"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." - Exodus 20:4-6

The Second Commandment.

It may sound strange to you at first, but what this commandment also implies ( apart from the obvious prohibition of serving other gods in idol form) is that we are not to attempt to represent God in any visual form whatsoever, even if it is for the purpose of worshipping Him as the Only God as the First Commandment says!

Why? Because soon, the image begins to be invested with the honor and adoration that is to be reserved for God Himself. We shall begin to treat our representation of God as somehow being something that is actually a part of Him, and start to surround it with rites, rituals , reverence and respect. Soon, it becomes the focal point of our service, and the service of the idol trumps and eclipses what should be our true focus - worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth by obeying His commandment to love one another. The bronze serpent raised by Moses in the wilderness is a perfect example- it prefigured Christ on the cross, but its actual purpose at the time was to heal the bitten people who looked on it in faith. Later, called Nehushtan, it became the object of worship by the Israelites and had to be destroyed by Hezekiah. 2 Kings 18:4.

Just as He reveals His identity as Redeemer in the opening words of the Law, God here reveals His nature as well- as One who can be provoked to be exceedingly zealous about His Name and honor. The word translated as jealous is the Hebrew word "qanna" - the Authorized Version translates this word as "jealous" 10 times, "envy" nine times, "jealousy" five times, "envious" four times, "zealous" twice, "very" twice, and "zeal" once. 1 to envy, be jealous, be envious, be zealous. 1a (Piel). 1a1 to be jealous of. 1a2 to be envious of. 1a3 to be zealous for. 1a4 to excite to jealous anger. 1b (Hiphil) to provoke to jealous anger, cause jealousy. (Strongs Lexicon of Greek and Hebrew Words)

This can seem very negative to our thinking - because we traditionally associate jealousy with Shakespeare's definition - a green eyed monster! Envy is associated with anger at someone else's good fortune. None of these are good - how can God be jealous and envious?

Because it is right and true! Giving honor to something that doesn't deserve it is WRONG!! If you went out of your way to help someone and they were to turn around and be profusely grateful to someone else - how would you feel? Now imagine you are the Only One in the universe that is worthy of worship, you have revealed yourself to and redeemed your people with your own blood, and they turn around and start honoring something THEY have built, which is a COPY of something YOU have created, and they are worshipping IT, thinking they are worshipping YOU! I don't know about you, but I would be pretty upset at such foolishness.

He says it explicitly - "I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another,Nor My praise to carved images." Isaiah 42:8 Moses repeats the warning "Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage." - Deut 4:15-19

This commandment has been embraced by Muslims - who eschew the use of any images ( and instead have elevated calligraphy to a high art ) in their worship. In Christianity, with the exception of the Byzantine Iconoclastic periods ( 726-787 AD, and 814-842 AD) when the use of images /icons was forbidden by Christian emperors, both Eastern and Western Christian churches have justified the use of images in worship- making a fine distinction between "adoration" - due God alone, and "reverence" - allowed to be directed towards relics and images. The Roman Catholic Church has also taken the unfortunate step of omitting this commandment from their Bibles entirely, replacing it with the 3rd Commandment, and splitting the 10th Commandment into two to make up for it. That is a terrible omission!

The pendulum can also swing erroneously in the opposite direction. One must be careful when interpreting scripture and consider the whole counsel of God or we can fall into error by being too legalistic. The 2nd commandment is not a ban on art/artistic expression- it is a ban on the visual representation of God.The Wilderness tabernacle, Solomons temple, even the Ark of the covenant contained representations of earthly and heavenly things ( fruit, trees, seraphim etc.) commanded to be made that way by God Himself. However, they were never the object of veneration but directed worship towards the One who is to be adored and revered.

The ONLY image of God that is approved and honorable is MAN - God Himself says He created us in His image in the book of Genesis ! God Himself took on and honored that form in the incarnation of our Savior Jesus - ("who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person" - Heb 1:3)and wonder of wonders - when we are glorified we shall be like Him! ( 1 John 3:2 ).

God is extremely protective about His image - that is why marring the image of God ( murder of Man ) is a capital crime since the days of Noah - "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man" - Gen 9:6. It also explains the sins God ascribes in this 2nd Commandment. Paul tells us about fools that- "...changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves." Rom 1:23-24

If You mess with His image - God gives you over to lusts that LITERALLY mess with His image- men and women ( images of God ) - dishonoring their bodies with abominable acts.

It is only His Grace and Mercy that limits the consequences of such actions to 3 and 4 generations. These consequences are the natural outcome of the fathers sins that affect their offspring. The ripple effects could go on forever but He limits them.

His loving nature is manifested by the love He shows to a THOUSAND generations- to those that keep His commandments! This love is expressed in the love the righteous have for Gods image - "Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." - Mt 25:37-40 If you would serve and worship God, love those created in His image, because in so doing you are loving Him!

"God is a Spirit - and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth." - John 4:24
"Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen."
( 1 John 5:21 )