“You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
Ex 20:4-6, NKJV
At this point in our study regarding Jesus’ life and ministry, we have begun to examine the Ten Commandments, one at a time, to discover if Jesus fulfilled this aspect of the “Law and Prophets”. In my last blog, we looked at the first commandment: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.” We discussed God’s strange introduction of himself, and then learned how Christ fulfilled this first commandment by actually being the embodiment of God Himself. Now, we will move to the second commandment, one very similar to the first.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image… you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.”
A carved image. Why would anyone make a carved image anyway? Does this mean that artistic sculpture is forbidden by the second commandment? Or is there a much deeper meaning?
Even a cursory trip through the Torah makes it clear that God was not completely banning sculpture. Let’s see a very important passage where, as He instructs Moses regarding the building of the tabernacle, God specifically requires the making of images:
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
“And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around. You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.
“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
Exodus 25:1-22, NKJV
Here, we see God commanding Moses to make Cherubim, two of them, to be placed on the Mercy Seat above the Ark of the Covenant. But remember what the commandment said?
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above…”
He had just previously commanded that they NOT make an image – a likeness of anything in Heaven – but now He was telling them to “make two cherubim…”. Is the Lord contradicting Himself? Again, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “me genoito!” – may it never be! God does not change:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
The Gospel of James 1:17-18, NKJV
Nor does He lie!
…in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,
Titus 1:2, NKJV
So God must not be commanding them simply to not make an image; He would not command them to do something that He had commanded they not do. The second commandment must go beyond the mere “making of an image”. And indeed it does. Let’s examine the second part of the commandment:
“…you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.”
Why would God need to command His people against bowing down to or serving an image? Many people in western cultures today cannot truly understand this commandment. But many of my readers throughout the rest of the world – those in African and Asian countries and those lesser developed can certainly understand. People need a God to worship. And it is much easier to bow down and worship one that can be seen. But God (in the form of the Father) cannot be seen. No one that looks on the face of God can live:
And [Moses] said, “Please, show me Your glory.”
Then [God] said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”
Exodus 33:18-20, NKJV
So how do we as people satisfy our need to see something in the physical realm? We make our own images of what we want God to be, and worship them. It is our nature. It was prevalent in the times of the early Jewish people, and it is prevalent today. And what happens when we begin to worship an image rather than the truth that the image represents? We begin to gain control. Control over the image, and control over what we want the image to be. And we lose sight of whom God really is. Further, these objects ultimately become the focus of our attention and adoration rather than the God whom they symbolize. We will explore this thought in greater detail later. But before we do, let’s examine some passages relating to the failure of God’s own people to keep this command.
Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.
Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!'” And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”
Exodus 32:1-10, NKJV
To me, this is incredible irony! As God was giving Moses a commandment not to make and worship an image, His people were already breaking this command. And not only were they breaking the command, they had chosen an image that was used in the heathen culture that God had brought them out of! Would we have been any different? Oh that God would make us so! But we are very frail… As a side note, God’s response to the tremendous sin that He was witnessing was a holy, perfect and righteous response. But it was also a test. He wanted to test Moses’ heart for pride or humility. And Moses responded with appropriate humility and worship. He pleaded with God not to destroy the people – for God’s own name-sake. And God relented. This is an amazing study in and of itself. My hope is that my readers will meditate on the truths residing in this side story! But we will move on…
This was not the only time that the children of Israel fell into idolatry. The entire nation of Israel ultimately adopted the ways of the heathen nations around them and forsook the Lord’s command. The following passage summarizes the sad state of their culture:
Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears — here is the silver with me; I took it.”
And his mother said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my son!” So when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.” Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.
The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 17:1-6, NKJV
There is so much wrong with this story that it would likely take several sessions to go through everything, including the fashioning of idols, which is our current focus. But do you see the sad irony here? Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Not in the eyes of the Living God who created them. And is that not true today? Many cultures in our world are driven by people that are well-meaning, but spend their time doing things that they think are right through their own reason, not looking at life through the eyes of the One that gave us sight. And one outcome of this thinking is the tendency to fall into idolatry. And it can be very subtle. Let’s examine a very interesting set of passages that show how we can, without even realizing it, quickly journey down the path of idolatry. We have explored this story in the past, and it’s one of the most fascinating types given to us in the scripture.
Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Numbers 21:4-9 NKJV
What an interesting story! We see the Lord God instructing Moses to make an image and set it on a pole. And as people were bitten by the deadly snakes that were among them, they were to look at the image and they would be healed. We have examined this story before, and found that the snake is actually a type, or symbol, of Jesus, our Savior, from whom all true healing flows. So on the outside, this looks like a dark and difficult passage, while the fulfillment is one of the most beautiful in all of scripture! But it begs us to ask a very important question: Did God require Moses to break the second commandment in this story? Think carefully…
- He required Moses to fashion an image of a serpent – something that is in the earth…
- He required Moses to place it on a pole for the people to see, and
- He required them to look at it to be healed.
Did this not break the second commandment:
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image… you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.”?
No! God neither sins, nor does He require us to break His own commandments. And if this is true, then what is the difference between what God required in this story and the second commandment? It is just this – the people were required to look upon the image; not to bow down or worship it. The serpent on the pole was meant to be a picture of the one who was to come and save them; not an idol to be worshiped! But people are weak, and often lack faithful understanding. Which is why this beautiful picture of Christ’s mercy ultimately became a dark object of idolatry, as we see in the next passage:
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.
He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
2 Kings 18:1-7, NKJV
So the beautiful picture of mercy ultimately became an idol of worship. Seeing how easy it is to fall into idolatry, we should continuously search our hearts, asking God to reveal any potential areas of idolatry in our own lives!
If we are not allowed to worship an image that is a picture of God, or even a symbol of His mercies and grace, how then do we worship Him? In a very interesting turn of this story, Jesus reveals the answer to this question; and He does so in conversations with two very unlikely people. We will start with Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Jewish leader that had come to a crisis of belief. He heard Christ’s words, and his heart and spirit told him that they must be true. Yet, as a member of the governing body, this was a very unpopular stance. So he came to Jesus during the night in order to further explore the truth. Let’s look at a part of that incredible conversation, where Jesus is responding to Nicodemus’ question, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:5-15, NKJV
Again, we have examined this passage before. And Jesus ends His incredible answer by explaining the symbolism, or typology of the bronze serpent. It was not meant to be an idol, but a picture of the healing to come. But did you pay attention to the first part of Jesus’ response?
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
What is Jesus saying here? This is a very complex passage; one that is impossible to make sense of in the physical domain. But thankfully, Jesus Himself reveals the answer to us – in what could be described as the most unlikely encounter between God and man: a conversation with a woman that the Jews would have considered the worst of scum – a Samaritan adulteress. We find it in the very next chapter. Let’s see what Jesus revealed to this woman that was completely missed by the most learned of Jewish scholars:
“Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:21-24, NKJV
And here is the answer to our question. If we are not allowed to worship what we can see, how should we worship Him? In spirit and in truth. Because God is Spirit, and no physical image does Him justice. He is so much more than our physical beings can comprehend. Only in our spirit, and through The Spirit can we begin to worship the living God!
So finally, if Christ came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, them how does He fulfill the second commandment? We have already seen it – by being that One True God that we are to worship. Instead of worshiping an image made of human hands, Jesus became the archetype of the image that brings healing and life to those that look upon Him and worship Him in spirit and truth! (For more depth in the fulfillment of this incredible story, please see my earlier blog: https://www.beautyoftheword.org/the-fiery-serpent/) Oh the wonders of our great Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ!
My brothers and sisters, let us yearn to worship and serve the Lord our God in spirit and in truth. Ask Him, this day, how you can learn to worship and love Him more! Selah!
In my next blog, we will tackle the third commandment (and its deadly consequence): “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” Until next time, may God richly bless you in your study of God’s holy Word!
YouJi