The first and/or second commandment of the ten is something that seems to bring up much debate. From discussions of what exactly it permits and doesn't, consistency, and even unknown idolatry. My goal today is to lay out why my stance on it is as it is, and to show why I do not adhere to other stances on the second commandment. One important aspect going forward is that there are two break downs of the ten commandments. One in which having not gods before Elohim and having no idols is one and the same command, then breaking apart coveting the neighbors wife and neighbors things at the end; and one where gods above Elohim and idols are separate. For the sake of simplicity I will be refering to idolatry as the second commandment, but please do understand that I also agree to the merit of it being tied in intimately with the first.
First, of course, we need to look at exactly what the first and second commandments say. Exodus 20:3-6 says, “You are to have no other gods before me. 4 You are not to make for yourselves a carved image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline. 5 You are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot. We get a little more detail in Deuteronomy 4:15-20, “Therefore, watch out for yourselves! Since you did not see a shape of any kind on the day Adonai spoke to you in Horev from the fire, 16 do not become corrupt and make yourselves a carved image having the shape of any figure — not a representation of a human being, male or female, 17 or a representation of any animal on earth, or a representation of any bird that flies in the air, 18 or a representation of anything that creeps along on the ground, or a representation of any fish in the water below the shoreline. 19 For the same reason, do not look up at the sky, at the sun, moon, stars and everything in the sky, and be drawn away to worship and serve them; Adonai your God has allotted these to all the peoples under the entire sky. 20 No, you Adonai has taken and brought out of the smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of inheritance for him, as you are today.
There tends to be three main camps of thought on this commandments. The Catholic train where they have icons and don't see that as idolatry. The middle ground that says only things worshiped above Elohim are idols, and the more Reformed stance which says any depiction meant to reflect Elohim is a breaking of the command. Now, of course, there are positions held all within that spectrum! I hold to the second camp so I will address the first two before going into my own.
Now, a primary consideration to the Catholic view this command is to consider that they have incorporated part and parcel with the first commandment, not to have any other gods above Yahweh. In this I absolutely agree, they are intimately intertwined and separating them is an action that scripture does not actively take. They support the action of 'venerating icons' with such arguments that bowing is all about the context, because the Hebrew word for worship and bowing both being 'Shachah' and thus making it all about the context, that bowing to an icon is about respecting the Saint - not worshiping them. They try to use the story in 2 Kings 5 of Naaman bowing to the household gods in action when his heart belonged to Elohim as an example of how the action does not imply worship, or how in scripture and culture bowing and prostrating oneself was a sign of submission to authority or respect for someone. To an extent they are not wrong of course, the action alone is not what makes something idolatrous. It would however also be ignorace to say that the law is then subjective, that it comes down to 'what bowing means to ME'. That's utter foolishness in God's Law as it comes down to what does it mean to HIM. The biggest issue with this mentality is very much making it about each person, and not the command itself. It is taking an action and applying it to the image in spite of the command not to do so, to bow to an image. It is stating that 'it means to me honor' and another time 'it means to be worship', with no consistent barrier between the two.
To further show this issue let us then look at who exactly they deem to be venerating. It is always to someone whom they consider a saint, and it doesn't end at simply bowing or kissing to a depiction of that person. They also pray to them, which is explicitly condemned as consulting of ghosts in Deuteronomy 18:11, a spell-caster, a consulter of ghosts or spirits, or a necromancer, and that 1 Timothy 2:5 says For God is one;[a] and there is but one Mediator between God and humanity, Yeshua the Messiah, himself human. This alone shows that their respect for these dead people has surpassed a simple respect for who they where into something beyond a respect for another earthly person. Showing that indeed this is worship of those icons, no matter the argument made to the contrary.
We then have the total opposite side of the scale. That any image depicting in any way a facet of the Trinity is a graven image. There's some major issues with this from scripture. While I certainly understand the premise of not wishing to create false images of Elohim to shun all images is not only inconsistent but against the very images he has given us to represent him. This premise is taken from Exodus 32:4-6, in which Aharon forms a golden calf and attributes it the actions of Elohim and even his Name! Saying, He received what they gave him, melted it down, and made it into the shape of a calf. They said, “Isra’el! Here is your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 5 On seeing this, Aharon built an altar in front of it and proclaimed, “Tomorrow is to be a feast for Adonai.” 6 Early the next morning they got up and offered burnt offerings and presented peace offerings. Afterwards, the people sat down to eat and drink; then they got up to indulge in revelry. Many will use this to say that the people where trying to worship Yahweh by doing this, in giving reference to the calf in Yah's name. Yet in verse 8 God himself states that this is incorrect, saying, So quickly they have turned aside from the way I ordered them to follow! They have cast a metal statue of a calf, worshipped it, sacrificed to it and said, ‘Isra’el! Here is your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ Essentially that what Aharon had done was not only to make an Idol, Worship it above God, but also to abuse the name of Elohim; that the statue is who they where sacrificing to, no matter their claim to sacrifice to God. This certainly holds it's weight! It is a very valid issue, that we should not be making acts of worship to any item we are attributing to God. That we should not be bowing to, kissing, or any other act of worship to an item without the explicit command of Yah. However, we can not say that it is a blanket statement to remove all depictions of Elohim entirely as he himself has given us some depictions for himself.
