Lesson No. 35 

Lesson No. 35 Second Commandment

According to the translation of our version, the text says the following:

Exodus chapter 20: verses 4 to 6: “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: 5Thou 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; 6And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments”.51

Most Christian churches interpret this commandment as a prohibition against making images only when it is for the purpose of worshiping them.

The more conservative, however, assert that the grammatical analysis of the text in the original Hebrew language reveals a more radical character regarding its observance. Since, according to The Hebrew-English Interlinear ESV Old Testament,7 it says:

"לֹֽא־ תַעֲשֶׂה־ לְךָ֣  פֶ֣סֶל  וְכָל־ תְּמוּנָ֡ה" (Lo-ta’aseh lecha pesel vejol temunah: [“not you shall make for you carved image or any of likeness…”]). *Bearing in mind that Hebrew is written from right to left.*

It is entirely logical that, if God had wanted to prohibit only the making of images for worship, He would have limited Himself to proclaiming: You shall not make for yourself an ("idol"), from the Hebrew: "פֶ֣סֶל" (pésel: ["idol or carved image"]), and would not have concluded this fragment of His legacy with the phrase: *And any likeness*, according to the Hebrew: "וְכָל־ תְּמוּנָ֡ה" (vejol temunah: ["likeness—image, figure, silhouette"]) .

It is indisputably true, also, that if there were no photographs or paintings of any creature, there would also be no idols represented by them.

Nonetheless, due to the radical nature of such an interpretation, considering the professional ethics in the application of the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, I do not intend in any way to assume a stance of imposition on the subject.

However, it is worth considering that, according to the evidence this commandment provides us with in general terms, it contains two prohibitions concerning God's creations. The first of them consists in the production of any image of such creations.

As interpreted by Moses according to Deuteronomy chapter 4: verses 16 to 18: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, 18The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:51

The second prohibition consists of serving the very works of divine creation. As also interpreted by Moses in verse 19 of the same chapter: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them…