Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image

Rabbinical Judaism does not allow images. Christians abide by this law with their own interpretation depending on the denomination. As to Catholics and Orthodox there are mixed approaches, stating that they focus on images and icons rather than idols, sometimes with destruction of images (Iconoclasm) occurring, particularly images of Christ and the saints. Aniconism is a common but not universal aspect of modern Islam.


Although no single biblical passage contains a complete definition of idolatry, the subject is addressed in numerous passages, so that idolatry may be summarized as the strange worship of idols or images; the worship of polytheistic gods by use of idols or images; the worship of created things (trees, rocks, animals, astronomical bodies, or another human being); and the use of idols in the worship of God (YHWH Elohim, the God of Israel).^[2] Covetousness is forbidden by the 10th commandment, and as greed is defined as idolatry in the New Testament.^[3] When the commandment was given, opportunities to participate in the honor or worship of idols abounded, and the religions of Canaanite tribes neighboring the Israelites often centered on a carefully constructed and maintained cult idol.^[4] However, according to the book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites were strictly warned neither to adopt nor adapt any of the religious practices of the peoples around them.^[5]


Nevertheless, according to the Hebrew Bible the story of the people of Israel until the Babylonian Captivity includes the violation of this commandment as well as the one before it, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me". Much of biblical preaching from the time of Moses to the exile relates to the choice between the exclusive worshiping of God and the worshiping of other idols.^[6] The Babylonian exile seems to have been a turning point after which the Jewish people as a whole were strongly monotheistic and willing to fight battles (such as the Maccabean Revolt) and face martyrdom before paying homage to any other god.^[7]


According to the psalmist and the prophet Isaiah, those who worship inanimate idols will be like them, that is, unseeing, unfeeling, unable to hear the truth that God would communicate to them.^[8] Paul the Apostle identifies the worship of created things (rather than the Creator) as the cause of the disintegration of sexual and social morality in his letter to the Romans.^[9] Although the commandment implies that the worship of God is not compatible with the worship of idols, the status of an individual as an idol worshiper or a God worshiper is not portrayed as predetermined and unchangeable in the Bible. When the covenant is renewed under Joshua, the Israelites are encouraged to throw away their foreign gods and "choose this day whom you will serve".^[10] King Josiah, when he becomes aware of the terms of God's covenant, zealously works to rid his kingdom of idols.^[11] According to the book of Acts, Paul tells the Athenians that though their city is full of idols, the true God is represented by none of them and requires them to turn away from idols.^[12]

Words translated as "graven image"[edit]

The English words "graven image" or "idol" in translations of the Bible may represent any of several Hebrew words. The word is pesel, translated in modern Hebrew as “sculpture”^[13] indicating something carved or hewn. In subsequent passages, pesel was applied to images of metal and wood, as well as those of stone. Other terms, such as nēsek and massēkâ, massēbâ, ōseb, and maskit also indicate a material or manner of manufacture.^[14]


Some terms represent the consistently negative moral view with which idols are portrayed by the Bible.^[15] For example, idols are referred to as "non-God",^[16] "things of naught",^[17] "vanity",^[18] "iniquity",^[19] "wind and confusion",^[20] "the dead",^[21] "carcasses",^[22] and "a lie".^[23] Other terms are deliberately contemptuous, such as elilim, "powerless ones", and gillulim, "pellets of dung".^[24]

Biblical injunctions[edit]

Idolatry is prohibited in many biblical passages, although there is no single section that contains a complete definition. Rather there are a number of commandments on this subject spread through the books of the Tanakh, and taking these passages together, idolatry may be defined as the worship of idols (or images); the worship of polytheistic gods by use of idols (or images); the worship of created things (trees, rocks, animals, astronomical bodies, or another human being); and even the use of idols in the worship of the God of Israel.^[29]


