thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image meaning

#Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image meaning full#

It is in all the ancient versions, Samaritan, Chaldee, Syriac, Septuagint, Vulgate, Coptic, and Arabic also in the Persian, and in all modern versions. of the Hebrew Pentateuch that has ever yet been discovered. This is totally contrary to the faith of God's elect and to the acknowledgment of that truth which is according to godliness. To countenance its image worship, the Roman Catholic Church has left the whole of this second commandment out of the decalogue, and thus lost one whole commandment out of the ten but to keep up the number they have divided the tenth into two. And the reason of this becomes self-evident, when the various objects of Egyptian idolatry are considered. In short, oxen, heifers, sheep, goats, lions, dogs, monkeys, and cats the ibis, the crane, and the hawk the crocodile, serpents, frogs, flies, and the scarabeus or beetle the Nile and its fish the sun, moon, planets, and stars fire, light, air, darkness, and night, were all objects of Egyptian idolatry, and all included in this very circumstantial prohibition as detailed in Deuteronomy, and very forcibly in the general terms of the text: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in the HEAVENS above, or that is in the EARTH beneath, or that is in the WATER under the earth.

And the Lepidotus and eel were objects of their adoration, as we find from Herodotus, lib. Another fish, called Phagrus, was worshipped at Syene, according to Clemens Alexandrinus in his Cohortatio. xvii., a temple, and divine honours paid to it. One called Oxurunchus had, according to Strabo, lib. All fish were esteemed sacred animals among the Egyptians. Bryant has rendered it very probable that even the frog itself was a sacred animal, as from its inflation it was emblematic of the prophetic influence, for they supposed that the god inflated or distended the body of the person by whom he gave oracular answers. The crocodile, serpents, the scarabeus or beetle, were all objects of their adoration and Mr. The ibis, or stork, or crane, and hawk, may be here intended, for all these were objects of Egyptian idolatry.

This famous ox-god they called Apis and Mnevis.

Among the Egyptians the ox was not only sacred but adored, because they supposed that in one of these animals Osiris took up his residence: hence they always had a living ox, which they supposed to be the habitation of this deity and they imagined that on the death of one he entered into the body of another, and so on successively. בהמה behemah, such as the ox and the heifer. All who have even the slightest acquaintance with the ancient history of Egypt, know that Osiris and his wife Isis were supreme divinities among that people.

#Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image meaning full#

To know the full spirit and extent of this commandment, this place must be collated with Deuteronomy 4:15, &c.: Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves-lest ye corrupt yourselves - and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of MALE or FEMALE. The reader will see this the more plainly by consulting the notes on the ten plagues, particularly those on chap. This commandment includes in its prohibitions every species of idolatry known to have been practised among the Egyptians. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image - As the word פסל pasal signifies to hew, carve, grave, c., פסל pesel may here signify any kind of image, either of wood, stone, or metal, on which the axe, the chisel, or the graving tool has been employed. Dictionaries: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Arms and Armor Decalogue Idol, Idolatry Image Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - God Idol, idolatry Jealousy Law Moses Worship Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Amos, Theology of Disease Ethics Evil God Image of God Law Obedience Punishment Temple Ten Commandments Worship Easton Bible Dictionary - Decalogue Fausset Bible Dictionary - Idol Law Holman Bible Dictionary - Anthropomorphism Art and Aesthetics Colors Crimes and Punishments Engrave Ethics Exodus, Book of False Worship Godhead Heaven High Place History Idol Jewels, Jewelry Law, Ten Commandments, Torah Likeness Paint Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Art Canon of the Old Testament Covenant, Book of the Crimes and Punishments Ethics Exodus Hexateuch Law Leviticus Moses Poverty Priests and Levites Ten Commandments Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Music (2) Numbers (2) Political Conditions Morrish Bible Dictionary - Graven Image The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Girdle Idolatry People's Dictionary of the Bible - Ten commandments Smith Bible Dictionary - Fish Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Image Moses Roman Catholics