The second of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images.” The “graven images” is most often interpreted as idols. Graven means to engrave, either an inscription or an image.
Many sermons are given on the topic of modern idolatry. The ministers say beware of listening to the television, or making your entertainment or job your idol, or pornography. These sermons have their place, and they teach a good lesson… But the commandment is not warning us against our lascivious, slothful, or pleasure seeking tendencies. The second commandment is warning us against our noble intentions, our search for a simple god.
Idols are painted, engraved, or molded in order to worship and edify. Little Jesus statues are in almost every Christian home, seemingly in direct conflict with the second commandment to make no graven images; but we differentiate the little statues, because we do not mistake them for the actual God. The statues give no commands; they do not speak to us.
“So the days of idol worship are over,” you say.
No. Idol worship is as prevalent as ever.
The first and the second commandments really constitute a single commandment broken in two. The commandments “thou shalt have no other gods before me,” and “thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images” require a knowledge of God’s identity. Therefore, the first commandment will incite in a curious man a search for God, a quest to know God. Once knowing God, the second commandment will paradoxically be nullified, while at the same time becoming of utmost importance to those who desire others to know the true and greatest God. The second commandment will be nullified because a man who knows God will know that it is impossible to engrave an image of God. And the commandment will be of utmost importance because once one has encountered God, he will see how the masses worship idols that they believe bring them closer to God, that when used incorrectly actually draw millions away from Him.
To engrave God, would be to describe him, whether through words or through images. I mention Jesus statues, because they are an example that most can relate to as a graven image that can be used as an idol, but by many is not. The Jesus statue or painting may be looked at, and it may inspire us to better action, but we know that the real being of Christ is not inhabiting the graven image. The image does not dictate to us nor command us, therefore it is not an idol.
In our modern day, the graven word is much more potent an idol than the graven image. And nefariously, the worshipper is almost never aware of their bowing down to the graven words.
The God of Moses, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is a LIVING GOD. That which is living continues to create, its work is unfinished. A loving god that lives will continue to speak to its creation. The word of God is the breath of life, never-ending. Therefore, anything that would seek to claim that it is the final word of God declares God dead. As soon as a word, a book, a man is given the authority to claim that its word is the final word of god, then an idol has been crafted. These idols are the handiwork of man, and should be respected as the works of man. With reverence I look upon the statue of David by Michelangelo, but I do not worship it as God. I read the works of Shakespeare with tears in my eyes, but I do not claim that it is the final work to ever be written. The commandment against engraven images is not commanding that one should not make statues, or write books describing God… The second commandment is a warning against worshipping those creations as if they were God.
Christ says, “Only the Father in Heaven is good.” This single phrase can be interpreted so many ways, and I do interpret it differently for different contexts. In the context of idolatry I take it to mean, “Only God is always right.”
For every student of God that does not speak to God personally, they have between them an intercessor. That intercessor is necessarily an imperfect conduit of information. Thus I say, only the word of God from the mouth of God is perfect. As one who has not tasted salt will not truly know saltiness by description, so one may not truly know anything except by experience, and God is no different. A description of salt is not salt. A description of God is not God. The written words of men are not the word of God. The word of God comes directly from God, and must be experienced.
This brings me to my point, the idols of our age are not statues, but they are words. Graven words which men claim to be the word of God. The word of God cannot be written. The word of God cannot be captured in a book.
“What is this book you speak of? Who has made an idol of a book?”
It is on the pulpit, it is on the altar, it is on a shelf in nearly every library and bookstore… It is the Bible, The Tanakh, The Quran, The Book of Mormon, The Bhagavad Gita. It is any written word that claims divine authority by its mere existence; in defiance of proof, common sense, and reason. God has given us the gift of intelligence, by which God speaks to mankind. If we claim that dead books, penned by the hands of men; if we claim that spoken words uttered by the mouths of men are the living word of God, then we have fallen into idolatry.
How many crimes against humanity are committed in the name of God; taking the LORD’s name in vain; claiming that God wills what wicked men have willed? How many crimes justified by the graven idol of the words found in sacred texts?! Every preacher, every imam, every guru that cries out that their book is the final word of God declares God dead! But God is a living God, and he continues to speak to those who listen, to those who think and ponder the great questions of life. If you are wise and hear God, you know that what I am saying is true. If you believe what I say is false, I challenge you to search for the word of God within yourself. If he speaks to you, you will know that the books are not the final word from the Divine.
Do not worship your book. Do not cling to its words and place them as a deity above your God-given faculty of thought.
It is not only books that are idols, but also men of living flesh… Who is your guru who tells you his words are God’s words? God may speak to him, it is true, but he should teach you to speak to God, not to speak to him in the name of God. What prophet, priest or pastor guides you, and tells you that a man’s words are the end of the search for truth? These men are idols. Do not put them in the place of God.
What then should we do with our graven images, our graven books? What should we do with men who speak wisdom to us?
Let them guide you to God, that you might experience the Word for yourself, that you might hear the law whispered from the mouth of God into your ear. Books and teachers are useful as guides on the path to wisdom, but do not worship them. Do not say they are infallible. Do not say that they must be obeyed above the conscience that guides you. To do so is idolatry. No man is good but the Father in Heaven. No book is good but the book that is ever flowing from the mouth of God.
Your book, your teachers, they are precious like Michelangelo’s David. Preserve them, cherish them as the magnificent works that they are, but do not make idols of them.