The Meaning of The Second Commandment

In the first commandment, God forbade the Israelites from worshiping other gods. In the second commandment, He forbade the Israelites from worshiping even the true God through lifeless, false representations. Merely fashioning images is not the sin of idolatry. The actual sin of idolatry consists of worshiping created things. But in order to prevent idolatry from even having an opportunity to take place, God forbade the Israelites from fashioning ANY images at all (except for those images which were made in the tabernacle and were invisible to outside observers).

But the Cathodox insist that the second commandment only forbade making images of FALSE gods. So then, were the Israelites allowed to make images of the true God? The Cathodox will answer, “No.” So which commandment forbade making images of the the TRUE God? “The second commandment.”

Reasons why the bronze serpent is not an endorsement of icon veneration:

1. God never “permitted” the Israelites to make images. He didn’t even allow a single random Israelite to make an image. He COMMANDED one person, Moses, the law giver, to make a SPECIFIC image. Tell me, Cathodox, were you commanded by God to make an image of a serpent on a cross? No. So why do you take an example of a SPECIFIC person who was given a COMMAND to make a SPECIFIC image and turn it into PERMISSION for EVERYONE to make ANY image they want, and even to WORSHIP them, when no one was commanded to worship the bronze serpent? This did not suspend the law given to Israel. For instance, God told the Israelites not to make an image of him, since they saw no form of him, but God did not tell this to Moses, since Moses DID see God’s form! God COULDN’T say this to Moses, who saw a form! Moses is a uniquely suited person to make an image, because he is not prone to worshiping images.

2. Let’s get this straight: God can make exceptions whenever he wants. Not that God commanded or allowed anyone to bow to lifeless images or offer sacrifices to images, but if God allows a specific person to make a specific image at one time, that’s His prerogative. That wouldn’t invalidate his command to everyone else. You’d still have to get express permission to do this thing. You couldn’t just say, “But Moses made one!” Moses was commanded to! If God makes a law against marrying prostitutes, and then he commands Hosea to marry a prostitute (Hosea 1:2), that doesn’t mean everyone has permission to marry prostitutes! If God commands men not to wear long hair, and then he commands Samson to never cut his hair (Judges 13), that doesn’t invalidate His command to everyone else. If God tells the Israelites to take over the land of Canaan and wipe out every man, woman, and child in it (1 Samuel 15:3), that isn’t permission for you to conquer every land you want and commit genocide! If God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son (Genesis 22), that doesn’t mean we’re all allowed to sacrifice our children!

3. Here’s the most important thing to remember about the bronze serpent: God never commanded the Israelites to make images at any other time (besides when Solomon wanted to make a bigger version of the tabernacle, which God reluctantly allowed – 2 Samuel 7, Isaiah 66). He commanded the creation of the bronze serpent just this one time to demonstrate that even an image He had expressly commanded to be made – even a miracle-working image, a symbol of Jesus on the cross – must be DESTROYED if anyone worships it!

Philo of Alexandria:

II. (5) Pride is also the cause of many other evils, such as insolence, arrogance, and impiety. And these are the beginnings of foreign and civil wars, allowing nothing whatever to rest in peace in any part, whether it be public or private, by sea or by land. (6) And why need I mention the offences of such men against one another? For even divine things are neglected by pride, even though they are generally thought to be entitled to the highest honour. And what honour can there be where there is not truth also which has an honourable name and reality, since falsehood, on the other hand, is by nature devoid of honour; (7) and the neglect of divine things is evident to those who see clearly; for they, having fashioned an infinite variety of appearances by the arts of painting and sculpture, have surrounded them with temples and shrines, and have erected altars, and adorned them with images and statues, and erections of that kind, giving celestial honours to all sorts of inanimate things, (8) and these men the sacred scriptures very felicitously liken to men born of a harlot. For as these men are inscribed as the children of all the lovers whom their mothers have had and call their fathers, from ignorance of the one who is by nature their real father, so also these men in cities, not knowing the truly and really existing and true God, have made deities of an innumerable host of false gods. (9) Then, as different beings were treated with divine honours by different nations, the diversity of opinions respecting the Supreme Being, begot also disputes about all kinds of other subjects; and it was from having a regard to these facts in the first place that Moses decided on giving his laws outside of the city. – Philo of Alexandria, On The Decalogue, chapter 2

