![]() It’s virtually impossible to tell what ancient people thought about their gods, but from the written sources it seems that the answer, at least for thoughtful elites, was No. It looks so obviously stupid that we have to ask: Did ancient people really think that the image was the god? Isaiah mocks idolaters for making a god from a log and using the rest of the log to cook food and warm themselves. God cares what we do with our bodies, and a good intention doesn’t make a bad action good. God is specifically prohibiting the bodily act of doing-homage-by-prostration, and more generally prohibiting the actions of doing-homage-to-images and serving-images. If a priest dropped a piece of bread before the lampstand and bent down to pick it up, he wouldn’t be violating this commandment. Of course, bodily actions embody intentions. He’s doesn’t say that we’re free to use our bodies any way we like, as long as we keep the right thoughts in our head. That is, He doesn’t say it’s OK if we bow with our bodies as long as we’re not bowing in our hearts. He prohibits us from adopting a particular bodily posture before graven images. What Yahweh specifically prohibits is “prostration” before images. On special occasions, the priests took the image out on processions, so that others could glimpse the image, though often under a cover. Priests brought food, cleaned up the image, bowed before the image. A temple without an image was a temple without a god-in-residence, and the main services of a temple were performed before and for the image. Most directly, He is prohibiting the service that ancient priests performed did before the images of their gods. God forbids making images that serve as the focal point of liturgical action. “Serve” is a general priestly term, describing the work of Levites and Aaronic priests. The word usually translated as “worship” actually means “prostrate oneself.” It describes a bodily posture. The two verbs in verse 5 are typical words for worship. He’s prohibiting making likenesses of anything for a particular purpose – to bow before them, and to serve them. He’s not prohibiting making, or making things that resemble things that He made. If the Second Word was intended to prohibit all representational art, the Lord didn’t stick with that program very long. ![]() ![]() Palm trees were carved on the walls of the temple, and Solomon’s throne was flanked by lions. Cherubim are heavenly things, almonds and pomegranates are earthly things. Just a few chapters later, the Lord will tell Moses to “make two cherubim of gold“ (25:18), and a lampstand with cups “shaped like almond blossoms” (25:33), and pomegranates of blue and scarlet material (28:33). If it were, it would stand in contradiction to other commandments. The commandment doesn’t say “Don’t make images of God.” It says “Don’t make graven images of things in heaven, on the earth, or the waters under the earth.” That covers everything, because there aren’t any things anywhere except in heaven, earth, or under the earth.īut the commandment doesn’t prohibit making images. If the Second Word is a prohibition of making images, it prohibits all images. That last at least takes the specifics of the commandment seriously. ![]()
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