Idols and not taking God’s name in vain (Exod 20:4-7)

We might wonder what meaningful application might be drawn from these two commandments for today. After all, making images of either God or other gods is hardly a temptation among evangelical Christians. In a similar way, not taking God’s name in vain seems a straightforward requirement to eschew swearing and foul language with God’s name in it; something Christians are apt to do. Further, treating these two commands together may seem counter-intuitive but, as we shall see, there is a connection between them.

What exactly is wrong with having an image made of God? Since we do not know what God looks like we can only compare Him to what we know, i.e. the created world (v.4). Pagans associated their deities with natural phenomena like rain, fire, or created things such as animals or celestial bodies (sun, moon and stars). This is insulting because God is the Creator and distinct from creation. We distort His nature when we compare Him to lesser, created things and blur the boundary between the two. Further, an idol (image or statue) in the ancient world was not simply a representation of a god. In itself, the idol was a lifeless object, but the deity was invited to enter it via a ritual and thereafter the idol contained the god’s essence and presence. This merges a deity with a work of human hands.[1] If an idol was made of the Lord, it would suggest that God is what we create Him to be. We decide what He is like. In fact, without making tangible images, the modern world has done just that with God. People choose the kind of god they want to believe in and build up a picture of what they want him (or her) to be.

Further, having a physical object which carries God’s essence would put God into our power. Idols may be set up in a temple, moved, taken to another shrine to bow before a stronger god, smashed and so on. The gods also needed to be fed by offerings. The sacrifice was placed before the idol that has undergone a mouth-washing ceremony (the ritual that prepared the idol to be inhabited by the deity), so it could receive the food. Thus, the gods were dependent on human beings and this made them vulnerable to manipulation. In contrast, the Creator of all does not need to be fed by His creatures (Ps 50:10-15) and neither can He be controlled by us, though we try. For Israel, the ark represented God’s presence to some degree though it did not express His essential qualities or nature. Even so, Israel tried to manipulate the Lord through it when they dragged the ark into battle in the hope of ensuring victory. However, the Lord refused to play along, Israel lost the battle and the ark was taken by the enemy (1 Samuel 4).

This idea of control is also present in the third commandment (v.7). God’s name expressed His identity and added weight to utterances (oaths or other verbal statements), eliciting Him to support a particular case. The command does not prohibit all use of His name, but when done inappropriately (the Hebrew means ‘falsely/deceptively’ or in an ’empty/meaningless’ way), it associates God with evil and reflects badly on His character. Thus, beyond the traditional understanding of not taking God’s name in vain (false oaths, swearing/blasphemy), the command may also include not rubber-stamping our sinful agendas with His name (e.g. God told me to…) when Scripture is clear that He is not on our side.

To conclude, these two commandments highlight different ways in which we may misrepresent God’s character and try to control Him. Our God, however, stands distinct from creation, independent and needing nothing from us. We cannot manipulate Him to our own ends, and this should give us cause to rejoice. We may try to push God into doing what we want, like children do with parents, but in the end, we can find comfort in the loving boundaries created by the Lord who can neither be controlled nor manipulated into supporting what is harmful for us.

Please note: I will return to the issue in v.5 about generational punishment in a ‘For interest’ post.

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[1] In pagan ideology, the idol did not equal the god, but only contained its essence, but this distinction was likely lost on worshippers.

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