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on Exodus 20:4". John Trapp Complete
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/exodus-
20.html. 1865-1868.

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
Exodus 20:4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image— The having
or worshipping any kind of false gods, is absolutely forbidden in the first
commandment. Here the mode of worshipping them, which generally
prevailed among idolaters, and which was peculiarly offensive to Jehovah, is
forbidden: the Israelites are enjoined to avoid forming not only any images of
false deities, but any imaginary representations of the true GOD, See
Deuteronomy 4:12. Thou shalt not make unto thee, says the Lord, thou shalt
not form to thyself, or from thy own imagination, ‫לספ‬ pesel, a graven, or
carved image;or any ‫הנומת‬ temunah, any delineation, similitude, or
representationof any thing: the word signifies any such orderly and regular
distribution of parts, lineaments, colours, orthe like, as raises in the mind the
idea of the thing represented. See Parkhurston the word. They were not to
make to themselves for the purpose of worshipping (as Exodus 20:5 shews)
any such image or representationof any thing in heavenabove, which may
include not only God and his angels, the inhabitants of heaven; but, more
particularly, the heavenly hosts, the sun, moon, and stars, the first and most
universal objects of idolatrous worship. See Deuteronomy4:19. Job 31:26-27.
For the rest, it may be observed, that there was scarcelyany creature, from
the human, to the lowestreptile, which the folly of idolatry did not represent
and sanctify; and, therefore, this prohibition, which extends to every creature
in the heaven, or air, the earth and the sea, was by no means too general;as a
knowledge ofthe superstitions of the Egyptians only, would prove; who
deified creatures from the sun and the moon, to the ox that grazethin the
field, and the crocodile which devoureth in the waters.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography

Coke, Thomas. "Commentaryon Exodus 20:4". Thomas Coke Commentary
on the Holy Bible. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/exodus-
20.html. 1801-1803.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
Thou shalt not make, either in thy mind, or with thy hand, Acts 17:29, or by
thy command.
Unto thee, i.e. for thy use, or for thee to worship; for otherwise they were not
absolutely forbidden to make any images, but only to make them for worship,
as may appear by comparing this place with Leviticus 19:4 Deuteronomy 4:15
and Amos 5:26, with Acts 7:43; and from Leviticus 26:1, where the setting up
of a pillar, or stone, is as absolutelyforbidden as the making of an image. And
therefore as the former is not forbidden to be done simply and universally, as
appears from Joshua 24:20 1 Samuel 7:12, but only to be done in order to
worship, so also is the latter. Moreoverthere were cherubims and other
images in the temple, and afterwards the brazen serpent, which because they
were not made to be worshipped, neither were indeed, nor were ever esteemed
to be, any contradictions to this law.
Any graven image, or molten, or any other image, as is most evident from the
nature and reasonof the precept. Nor is any thing more common than such
synecdochicalexpressions, whereinunder one kind named all other things of
the like nature are contained. But for more abundant caution, and to put all
out of doubt, he adds a more generalword, nor any likeness.
Anything that is in heaven; as of God, Deuteronomy4:15 Isaiah 44:9,20,
angels, sun, moon, or stars, which the heathens worshipped, Deuteronomy
4:19 17:3. Or in the earth; as of men, and beasts, and creeping things, which
the Egyptians and other Gentiles worshipped as gods. See Deuteronomy
4:16,17 Isa 44:13 Ezekiel23:14.
Or in the water; as of fishes, such as Dagonwas;or serpents, crocodiles, and
such other Egyptian deities.

Under the earth: this is emphatically added, to note the singular care of
Divine Providence in bringing the waters under the earth, which naturally are
lighter and higher than it, and therefore might easilyoverwhelm it. Compare
Psalms 104:6.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentaryon Exodus 20:4". Matthew Poole's English
Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/exodus-20.html. 1685.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT, Exodus 20:4-6.
4. Graven image — That this commandment was not designed to prohibit the
productions of sculpture and painting is apparent from the factthat Moses
was expresslyordered to construct cherubim for the most holy place of the
tabernacle, and to make the brazen serpent in the wilderness. Only idolatrous
images, representations ofGod and designed for worship, are contemplated.
The goldencalf, Exodus 32:1-4, is an illustration of the kind of graven images
intended. Such images were gravenor carvedout of metal, wood, or stone.
Comp. Judges 17:3; 2 Kings 21:7. The word translatedlikeness ( ‫הנומת‬ ) is
commonly used of attempted representations of God, or of the real form of
God as seenor conceivedby man. Comp. Numbers 12:8; Deuteronomy 4:12;
Deuteronomy 4:15-16;Psalms 17:15. Accordinglya likeness of something in
heaven above would be a portraiture of a god under the form of a star, or sun,
or moon, or fowl; that of what is in the earth beneath would be the formation
of a god in the similitude of a man or a woman, of a beast or any creeping

