Scriptures Verse

Statues Exodus 20:4-5 - do not make and worship any graven images Commentary on Exodus 20:4 Only images of strange gods were prohibited as appears not only from the words in Exodus 20:5 and Deuteronomy 5:7 but also from the cherubim (Exodus 25:18) and the brazen serpent (Numbers 21:8) which Yahweh ordered to be made and from the mural decorations of the Jewish synagogues in the early Christian period as excavations abundantly attest. There is question therefore not of a separate commandment which forbids the worship of all images but of an application of the precept forbidding the worship of strange gods. The prohibition of image worship, already discussed, does not contemplate the case of an image of Yahweh, most probably forbidden in the Book of the Covenant. Deuteronomy 4:16 insists, however that he did not appear in material form lest the people should be led to make an image out of him and misapprehend his spiritual nature. The prohibition of idols is found in the Book of the Covenant. It appears here in an amplified form most probably as a later addition to the decalogue to illustrate and safeguard the first commandment. The Latin division of the commandments is thus the more reasonable one and the more likely to be original. Exodus 25:18-19 - make two cherubim of beaten gold Numbers 21:8-9 - Moses made bronze serpent and put on a pole 1 Kings 6:23-29 - temple had engraved cherubim, trees and flowers 1 Kings 7:25-45 - temple had bronze oxen, lions and pomegranates
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