Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for 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. (Exodus 20:4-6)
When God delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai the application of the second commandment was clear to all. Having come out of the land of Egypt, the Israelites had been surrounded by idol worship, the many Egyptian gods depicted in the form of statues and hieroglyphics. The children of Israel had been living among the Egyptians for many years and had been influenced greatly by that idolatry. Evidence of this was clearly seen by Moses as he descended from the mount to find the people worshipping a gold calf which they had instructed Aaron to build. This was not to be the last time that the people would turn to idol worship, indeed not until they had endured seventy years of Babylonian captivity did they finally turn from it.