XIV. (65) Let us, therefore, fix deeply in ourselves this first commandment as the most sacred of all commandments, to think that there is but one God, the most highest, and to honour him alone; and let not the polytheistical doctrine ever even touch the ears of any man who is accustomed to seek for the truth, with purity and sincerity of heart; (66) for those who are ministers and servants of the sun, and of the moon, and of all the host of heaven, or of it in all its integrity or of its principal parts, are in grievous error; (how can they fail to be, when they honour the subjects instead of the prince?) but still they sin less grievously than the others, who have fashioned stocks, and stones, and silver, and gold, and similar materials according to their own pleasure, making images, and statues, and all kinds of other things wrought by the hand; the workmanship in which, whether by statuary, or painter, or artisan, has done great injury to the life of man, having filled the whole habitable world. (67) For they have cut away the most beautiful support of the soul, namely the proper conception of the ever-living God; and therefore, like ships without ballast, they are tossed about in every direction for ever, being borne in every direction, so as never once to reach the haven, and never to be able to anchor firmly in truth, being blind respecting that which is worth seeing, and the only object as to which it is absolutely necessary to be sharp-sighted; (68) and such men appear to me to have a more miserable life than those who are deprived of their bodily sight; for these latter have either been injured without their own consent, or else have endured some terrible disease of the eyes, or else have been plotted against by their enemies; but those others by their own deliberate intention, have not only dimmed the eye of their soul, but have even chosen utterly to discard it; (69) on which account pity is bestowed on the one class as unfortunate, but the other class are justly punished as being wicked, who in conjunction with others have not chosen to recognize that fact which even an infant child would understand, namely, that the Creator is better than the creature; for he is both more ancient in point of time, and is also in a manner the father of that which he has made. He is also superior in power, for the agent is more glorious than the patient. (70) And though it would be proper, if they had not committed sins, to deify the painters and statuaries themselves with exceeding honours, they have left them in obscurity, giving them no advantage, but have looked upon the figures which have been made, or the pictures which have been painted by them, as gods; (71) and these artists have often grown old in poverty and obscurity, dying, worn out by incessant misfortunes, while the things which they have fabricated, are made splendid with purple, and gold, and all sorts of costly splendour which wealth can furnish, and are worshipped not only by freemen but even by men of noble birth, and of the greatest personal strength and beauty. For the race of priests is scrutinised with the greatest rigour and minuteness, to see whether they are without blemish, and to see whether the whole combination of the parts of their bodies is entire and perfect; (72) and these are not the worst points of all, bad as they are: but this is entirely intolerable, for I have known before now, some of the very men who have made the things, praying and sacrificing to the very things which have been made by them, when it would have been more to their purpose to worship either of their own hands, or, if they feared the reproach of self-conceit, and therefore did not choose to do that, at all events to worship their anvils, and hammers, and graving tools, and compasses, and other instruments, by means of which the materials have been fashioned into shape. – Philo of Alexandria, On The Decalogue, chapter 14

XIII. (58) “And there were giants on the earth in those Days.” Perhaps some one may here think, that the lawgiver is speaking enigmatically and alluding to the fables handed down by the poets about giants, though he is a man as far removed as possible from any invention of fables, and one who thinks fit only to walk in the paths of truth itself; (59) in consequence of which principle, he [Moses] has banished from the constitution, which he has established, those celebrated and beautiful arts of statuary and painting, because they, falsely imitating the nature of the truth, contrive deceits and snares, in order, through the medium of the eyes, to beguile the souls which are liable to be easily won over. (60) Therefore he utters no fable whatever respecting the giants; but he wishes to set this fact before your eyes, that some men are born of the earth, and some are born of heaven, and some are born of God: those are born of the earth, who are hunters after the pleasures of the body, devoting themselves to the enjoyment and fruition of them, and being eager to provide themselves with all things that tend to each of them. Those again are born of heaven who are men of skill and science and devoted to learning; for the heavenly portion of us is our mind, and the mind of every one of those persons who are born of heaven studies the encyclical branches of education and every other art of every description, sharpening, and exercising, and practising itself, and rendering itself acute in all those matters which are the objects of intellect. (61) Lastly, those who are born of God are priests and prophets, who have not thought fit to mix themselves up in the constitutions of this world, and to become cosmopolites, but who having raised themselves above all the objects of the mere outward senses, have departed and fixed their views on that world which is perceptible only by the intellect, and have settled there, being inscribed in the state of incorruptible incorporeal ideas. – Philo, On The Giants, chapter 13/paragraphs 58-61

