The Second Commandment

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." Ex. 20:4-6

Before commenting upon this precept, let us read it carefully as given in other places in the Scriptures:—

Lev. 26:1: "Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God."

Deut. 4:15-19: "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven."

Deut. 5:8-10: "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments."

Deut. 16:22: "Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth."

Deut. 27:15: "Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen."

Ex. 34:17: "Thou shalt make thee no molten gods."

Lev. 19:4: "Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God."

Deut. 4:23-24: "Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God."

Ps. 97:7: "Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods."

Isa. 44:9-10: "They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?"

These texts are all of one class. The sin forbidden is the same in each. And it does not seem to be difficult to get at the real meaning, or to discover what that evil thing is which they so pointedly condemn. We inquire, then, What is the real meaning of the second commandment? Are there any two distinct precepts, one of which forbids the making of any copy, pattern, likeness, picture, or image of anything whatever, though no adoration be intended or even thought of; and the other of which either forbids our worshipping them when made, or else the worshipping of beings or things which they represent?

Or is it true that we have in the second commandment only one precept, and that one the prohibition of making an image or likeness to bow down before in adoration? If we compared together all these texts, there does not seem to be any ground for a reasonable doubt that this commandment is designed expressly to forbid the formation of images for purposes of worship. But it may be well to see if the commandant will bear to be considered in the light of a prohibition of all images, likenesses, copies, pictures, or representations, though made for purposes that have not the slightest connection with idolatry. Were this only used to bear against the photograph, or likeness business, we should have less interest to object; for, to speak within bounds, nine-tenths of that business is an utterly inexcusable expenditure of means they should be used for the honor God, or the well-being of man, instead of being made to minister to the extravagance and pride of those who must one day render account for it all.

But it is never best to use, as arguments against any evil, texts which do not bear upon that wrong. And we are never reduced to that recessity. All those Scriptures that bear upon extravagance, wastefulness, vanity, and folly; all of those also that set forth our stewardship, and the account that we must render for the use we make of our means; all those texts which command us to help in every good work, whether in relieving the distressed, or in sending the gospel those who perish for it; all these texts, the number of which is very great, and many others which might be referred to, look us in the face when we go into the picture business, and if our consciences are quick to feel, their force will certainly be sufficient to keep us from using means in this way, except to a very limited extent. If we do not, therefore, on examination decide that the second command bears directly upon the photograph business, it will not be understood that we have no objection to this business as entered into by many who know the truth.

But if this commandment forbids all pictures, copies, representations, images, likenesses, and everything of this sort, though made for purposes in no way connected with adoration, we should be constrained to regard it as to some extent justifying our no-law friends in teaching that the ten commandments are a yoke which they cannot bear. For it forbids (if the explanatory, limiting clause be omitted, which confines the prohibition to images and likenesses to be adored) the making of any likeness of anything, not merely in the heaven above, but in the earth beneath. Yet no business of life could be carried forward without sin were this the true interpretation of the commandant. For all the implements of every trade are but images of others; all articles of furniture, and, finally almost all human structures are in substance simply copies of others. Writing is but the act of copying the proper models of letters. Our prophetic chart is a representation of things, some of which at least have an actual existence upon the Earth, and others of them have had such. No sooner had Moses received the Ten Commandments, of which this precept is one, than he copied into a book for the benefit of the people that law which God had written with his finger upon stone.

But we cannot treat this text as prohibiting such acts. There can be no moral wrong in copying or imitating things in nature, when this is done with right objects in view. It cannot be wrong to make artificial limbs for those who have lost their natural limbs; and yet these are designed to be as nearly as possible the very image of a likeness of the truth. It cannot be wrong to make maps of countries, charts of coasts, and globes, to represent the shape of the earth. Nor can it be wrong to teach children natural history by the use of pictures that correctly represents the various living creatures that God has made. Nor do we see how any moral wrong is necessarily committed by securing from friends, that we may never see again, or may otherwise never see all in this life, a modest and inexpensive picture or likeness of their features.

But let us consider the place which is occupied by this commandment. It is the second in the code. The first one prohibits all other gods before the true. And the entire first table, i e., the first four precepts, relate expressly to our duty to God. At least this is so unless the second commandment is an exception. To treat it as an exception is to involve the subject in great absurdity; for if the second precept consists of two distinct commandments, one forbidding our copying, and the other forbidding our worship, not of the copies, but of the things forbidden to be copied, there is no propriety in counting this the second commandment. If allowed to retain its place and be treated as two commandments, it must be counted the second and the third. But that which in that case would be called the second ought to go upon the second table, and not standing at a table with our duty towards God, and that which constitutes the last of the two precepts into which the second is thus divided, should not be considered another precept in distinction from the first, as like that one it would simply be a prohibition of false gods.

There must be in the precept the prohibition of a great moral wrong; for it stands on that table which relates exclusively toward our duty toward God, and between two precepts, the first of which forbids other gods, and the other relates to our use of the name of God. This precept must have one of two meanings: 1. Either it means that the construction of all copies, or patterns or imitation of things existing in nature or in art, is a moral wrong, and as such is here forbidden; or, 2. It means that the making of such things for the purpose of adoring them, is that moral wrong which God thought of sufficient consequence to prohibit in the second precept of the first table.

But we have already seen that the first view cannot be correct. For if the limiting clause that these should not be made to be adored is disconnected from the prohibition to make them, then we have an unlimited precept forbidding the copying of any object in the heaven above, or upon the face of the earth beneath. But our minds are incapable of discerning any moral wrong in the act of copying or patterning, which enters into all the business of life; and there is no light given in the Scriptures to show why such an act should in itself be an immoral act. We cannot therefore recognize it as such. And we are compelled to connect the prohibition of images and likenesses with the clause which limits and applies this prohibition to whatever is made to be adored. And certainly those who take the pains carefully to compare the several texts quoted in this article, in which the subject of graven images is mentioned, cannot fail to see that in almost every one of them the act is so defined that the sin of idolatry is shown to be that wicked thing which is the occasion of the prohibition.