Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image – The Second Commandment in Context

Bible reference – Exodus 20:4-6

What I thought this meant: Don’t serve false idols.

What I think it really means: Don’t be delusional. Do not put anything above you.

This commandment was always presented to me as simple and straightforward. Don’t serve false idols. Upon closer inspection, a lot of complexity emerges. First off, it’s broken into 2 clear parts. Why?

At first glance, the first section sounds like God doesn’t want you to make anything at all.

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:

It specifically addresses the making of an image or likeness. Although arguing semantics in a text that is a copy of – a translation of – an interpretation of – events many, many years after said events were said to have occurred is problematic at best, in this case it seems significant. An image or likeness implies a hollowness, a lack of substance. Perhaps, it’s not that God is saying, don’t make anything; maybe God is saying, don’t just copy things; strive for creation.

As long as I am splitting hairs, let me note a difference between make and create. Creating connotes a wholly original product, whereas making can be more generic or all-encompassing. It would be elegant (re: convenient) if using the term make was a purposeful delineation between copying or pursuing something shallowly, as opposed to actual creation, which would require depth and substance.

That said, images and likenesses are specifically interpreted visually. This could be the biblical origin of “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. So not only does it seem to advise us to dig deeper in our endeavors, to be original, to make things of substance; it seems to key specifically on not relying too heavily on the visual.

Now, let’s move to the second part:

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

Immediately, you have the message: don’t bow to those things. On one level, there is the notion of not putting anything above you; nothing is better than you, which is to say that there is an inherent equality in all creation. On another level, it can warn against specifically putting too much value in things described in part 1 (the hollow, the trivial, the visually appealing).

Then things kind of take a turn. For some reason, God literally calls Himself jealous, which activates an insecure boyfriend vibe. Can a perfect being get jealous? Envy and coveting is called out later in the Commandments! Is God a hypocrite as well as being vengeful and petty? Let’s break this down as well:

What does “visiting the iniquity” mean? If iniquity is immoral behavior, then visiting it sounds like a threat of punishment. It can be translated into misfortune that strikes the fathers, sons, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. This sounds spiteful and petty, unless this is a description of a consequence, and not a direct action. I don’t mean this as a movie mobster saying, “It would be a shame if your grandma accidentally fell out of a hot air balloon”. It can be argued that if you are shallow, then it’s likely your children will be shallow, and their children, etc… if you worship money, then it will likely carry on generations hence, not because someone is willing it, but because of how the universe works. Another thing to keep in mind is the “them that hate Me” part. This can be interpreted as those generations following a trend of being defiant against the messages laid out by God. People that hate the universe and try to defy it. This could be extended to mean people that do not accept reality, or those who are delusional. Delusion begets delusion, and perhaps this is a comment that those are the ones that will be lost – the ones that truly do not believe in anything except what they have manufactured themselves.

Now let’s go back to the first part. Delusions are often hollow beliefs that are disconnected from reality. It is a mere likeness of heaven, earth, and under the sea. The flat-earth theory is a likeness. Visually, there is a resemblance to reality, but it is not real. And there is a generational danger to those that believe in it.

Does this pass the Ricky Gervais Test? Yes. How many times have you heard people say don’t worship money, don’t devote your life to a movie franchise, and especially don’t worship other people, whether it’s a celebrity, a company, or a church. No one is perfect (See Commandment 1). On the low-end, you will just be disappointed by lame Star Wars movies, but on the steep-end, you lose all of your money in a pyramid scheme. Moreover, if you have encountered someone that has fallen into delusion, you know how damaging it can be when it goes to the extreme. When you sever your tether to reality, then how can you ever come back?

Does it make sense at #2? It’s funny because if we take the First Commandment to say: God is infinite. God is everlasting. You are not bigger than God. That suggests that you should not put yourself above anything. The Second Commandment suggests you should not put anything above you, either.

Side note: I can’t help but think this message could apply to priests, prophets, evangelists, and anyone else claiming to be touched by God, which gels very conveniently with one of my major clashes with organized religion: the elevation of people over other people. I respect Catholicism and those that believe it, but I do not believe the pope is any closer to God than I am. To me, Pope Francis is just a dude. He seems to be a thoughtful and kind dude, but that’s it. And if he is not, someone needs to explain to me how Pope Benedict, his predecessor, got to retire as the personification of God. The position of pope, priest, or CEO is also something made, after all. It is a likeness of God (not of creation). Perhaps that is a stretch, but in my mind, it still fits.

Putting the first and second Commandments together means holding 2 disparate ideas and setting a fundamental boundary. This concept is one of my own justifications for the existence of God: it is a collision of the finite and infinite. Remember you are nothing, but at the same time you have infinite potential. And both are true.

Another example:

Numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4… 10,000,000…. You have plenty of numbers that you would think would account for anything you can measure. And then you have the distance around a circle, which seems simple. And it does have a very simple relationship with straight lines. It’s pi, which is a number… but it never ends, and it is always changing. To me, pi is number an impishly clever God would create to remind people that there is something more to the universe: 1, 2, 3, 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640628620899862803482534211706798214808651328230664709384460955058223172535940812848111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196442881097566593344612847564823378678316527120190914564856692346034861045432664821339360726024914127372458700660631558817488152092096282925409171536436789259036001133053054882046652138414695194151160943305727036575959195309218611738193261179310511854807446237996274956735188575272489122793818301194912983367336244065664308602139494639522473719070217986094370277053921717629317675238467481846766940513200056812714526356082778577134275778960917363717872146844090122495343014654958537105079227968925892354201995611212902196086403441815981362977477130996051870721134999999837297804995105973173281609631859502445945534690830264252230825334468503526193118817101000313783875288658753320838142061717766914730359825349042875546873115956286388235378759375195778185778…, 4, 5, 6

There is a lesson there: Bow to the infinite, but nothing else. Be in awe of the universe, but don’t get too enthralled by any one part of it that you get sucked in. The Second Commandment warns us not to fall in love with our own narrow interpretations of what we observe, which in turn reinforces the notion of being humble. It also implies an embrace of our own imperfections and mistakes. If we could conceive of something truly perfect, then it would be worthy of worship. Not bowing to anything that a person has made means everything is subject to scrutiny and contemplation.

The broad sense of not putting anything above you, with the accompanying messages of embracing mistakes and questions, avoiding delusion and the superficial, as well as how false belief can echo through generations; that seems to be a worthy Second Commandment.