The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
The likeness of any beast on the earth and of any winged fowl that flies in the air was not to be made into a graven image, nor was such an image to be worshiped. The prohibition covers both the making of the image and the bowing to it as an object of worship. The same warning names also the likeness of human figures, of creeping things, of fish, and of the heavenly bodies.
The command belongs to the law given to Israel at Sinai as covenant instruction, spoken by God's voice from the pillar of cloud telling what to do and what not to do. At Horeb Israel saw no form or visible likeness when God spoke, and for that reason they were not to corrupt themselves by fashioning images to worship. Its purpose was to keep them from corrupting themselves by representing God through created things, by worshiping created things, and by following the idolatrous worship of the nations in the land they were about to possess. They were thus to remain separate, to worship God alone, to regard idols as worthless, and to direct their minds to the living God of heaven. Created things are not God, but they testify of Him.
The verse stands in a chapter to be studied, with special attention to knowing that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth beneath with none else, and to keeping His statutes and commandments for well-being, for children after them, and for prolonging days upon the land God gives, with promises attached to keeping His commandments. The chapter verifies God's spoken word against disobedience, since only two of the adults who left Egypt entered Canaan while the rest died in the wilderness, and God will vindicate His word today if leaders depart from His commandments. Its specifications express principles of God's law and the mind of the infinite God that never lose their force, so that every word is to be cherished, preached, and represented by correct principles in all religious service toward God and toward one another. That service means being Christian gentlemen, loving as brethren, doing no injustice, and showing liberality, tenderness, compassion, and true courtesy, while all who depart from His word in action misrepresent God's character.
The charge given to ancient Israel also applies to God's people today who have heard the truth and were warned about future temptations. They are to take heed, to keep their promise of obedience, not to treat the truth as something to put on and take off at will, and to resist inclinations that draw them from serving God as His Word directs. The warning is applied to picture-taking and to images that can draw devotion toward humanity or anything on earth instead of the living God. Minds should be kept on God, and children taught to avoid this idolatry.
The verse means that multitudinous picture-making, accumulating pictures in the home, multiplying faces and illustrations in books, and spending much money on photographs are prohibited as becoming idolaters and a species of idolatry that displeases God. Such spending consumes the Lord's money and means that should be used in missionary effort, expending it on pictures which are not essential. Things of apparently little consequence attract the mind and eye and absorb attention at the very time when attention should be given to God, especially in this day of test and trial and among those in positions of sacred responsibility.
The likeness of any beast on the earth and of any winged fowl that flies in the air was not to be made into a graven image, nor was such an image to be worshiped. The prohibition covers both the making of the image and the bowing to it as an object of worship. The same warning names also the likeness of human figures, of creeping things, of fish, and of the heavenly bodies.
The command belongs to the law given to Israel at Sinai as covenant instruction, spoken by God's voice from the pillar of cloud telling what to do and what not to do. At Horeb Israel saw no form or visible likeness when God spoke, and for that reason they were not to corrupt themselves by fashioning images to worship. Its purpose was to keep them from corrupting themselves by representing God through created things, by worshiping created things, and by following the idolatrous worship of the nations in the land they were about to possess. They were thus to remain separate, to worship God alone, to regard idols as worthless, and to direct their minds to the living God of heaven. Created things are not God, but they testify of Him.
The verse stands in a chapter to be studied, with special attention to knowing that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth beneath with none else, and to keeping His statutes and commandments for well-being, for children after them, and for prolonging days upon the land God gives, with promises attached to keeping His commandments. The chapter verifies God's spoken word against disobedience, since only two of the adults who left Egypt entered Canaan while the rest died in the wilderness, and God will vindicate His word today if leaders depart from His commandments. Its specifications express principles of God's law and the mind of the infinite God that never lose their force, so that every word is to be cherished, preached, and represented by correct principles in all religious service toward God and toward one another. That service means being Christian gentlemen, loving as brethren, doing no injustice, and showing liberality, tenderness, compassion, and true courtesy, while all who depart from His word in action misrepresent God's character.
The charge given to ancient Israel also applies to God's people today who have heard the truth and were warned about future temptations. They are to take heed, to keep their promise of obedience, not to treat the truth as something to put on and take off at will, and to resist inclinations that draw them from serving God as His Word directs. The warning is applied to picture-taking and to images that can draw devotion toward humanity or anything on earth instead of the living God. Minds should be kept on God, and children taught to avoid this idolatry.
The verse means that multitudinous picture-making, accumulating pictures in the home, multiplying faces and illustrations in books, and spending much money on photographs are prohibited as becoming idolaters and a species of idolatry that displeases God. Such spending consumes the Lord's money and means that should be used in missionary effort, expending it on pictures which are not essential. Things of apparently little consequence attract the mind and eye and absorb attention at the very time when attention should be given to God, especially in this day of test and trial and among those in positions of sacred responsibility.