The second commandment raises the issue of idolatry. Yet when we imagine that we have ultimate control over them, or that by achieving them our safety and prosperity will be secured, we have begun to fall into idolatry. Unger, Merrill F., Harrison, R.K., ed., Chicago: Moody Publishers. John Calvin, a prolific and influential Reformation scholar, took a straightforward view of idolatry, patterned after the simplicity of the faith of the early apostles: In one word, their theology was in substance this--There is one God who created all the world, and declared His will to us by Moses and the prophets, and finally by Jesus Christ and His apostles; and we have one sole Redeemer, who purchased us by His blood, and by whose grace we hope to be saved: All the idols of the world are curst, and deserve execration. The prophetic books (Nevi’im) recount a continuing struggle against idolatry. The development of genuinely godly wisdom and skill for any task is “so that your trust may be in the Lord” (Prov. Deut 5:6-9), Because God's identity and transcendent character are described in Scripture as unique,[82] the teaching of the Catholic Church proscribes superstition as well as irreligion and explains the commandment is broken by having images to which divine power is ascribed as well as in divinizing anything that is not God. Some scholars have proposed that the golden calf made by Aaron (while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments) was supposed to represent Yahweh, or perhaps a throne or steed on which the people were to envision Yahweh. [6] The Babylonian exile seems to have been a turning point after which the Jewish people as a whole were strongly monotheistic and willing to fight battles (such as the Maccabean Revolt) and face martyrdom before paying homage to any other god. The text says, "This thing became a sin", and its establishment was accompanied by several related violations of the covenant with God. In his exposition of Psalm 96, Augustine of Hippo agreed with the psalmist's description of inanimate idols, and he recalled Paul's words to the Corinthians that sacrifices to such are offered to demons. Verse 1. By God’s grace, we can overcome the temptation to worship these good things in their own right. Hence the Chaldee Version paraphrases it, "and a painted stone ye shall not place in your land to prostrate yourselves upon it, but a pavement adorned with figures and pictures ye may put in the floor of your sanctuary, but not to bow down upon it," i.e., in an idolatrous manner. [47] According to 1 Kings 13, God sends a prophet from Judah to denounce Jeroboam's actions and predict the coming of King Josiah (290 years later), who would destroy those priests who participated in the idolatrous practices. Produced by TOW Project, Theology of Work Project Online Materials, 10 Key Points About Work in the Bible That Every Christian Should Know, Beyond Rank and Power: What Philemon Tells Us About Leadership, The Dark Side of the High Calling (Click Here to Read), The Harshness of the Israelites’ Slave Labor in Egypt (Exodus 1:8-14), The Work of Midwifery and Mothering (Exodus 1:15-2:10), God’s Work of Redemption for Israel (Exodus 5:1-6:28), Moses and Aaron Announce God’s Judgment to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:1-12:51), Israel at the Red Sea and on the Way to Sinai (Exodus 13:17-18:27), The Work of Justice among the People of Israel (Exodus 18:1-27), Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1-40:38), The Meaning of Law in Exodus (Exodus 19:1-24:18), The Role of the Law for Christians (Exodus 20:1-24:18), Instructions about Work (Exodus 20:1-17 and 21:1-23:9), “You Shall Have No Other Gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3), “You Shall Not Make for Yourself an Idol” (Exodus 20:4), “You Shall Not Make Wrongful Use of the Name of the LORD Your God” (Exodus 20:7), Remember the Sabbath Day and Keep It Holy. By separating them from their proper position, and making them begin a new chapter, both the logical sequence and the import of these two verses are greatly obscured. Smith, Lacey Baldwin, Fools, Martyrs, Traitors: the story of martyrdom in the western world, Northwestern University Press, Sanhedrin 74a; Telushkin, Joseph, A Code of Jewish Ethics: You shall be holy, 2006, Harmony/Bell Tower. [61] "Whosoever recognizes idols has denied the entire Torah; and whosoever denies idols has recognized the entire Torah. Hence, too, the ancient canon, "in your own land" (i.e., in all other lands) "ye must not prostrate yourselves upon stones, but ye may prostrate yourselves upon the stones in the sanctuary. [59] By the time the Talmud was written, the acceptance or rejection of idolatry was a litmus test for Jewish identity:[60] "Whosoever denies idols is called a Jew". [83] The Catechism commends those who refuse even to simulate such worship in a cultural context [83] and states that "the duty to offer God authentic worship concerns man both as an individual and as a social being."[84]. Idol, HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, Achtemeier, Paul J., general editor, 1996, HarperCollins Publishers. Adopted by the Theology of Work Project Board December 18, 2012. 1 John 5:20-21; Barclay W., The New Daily Study Bible: The Letters of John and Jude, 2002, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, p. 139. who gives life and intervenes in history. [11] According to the book of Acts, Paul tells the Athenians that though their city is full of idols, the true God is represented by none of them and requires them to turn away from idols.[12]. 135:15-18; St. Augustine (Bishop of Hippo), Expositions on the Psalms: Psalms 126-150, Parker, J.H., London: F. and J. Rivington, 1857, pp. ", Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural, Good for, nothing, by anal, vain, vanity, an idol, Preposition | second person masculine plural, Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - second person masculine plural, Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular, Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular, Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct, Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine plural, Preposition-l | Verb - Hitpael - Infinitive construct, Preposition | third person feminine singular, LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel, Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine plural, gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative. 314-315, Luther, Martin, Hazlitt W. and Chalmers A, The Table Talk of Martin Luther, London:Bell & Daldy, 1872, p. 72, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, John Calvin (1509-1564) Commentary on Joshua, The Early History of God: Yahweh and the other deities in ancient Israel, Worship, Idol entry at JewishEncyclopedia.com, Overview of the Halacha based on Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thou_shalt_not_make_unto_thee_any_graven_image&oldid=986135844, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles needing rewrite from June 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 30 October 2020, at 00:45. [28], The question has been raised whether the ancient view of this command prohibits images of Yahweh. Bible Commentary Deuteronomy 27:15 Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image--which is detestable to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman- … But the issue is really one of trust and devotion. The psalmist described idols as being made of gold, silver, wood, and stone. Freedman, David Noel, ed., New York: Doubleday. On what do we ultimately pin our hope of well-being and success?

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