“You shall not make for your self a carved image [an idol]—any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” (Deuteronomy 5:8.)
The created is not to become the object of worship. The sun, the moon, and the stars in the heavens have been made objects of worship. The creatures of the earth and the creatures in the water have been made objects of worship, but God said, “No!” The reason is spelled out in the next verse, which says, “For I, the Lord thy God, [am] a jealous God.” Deuteronomy 5:9. (What it means for God to be a jealous God was discussed in the first article of this series.)
The second commandment is enforced by a threatened penalty and sustained by a precious promise. “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.” Verses 9, 10.
Sins of the Parents
This is a very troubling statement to many people. They feel that it is an arbitrary decree, but it is not. It is the unalterable, eternal law of heredity and environment that the sins and the faults of the parents are handed down to their children and, in many ways, cannot be escaped.
Many children who have grown up in an alcoholic home hate alcoholism. But the environment, the setting, the passions, and the attitudes are passed on to those children, and, usually, 80 percent of children who grow up in alcoholic homes will become alcoholics. It is just the way it works. We grow up in a home with certain kinds of attitudes—whatever those attitudes may be—and those things are handed down to us, to our children, and to our children’s children. This is why the old story of the Hatfields and the McCoys is perpetual. The hatreds are passed on from generation to generation, and, many times, the current generation does not even realize why they have the hatreds.
The Christian call is for us to come to God’s Word, learn what He asks and requires of us, and then look at ourselves in the mirror of His Law. Are we then to ask, “What is my life all about? I see that I am a sinner, but I am incapable of dealing with this issue. Am I to be eternally lost? Should I just fall down in a pool of discouragement and say, ‘There is no help for me’?” No! In 11 Corinthians 5:17, we read: “If anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation.” We have another chance by being born again and growing up into the full stature and the measure of a person in Christ Jesus, as we are told in Ephesians 4:15.
This life changing experience can happen at the age of 12 years, or it can happen at 80 years. Even in older years, we can still go through this process of changing and maturing in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are young, God will allow the miracle to grow slower. If you are old, He will pour a lot of “fertilizer” on it, and you will grow very quickly. God has an answer for everything!
These sinful tendencies, which parents have passed on to the children, will be passed on and on, unless Christ intervenes in the lives. This is one of the reasons we hear little sayings such as, “He is acting just like his father,” or, “She is following in her mother’s footsteps.” But it does not have to be that way.
Idol of Fashion
Fashion, in its broadest sense, embraces idolatry. The word fashion means, “to conform to the prevailing modes, practices, and customs of the world.” Worldly fashions have to do chiefly with garments and ornaments with which the body is clothed and bedecked. Usually, we find that all exhibitions of pride and dress, which are contrary to the Word of God, constitute a species of idolatry, and God’s Word declares it so. This is why we, as Seventh-day Adventists, have special counsel relative to the areas of fashion, dress, and adornment. Those things constitute a species of idolatry, which is a transgression of the second commandment.
It is upon the Ten Commandments that hang all the law and the prophets. This second commandment is very profound. Women, as well as men, can be slaves to the idol of fashion. Your adornment should not be an outward thing; it should not be a display of ornaments and articles of dress.
Casebook/Codebook
When I attended Walla Walla College in Walla Walla, Washington, I had a professor by the name of Alden Thompson. Several years after I graduated, he wrote a book entitled, God’s Word: Casebook or Codebook? Codebook meaning that the Bible is just a code of laws and prohibitions, a code of “Thou shalt nots.” Casebook meaning the case histories of how God relates to the sinner through all the failings and difficulties that man encounters. Both aspects are found in the Bible. It is indeed a codebook, and it is indeed a casebook as well!
Nothing New
While studying recently, in the Book of Exodus, I came across something very interesting, in regard to the concept of casebook. Let us see if we can figure out what it was that was so displeasing to God, as we read this passage: “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for [as for] this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.” Exodus 32:1.
What struck my interest is the next recorded event: “And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which [are] in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring [them] unto me.” Verse 2.
When I read this, I thought, “Surely there is nothing new under the sun!” Idolatry is a perpetual kind of thing that keeps reaping generation after generation after generation. I do not know about you, but I was very dismayed when I first saw an earring in a male’s ear. Then they began showing up in women’s noses; I have witnessed women with multiple earrings from the tops to the bottoms of their ears. From this text in Exodus, take note that this kind of ornamentation is a form of idolatry.
One Sin Leads to Another
“And all the people brake off the golden earrings which [were] in their ears, and brought [them] unto Aaron. And he received [them] at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These [be] thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw [it], he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow [is] a feast to the Lord.” Verses 3–5. Here was this object, fashioned by their hands, and they held it up before the children of Israel as that which represented Jehovah God! Is it not almost incomprehensible? Yet it took place.
“And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings;”—you can imagine—“and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” Verse 6. One thing leads to another. If you break one of the commandments, you have broken them all. “He who willfully breaks one commandment, does not, in spirit and truth, keep any of them. ‘Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.’ James 2:10.” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 51.
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted [themselves]: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These [be] thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it [is] a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit [it] for ever. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony [were] in his hand: the tables [were] written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other [were] they written. And the tables [were] the work of God, and the writing [was] the writing of God, graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, [There is] a noise of war in the camp.” Exodus 32:7–17.
Do you know what was taking place? They were shouting and singing and dancing. Verse 18 continues, “And he said, [It is] not the voice of [them that] shout for mastery, neither [is it] the voice of [them that] cry for being overcome: [but] the noise of [them that] sing do I hear.”
Then it goes on to tell how they not only became involved in the breaking of the second commandment but also got involved in singing and drinking and dancing, finally stripping off their clothes! “Moses saw that the people [were] naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto [their] shame among their enemies.)” Verse 25.
The second commandment is very deep. It is so deep that we will deal with more aspects of it in another article. God has a message for His people, as far as the second commandment is concerned. It was not just for the Old Testament Jews, because we can see that many of the issues to which the second commandment speaks are very relevant to us today. It is only as we come up to the standard to which God calls us that we will find His acceptance.
To be continued . . .