“Agrippa, having visited Jerusalem in Herod’s time, was enchanted by the religion of the Jews, and could never cease to speak of it.…Augustus ordered that every day, at his own expense, and under the legal forms, a bull and two lambs should be offered in holocaust to the Most High God on the altar at Jerusalem, though he knew that it contained no image, whether exposed or within the veil; for this great prince, surpassed by none in the philosophic spirit, felt the actual necessity in this world of an altar dedicated to a God invisible…. Your great-grandmother Julia also made superb presents to the temple; and although women very reluctantly detach themselves from images, and rarely conceive of anything apart from sensation, this lady, nevertheless, greatly superior to her sex in culture and in natural endowments, arrived at that point in which she preferred to contemplate such things in the mind rather than in sensible objects, regarding these as mere shadows of the realities.” – Philo, Discourse to Caligula (Legatio Ad Gaium, On the Virtues and on the Office of Ambassadors, lines 311-320)

So that, transcending all visible essence by means of our reason, let us press forward to the honour of that everlasting and invisible Being who can be comprehended and appreciated by the mind alone; who is not only the God of all gods, whether appreciable only by the intellect or visible to the outward senses, but is also the creator of them all. And if any one gives up the service due to the everlasting and uncreated God, transferring it to any more modern and created being, let him be set down as mad and as liable to the charge of the greatest impiety.

But there are some persons who have given gold and silver to sculptors and statuaries, as people able to fashion gods for them. And they, taking the lifeless materials and using a mortal model, have (which is a most extraordinary thing) made gods, as far as appearance went, and have built temples and erected altars, and dedicated them to them, honouring them with excessive pains and diligence, with sacrifices and processions, and all kinds of other sacred ceremonies and purifications; the priests and priestesses exciting themselves to the very extremity of their power to extend this kind of pride and vanity.

To whom the Father of the universe thus speaks, saying: “You shall not make to yourselves gods of silver and gold;” all but teaching them in express words, “You shall not make to yourselves any gods whatever of this or of any other material, nor shall you worship anything made with hands,” being forbidden expressly with respect to the two most excellent materials; for silver and gold are esteemed the most honourable of all materials.

And, besides this distinct prohibition, there is another meaning which appears to me to be intended to be figuratively conveyed under these words, which is one of very great influence as contributing to the formation of the moral character, and which convicts in no slight degree those who are covetous of money and who seek to procure silver and gold from all quarters and when they have acquired it treasure it up, as though it were some divine image, in their inmost shrines, looking upon it as the cause of all good things and of all happiness.

And all the poor men that are possessed of that terrible disease, the love of money, but who, from not having any riches of their own which they can think worthy of their attention, fix their admiration on the wealth of their neighbours, and, for the purpose of offering adoration to it, come the first thing in the morning to the houses of those who have abundance, as if they were noble temples at which they were going to offer prayers, and to entreat blessings from their owners as if from the gods.

And to these men, Moses says, in another passage, “You shall not follow images (εἰδώλοις), and you shall not make to yourselves molten gods.” Teaching them, by figurative language, that it is not right to pay such honours to wealth as one would pay to the gods; for those celebrated materials of wealth, silver and gold, are made to be used, which, however, the multitude follows, looking upon them as the only causes of wealth which is proverbially called blind, and the especial sources of happiness.

These things, he calls idols (εἴδωλα), resembling shadows and phantoms, attached to nothing strong or stable. For they are carried along like an unstable wind, undergoing all kinds of turns and changes. A clear sign of this is that sometimes, when people do not expect it, it suddenly flies toward them, and when they think it has been securely seized, it jumps away again. And even when it is present, like the images (εἴδωλα) in mirrors, it deceives the sense, bewitches it, and presents things that do not endure as if they were substantial.