thing that moves on land: that of things in the water under the earth would
be, like the Philistine fish-god Dagon, the image of something that lives and
moves in the water. All these are enumerated in Deuteronomy4:15-19, which
passageis an inspired commentary on this secondcommandment. The words
under the earth show us the Hebrew conceptionof the wateras lying lower
than the land. When the land was elevatedabove the waters the latter fell
back into the lower level of the seas. Genesis1:9-10. We should here observe
that the use of images in worship is not always idolatry. Hence this second
commandment is not to be confounded with the first, for it was assumedin the
worship of the goldencalf that the true God, who brought Israelout of Egypt,
was honoured by means of the image. It has been persistently claimed by
many religious leaders that the use of images in worship may be very helpful;
they serve to concentrate the mind, and so prevent distractionof thought in
one’s devotions. They deepen impressions, and so intensify and enliven the
forms of worship. But all history shows that such employment of images in
worship begets superstition, and turns the thought of the average worshipper
more upon the creature than the Creator. The narrative of chapter 32 sets
forth the unquestionable fact that the image-worshipthere describedbrought
down the penal wrath of God upon the people. Such a method of promoting
religious devotions is therefore fraught with greatdanger, and a perfect law
required this prohibition of the use of graven images in worship.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on Exodus 20:4". "Whedon's Commentary
on the Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/whe/exodus-
20.html. 1874-1909.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
A graven thing, nor the likeness ofany thing, &c. All such images or
likenesses,are forbidden by this commandment, as are made to be adoredand
served; according to that which immediately follows, thou shalt not adore
them, nor serve them. That is, all such as are designedfor idols or image gods,
or are worshipped with divine honour. But otherwise images, pictures, or
representations, evenin the house of God, and in the very sanctuary, so far
from being forbidden are expressly authorized by the word of God. See
Exodus xxv. 15, &c.; chap. xxxviii. 7; Numbers xxi. 8, 9; 1 Chronicles xxviii.
18, 19; 2 Chronicles iii. 10. (Challoner) --- Protestants insidiouslytranslate
"any graven image," though pesel, eidolon, glupton, and sculptile, in the
Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, denote a graven thing or idol. They will, however,
hardly condemn his majesty for having his representationstamped upon the
coin of the nation, nor so many of our wealthy noblemen, who adorn their
rooms with the choicestefforts of painting and of sculpture. They know that
the objectof prohibition is the making and adoring of idols. But they probably
wish to keepthe ignorant under the stupid delusion of supposing, that
Catholics are idolaters, because they have images, and that they themselves
are not, though they have them likewise athome; and even in their churches
admit the absurd figures of the lion and the unicorn, stretching their paws
over the tables of the law, instead of the pious representations ofJesus
expiring on the cross, &c., whichwere set up by their Catholic ancestors. Let
them read, and adopt herein just weights and measures, proposedto them by
Thorndike, one of their most discerning and moderate teachers. In the mean
time, we will assure them, that we abhor all idols; both those made with
hands, and those which are formed by the head of heretics, who set up their
own fancies and delusions, to be adored insteadof the true God. Our general
councils of Nice and of Trent define what we ought to believe on this head;
and the matter is so fully explained in our catechisms andbooks of
instruction, as well as from our pulpits, that no person can wellremain in
ignorance. If we perform various actions of respectbefore pictures, which are
also done in honour of God, canany man of sense infer, that we look upon
both with equal respect? Do we not read of the people falling down to shew
respectto the king, and supreme worship to God, by the same actof the body?

