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SUBJECT: Second
Commandment
QUESTION: Are keeping
little figurines or photos breaking with this commandment?
ANSWER:
Exodus
20:4-6
4 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:
5 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;
6 And shewing mercy unto
thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
We have a booklet, “The Ten
Commandments” which is posted at the EA web site. The
address for the page with the Second Commandment is:
http://www.garnertedarmstrong.org/first.htm
In that text, Mr. Armstrong
makes it clear that we are talking about a “graven” image
that we turn around and bow down to. He states:
“The obvious thrust of the
Second Commandment is that "images" were not to be made for
the purpose of worship!”
Do not make the mistake of
splitting the scriptures 3-5 of Exodus 20. Remember that
man added chapters and verses centuries later. We must take
verses 3-5 as one text. One cannot excise verse 4 and
proclaim that we can have no images at all. Take the ark as
an example. It has the images of two angels on top. To the
nation of Israel, what was more important than the ark, yet
it had two images on it. If verse 4 could be excised, then
God, Himself would be breaking His own commandment to
command that these figures be put on the Ark of the
Covenant. Notice those verses…
Exodus
25:18-20
18 And thou shalt make two
cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in
the two ends of the mercy seat.
19 And make one cherub on
the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of
the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends
thereof.
20 And the cherubims shall
stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat
with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another;
toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
A picture is not a "graven
image" for the purpose of worship, and is certainly not a
breaking of the Second Commandment!
Clearly, we are talking
about belief and attitude here. Having a figure of a horse
or bird for decoration is not what this commandment is
about. The important thing is that we do not somehow “bow
down” or worship these decorations.
On the other hand, a man
wrote the other day that he was a collector of ancient
idols. We had to inform him that it would not be in keeping
with the second commandment for him to keep them.
It is also correct about
other things becoming idols like power, possessions, money,
position, and wasted time. Actually, this type of idolatry
is more prevalent than having stone idols in our possession.
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