And why need I explain how unstable the wealth and pride of men are, which vain opinions decorate with showy colours? For, before now, some men have existed who have affirmed that all other animals and plants, of which there is any birth or any decay, are in one continual and incessant state of transition, and that the external sense of this transition is somewhat indistinct, inasmuch as the swiftness of nature surpasses the very quickest and most precise glance of the vision.

But not only are wealth, and glory, and all other such things mere phantoms (εἴδωλα) and unsubstantial (ἀμενηναὶ), but also all the other deceits which the inventors of fables have devised, puffing themselves up by reason of their ingenuity, while they have been raising a fortification of false opinion in opposition to the truth, bringing in God as if by some theatrical machine, in order to prevent the everlasting and only true existing God from being consigned to oblivion, are so likewise. But such men have adapted their falsehood to melodies, and rhythm, and metres, with a reference to what is persuasive, thinking that by these means they should easily cajole all who read their works.

Moreover, they also enlisted sculpture and painting as accomplices of deception, so that by means of well-crafted forms (ἰδέαις) of colors, shapes, and qualities, they might lead astray those who see them, and by enticing the leading senses—sight and hearing—the former with lifeless beauties, the latter with poetic melody, they might snatch away the soul, rendering it unstable and ungrounded. – Philo of Alexandria, De Specialibus Legibus (lib. i‑iv), Lines 1.18-1.29

Josephus:

Talmud:

The Cathodox make the claim that since a synagogue in Dura Europos (245 AD) contains wall-paintings, the testimony of earlier Jewish writers – who attest that images were forbidden in synagogues BEFORE Christ – must be rejected:

“Archaeological evidence from the Dura-Europos synagogue (c. 245 AD) in modern-day Syria reveals extensive wall paintings of biblical scenes and figures like Moses and Elijah. This discovery challenged the idea that ancient Judaism was strictly “iconoclastic.” Scholars cite this as evidence that Jews of the Second Temple period and the early centuries used religious art to teach and commemorate holy events.”

• What stupidity! We know from the Talmud that immediately after the temple was destroyed, the Jews began to allow wall-paintings in synagogues, and it was very controversial. Thus, any evidence of images existing in synagogues AFTER the temple was destroyed are moot! Not to be too condescending to you brain-dead idol-worshipers, but did you know the Jewish religion underwent a few small changes after the temple was COMPLETELY DESTROYED? Did you know the Jews ceased practicing Judaism after it became IMPOSSIBLE to practice Judaism? Did you know the Jews are the most wicked people in all of history? How is it that you insist on identifying yourselves with these people, when the Dura Europos CHURCH has ZERO images in the assembly room (in accordance with the sentiment expressed at the council of Elvira)? You have a synagogue and a church sitting right next to each other, and you choose to imitate the synagogue rather than the church!

Ashiyan the woodworker [spoke] in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: “Why are imperial images (eikoniyot/icons) forbidden?” Because they offer incense before them at the time they are being elevated [set up]. Rabbi Yochanan said: It is permitted to look at them at the time they are being taken down. What is the [scriptural] reason? “When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it” (Psalm 37:34). Writing that runs beneath figures [paintings/reliefs] or beneath imperial images (eikoniyot)—one may not look closely at them on the Sabbath. And not only that, but even on a weekday one may not look closely at imperial images (eikonot). And what is the [scriptural] reason? “Do not turn to idols” (Leviticus 19:4)—[meaning] do not turn to worship them. Rabbi Judah says: “Do not turn”—literally, even to look at them. – Jerusalem Talmud, Avodah Zarah 3.1.4

All statues are prohibited because they are worshipped (נֶעֱבָדִין) once a year. – Jerusalem Talmud, Avodah Zarah 3.1.2