(Haydock) --- Altars and sacrifice we reserve solelyfor God, as St. Augustine
(contra Faust. xx. 21)well observes. Otherindifferent practices must be
determined by the intention. --- Latria, or supreme worship, can be given to
none but the Deity. But we shew our respectand venerationfor his servants in
glory, by an inferior service calledDulia, giving honour to whom honour is
due. How profane and impious must the words of the first reformers appear,
who, after saying most falsely, that "papists make the Virgin Mary a god,
(Luther. postil.) and worship images in heathenish manner," (Melanct. Loc.
com.) attribute various fictitious crimes to the blessedVirgin and other saints!
(Centuriators of Magdeburg;Calvin, &c.) They knew that all the saints
abhorred their impiety; and therefore, in revenge, they vilify the saints, and
condemn all the doctors and fathers of the Church, since the death of the
apostles, as guilty of superstition and idolatry. (Haydock) --- "By this
occasion, deadcreatures, and bloodless half worm-eatenbones, beganto be
honoured, invocated, and worshipped with divine honour. All which the
doctors of the Church not only winked at, but also set forward."
(Centuriators of Magdeburg, Chap. vi.) What is then become of the promises
of God, to teachall the truth by the mouths of his pastors? (Matthew xxviii,
&c.)Let others judge, whether we ought to pay greaterdeference to Saints
Jerome, Augustine, Gregory, &c., or to Luther, Calvin, and the Centuriators
of Magdeburg. But some will evenadmit that images were commanded by
God, chap. xxv. 18, &c. Hence they lay greatstress upon the words to thyself;
as if all images were forbidden that man should make, without the express
sanctionof God. So Parkhurst Lexic. But those who are conversantin
Hebrew, know that these words have no such import; and if things were
inseparable from idolatry, they could not be sanctionedby God. (Haydock) ---
No creature must be represented as a deity. But sovereignworship, both
internal and external, must be given to the greatAuthor of all good, while we
abstain from every superstitious act, and from all dealings with the devil and
false religions. (Calmet) --- Protestants, therefore, who only forbid images,
diminish God's law. Were not the idols of Chanaan, Chamos, &c., which
representednothing in nature, also condemned?
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Haydock, George Leo. "Commentaryon Exodus 20:4". "George Haydock's
Catholic Bible Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hcc/exodus-20.html. 1859.
E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
make. The making is equally forbidden as the worshipping.
graven image. Hebrew. pesel, a sculpture. First occurance.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bullinger, Ethelbert William. "Commentary on Exodus 20:4". "E.W.
Bullinger's Companion bible Notes".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bul/exodus-20.html. 1909-
1922.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(4) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.—The two main clauses
of the secondcommandment are to be read together, so as to form one
sentence:“Thou shalt not make to thee any gravenimage, &c., so as to
worship it.” (See the explanation of Josephus, Ant. Jud., iii. 5, § 5: ‘ ο δεύτερος
λó γος κελεύει μηδένος εἰκόνα ζώονποιήσαντας προσκυνεῖν.)It was not until

