![]() ![]() For convenience sake, smaller items, thought to hold the power or the communication line of the gods, are brought into homes. Places are set aside to commune with these false gods. They observe the circumstances (which some acknowledge are God-ordained, and others think are independent) that lead to these things and begin to ascribe to the causal forces human characteristics-thus creating gods. People start with wanting something (Ephesians 5:5 Colossians 3:5), often children or prosperity or good crops. Graven images can be either of the last two steps. When the idolatrous culture has had time to contemplate the personality of the god, they then make corresponding physical images-a statue that looks like a woman or a relief carving that looks like an animal. The next step is altering a naturally occurring object, like a standing stone, a deliberately planted tree, or a carved Asherah pole and asking the force to indwell it. The presence of the force is then thought to indwell an object, like a stone, or a place, like a mountain. The progression of idolatry in a pagan religion generally starts with the acknowledgement of a power that controls natural forces. Abstract Asherah poles, carved wooden Ba’als covered in gold leaf, and etchings of gods accompanying Egyptian hieroglyphics are all graven images. ![]() It is differentiated from a molten image, which is melted metal poured into a cast. It could be a statue of a person or animal, or a relief carving in a wall or pole. The Hebrew word translated “graven image” means literally “an idol.” A graven image is an image carved out of stone, wood, or metal. ![]() The phrase “graven image” comes from the King James Version and is first found in Exodus 20:4 in the second of the Ten Commandments. ![]()
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