Proclos ben Ploslos asked Rabban Gamliel in Acre, while [Rabban Gamliel] was washing in the bathhouse of Aphrodite. He said to him: “It is written in your Torah, ‘And nothing of the banned property shall cling to your hand’ (Deuteronomy 13:18). Why [then] are you washing in the bathhouse of Aphrodite?” He [Rabban Gamliel] said to him: “One does not respond [to words of Torah] in the bathhouse.” When he exited, he said to him: “I did not come into her domain; she came into my domain. People do not say, ‘Let us make a bathhouse as an adornment for Aphrodite,’ but rather they say, ‘Let us make Aphrodite as an adornment for the bathhouse.’ Alternatively: If they were to give you a large amount of money, would you enter before your idol naked, or having had a seminal emission, or urinating before her? Yet this [statue of Aphrodite] stands at the opening of the sewer gutter, and all people urinate before her! It was only stated [in scripture], ‘…their gods’ (Deuteronomy 12:3)—that which is treated as a god is forbidden, but that which is not treated as a god is permitted.” – Jerusalem Talmud, Avodah Zarah 3.1.2

• The Jews recognized that the actions performed toward idols are what constitute idolatry, not just being in their presence.

But with regard to one who hugs an idol, or one who kisses it, or one who cleans it, or one who sprays water before it, or one who washes it, or one who rubs it with oil, or one who dresses it, or one who puts its shoes on it, he transgresses a prohibition but is not liable to receive capital punishment. With regard to one who vows in an idol’s name and one who affirms his statement by an oath in its name, he transgresses a prohibition. – Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrid 60b.2

• This shows that the Jews did not consider kissing an image to be less of a sin than bowing down or offering incense to an image.

Rabbi Yirmeya says that this is what the mishna is saying: One who worships an idol in its typical manner of worship is liable to be executed; and furthermore, one who slaughters an animal as an idolatrous offering, and one who burns incense, and one who pours a libation, and the one who bows to an idol are all liable to be executed, and this applies even if this manner of worship is not the idol’s typical manner of worship. Even if the idol in question is not typically worshipped in these ways, these specific acts are still considered idol worship because these are the ways in which God is worshipped in the Temple. – Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrid 60b.5

The Apostle Peter:

Meantime they came to Mount Sinai, and thence the law was given to them with voices and sights from heaven, written in ten precepts, of which the first and greatest was that they should worship God Himself alone, and not make to themselves any appearance or form to worship. But when Moses had gone up to the mount, and was staying there forty days, the people, although they had seen Egypt struck with the ten plagues, and the sea parted and passed over by them on foot, manna also given to them from heaven for bread, and drink supplied to them out of the rock that followed them, which kind of food was turned into whatever taste any one desired; and although, being placed under the torrid region of heaven, they were shaded by a cloud in the day-time, that they might not be scorched by the heat, and by night were enlightened by a pillar of fire, lest the horror of darkness should be added to the wasteness of the wilderness;— those very people, I say, when Moses stayed in the mount, made and worshipped a golden calf’s head, after the fashion of Apis…. – Clement of Rome, Recognitions of Clement, Book 1, Chapter 35

Justin Martyr (160 AD):

For tell me, was it not God who commanded by Moses that no image or likeness of anything which was in heaven above or which was on the earth should be made, and yet who caused the brazen serpent to be made by Moses in the wilderness, and set it up for a sign by which those bitten by serpents were saved? Yet is He free from unrighteousness. For by this, as I previously remarked, He proclaimed the mystery, by which He declared that He would break the power of the serpent which occasioned the transgression of Adam, and [would bring] to them that believe on Him [who was foreshadowed] by this sign, i.e., Him who was to be crucified, salvation from the fangs of the serpent, which are wicked deeds, idolatries, and other unrighteous acts. Unless the matter be so understood, give me a reason why Moses set up the brazen serpent for a sign, and bade those that were bitten gaze at it, and the wounded were healed; and this, too, when he had himself commanded that no likeness of anything whatsoever should be made.” On this, another of those who came on the second day said, “You have spoken truly: we cannot give a reason. For I have frequently interrogated the teachers about this matter, and none of them gave me a reason: therefore continue what you are speaking; for we are paying attention while you unfold the mystery, on account of which the doctrines of the prophets are falsely slandered.” Then I replied, “Just as God commanded the sign to be made by the brazen serpent, and yet He is blameless; even so, though a curse lies in the law against persons who are crucified, yet no curse lies on the Christ of God, by whom all that have committed things worthy of a curse are saved. – Justin Martyr (160 AD) Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 94