the days of Hebrew decline and degeneracythat a narrow literalism pressed
the words into an absolute prohibition of the arts of painting and sculpture
(Philo, De Oraculis, § 29). Moseshimself sanctionedthe cherubic forms above
the mercy-seat, the brazen serpent, and the lilies and pomegranates ofthe
golden candlestick.Solomonhad lions on the steps of his throne, oxen under
his “moltensea,” and palm-trees, flowers, and cherubim on the walls of the
Temple, “within and without” (1 Kings 6:29). What the secondcommandment
forbade was the worship of God under a material form. It assertedthe
spirituality of Jehovah. While in the rest of the ancientworld there was
scarcelya single nation or tribe which did not “make to itself” images of the
gods, and regard the images themselves with superstitious veneration, in
Judaism alone was this seductive practice disallowed. Godwould have no
likeness made of Him, no representationthat might cloud the conceptionof
His entire separationfrom matter, His purely spiritual essence.
In heaven above . . . in the earth beneath . . . in the waterunder the earth.—
Comp. Genesis 1:1-7. The triple division is regardedas embracing the whole
material universe. In the Egyptian idolatry images of all three kinds were
included.
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I am the LORD thy God
No other gods before me
No graven images or likenesses
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"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" (Hebrew: ‫ֹל‬‫-ל‬ ,‫ל‬ֲ‫פֲס‬ ‫ל‬ ְ‫ל‬‫ה‬ ֲ‫ֶס‬‫ל‬ ,‫ת‬
‫כְל‬ְ‫ְה-ו‬‫נ‬‫מּו‬ ְ‫)ה‬ is an abbreviated form of one of the Ten Commandments which,
according to the Book of Deuteronomy, were spokenby God to the Israelites
and then written on stone tablets by the Fingerof God.[1]
Although no single biblical passagecontains a complete definition of idolatry,
the subjectis addressedin numerous passages, so that idolatry may be
summarized as the worship of idols or images;the worship of polytheistic
gods by use of idols or images;the worship of createdthings (trees, rocks,
animals, astronomicalbodies, or anotherhuman being); and the use of idols in
the worship of God (YHWH Elohim, the God of Israel).[2]In the New
Testamentcovetousness(greed)is defined as idolatry.[3] When the
commandment was given, opportunities to participate in the honor or worship
of idols abounded, and the religions of Canaanite tribes neighboring the
Israelites oftencentered on a carefully constructedand maintained cult
idol.[4] However, according to the book of Deuteronomythe Israelites were
strictly warned to neither adopt nor adapt any of the religious practices of the
peoples around them.[5]
Nevertheless,the story of the people of Israeluntil the Babylonian Captivity
includes the violation of this commandment as well as the one before it, "Thou
shalt have no other gods before me". Much of biblical preaching from the
time of Moses to the exile is predicated on the either–orchoice between
exclusive worship of God and idols.[6] The Babylonian exile seems to have
been a turning point after which the Jewishpeople as a whole were strongly
monotheistic and willing to fight battles (such as the MaccabeanRevolt)and
face martyrdom before paying homage to any other god.[7]
According to the psalmist and the prophet Isaiah, those who worship
inanimate idols will be like them, that is, unseeing, unfeeling, unable to hear
the truth that Godwould communicate to them.[8] Paul the Apostle identifies
the worship of createdthings (rather than the Creator)as the cause of the
disintegration of sexualand socialmorality in his letter to the Romans.[9]
Although the commandment implies that the worship of God is not
compatible with the worship of idols, the status of an individual as an idol
worshiper or a God worshiperis not portrayed as predetermined and

unchangeable in the Bible. When the covenant is renewedunder Joshua, the
Israelites are encouragedto throw away their foreigngods and "choosethis
day whom you will serve".[10]King Josiah, whenhe becomes aware ofthe
terms of God's covenant, zealouslyworks to rid his kingdom of idols.[11]
According to the book of Acts, Paul tells the Athenians that though their city
is full of idols, the true God is representedby none of them and requires them
to turn awayfrom idols.[12]
Contents
1
Commandment
2
Words translatedas "idol"
3
Cultural context
4
Biblical injunctions
5
Violation
6
Maccabeanrevolt
7
Judaism
8
Christianity