The perfect example is in the bronze serpent of Moses. It was a tool that God commanded, that is later linked as a representation of Yeshua himself! But it was also idolized at another point. Showing clearly that something that is permitted, even commanded by God can be twisted; and thus that the ability to twist something is not the basis for condemning it. This story is first found in Numbers 21, verses 8 and 9 say, and Adonai answered Moshe: “Make a poisonous snake and put it on a pole. When anyone who has been bitten sees it, he will live.” 9 Moshe made a bronze snake and put it on the pole; if a snake had bitten someone, then, when he looked toward the bronze snake, he stayed alive. As we can see, the item was commanded to be made which would be used by Adonai as a tool for healing. It is then shown to be a representation of the life giving properties of Yeshua's atonement in John 3:14, Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. So here we have an example not only of a symbol given to represent a part of the Godhead but it was even attributed with miracles and created, look to it and live. Look to Yeshua and live. We see other such symbols given to us with far less attributions given to them. Be it symbols such as living water, which was water with movement such as rivers and rain, shown in John 4, John 7, Jeremiah 17, Zechariah 14, and so on, or the bread of life, like in John 6, Matthew 26 and Luke 22, the wine as his blood in Matthew 26 and Luke 22, the Dove coming down at his baptism in Luke 3. The list goes on of the symbols Elohim gave us which represent him. By his own endorsement of the bronze serpent we can see that such symboligy is not condemned but the second commandment but that the key is in putting things above Him. In this way I agree that the first and second commandments are hand in hand. Even the good thing Adonai gave his people in the serpent was turned and used as an idol later on, the sin of people trying to use everything he has given us against him. 2 Kings 18:4 says, He removed the high places, smashed the standing-stones, cut down the asherah and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moshe had made; because in those days the people of Isra’el were making offerings to it, calling it N’chushtan. The core of the problem here was not the image was made, but that it was worshiped, that it was placed above Elohim as a god.
A further issue with the idea that all images are forbidden is then that consistency is dropped. Either all images of everything are forbidden, as things on earth are listed with things in heaven, and thus even pictures of people are forbidden and art depictions of everything are forbidden, or it really is a matter of what is being worshiped. If it was only in relation to Adonai than idols such as Buddha, Krishna, etc would be permissible as they aren't the true God - yet many idols where repeated condemned in scripture.
Let's take a look at the command in Exodus 20:3-6 again, “You are to have no other gods before me. 4 You are not to make for yourselves a carved image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline. 5 You are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot. Breaking this down it is quite clear, we are not to make an image of Any Kind - things in heaven, on the earth, or in the sea; yet we see that Adonai not only gave us images, he encouraged the making of some of them and gave us creative minds to make art for him. We are not to bow down to them or serve them - there is the key. In doing this we are making them as gods above Elohim. Consistency fails with the idea that it is only a matter of 'what god we worship', if someone worships Krishna then it's an idol, if someone worships Yeshua then an image of him is an idol - but God's law is not subjective! This is exactly the argument we heard with the catholic basis, 'that isn't what it means to me'. Either all depictions are idols no matter how we treat them or only the depictions used in worship are idols, no matter what they are.
Absolutely many people abuse the images of Yeshua, or the images that Adonai gave us to represent him. Absolutely make people make false images of Yeshua, just look to all the depictions of Cesare Borgia! Absolutely we can not know exactly what Yeshua looked like. However, we can all agree that he definitely didn't look like a bronze snake, yet one was used to represent him at Yah's command, so how can we then condemn pieces that truly strive to represent him in a respectful and praising manner?
We should not be allowing into our homes what is considered a graven image to another, either. We see this in Deuteronomy 12:3 as one place in many, Break down their altars, smash their standing-stones to pieces, burn up their sacred poles completely and cut down the carved images of their gods. Exterminate their name from that place. Something created to be an idol is still an idol even if we do not worship it. Now, this does not mean something that can be Used as an idol, simply something Created to be an idol. If it was a matter of being able to be used as such Adonai himself never would have commanded the bronze serpent as he knew it would one day be used as an idol. After it had been it was demolished because of it. So we should not be welcoming an item created to be an idol, even for the societal basis of aesthetic, into our homes. We are to have no business with darkness, so what business do we have with putting a Buddha in our garden? It's whole intention in being formed was originally an idol, no matter what it may mean to society as a general rule now; which again bears repeating that the law is not subjective. In this was we can seperate what is an idol, the action of making it above God, and what is a graven image, something created for the purpose of being an idol.
Likewise we must be alert not to allow things to become idols for us, even things given to us by Elohim! Things in our society as casual as the television can easily become an idol when we place our favorite show above fellowship with Adonai. A sport or a game can take presence in our minds. People can be easily idolized to us. Science has been idolized by the New Athiests. Many things around us can be abused, that does not make those things inherently foul. If it did we would have issues with items that even Yah has given us. For a perfect example just look to Simchat Torah, the one day a year set aside by many people explicitly to idolize the Torah! Something so good and pure given to use by Elohim certainly warrants our respect. But dancing around the scroll, kissing it, and the list goes on of the things done on that day only show us then that they are worshiping the item, not the God who gave them the item! They will claim "That's not what it means to me!"... well you know my response to that by now.
And so in conclusion we must always be vigilant. Many idols are as clear as day and easy to steer away from, some are not. Some sneak in when you least expect it and you don't even notice that it's become an idol! But going so far as to banishing everything is simply not supported biblically either and we must remember to use scripture with scripture to understand what is being stated and best follow the instructions given to us by Yahweh. May Elohim bless you and keep you.
