![]() To draw us to himself, God uses both spiritual and physical means. Second, God created man as a being who is both spiritual and physical. He never condemned the use of statues absolutely. Why would God use these images of serpents, angels, palm trees, and open flowers? Why didn’t he heal the people directly rather than use a “graven image”? Why didn’t he command Moses and Solomon to build an ark and a temple without any images at all?įirst, God knows what his own commandments mean. Otherwise, we would have to conclude that God prohibits something in Exodus 20 and elsewhere commands the very same thing. It becomes apparent, given the above evidence, that a strictly literal interpretation of Exodus 20:2–5 is erroneous. After the completion of the temple, God declared he was pleased with its construction (1 Kgs. King Solomon ordered the construction of multiple images of things both “in heaven above” (angels) and “in the earth beneath” (palm trees and open flowers). He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers he overlaid them with gold (1 Kgs. For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood. He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees, and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. This statue of a snake had no power of itself-we know from John 3:14 that it was merely a type of Christ-but God used this image of a snake as an instrument to effect healing in his people.įurther, in 1 Kings 6, Solomon built a temple for the glory of God, described as follows: The context of the passage is one where Israel had rebelled against God, and a plague of deadly snakes was sent as a just punishment. In Numbers 21:8–9, not only did our Lord order Moses to make another statue in the form of a bronze serpent, but he commanded the children of Israel to look at it in order to be healed. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends (Ex. Here is what God commanded Moses concerning the statues on it:Īnd you shall make two cherubim of gold of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. ![]() Just five chapters later, God commanded Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant, which would contain the presence of God and was to be venerated as the holiest place in all of Israel. God actually commanded the making of images. The Lord did not prohibit statues he prohibited worshiping them. While it can certainly be understood how a superficial reading of the first commandment could lead one to believe we Catholics are in grave error with regard to our use of statues and icons, the key to a proper understanding of the first commandment is found at the very end of that same commandment, in verse 5 of Exodus 20: “You shall not bow down to them or serve them.” And, according to Scripture, as well as the testimony of the centuries, God even uses them at times to impart blessings (e.g., healings) according to his providential plan. The beauty of statues and icons move us to contemplation of the Word of God as he is himself or as he works in his saints. The Catholic Church does not believe any statue or image has any power in and of itself. How are we to respond? Self-Contradictions In Exodus 20, as well as in Deuteronomy 5:7–8, God specifically says we are not to make statues in the shape of anything in the sky above, the earth below or the waters beneath the earth.” And please, do not give me any of this nonsense about equating the statues in your churches to carrying a photograph of a loved one in your wallet. Their argument goes something like this: “How can God make it any clearer than this? We are not to have ‘graven images,’ or statues, yet what do you see in almost every Catholic church around the world? Statues! This is the definition of idolatry. Well-meaning Evangelicals and Fundamentalists often try to use this text against Catholics. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth you shall not bow down to them or serve them (Ex. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
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