8.1
Catholicism
8.2
Protestantism
9
See also
10
References
11
External links
Commandment[edit]
Main article: Ten Commandments
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any gravenimage, or any likeness [of any
thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in
the waterunder the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor
serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation]of
them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love
me, and keepmy commandments.
— Exodus 20:4-6 (KJV)
4ֹ‫ ל‬ ‫ת‬ ֲֶַֽ‫,ל‬‫ו‬ ‫ת‬ ,‫ל‬ ְ ְ,‫ה‬ ֶׁ֤֣‫מ‬‫ס‬ ֲ‫ל‬ ֙‫׀‬ ְ‫ל‬ ְ‫כ‬ ‫ל‬‫ל‬ ‫ת‬ ֲֶַֽ‫ל‬ ,‫ו‬ ‫ל,ל‬ ‫ש‬, ֶׁ֤֣‫מ‬‫ב‬ַּ‫ש‬ֶׁ֤֣‫מ‬ ַּ,‫מ‬ ְ‫ם‬ ,‫כ‬ ‫ ל‬ ֲֶַֽ‫ל‬ ‫שה‬ְ‫נ‬‫מּו‬ ְ‫כְלרה‬ְ‫ו‬ ‫ַּב‬‫ל‬ֲ‫ס‬ ֲַּ‫פ‬ ‫ת‬‫ל‬ ְ‫הרל‬ ֲ֙‫ֶס‬‫ל‬ ,‫ת‬ ‫ל‬ ‫ת‬,‫ ל‬ ‫ת‬ ,‫ה‬ ֶׁ֤֣‫מ‬‫שב‬ֶׁ֤֣‫ מ‬ ‫׀‬ , ,‫כ‬ ‫ל‬
‫ס‬ ֲ‫ל‬ ְ‫ל‬ְ‫ל‬
5 ֹֽ‫ל‬ ַּ‫מל‬ ֲַּ‫לְחה‬ ‫ה‬ ְ‫הו‬ְ‫מ‬ ‫מ‬ ֶֶׁ֖֤֣‫נֹכ‬ ְ‫ל‬ ‫מ‬ ֶָׁ֤֣ ָ‫ש‬ ֹֽ ְ‫ב‬ְ‫ל‬ ְ‫ת‬ ‫ל‬ֹ‫ל‬ְ‫ו‬ ‫שכ‬‫׀‬ ֲ‫ה‬ְ‫ל‬‫ ה‬‫ת‬ ֲ‫ו‬ ְ‫ל‬ ,‫ה‬ ְַֽ ֶׁ֤֣‫לרת‬ֹ‫ל‬ ‫מש‬ ‫ת‬ ֶַֹֽֽׁ֤֣‫א‬ ֶַֽׁ֤֣‫ל,לר‬ ‫ֲמש‬ ֶׁ֤֣‫נ‬ ְ‫ל,לרכ‬ ‫ת‬ ‫בֹת‬ ְ‫ל‬ ‫ב‬ ֹ֙‫ו‬ֶ‫ל‬ ַֹֽ ‫ל‬ֹ‫ש‬ ‫ל‬ ‫ְש‬ ,ַ ‫ל‬
‫ מו‬ ְ‫ל‬ְ‫ֹנ‬‫ס‬ ְ‫ל‬‫מש‬ ‫׀‬ ֶׁ֤֣‫ל‬ ֹֽ‫כ‬ ֶׁ֤֣‫ל,לרל‬ ְ‫ו‬
6 ‫ס‬ ‫מו‬ ְ‫ת‬ֹ‫ו‬ ְ‫ח‬ ֶׁ֤֣‫מ‬ ‫מ‬ ‫ת‬ֹֽ‫ל‬ ְ‫ַֹֽמ‬ ְ‫ּול‬ ‫מ‬‫׀‬ ,‫ב‬ֶ‫ה‬ֹ‫ל‬ ְ‫ל‬‫מש‬ ‫ש‬ֶׁ֤֣‫פ‬ְ‫לֶל‬,‫ל‬ ַּ ֲ‫ס‬ ַּ‫׀‬ ֲ‫ל‬ ‫ה‬ ֲ‫ס‬ ‫ת‬ֹ‫ל‬ ְ‫ו‬

—4:02 ‫6- שמות‬ (WLC)
Words translatedas "idol"[edit]
The English word "idol" in translations of the Bible may representany of
severalHebrew words. In the commandment "You shall not make for
yourselves an idol", the word is pesel, indicating something carvedor hewn.
In subsequent passages,peselwas applied to images of metal and wood, as
well as those of stone. Other terms, such as nēsek and massēkâ, massēbâ, ōseb,
and maskitalso indicate a material or manner of manufacture.[13]
Some terms representthe consistently negative moral view with which idols
are portrayed by the Bible.[14]For example, idols are referred to as "non-
God,"[15]"things of naught,"[16]"vanity,"[17]"iniquity,"[18] "wind and
confusion," [19]"the dead,"[20]"carcasses,"[21]and "a lie".[22]Other terms
are deliberately contemptuous, such as elilim, "powerlessones", and gillulim,
"pellets of dung".[23]
Cultural context[edit]
See also:Idolatry
The idols of the Ancient NearEastwere centralfigures of the tribal cults
around the Israelites.[4]Theyare said to have been placedupon pedestals,
clothed and colored, and fastenedwith chains of silver or nails of iron lest they
should fall over or be carried off.[24]To demonstrate victory over an enemy's
idols, it was customaryto take away the idols of the vanquished,[25] and a
similar customis frequently mentioned in the cuneiform texts.[26]
Scholars have discussedwhether idol worshipers made a distinction betweena
spiritual being that existed independently of idols and the physical idols
themselves.[4]Some scholars opine that the pagans in the Hebrew Bible did
not literally worship the objects themselves, so that the issue of idolatry is
really concernedwith whether one is pursuing a "false god" or "the true
God". In addition to the spiritual aspectof their worship, peoples in the
Ancient NearEasttook greatcare to physically maintain their cult idols and
thought that the instructions for their manufacture and maintenance came
from the spirit of the god. Magicalceremonieswere performed through which

