What does the second commandment mean to us?

Answer 1

Moses and the Israelite applied the Second Commandment as it is written and not as it is interpreted today by main stream churches.

In the First Commandment God stated that his people should honour and worship Him only Exo 20:3-2). In the Second Commandment God goes in more detail as to what he would not accept as their God (Exo 20:4-6).

The Second Commandment meant that Moses and the Israelite (plus the strangers which joined themselves to the Lord Isaiah 56:6) were never to create any image or likeness whatsoever. Not graven (engraved), not carved, not molten (Lev 26:1), not woven (2Ki 23:7), nor any pretty pictures (Num 33:52, Isai 2:16) and most certainly not to bow down to images or likenesses. Nor serve them because they are dead not alive. Unlike God who is very much alive. God told his people at Mount Sinai to not be so dumb as to revere dead images (poor quality counterfeits) instead of Him. This made Moses and the Israelites quite different from the nations around them. The nations around them all worshipped different kinds of images and likenesses instead of a real God (Yahweh) who had saved his people from slavery (Exo 20:2).

Moses and the Israelites feared God and and they understood that if they would follow all of God's Commandments including the Second Commandment that their nation would be blessed (Deut 28:2). And if they would not follow God's Commandments there would be curses (Deut 28:15). This was made abundantly clear when they broke God's Second Commandment at Mount Sinai and thousands of them died for having made the golden calf and worshipping it (Exo 32:28).

Much of the Old Testament is the history of how the Israelites would or would not follow in particular God's Second Commandment and the consequences of this. Kings were listed as either good or bad kings according to how they dealt with the images and likenesses which had been created by the Israelites or the king's predecessor (f.i. 2Chr 33 and 34`). King's Solomon's kingdom was taken away from him by God due to him and his wives amongst other things not following God's Second Commandment (1Ki 11:11).

The Second Commandment states in the King James Bible in Exodus 20:4-6 (and also in Deuteronomy 5:8-10), Exo 20:4 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: Exo 20:5 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; Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

The Second Commandment meant to Moses and the Israelite that if they didn't obey the Second Commandment, they were sinning (iniquity) and God saw that as them hating Him for which there would be consequences. Not only for them but also for their children and following generations. If they however would follow God's Second Commandment, God promised to shew mercy to his people.

As a result of the Second Commandment the early Israelites did not create any images or likenesses of anything in the heaven above or the earth beneath. Even though later on their coins showed images of such things as temples and sheaves of wheat. But not images of people like the other nations.

They knew what God meant when he told them not to make an image or likeness because he had gone in quite a bit of detail explaining what He meant as is shown in Deu 4:16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude (likeness) of any figure, the likeness of male or female, Deu 4:17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, Deu 4:18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth..

At some stage the Israelites refused a Roman army to pass through their land, stating that the banners with images carried by the foot soldiers were an abomination (sin) to God and weren't allowed in their country.

Imagery is called idolatry (ISBE, Easton, Webster, Strong H6459) in The Bible and God equates imagery and creating likenesses to adultery and he eventually, after many warnings, divorced Judah and Israel as a result of this (Jer 3:8).

The upshot is that God made man in his own image (Gen 1:27) and gave us the ability to create other living human beings. God told Moses and the Israelites that he didn't like his people wasting their time creating dead images of all the beautiful alive people, animals and nature He created. When God wrote with his own finger the Commandments on stone tablets (Exo 31:18), the Second Commandment stated in layman's language, Don't waste your time creating dead likenesses and images of all the life I created (not to mention plagiarism). Don't waste your time admiring these dead images and don't waste your time serving this dead stuff either. You'll be in trouble if you do. If you love and obey me however, I will be kind to you.

Amen

Some more references

Psa 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

Psa 115:5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:

Psa 115:6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:

Psa 115:7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. Psa 115:8 They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

Isa 44:9 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.

Deu 4:23 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.

Deu 4:25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:

Deu 5:8 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:

Answer 2

The second Commandment prohibits the making of any image, or the worshipping of any image.

Archaeologists note the almost complete absence of any murals of people or animals in the houses of Jews at the beginning of the Common Era. Since other ethnic groups used such images freely, they say that the Jews obeyed this commandment literally. Even the Romans covered their symbol, the eagle, while in Jerusalem, to avoid offending the Jews.

To the Jews, the second commandment really did prohibit any images of people or animals. The same attitude today would no doubt prohibit Photography or television.