The 2 commandments of Yahweh are seemingly obvious most anyone could agree they are common moral sense. But I am confused on some, and want to hear
opinions about this.
To begin with, Yahushua tells us that all the commandments can be added up into two basic commandments:
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and
greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments.” Mathew 22:37-40
So out of the 10 commandments of the old testament, we are told that some are related to loving Yahweh, some are related to loving other humans.
as I see it:
LOVING GOD:
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make idols.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (this is for both?)
LOVING OTHERS:
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.
from mathew 19:
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the
commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false
witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
So we can see that keeping the commandments bring us life, i think there are other places where this is told. how keeping the commandments benefit not
only you but your children and other people around you.
now that the preliminary discussion about the commandments are put out there (sorry for how long this post is) i will present my questions.
The second commandment from the ten is this:
You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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 nor serve them.
So if I was a woodcarver, and I carve a wooden eagle. Does this violate the commandment?
If I take a picture of the eagle, does this violate the commandment?
Did the carved charibum on the ark of the ten commandments violate this commandment?
Or does it only violate it if you bow down and serve a created image? An instance I can think of that would be a television, if we are sitting for
hours watching a telvision, would that be worshipping (bowing down), and serving (working to get money to pay the cable bill) images?
So the question is,
1. what is a graven image?
2. does the commandment get violated if one is merely created, or if it is worshipped?
3. would famous art be considered in this category? the mona lisa? starry starry night?
these are questions that i am asking, not because i am forcing these on other people. I am studying them personally and am seeing what peoples
opinions are on this. thank you all before hand.