the people believed the spirit of the godcame to live in the physical idol.[4]
When idols were captured or not caredfor, the associatedreligious practices
also flagged. So while scholars may debate the relative importance of belief in
the physical objector the spirit it representedor housed, in practice the
distinction was not easyto discern.[27]
Biblical injunctions[edit]
This sectionmay need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality
standards. You can help. The discussionpage may contain suggestions. (June
2015)
Idolatry is prohibited in many biblical passages,althoughthere is no single
sectionthat contains a complete definition. Rather there are a number of
commandments on this subject spread through the books of the Tanakh, and
taking these passagestogether, idolatrymay be defined as the worship of idols
(or images);the worship of polytheistic gods by use of idols (or images);the
worship of createdthings (trees, rocks, animals, astronomicalbodies, or
another human being); and even the use of idols in the worship of the God of
Israel.[28]
The question has been raisedwhether the ancientview of this command
prohibits images of Yahweh. Some scholars have proposed that the golden calf
made by Aaron (while Moseswas onthe mountain receiving the Ten
Commandments) was supposedto representYahweh, or perhaps a throne or
steedon which the people were to envision Yahweh.[29]According to Exodus
32:7-8, in a divine speechto Moses, Yahwehreveals the events going on at the
base of Mt. Sinai to Moses,judging the golden calf to be a violation of the
recently revealedlaw: "Theyhave turned aside quickly from the way that I
commanded them".[30]Others point out that the golden calf episode leads to
the breaking of the tablets of the Decalogue, something that implies that the
covenanthad been violated. This event and the plurality of the language used
in the secondcommandment leads many scholars to conclude that it prohibits
the making of any image of Yahweh as well as any image of a createdthing to
which divinity would be ascribed.[31]

In a number of places the ancienttexts assertthat God has no shape or form
and is utterly incomparable;thus no idol, image, idea, or anything in creation
could ever capture God's essence.[32]The narrative in Deuteronomy 4[33]
recounts that when the Israelites were visited by God at Mt. Sinai at the time
the TenCommandments were given, they saw no shape or form and this is
statedas a reasonwhy any physical representationof the divine is prohibited
– no idols of humans, animals, or heavenly bodies were to be made. Rather
than use an idol, God chose to revealhimself in words, by working through
people, and by working in history.[34]
According to the Book of Joshua, Abraham came from a land and a family
that worshiped strange gods.[35]However, whentheir God revealedhimself
to Abraham and called him to leave his native land for Canaan, he did so.[36]
According to the Book of Genesis, image worshipexistedin the time of Jacob,
from the accountof Racheltaking teraphim along with her on leaving her
father Laban's house.[37]
As the leadership of Israelpassedfrom Moses to Joshua, the covenant
betweenIsraeland God was renewedand warnings were repeatedagainst
adapting or adopting the customs of idol worship among the people the
Israelites would encounter, on penalty of corporate destruction and loss ofthe
promised land.[38] Through the centuries, idolatry became pervasive among
the Israelites and supported by many of their kings, despite repeated
warnings from the prophets and culminating in the Babylonian Exile. Along
with the originalwarnings was a promise of restorationfor those who would
turn awayfrom idols and back to God.[39]However, after repeatedrefusals
to turn awayfrom idols over time, God announced through the prophet
Jeremiahthat the covenantwas broken beyond repair and the judgment
(Babylonian Captivity) was sure to happen.[40]
The commandments in the Hebrew Bible againstidolatry also forbade the
adoption of the beliefs and practices of the nations who lived around the
Israelites at the time, especially the religions of ancient Mesopotamia,and
Egypt. In dozens of passages,the Hebrew Bible refers to specific practices
used to worship idols, including the offering of incense, prayers, food, drink,
and blood offerings, singing and dancing, cutting one's flesh, bowing down to

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