The question has been raised whether the ancient view of this command prohibits images of Yahweh. Some scholars have proposed that the golden calf made by Aaron (while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments) was supposed to represent Yahweh, or perhaps a throne or steed on which the people were to envision Yahweh.^[30] It is generally held that the Masoretes altered ʾābı̂r ("bull") to ʾabbı̂r ("mighty one") by changing the pointing (adding a dagesh to the bet), to disguise any association between Yahweh and a bull.^[31] Other suggestions are that the calf represents some other god, with El, Baal, and particularly the moon god Sin being proposed.^[31] According to Exodus 32:7–8, in a divine speech to Moses, God reveals the events going on at the base of Mt. Sinai to Moses, judging the golden calf to be a violation of the recently revealed law: "They have turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them".^[32] Others point out that the golden calf episode leads to the breaking of the tablets of the Decalogue, something that implies that the covenant had been violated. This event and the plurality of the language used in the second commandment leads many scholars to conclude that it prohibits the making of any image of Yahweh as well as any image of a created thing to which divinity would be ascribed.^[33]


In a number of places the ancient texts assert that God has no shape or form and is utterly incomparable; thus no idol, image, idea, or anything in creation could ever capture God's essence.^[34] The narrative in Deuteronomy 4^[35] recounts that when the Israelites were visited by God at Mt. Sinai at the time the Ten Commandments were given, they saw no shape or form and this is stated as a reason why any physical representation of the divine is prohibited – no idols of humans, animals, or heavenly bodies were to be made. Rather than use an idol, God chose to reveal himself in words, by working through people, and by working in history.^[36]


According to the Book of Joshua, Abraham came from a land and a family that worshiped strange gods.^[37] However, when their God revealed himself to Abraham and called him to leave his native land for Canaan, he did so.^[38] According to the Book of Genesis, image worship existed in the time of Jacob, from the account of Rachel taking teraphim along with her on leaving her father Laban's house.^[39]


As the leadership of Israel passed from Moses to Joshua, the covenant between Israel and God was renewed and warnings were repeated against adapting or adopting the customs of idol worship among the people the Israelites would encounter, on penalty of corporate destruction and loss of the promised land.^[40] Through the centuries, idolatry became pervasive among the Israelites and supported by many of their kings, despite repeated warnings from the prophets and culminating in the Babylonian Exile. Along with the original warnings was a promise of restoration for those who would turn away from idols and back to God.^[41] However, after repeated refusals to turn away from idols over time, God announced through the prophet Jeremiah that the covenant was broken beyond repair and the judgment (Babylonian Captivity) was sure to happen.^[42]


The commandments in the Hebrew Bible against idolatry also forbade the adoption of the beliefs and practices of the nations who lived around the Israelites at the time, especially the religions of ancient Mesopotamia, and Egypt. In dozens of passages, the Hebrew Bible refers to specific practices used to worship idols, including the offering of incense, prayers, food, drink, and blood offerings, singing and dancing, cutting one's flesh, bowing down to and kissing the idol, lewd behavior, passing one's children through the fire, cultic male and female prostitution, and human sacrifice, including child sacrifice.^[43]


The ancient understanding apparently did not conflict with the artistic rendering of created things, and the Bible describes the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, as having tapestries and objects incorporating cherubim, flowers, fruits, trees, and animals.^[44]


However, sometimes objects that God instructed to be made were turned into idols by the Israelites. The Book of Numbers contains a narrative in which God instructed Moses to make a bronze snake as part of addressing a plague of venomous snakes that had broken out among the Israelites as a punishment for sin. The bronze snake is mentioned again in 2 Kings 18; however, rather than remaining a memorial of God's providence, it became an idol that the people named and worshipped. Thus the bronze snake was destroyed in King Hezekiah's reforms.^[45]


According to Exodus 25 and 37, the Ark of the Covenant was a rectangular container overlaid with pure gold with two gold cherubim on its cover. It was considered holy; it was kept in the Holy of Holies, the innermost part of the Tabernacle (and later the Temple), was not to be touched directly, and was only to be transported in a prescribed manner.^[46] However, it was not to be an object of worship, and when the Israelites carried it into war like a cult idol, assuming it would guarantee victory, they were defeated, suffering 30,000 casualties, and the Ark was captured and taken to the temple of a foreign god.^[47]