Question 57: What is forbidden in the second commandment?

Answer: The second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images, or any other way that draws the heart away from his glory rather than toward his glory.

DAY 1: The worship of images forbidden Deuteronomy 4:15, 16; Romans 1:22, 23

Colossians 2:18

As Moses is giving the people instructions concerning their entrance into the land that God has brought them to, over and over, we find that he instructs them to be careful and take heed to remember the LORD and the words that He has given. The reason for this is simple. People, by nature, are prone to forget. Therefore, they must constantly be reminded of things that they often already know (2 Peter 1:12-15). God demands through Moses that the people worship Him only and that they do so without erecting images, forms, likenesses, or symbols of anything so that they can worship God in the wrong way. The Hebrew word for worship is shachah (shaw-khaw'). It literally means “to cause oneself to lie prostrate”. People would box down before one whose authority was greater than their own to show submission to that authority. As John MacArthur has said, “true Christian worship must express more than love for god; it must also express submission to His will.” With that in mind we see that true worship of God must be in submission to His authority.

Moses reminded the people of what had happened at Baal Peor. The incident is given to us in Numbers 25:1-9. There we see the fruit of what Balaam had planted. Remember that Balaam was a prophet for profit. Though the Lord would not allow him to speak a curse against Israel, he did advise King Balaak to bring the children of Israel close to the Moabites so that there would be inter-marriage and that it would quickly cause the people to follow after other gods, which would bring a curse upon them. As a result, the men of Israel began to be enticed with the women of Moab. The Bible tells us that the men committed harlotry with their women. One writer said that the idea is not one of prostitution for money’s sake. Rather as we see in verse 2 that they were invited to their idolatrous feasts and so partook in eating things that were offered to idols and then bowed themselves down to them. Once this was done and there was familiarity with the Moabite women, then they would very openly ask the women to engage them in sexual acts. The women would then remove some sort of image of Peor from their bosom. This was possibly some necklace with a charm or image of the particular god on it. They would then ask the men to worship this god and in so doing the women would reward their worship with the indulgence of their sexual appetites. So, they engaged in idolatry in order that they might fulfill the lusts of their flesh.

Moses declared these things to them because he wanted the name of God to be exalted, which we will speak of when we come to the third commandment. He said that if they were to be careful and observe all the statutes that he had given them, then the people around them would know that God had intimacy with the nation of Israel and that He was their God and He was their people. Again in verse 9 he calls on them to be careful not to forget what the Lord has done and to make sure they teach those things diligently to their children so that they will know what God has done among His people. Teaching, listening, understanding and thus living in light of that knowledge becomes the most complete and purest form of the worship of the true and living God.

Moses reminds the people that when they stood near Mt. Sinai

Scripture: Romans 1:22,23; Deuteronomy 4:15,16; Colossians 2:18; 3:17; 1 Corinthians 10:31.