• Justin clearly indicates that God made an exception to this law when He commanded Moses to make the bronze serpent (as Macarius of Egypt also says), which can also be applied to the other images God commanded to be made. And yet the Cathodox treat this exception as if it completely invalidated the rule, that no image was to be made, let alone worshiped! In fact, the Cathodox deny that this was an exception at all, but blindly insist that the second commandment only forbade pictures of pagan deities! In reality, God’s law forbade all kinds of images, but God gave special permission to Moses, Bezalel, and Solomon to make the serpent and the invisible images as instructive types, never to be repeated by anyone else, let alone new images to be made at random, which were to be worshiped with prostrations or incense!

Clement of Alexandria (195 AD)

The second word [commandment] intimated that men ought not to take and confer the august power of God (which is the name, for this alone were many even yet capable of learning), and transfer His title to things created and vain, which human artificers have made, among which “He that is” is not ranked. For in His uncreated identity, “He that is” is absolutely alone. – Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 6, Chapter 16

Whence, O Plato, is that hint of the truth which you give? Whence this rich copiousness of diction, which proclaims piety with oracular utterance? The tribes of the barbarians, he says, are wiser than these; I know your teachers, even if you would conceal them. You have learned geometry from the Egyptians, astronomy from the Babylonians; the charms of healing you have got from the Thracians; the Assyrians also have taught you many things; but for the laws that are consistent with truth, and your sentiments respecting God, you are indebted to the Hebrews,

Who do not worship through vain deceits
The works of men, of gold, and brass, and silver, and ivory,
And images of dead men, of wood and stone,
Which other men, led by their foolish inclinations, worship;
But raise to heaven pure arms:
When they rise from bed, purifying themselves with water,
And worship alone the Eternal, who reigns for ever more.

– Clement of Alexandria (195 AD) Exhortation to the Heathen Chapter 6

Now if Moses commanded people not to make images in imitation of God, how can these women rightly make fake images of themselves in the mirror, counterfeiting their faces? Even the prophet Samuel, when he was sent to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king, saw the oldest son—handsome and tall—and was ready to anoint him. But the Lord said to him, “Do not look at his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” So Samuel didn’t anoint the one with a beautiful body, but the one with a beautiful soul. If the Lord counts the natural beauty of the body as less than the soul’s beauty, what do you think He thinks of fake beauty? He rejects all lies completely. “For we walk by faith, not by appearance.” – Clement of Alexandria, Instructor of children (Paedagogus), Book 3, Chapter 2

Tertullian (197 AD)

Therefore, when He forbids the making of any likeness of things in heaven, on earth, or in the waters, He also shows the reasons—namely, that they restrain the substance of idolatry. For He adds: “You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them.” However, the effigy of the bronze serpent, made afterward by Moses at the Lord’s command, did not pertain to the accusation of idolatry, but was for the healing of those who were afflicted by serpents. And I say nothing about what was symbolically figured by the cure. So also the golden cherubim and seraphim, formed on the ark as a simple ornament suited for the cover, since they serve purposes entirely different from the idolatrous practices that led to the prohibition of images, do not seem to contradict the law forbidding likenesses—since they are not found in that state of likeness for which the making of images (similitudinum) is forbidden. – Tertullian (200 AD), Against Marcion, Book 2, chapter 22

For you are under the delusion, like some others, that our god is an ass’s head. Cornelius Tacitus first put this notion into people’s minds. In the fifth book of his histories, beginning the (narrative of the) Jewish war with an account of the origin of the nation; and theorizing at his pleasure about the origin, as well as the name and the religion of the Jews, he states that having been delivered, or rather, in his opinion, expelled from Egypt, in crossing the vast plains of Arabia, where water is so scanty, they were in extremity from thirst; but taking the guidance of the wild asses, which it was thought might be seeking water after feeding, they discovered a fountain, and thereupon in their gratitude they consecrated a head of this species of animal. And so from that point, I think, it was presumed that we too, as relatives of the Jewish religion, are initiated into the same image. But indeed the same Cornelius Tacitus — that most loquacious of liars — relates in the same history that Pompey, when he had captured Jerusalem and for that reason had entered the temple to inspect the secrets of the Jewish religion, found no image there. Yet surely if worship was rendered to any visible object, the very place for its exhibition would be the shrine, especially because it did not fear outside observers, however vain the cult might be. For it was permitted only to the priests to enter, and the view of the others was forbidden by an outstretched veil. – Tertullian (197 AD), The Apology, Chapter 16

