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Should you
make graven images or not?
Exodus 20:4-5, Leviticus 26:1;
Deuteronomy 5:8; 27:15
and Exodus 25:18; 37:7-8
- Shall not make graven
images
- (Exodus
20:4-5) - "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any
likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the
water under the earth. 5"You shall not worship them or serve
them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations
of those who hate Me."
- (Leviticus
26:1) - "You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you
set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a
figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your
God."
- (Deuteronomy
5:8) - "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any
likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the
water under the earth."
- (Deuteronomy
27:15) - "Cursed is the man who makes an idol or a
molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the
craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer
and say, ‘Amen.’"
-
Shall make graven images
- (Exodus
25:18) - "And you shall make two cherubim of gold, make
them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat."
- (Exodus
37:7-8) - "And he made two cherubim of gold; he made them
of hammered work, at the two ends of the mercy seat; 8one
cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end; he made the
cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at the two ends." See
also,
Exodus 26:1,31;
36:8;
1 Kings 6:23-35.
The context of the "Thou shall not make
a graven image" passages is dealing with worship of false things.
Exodus 20:4 states that no one is to
make an image of what is in heaven so that you may not worship them or bow
down to them (20:5). This is
reiterated in Leviticus 26:1.
The Deuteronomy passages, contextually, are dealing with the same thing:
an admonition against worshipping a false image. God does not want
people bowing down before idols and worshiping false gods.
The instruction by God to make cherubim, which are
angels in heaven, is not for the purpose of worship at all. Instead, it is a
representation of the heavenly realm where God dwells and the angels are
about the throne (1 Samuel 4:4;
Hebrews 9:5). The Cherubim
were placed on the Ark of the Covenant, in the Holy of Holies in the temple
(2 Chron. 3:10).
There, they would never become objects of worship because they were not
public artifacts to which the general populace would become familiar and
thereby risk falling into idol worship.
Return to
Bible Difficulties - Genesis to
Deuteronomy
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