Thou shalt not make thyself any graven image, or any form of what is in the heavens above, or what is in the earth beneath, or what is in the waters under the earth
The second commandment bans images. It rules out every carved or moulded likeness taken from any part of creation — sky, land or sea. It raises a question every generation has tried to dodge: if an image is only a reminder, is it still forbidden?
The command names heaven, earth and sea. One writer notes how absolute the wording is:
The language of these laws is absolute and firm. "You shall" or "you shall not." God allows no deviation. First, He allowed no other god to take His place. Nothing may be used even to represent God. No image, no likeness of anything in creation may hold any place of spiritual honour in people's minds. This is idolatry. Even pictures of this kind were forbidden (Num. 33:52).
The reach goes beyond images of God Himself to every other power, seen or unseen:
Second, they were not to try to have an image or material representation of any unseen power. God is "in heaven above," and He forbids anything claiming to be an image of Him. Many other powers exist, both invisible and visible, and they were to make no representations of these either.
At Sinai the people heard words. They saw no shape. That silence is itself the argument against images:
They saw nothing. God did not show Himself to them. He did not take any bodily shape from which they might form an image. He gave them His word, His holy commandments, so plain that a child could understand them... They were called to hear God's voice, not to see His shape — to obey His commandments, not to make an image of Him. Superstition vainly tries to honour God by forming and worshipping an image. Faith, on the other hand, lovingly receives and reverently obeys His holy commandments.
The excuse offered for images is old, and it is still in use:
They likely excused their idolatry, as many do today, by saying this was only an image made to represent God, but God forbade any such images (Ex. 20:4). In fact, though such things are claimed to be only representations, very soon the thing itself becomes the god that people worship.
Another writer answers the same excuse and names what it costs:
It is useless to say that the objects adored are only images for memory, not idols. The old heathen philosophers used exactly this excuse. They tried to excuse their superstition. They claimed that nobody thought the idols were the gods. The idols were only visible tokens that reminded them of beings above and behind them... The truth is that such visible tokens or signs deny faith. They destroy the very principle and power the Christian is told to walk in. He is called to "walk by faith and not by sight."
An idol need not be carved to exist. The shape is not the point:
Idolatry takes various shapes. So it is not a question of the shape of the thing, but of the thing itself; not the outward form, but the root or principle of it. We read that "covetousness is idolatry," and that a covetous man is an idolater. That is, a man wanting to get more than God has given him is an idolater — actually guilty of Israel's sin when they made the golden calf and worshipped it. Whatever commands the heart is the heart's idol, whatever it may be — money, pleasure, power or anything else.
Shutting out every image man makes cleared the ground for the one likeness God would give:
We cannot help seeing what the second commandment does. It clears away everything that would confuse the issue when our blessed Lord Jesus appeared as "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15). In Him, and in Him alone, we find the true and perfect representation of all that God is.
The jealousy attached to this command is therefore read as jealousy for the Son:
God is jealous over His glory and will not give it to another. That only underlines the truth that the Son is one with the Father. All images that man might make can only provoke that jealousy. But here is "the image of the invisible God." He is jealous for His Son, "that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father."
- Likeness forbidden — the command sweeps through heaven, earth and sea. No part of creation may picture God or any unseen power.
- Likeness withheld — Israel heard a voice and saw no shape. God gave His word, not His form, so they were to obey Him, not imagine Him.
- Likeness excused — the plea that an image is "only a reminder" is as old as the heathen philosophers. The reminder soon becomes the god.
- Likeness hidden — an idol needs no carving. Whatever commands the heart is an idol. That is why covetousness is idolatry.
- Likeness given — God shut out every image man makes because He had one of His own to send. Christ is the image of the invisible God, and in Him alone we see God.
thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and to the fourth [generation] of them that hate me,
God forbids bowing to any image, and He gives the reason: who He is. Three hard ideas meet here — a jealous God, iniquity visited on children, and a limit at the third and fourth generation — and each is easy to misread.
The word "jealous" here is not petty resentment. It is the response of love that will not share the heart it has claimed.
He is jealous because He cannot bear any rival to have a place in the hearts of those He loves. He must have the whole heart, because He alone is worthy of it, and He alone can fill and satisfy it forever. And if His people turn away from Him and go after idols of their own making, He must leave them to reap the bitter fruit of what they have done.
The rival need not be a carved statue:
Nothing is so jealous as true love: it cannot bear rivalry. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" is a word that is often forgotten and greatly overlooked. Anything that takes the place of Christ in the heart of a Christian is an idol, and ought to be judged and put far from us.
Verse 4 forbids the images man makes to picture God. God Himself gives one true likeness.
God is jealous about His glory being given to another, but that only underlines that the Son is one with the Father. All images that man might make can only stir up jealousy. But here is "the image of the invisible God." He is jealous for His Son, "that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father."
This is God's government of the world now, and its effects are easy to see.
What we get in Exodus 34 is not sovereign grace bringing a soul to eternal life, but governmental power, and we may see it at work every day around us. For if a man wastes his fortune, or ruins his health by intemperance of any kind, his children suffer for it. This is an invariable principle.
That is a different question from where a child spends eternity:
It is always true that our children will suffer because of our disobedience to God. This does not affect the question of eternal salvation. Any one of the children may still call on the Lord and be saved. But their parents' wrongdoing will still mark their lives on earth.
The threat does not reach every descendant. It reaches those who carry on their fathers' hatred of God.
He has Himself assured us that He "visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation." But then He adds a most necessary guard, without which the words would be misread: "of those who hate Me." Elsewhere the Lord condemns, in the strongest terms, the proverb Israel had taken up from just such a misreading: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge" (Ezekiel 18). He not only says but swears that they will have no reason to use such a proverb. The son will not bear the father's iniquity, and the father will not bear the son's.
Some took this verse to mean that all suffering traces back to someone's sin. Jesus answered that when His disciples asked who had sinned to cause a man's blindness.
The question the disciples raised may seem odd to us. But it expressed thoughts that were common among the Jews, based on Exodus 20:5, which speaks of the iniquity of the fathers being visited on the children. The Lord's reply shows that affliction may come with no element of punishment in it. It may come simply so that God's work may be displayed.
Sinai states the terms; it does not supply the remedy.
Least of all should Israel forget that Jehovah is God armed against sin. He is a jealous God, who visits the fathers' iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him. He shows mercy to thousands of those who love Him and keep His commandments. But how could the sinner appear before God armed with such terrors? Not a word to that effect appeared in the ten words God spoke that day. It was meant to fill the heart of man with terror because of his sins. But it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance; it is faith in our Lord Jesus that gives assurance of salvation.
- Jealous — God's jealousy is love refusing a rival; He asks for the whole heart because only He can fill it.
- Image — man's images degrade God; the Son is the one likeness God gives, and God is jealous for His honour.
- Government — "visiting the iniquity" means consequences running down through families on earth. It is not a verdict on a child's soul.
- Limit — the words "of those who hate Me" fence the threat in, and the answering promise of mercy is the way out.
- Gospel — Sinai can terrify a sinner, but it cannot clear him. Assurance comes through faith in the Lord Jesus.