1399. The Second Commandment

The Second Commandment

"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" (Exo_20:4-5).

We have before us the Commandment concerning graven images.

Our Illustration Is Taken From Exodus

Moses had gone up into the mount to receive the Commandments, engraved upon the stone. While he was gone, the children of Israel quickly turned out of the way which God had commanded them; they made them a molten calf and worshiped it. They sacrificed unto it and they said: "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

Thus did the wrath of God wax hot against the children of Israel. As Moses came down from the mount he heard the noise of the people as they shouted. In anger, he cast the Table of Stone out of his hands and brake them beneath the mount. Then Moses took the calf which Aaron had made, burnt it in the fire, ground it to powder, strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

As the result of this great sin, the Lord God sent a curse upon His people, and there fell that day of the people many slain.

Let us beware lest we too bow down our faces before graven images; neither let us worship idols. There is a difference between an idol and an image. An image is carved or cast with the hands of man. An idol may be no more than an ideal of the brain, but the Second Commandment covers both and the curse of God is upon those who worship idols or who make graven images. The wages of sin is death.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR