賂 Second
Commandment
Text
– Exodus 20:4–6
Hebrew:
לא תעשׂה־לך פסל וכל־תמונה אשׁר בשׁמים ממעל ואשׁר בארץ מתחת ואשׁר במים מתחת לארץ׃
לא־תשׁתחוה להם ולא תעבדם כי אנכי יהוה אלהיך אל קנא פקד עון אבת על־בנים על־שׁלשׁים ועל־רבעים
ועשׂה חסד לאלפים לאהבי ולשׁמרי מצותי׃
Literal
translation:
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 water under the earth:
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;
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Literal
and grammatical analysis
· לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה לְךָ פֶסֶל (Lo ta'asé lejá pésel):
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image." – Pessel comes
from a root meaning to carve or sculpt . It refers to physical
idols.
– "For you" implies personal, familial, or religious use.
· וְכָל־תְּמוּנָה (vekhol temuná):
"nor any likeness" – “Temuná” refers to visual
representation, figure, appearance .
– It includes images not only carved, but also painted or symbolic.
· לֹא תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה ... וְלֹא תָעָבְדֵם (Lo tishtahavé… veLo
ta'avdem):
“You shall not bow down… nor serve them” – “Tishtahavé” is physical
worship (kneeling, bowing).
– “Ta'avdem” ( עָבַד ) is to serve, to worship, like a servant to his
master.
· כי אנכי יהוה אלהיך אל קנא (ki Anochi ... El qanná):
"For I, YHVH your God, am a jealous God" – Qanná (jealous)
is not unjust envy, but protective passion , like that of a
faithful husband (cf. Hosea 2).
– God does not share his worship with anything or anyone.
· פֹּקֵד עֲו ֹן אָבֹת עַל־בָּנִים ... (poqéd
avón avot 'al baním):
"I visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children..." – Poqéd
can mean to bring to account , to allow consequences.
– It is not arbitrary punishment, but the effect of generations following
the same path.
– Cf. Ezekiel 18: "the soul that sinneth, it shall die."
· וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד לַאֲלָפִים (ve'osé jésed la'alafím):
"And I show mercy to thousands" – Chesed is faithful,
merciful, constant love.
– To thousands of generations (cf. Deut 7:9), far superior to three or four
generations of judgment.
Literal
and objective meaning of the commandment
This commandment prohibits the making
of images for worship, even if they are of the true God .
This includes:
· Do not represent God with visible figures .
· Do not use images of celestial beings, animals or humans as
intermediaries of worship.
· It forbids both pagan idolatry and disguised
idolatry (such as the golden calf, which was supposedly to YHVH –
Exodus 32:5).
Spiritual
interpretation and current application
· God cannot be contained or represented by human work (Isaiah 40:18, Acts 17:29).
· True faith is not based on sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
· This commandment protects us from the human desire to control
God , manipulate the spiritual, or create religions in our image.
· Jesus taught that true worshipers do so “ in spirit and in truth
” (John 4:23-24), not through images.
隣 Relationship
with the golden calf
· The people had not abandoned YHVH in Exodus 32; they thought the calf
was a visible representation of Him .
→ This shows how subtle and deceptive idolatry can be.
→ But God considered it a direct violation of this newly
given commandment.
Conclusion of
the Second Commandment
God does not accept being represented by
human works. This commandment emphasizes that true worship must be free
of forms, idols, or visual symbols that distort who He is. It invites
us to approach God through faith, not through external objects
or rituals.
GOING DEEPER
1.
Being created in the image of God does not authorize representing Him in images
Just because we are
created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26) does not mean we have the authority to create images of God.
Representing God through human art reduces his infinite glory to
something corruptible, as Paul says:
“Professing
to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God
into an image made like corruptible man...”
— Romans 1:22–23
2.
Not representing Jesus Christ, not even as a man
Not representing Christ is completely consistent with the spirit of the second commandment. Although
Jesus became flesh (John 1:14) and was visible, his true, glorified
image is now far removed from any human attempt to capture it.
“The image and likeness of the resurrected Christ in all his glory and
splendor is very different from when he walked among men, apart from the fact
that it is not Him either, but the image or imagination of another man.” RC
This is consistent with what John saw in
Revelation 1:13–16: a glorified vision of the Son of Man, with
eyes like a flame of fire, a face like the sun, and a voice like the sound of
many waters… quite unlike popular sentimental portrayals.
The problem with images
isn't just visual, but mental: When
people pray or think about Christ, their minds can cling to a
fabricated human image, and they're no longer praying in spirit and
truth, but with a distorted concept. This becomes a subtle form of mental
idolatry.
3.
The golden calf and its connection to the cherubs
This point is especially interesting.
The
calf as a cherubic symbol
In Ezekiel 1:10 and 10:14, the cherubim
are described as having four faces: man, lion, eagle,
and ox (or calf).
In ancient Near Eastern cultures, the bull or calf was
a symbol of:
· Divine force
· Fertility
· Heavenly power
It is possible that by building the golden
calf, the people of Israel were trying to represent a glorious or
heavenly aspect that they associated with God, perhaps influenced by
the idea of the guardian cherub of Eden (Genesis 3:24), who
may have already been part of an ancient cultural memory of the sacred.
However, God did not accept this,
because He had not commanded such a thing. That is key: what is holy is
not to be invented or assumed, but revealed and obeyed just as He
gives it.
✨ Final Conclusion of the Second Commandment
· We must not reduce God to anything the eye can see or the human mind can
imagine.
· Even the well-intentioned desire to “represent God” or “get closer to
Him” through visual symbols can corrupt true worship.
· Worshipping God involves accepting His spiritual greatness and relating
to Him through the Holy Spirit, not through physical images or
human mental constructs.
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