Origen of Alexandria (235 AD)

After this, wishing to prove that there is no difference between Jews and Christians, and those animals previously enumerated by him, he asserts that the Jews were “fugitives from Egypt, who never performed anything worthy of note, and never were held in any reputation or account.” Now, on the point of their not being fugitives, nor Egyptians, but Hebrews who settled in Egypt, we have spoken in the preceding pages. But if he thinks his statement, that “they were never held in any reputation or account,” to be proved, because no remarkable event in their history is found recorded by the Greeks, we would answer, that if one will examine their polity from its first beginning, and the arrangement of their laws, he will find that they were men who represented upon earth the shadow of a heavenly life, and that amongst them God is recognised as nothing else, save He who is over all things, and that amongst them no maker of images was permitted to enjoy the rights of citizenship. For neither painter nor image-maker existed in their state, the law expelling all such from it; that there might be no pretext for the construction of images—an art which attracts the attention of foolish men, and which drags down the eyes of the soul from God to earth. There was, accordingly, amongst them a law to the following effect: “Do not transgress the law, and make to yourselves a graven image, any likeness of male or female; either a likeness of any one of the creatures that are upon the earth, or a likeness of any winged fowl that flieth under the heaven, or a likeness of any creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, or a likeness of any of the fishes which are in the waters under the earth.” The law, indeed, wished them to have regard to the truth of each individual thing, and not to form representations of things contrary to reality, feigning the appearance merely of what was really male or really female, or the nature of animals, or of birds, or of creeping things, or of fishes. Venerable, too, and grand was this prohibition of theirs: “Lift not up thine eyes unto heaven, lest, when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and all the host of heaven, thou shouldst be led astray to worship them, and serve them.” – Origen (248 AD), Against Celsus, Book 4, Chapter 31

Ambrose of Milan (339–397):

It is said, therefore, that in investigating the truth, we must observe what is seemly. We ought to look for what is true with the greatest care. We must not put forward falsehood for truth, nor hide the truth in darkness, nor fill the mind with idle, involved, or doubtful matters. What is so unseemly as to venerate (venerari) a wooden thing, which men themselves have made? What shows such darkness as to discuss subjects connected with geometry and astronomy (which they approve of), to measure the depths of space, to shut up heaven and earth within the limits of fixed numbers, to leave aside the grounds of salvation and to seek for error? Moses, learned as he was in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, did not approve of those things, but thought that kind of wisdom both harmful and foolish. Turning away therefrom, he sought God with all the desire of his heart, and thus saw, questioned, heard Him when He spoke. Who is more wise than he whom God taught, and who brought to nought all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and all the powers of their craft by the might of his works? He did not treat things unknown as well known, and so rashly accept them. Yet these philosophers, though they do not consider it contrary to nature, nor shameful for themselves to bow down to (adorare), and to ask help from an image (simulacra) which knows nothing, teach us that these two things mentioned in the words just spoken, which are in accordance both with nature and with virtue, ought to be avoided. – Ambrose, On The Duties of The Clergy, paragraphs 122-123

Gregory of Nyssa (335-394):

When, therefore, Moses grew in knowledge, he declared that he had seen God in the darkness, that is, that he had then come to know that what is divine is beyond all knowledge and comprehension, for the text says, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was. What God? He who made darkness his hiding place, as David says, who also was initiated into the mysteries in the same inner sanctuary. 165. When Moses arrived there, he was taught by word what he had formerly learned from darkness, so that, I think, the doctrine on this matter might be made firmer for us for being testified to by the divine voice. The divine word at the beginning forbids that the Divine be likened to any of the things known by men, since every concept which comes from some comprehensible image by an approximate understanding and by guessing at the divine nature constitutes an idol of God and does not proclaim God. 166. Religious virtue is divided into two parts, into that which pertains to the Divine and that which pertains to right conduct (for purity of life is a part of religion). Moses learns at first the things which must be known about God (namely, that none of those things known by human comprehension is to be ascribed to him). Then he is taught the other side of virtue, learning by what pursuits the virtuous life is perfected. — Gregory of Nyssa, On the Life of Moses, Book 2.164-166

