Question 55:
Which is the second commandment?
Answer: The
second commandment is, "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. 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; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and
keep my commandments."
Question 58:
What are the reasons added to the second commandment?
Answer: The
reasons added to the second commandment are God's holy jealousy for his name,
and the zeal he has for his own worship.
Introduction
This week we begin looking at the second commandment. I have skipped over a couple of catechisms
since 58 deals more with the text of the commandment. We can do all of the commentary on Exodus 20:4-6
at one time.
Exodus 20:4-6
In the past few weeks we have
seen that God demands that we give to Him all of the worship and glory due to
His name. The one and only true and
living God, the sovereign Creator, the holy and righteous judge of all our sin
commands that we worship Him alone. It
follows that any object or natural desire or imagination that we place before
Him is forbidden and will rouse His anger.
If we are to love the LORD our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and
strength, then we cannot adore any object or thing above Him. Idolatry would be the sin that ultimately
would prove the demise of the children of
The commandment begins with “you
shall not make for yourself.” The word
for make in the Hebrew is `asah
conveying not just the idea of constructing or producing with one’s own hands,
but also of making in the sense of ordaining or adopting or even
celebrating. Thus, we have the idea that
nothing is to replace the position that God has over us or better stated
nothing tangible is to replace our position before Him in worship and
glory. The verb stem (Qal) is
interesting here in that it is not an outright imperative, but an intense form
of the verb nonetheless. This stem can
similarly be taken as a future indicative as we saw with the first
commandment. We can only temporarily
erect idols to worship (Philippians 2:9-11).
Or as the Psalmist put it in Psalm 115:4-8, worship of idols is the
worship of nothing of eternal substance at all.
Only empty and hollow people with cold hardened hearts worship idols
with the same. This truth is
dramatically shown to us in Daniel with the finger writing on the wall that
grabs the attention of Belshazzar. He
chose to worship the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone
rather than the God that holds his breath in His hands and owns all his ways
(Daniel 5:23). It is truly foolish to
say in word and deed, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).
There are two categories of idols
given in this commandment. The first is
the carved or graven image. The Hebrew
here is pecel referring to the
likeness of anything, but especially those things that are carved out of wood,
hewn out of rock, or wrought out of metal.
As we pointed out above anything that is constructed or produced from
the hands of man as an image of worship is covered here. Secondly, we see that the things that God has
created are not to be worshipped either.
All the elements of the visual creation are included here with the
heavens (shamayim ma`al) above (i.e.
sky, sun, stars, moon, planets, clouds, rain, thunder, lightening, birds,
etc.), the earth ('erets) below (i.e. trees, mountains, volcanoes, animals,
people, fertility, death, sexuality, etc.), and the waters (mayim 'erets) of the earth (streams,
rivers, springs, geysers, seas, fish, whales, etc.). This pretty much covers it all that we can
see.
But you maybe asking at this
point what about angels and demons and the like can they be idols, too? In the strictest sense of an idol (graven
image), no. The second commandment
stresses tangible objects that can be seen whether made by man or created by
God. Worship of angels and demons would
be covered in the first commandment.
This was the nature of Christ’s rebuke to Satan in Matthew 4:10. In a broader sense David has said in Psalm
96:5, that all gods are idols. However,
a different word in the Hebrew is used here.
The word 'eliyl is used that
more specifically means worthless false gods, but not referring specifically to
tangible objects. To complete the
distinction made here, the point at which we erect a statue as a means of
worshipping an angel, we violate the second commandment, but before that point
we have only broken the first commandment.
Looking on in Exodus 20:5, we see
that we are not to bow down to (shachah)
or serve (`abad) these images. The Hebrew for bow down with its stem refers
to bowing or prostrating ourselves before another in an act of sacred worship
or homage. This act of worship and reverence
is due to God alone as we saw with the first commandment. The Hebrew for serve with its stem refers to
being led by or enticed into the service of another god. We cannot make a false god without it making
some demand upon us. They will claim our
time, our possessions, our resources, our children, and ultimately our
souls. As Paul said in Romans 1:24-25,
God gave them up to their sensual desires in body, mind, and soul.
Verses 5 and 6 (Exodus 20) go on
to give us the reason for this commandment and God’s judgement of violating
this command. This will be the topic of
the next lesson.
1.
The next two catechisms (56-57) deal
with this commandment in a way that is probably more applicable to us in our
present condition, namely, the mixing of images and worship of God
together. However, we should not overlook
the overt possibility of erecting images that we worship in place of God. Remember this extends to our family and to
our own selves (Luke 14:26, 9:23).
