Exodus 20:23 You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.
Exodus 20:3-4 “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved 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.
1 John 5:20-21 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Daniel 5:4 And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.
The “molten image,” generally completed by a certain amount of graving, was the form of idol which had most charms for them, and the more precious the material the more satisfied were they to worship it. (Ellicott)
I will allow no companion; or, to me, as it follows, unto you; and unto me; or for me, either to represent me, or to worship me by. (Poole)
“ye shall not make any likeness with me”, or any likeness of me; and so the words stand connected with the preceding verse, that since they only saw the cloud and fire, and perceived the voice of God from thence, but saw no likeness or similitude of him, therefore they were not to make any under a pretence of worshipping him with it, or in it, or by it. They were not to make unto them, in order to serve and worship them, or to worship God in them, or by them, or with them. (Gill)
As Jehovah had spoken to the Israelites from heaven, they were not to make gods of earthly materials, such as silver and gold, by the side of Him, but simply to construct an altar of earth or unhewn stones without steps, for the offering up of His sacrifices at the place where He would reveal Himself. “From heaven” Jehovah came down upon Sinai enveloped in the darkness of a cloud; and thereby He made known to the people that His nature was heavenly, and could not be imitated in any earthly material. (Keil)
This makes it perfectly clear that God spoke the Ten Commandments to Israel from heaven. This happened at Mount Sinai, but God spoke from heaven. Because God did not reveal Himself to Israel in any form or image, they were not to make any other god of silver or gold to set beside (be with Me) God. (Guzik)
A non-christian may or may not worship a man-made idol. They may totally deny any god or that there is a God and they worship nothing. They may believe there is a God and then proceed to make an image of a god or representative of their god and worship it.
There are many sermons and much teaching about idol worship which I personally think misses the mark. Thousands of them proclaiming and teaching that whatever replaces God in a person’s life is an idol. I do not think this is true and though there is something else amiss in a person’s life. I do not think it is an idol. You will hear preaching on idols in a Christian’s life being money, sex, drugs, cars, homes, beauty, jobs, recognition, position, talent, education, physical and mental gifts, children, wife/husband, family name, busyness, etc…. When a person is lukewarm, neglectful, and complacent with God’s Word and things of God and their worship and praise of God – this is not idol worship. To me it is worse, for they have tasted the gift of forgiveness, redemption, salvation, grace, mercy, and love, and yet, choose to be self-reliant and reject any leading of the Holy Spirit in their daily lives. Though they know God they live without a thought on how they live their lives every minute of every day in such a way that will honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all they think, say, and do. This is so sad and so true. It is not idol worship. It is a meaningless life dressed up with head nods toward God without any substance. How true are the words; “Their hearts and minds are far from Me”?
Neglect and complacency toward God, His Word, and things of God are not idol worship but rather the lack of understanding of our whole purpose and existence in this life this side of eternity which is to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do. The shallowness of a person’s commitment to do this will lead to many things and most of them are wrong in the eyes of God.
