• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sermo Humilis

Humble Speech

  • Home
  • Topics
    • Just a Thought
    • Who we Are Instead
    • Life in Christendom
  • Series
    • Words that Matter
    • Rock of Ages
    • Let the Lady Speak
    • Life and Times of Jesus
    • Jesus Through all of Life
    • 8 Weeks Before Marriage
    • The Ten Commandments
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / The Ten Commandments - Series / The 2nd Commandment

The 2nd Commandment

January 23, 2022 By David Trounce 1 Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutes
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

The 2nd Commandment - 10 Commandments

The 1st Commandment teaches that God stands alone as the source of all blessings and so we are not to imagine any other god as a source for life’s blessings. The 2nd Commandment further teaches that life in God’s presence is to be mediated on His terms, not mans’.

The bible does not forbid art and the depiction of things in creation. The priests’ garments were woven with the imagery of pomegranates (Exodus 28:33-34) and the ark conveyed golden statues of angelic beings called Cheribum.

What is forbidden is imagining that things created can mediate Gods blessing or bring us into contact with divine power.

The only elements that should be present in our worship together are those elements commanded by God either through express command or by implication. Singing, dancing, bread and wine are a few examples.

Faith in Words, Not Things

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything… (Exodus 20:4)

In Numbers 21 we have the account of a bronze serpent being lifted up on a pole. This was in response to the fatal bite of serpents God had sent to discipline Israel in their rebellion.

The pole was commissioned by God and represented a promise of life from the dead.

If bitten and you looked at the serpent on the pole, you lived. If you didn’t, you died.

But there was nothing at all magical about the pole. The power of life was in the promise made by God, “Look and live”. Those of faith looked – and lived. Those who didn’t believe didn’t look and died.

Some years later, this pole was incorporated into Israelite worship (2 Kings 18:4) with the mistaken view that it had the power to confer blessing. God responded by judging them for their idolatry.

Like Israel’s misuse of the serpent on the pole, all idolatry is an attempt to localise and imagine divine power in things created.

And so we are cautioned not to imagine or make an idol of anything that is,

…in heaven above, in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. (Exodus 20:4-5)

The Bible teaches that the land is resting on the great deep (Psalm 24:1-2). Above is the dome of the firmament (Genesis 1:6; Job 37:18) in which are fixed the sun, moon and stars which move around us in their courses above (Genesis 1:17). It’s within these three realms; heaven, earth and the waters under the earth, that man seeks out his idols.

Idolatry can take on many forms including religious devotion to the environment, hero worship, entertainment and an obsession with created things, people or groups.

Such devotions are often considered acts of righteousness by our culture. For example, devotees of the environment turn off their lights for one hour each March in order to acknowledge and atone for their guilt as consumers of the earth’s resources, or football fans who dress in team colours to show their allegiance and inclusion. All these are a form of idolatrous slavery in the making. Slavery which believers can cheerfully reject.

God is Jealous for us

…for I the Lord your God am a jealous God… (Exodus 20:5)

God is not an essence, a force, a material being or a vibe. God is a person, He is Spirit and His presence is relational.

As a man is with his wife, so God will not share our devotion with anything or anyone.

The consequence of all idolatry is judgement.

…visitng the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:5-6)

Our idolatry has consequences. The father who blows the family inheritance on Hagan’s Pride, track three, race nine, is committing an idolatry that will directly impact his children.

This is not God arbitrarily dishing out judgement on helpless kids. The consequences of sin are woven into the fabric of His creation.

Likewise, we must not presume that obedience to the 2nd Commandment forces God’s hand to reward us. God is looking for faith and faithfulness, not blind obedience.

Finally, Jesus, as the faithful Son whom God brought out of Egypt, fulfils the 2nd Commandment by rejecting all idolatry (Luke 4:7-8).

He is the substitute that God provides (1 Corinthians 5:7). He is the power of God localised (1 Corinthians 1:24). He is the mediator of God’s blessings (2 Timothy 2:15).

And those who look to Jesus and flee from idolatry stand to enjoy all that God mediates through His Son.

Those who look to idols will get an idols reward.

Related...

The 1st Commandment
Image is Everything
Low-fat Christianity
#15 Arkeology – OT Survey

Filed Under: The Ten Commandments - Series Tagged With: 10 Commandments, Faith, Idolatry


Writing Ideas on Sermo HumilisWhat do You Want to Read About?

 

Nothing like real-world issues to focus the mind. If you have something you would like me to write about, send me a message and let me know.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. David TrounceKaren Mackay says

    January 29, 2022 at 9:05 pm

    Thank you David. Great read. Looking forward to reading through your words on the rest of the commandments.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Sermo Humilis

For the love of all things true, beautiful and good.


Welcome to Sermo Humilis, a digital home for biblical discipleship and cultural Christianity. A few new thoughts every week.

Please remember to like, subscribe and share. It really helps me out.

Subscribe for Weekly Updates

As per our Privacy Policy, we will never hand your information to a third party.

please check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Categories

  • Life in Christendom
  • Just a Thought
  • Who we Are Instead

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Medium
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Series

Sidebar - Words that Matter Sidebar Series - Proverbs - Let the Lady Speak Sidebar - Jesus Through all of Life Series

The Most Popular Guff

Brave

Israel was in slavery in Egypt. They lived under the heavy hand of

Euthanasia – Thinking through our Response

  Euthanasia, like abortion, has long been forgotten as a

Jesus, Thy Kingdom Come

A quick survey of John 18-19 which covers his betrayal and trial

#24 Redemption & Restoration – OT Survey

In Daniel 9, Daniel sits down with the book of Jeremiah and works out

Lesser Things

Little arms like to wrap themselves around big things. There's the

Freedom and Repentance

Repentance is central to biblical faith. It brings a man into contact

To You and Your Children

One of the problems the church has faced since it first appeared on

See and Hear

On the move? Weekly content can also be seen and heard via Youtube.

Topics

Beauty Charity Children Covenant Creation Death Discipleship Evangelism Faith Faithfulness Fear Fellowship Gospel Grace Grief Guilt Holiness Idolatry Image Jesus Joy Judgement Kingdom Law Liberty Life Love Marriage Mercy Money Prosperity Redemption Rest Resurrection Righteousness Sabbath Sacrifice Salvation Sin Truth Victory War Wisdom Work Worship

Footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe to Sermo Humilis

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Copyright © 2022 · Sermo Humilis

Thor's Oak

Around 723 AD, a missionary named Boniface entered Hesse in Germany. Upon finding a sacred tree named Thor’s Oak, he took an axe to it, cut it down and built a church. Many in the town, believing that the God of Boniface must be greater than Thor, left their paganism behind converted to Christianity.