Brainstorm as a family idols or potential idols that you have placed (or
could place) before God.
2. An
idea for children could be to cut out images from magazines and make a collage
of idols. Most children and adults have
trouble seeing the television, the Internet, sports, gardens, etc. as idols. If it entices us to serve it and sacrifice to
it, then it rules us as an idol made by the hands of men.
Exodus 20:4-6, 34:14, 1 Corinthians 10:22
In Exodus 20:5, the reason is given for not erecting images
for worship or for idolizing objects of the creation for worship. It is because the LORD God is a jealous
God. In Exodus 34:14, we see that the
very name of God is Jealous. Just what
does this mean? We often in our society
view jealousy as a negative personality trait.
However, in its truest sense with men and with always with God, jealousy
is a virtue that is worthy of commendation and imitation. Let us look at this word to see why I would
make such an unusual statement.
In the Hebrew the word simply translates as jealous (qanna') with the root also conveying the
ideal of being zealous. The Greek used
in the Septuagint is zelotes that
gives us a clearer idea of the meaning given by God’s jealousy. The idea here is conveyed of burning with
zeal for someone, to be intolerant of rivals, to be most eagerly desirous of
devotion, and to demand total faithfulness.
Jealousy only turns into a negative characteristic in the heart of man
when jealousy turns into paranoia and mistrust.
However, in the proper sense, I am very jealous of my wife. I have a burning zeal or passion for her, I
am intolerant of rivals for her affection, I am eagerly desirous of her
devotion, and I demand her to be totally faithful (see Numbers 5:11-31 for
God’s agreement to this proclamation, also Proverbs 6:32-35).
In like manner God is named Jealous and is jealous of
us. Any graven image is a rival to God
and impedes the devotion and faithfulness that is due to our Creator
alone. God has a zeal that His people
obey Him and serve only Him. In fact,
God referred to
Our passage from 1 Corinthians 10:22 gives us a little more
practical insight into God’s jealous nature.
The context of this verse goes back to chapter 8 were there was some
question of whether believers should eat meat that had been sacrificed to Pagan
gods then sold in the market. He first
deals with the reality of this meat that it has no spiritual significance
whatsoever, but less mature believers may be offended, if they see another
brother eat such meat. Thus Paul
concluded in 8:31 that he would not eat meat again if it would make his brother
stumble. Paul returns to this discussion
in chapter 10 with the topic of idolatry.
Paul shows that the temptations of idolatry have always been present
with God’s people and that the sufferings of the Israelites stood as an example
to the Corinthian believers and to us as well.
Before giving the exhortation in verse14 to “flee from idolatry,” he
comforts and encourages them in verse 13 reminding them that though tempted God
will always be faithful to provide a way of escape.
Unlike in chapter 8, Paul refers to these believers actually
participating in the ceremony where meat is sacrificed to demonic idols. The idol is nothing of itself, but a demon
stands behind the idol enticing those before it to worship it. Obviously, from verse 21 we see that these
believers were participating in both the idol’s table and the Lord’s table
(Lord’s Supper). This would be a
competition for devotion between these Pagan gods and God. The Romans believed that they had to
sacrifice the meat to gods to prevent evil spirits from inhabiting the meat and
being transferred to them. Thus, they
were not fully trusting in God.
Rhetorically, Paul asks in verse 22, “Or do we provoke the
Lord to jealousy?” The answer is yes, of
course. “Provoke to jealousy” is the one
word expression parazeloo in the
Greek meaning just that or to provoke rivalry or anger. Thus, we get the application of not mixing
the worship of any other with the worship of God or nothing is to be added to
the worship of God lest we provoke Him to jealousy. Then Paul really gets to the point with
another rhetorical question, “Are we stronger (ischuros) than He?” The real
battle is not between God and idols as far as we are concerned, but between God
and us. We are foolish as created beings
to question the sovereignty and omnipotence of God by placing some great power
upon pagan objects and rites of worship (so much for the free masons).
1.
There will be opportunity next week to
more thoroughly delve into the subject of the mixing of symbols and man made
rituals into the worship of God.
However, we must now ponder the danger of any reliance upon
superstitions, old wives tales, horoscopes, institutions, psychology, or any
media that would detract from our total devotion and trust of God for our
salvation and preservation to the end.
We must search our hearts and our habits for any foreign
allegiance. To persist with other gods
is to fight a losing battle with the one living and true God, which could claim
our children and grandchildren as casualties.
Scripture:
Exodus 20:4-6; Exodus 34:14; 1 Corinthians 10:22.