John Chrysostom (347-407 AD):

And again, in speaking of this slavery, he said: “The incense and the oblation will be abolished and, furthermore, on the holy place will be the abomination of desolation: and accomplishment shall be given to the desolation until the end of time” (Daniel 9:27). When you hear him say: “Until the end of time,” what else is left for you Jews to look forward to? “And furthermore.” What does this mean? “Furthermore,” that is, in addition to what he has said, that is, in addition to the destruction of the sacrifice and the oblation, there will be some other greater evil. What is that evil? “On the holy place will be the abomination of desolation.” By the holy place he means the temple; by the abomination of desolation he means the statue set up in the temple by Antiochus, who destroyed the city. And he went on to say: “Desolation until the end.” It is true that Christ came into the world according to the flesh long after the day of Antiochus Epiphanes, but when he prophesied the captivity to come, he showed that Daniel had predicted it. This was his reason for saying: “When you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place—let him who reads understand” (Matthew 24:15). The Jews called every idol (εἴδωλον) and every figure (τύπον) of a man to be an abomination. So by his veiled reference to that statue, Daniel showed both when and under whom the captivity would take place. As I showed before, Josephus also assured us that these words were spoken about the Romans. – John Chrysostom, Discourse 5 Against Judaizing Christians, Section 10 (Fathers of the Church vol. 68:134-135)

Scripture is accustomed to call idols an abomination; hence also the statue standing upon the temple is called the abomination of desolation. “For when you see,” it says, “the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place; let the reader understand.” For since he led them away from being terrified by sensible things, he forbade them to make any image (εικόν); and he called this an abomination, restraining them from afar from impiety; for “to abominate” is to hate with excess, as something unclean, as something accursed. Therefore, an abomination is called in Scripture that which is hateful and worthy of aversion. And every idol is such a thing. “And they worshipped what their own fingers had made. And a human bowed down, and a man was humbled.” For just as the worship (προσκύνησις) of God leads to a height, so that of those idols humbles and brings down. For what is more wretched than a human who has fallen from salvation and has made the God of all an enemy, bowing to lifeless objects and serving stones? For God led us up to such an honor as to make us even higher than the heavens; but the devil was eager to bring down those who obey to such worthlessness, as to make them even more insensible than insensible things. Therefore, indeed, the prophet says: And a human bowed down, and a man was humbled. This accusation alone was sufficient to lead one who has a mind away from the disease. But since many people do not fear sins as much as punishments, he also brought on the chastisement, saying: I will not forgive them. I will not pardon, he says, I will not let go, I will not overlook, but I will demand justice and accountability for the things that have been transgressed. And now, enter into the rocks and hide yourselves in the earth from the face of the fear of the Lord. Having sufficiently ridiculed the folly of those who worship idols and having shown, from the manner of their creation, both their madness and the weakness of the idols, he again contends with his word, entrusting the examination of what has been said to the experience of the facts, and says: it was sufficient that they were made by men to show the folly of those being deceived; but since, as if stupefied by some drunkenness of impiety, they have been blinded to the manifest and clear facts, such evils will befall the city, so as to teach even the extremely insensible, how great is their weakness and how great is the power of God. – John Chrysostom, Commentary on Isaiah 2.9

Augustine (354-430 AD):

The first commandment of the Decalogue is, as God says: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall not have strange gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, nor of anything that moves in the waters under the earth. You shall not adore them, and you shall not serve them” (Exodus 20:2–5). To these words the blessed Augustine adds a very brief summary, saying: “In the first commandment it is forbidden to fashion any likeness of God out of human imagination—not because God has no image, but because no image of Him ought to be worshiped, except that Image which is the same as He is, and not even that in His place, but together with Him.” — Augustine of Hippo (as quoted by Agobard of Lyons), Book on the Images of the Saints, PL 104:199, (820 AD)