2do Mandamiento: No ídolos

The second commandment is that you will not make yourself any idol or anything similar to what is above the heavens or below the earth or in the waters below the earth. You will not worship or serve them. The first idol that is made in the history of the Bible, of which we know the form, is a small cow, a calf. Archaeologically, small calves or melted and molded bulls are one of the most common ancient statues. It was deified and worshiped or used as a representation of divinity. So it becomes something that gives me access to something bigger. Yes, so why did the biblical authors think this was a huge problem? In Deuteronomy 4, there is a passage where we get quite close to the reason. Moses is going over the story of what happened in Mount Sinai when Israel heard God proclaiming the Ten Commandments. He tells them, So be very careful, for they saw no way the day when Yahweh spoke to them in Mount Horeb in the midst of the fire. So be very careful, for they saw no way the day when Yahweh spoke to them in Mount Horeb in the midst of the fire. So be very careful, for they saw no way the day when Yahweh spoke to them in Mount Horeb in the midst of the fire. It was Yahweh who took them out of the iron oven, from Egypt, so that they would be a people of his possession. Okay, very good. You did not see God in any way, and you are going to feel this impulse to try to create something in the form of God. There is something dangerous and wrong in trying to create a way to contain Yahweh. Correct, exactly. Because remember that Yahweh means that which is. There is only one source of all reality, and that which is is so above and beyond our imagination that when we reduce to that one God something that is part of creation, we diminish who God is, and that begins to deform our imagination. Okay, but all of a sudden he starts talking about the stars in the sky. Of course. We are meditating on an important idea of the story of creation in seven days. In the fourth and sixth days, God creates two categories of rulers. The first rulers are the rulers of the sky. Exactly these three. The sun, the moon, and the stars. In Hebrew they are called ot, signs or symbols, which really reflect something very important about that which is, but they are not that which is. We also have the rulers below, but look at what Moses says here. The Lord took all of you, the Israelites, and took you out of the iron oven. Egypt is described as an oven, and I think that is a very subtle reference to the idea that Israel should see itself as the fused image of God. The true fused image of God. Friends, you are the image. You are the image, exactly. Humans should not be images of God, because God already made an image of himself, and that image is...

Those are the human beings. They are not a statue of a human being, they are the humans. The human beings that live and breathe. The human beings that live and breathe. They are the image of God. If you look for a connection with God, Yahweh, you will find it in other human beings. That is quite profound. It is very profound. Yes. Then we read, because I, Yahweh, your Elohim, am a passionate Elohim. What God wants to say is, I feel an intense love for my creation, and I am interested in its well-being. And anything that harms or diminishes that well-being, Yahweh is determined to eradicate. I visit the iniquity of the parents over the children, even the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. But I show loyal love for thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. In essence, this means that God allows people to face the consequences of their decisions over several generations. But for those who love God and keep his commandments, there will be a reciprocity that will extend for infinite generations. Thousands of generations. Which basically means that... It is impossible to count. It is uncountable. When God's loyal love is reciprocated by the human beings who love him and honor his commandments, Yes, well, that's what creation is about. So, in summary, everything. Every human being. Man and woman. Rich or poor. Slave or free. Every human being is an image of God. And the only means by which divine goodness is made present in our world. So, don't make an image. Be a faithful image of God.