8869. 'You shall not make for yourself a graven image' means no product of self-intelligence. This is clear from the meaning of 'a graven image' as that which does not come from the Lord but from a person's self. A product of one's own understanding is meant by 'a graven image', and a product of one's own will by 'a molded image'. Having either kind as a god or venerating it is loving all that comes from self more than anything else. People who do this do not at all believe that any of their intelligence or wisdom flows in from the Divine; for they attribute it all to themselves. And everything else happening to them which they cannot attribute to themselves they relate to fortune or to chance; they altogether refuse to recognize God's providence in such matters. They suppose that if some higher power is present it lies within the natural order, to which they ascribe all things. They do, it is true, say with their lips that some God and Creator has stamped such things on the natural order; but in their hearts they refuse to recognize any God higher than the natural order. This is what those people are like who at heart attribute everything to their own prudence and intelligence, and nothing to God. And those of them who love themselves venerate their own abilities. They also wish to be venerated by others, indeed to be venerated as gods, openly so if the Church did not forbid it. These are 'the makers of graven images', and the images themselves are what they hatch from their own understanding and will, and wish to be venerated as things that are Divine.

[2] The fact that those things are meant by 'graven images' in the Word is clear from places where they are mentioned, as in Jeremiah,

Every person has been made stupid by knowledge; every metal-caster has been filled with shame by his graven image, for his molded image is a lie; and there is no spirit in those things. Jeremiah 10:14; 51:17.

Because 'a graven image' means that which does not originate in the Lord but is a product of self-intelligence, the words 'every person has been made stupid by knowledge' and 'every metal-caster has been filled with shame by his graven image' are therefore used. And because what is hatched from self-intelligence does not have within it any spiritual life, which comes solely from the Lord, the words 'and there is no spirit in those things' are also therefore used.

[3] In Habakkuk,

What profit is a graven image since its image-maker has graven it, a molded image and a teacher of lies, since the image-maker trusts in the thing he himself has made, when he makes dumb gods? It has no breath in it. ¹ Habakkuk 2:18-20.

Here 'a graven image' stands for what is hatched from self-intelligence and has no life at all from the Lord within it.

[4] In Jeremiah,

A drought on its waters, and they will dry up! For it is the land of graven images, and they glory in idols. ² Therefore the ziim dwell with the iim, and the daughters of the owl dwell in it. Jeremiah 50:38-39.

This refers to Chaldea and Babel. 'A drought on its waters, and they will dry up' stands for truths that have no life at all in them, 'the ziim and the iim and the daughters of the owl dwell' stands for evils and falsities, and so for things which inwardly belong to death This is why the words 'the land of graven images' are used.

[5] In Isaiah,

Makers of the graven image, all are vanity; and their most desirable things are profitless. And they are their own witnesses; they do not see, nor do they know. Isaiah 44:9-11.

'Makers of the graven image' stands for those who hammer out teachings which are not products of truths from the Word but products of self-intelligence, in reference to which teachings the words 'their most desirable things are profitless' and 'they do not see, nor do they know' are used. Verses 12-16 of that chapter go on to refer to the art of conceiving ideas and of using reasonings to hatch them from self-intelligence - ideas which they wish to be recognized as Divine. Regarding these the following is said finally,

The rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He venerates it, bows down [to it]. And yet they do not know or understand; and their eyes do not see, so that their hearts do not understand. Isaiah 44:17-18.

'They do not know, do not understand, and do not see' stands for the absence of truths and forms of good within; for inwardly nothing that is the outcome of self-intelligence has either truths or forms of good in it, only falsities and evils, since it is the outcome of the person's proprium. The fact that the proprium is fundamentally evil, see 210, 215, 694, 874-876, 987, 1023, 1044, 1047, 1581, 3812 (end), 4328, 5660, 5786, 8480.

[6] In the same prophet,

To whom will you liken God, and what image will you compare with Him? The craftsman casts a graven image, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts silver chains for it. Whoever is too impoverished to make this oblation ³ chooses a piece of wood that will not rot; he seeks for himself a wise craftsman to make ready a graven image that is immovable. Isaiah 40:18-20.

'A graven image' cast by a craftsman stands for false teachings that spring from the self, and 'a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts silver chains for it' stands for the fact that it uses reasonings to make the falsities in those teachings look like truths.

[7] In the same prophet,

I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, to open the blind eyes, to bring the bound out of prison, out of the dungeon-house those who sit in darkness. I am Jehovah, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:6-8.

These words refer to the Lord. They declare that He is Jehovah, that He is the Source of all wisdom, and that none at all springs from man. Their reference to the Lord is self-evident, as is the truth that He is Jehovah; for they declare that Jehovah has called Him in righteousness, and then 'I am Jehovah, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another'. The truth that He is the Source of all wisdom which has to do with life is meant when it says that He is to open the blind eyes, bring the bound out of prison, and out of the dungeon-house those who sit in darkness; and the truth that no wisdom at all springs from man is meant by 'My praise I will not give to graven images'.

[8] Ideas belonging to self-intelligence are also meant by 'graven images' in the following places: In Isaiah,

And there came the chariot of a man (vir), a pair of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babel has fallen; and all the graven images he has broken to the earth. Isaiah 21:9.

In the same prophet,

Then you will judge unclean the covering of the graven images of your silver, and the clothing of the molded image of your gold. You will throw them away like a menstruous rag; a piece of dung it will be called. Isaiah 30:22.

In Jeremiah,

Why have they provoked Me to anger through their graven images, through foreigners' idols? ⁴ Jeremiah 8:19.

In Hosea,

[As] they have called themselves, so they have gone for the sake of themselves. They sacrifice to the baals, and burn incense to graven images. Hosea 11:2.

In Moses,

Cursed is the man who makes a graven or a molded image, an abomination to Jehovah, the work of a craftsman's hands. Deuteronomy 27:15.

Poznámky pod čarou:

987. 'Upon every beast of the earth' means the desires that belong to the lower mind. This is clear from the meaning of 'beast' in the Word, where beasts mean either affections or else evil desires. Affections for what is good are meant by gentle, useful, and clean beasts, while affections for what is evil, that is, evil desires, are meant by savage, useless, and unclean ones - see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 776. Because here they mean evil desires they are called 'beasts of the earth', not beasts of the field. As for a regenerate person's rule over evil desires, it should be recognized that people err very greatly and are in no sense regenerate who believe they are able to rule over evils from themselves. For a human being is nothing but evil, he is one mass of evils, and his whole will consists solely in evil. This was stated in the previous chapter - 'the imagination of man's heart is evil from his childhood', 8:21. I have been shown by actual experience that a man or a spirit, and even an angel, regarded in himself, that is, as to his entire proprium, is vilest excrement, and left to himself breathes out nothing but hatred, revenge, cruelty, and most filthy adultery. These are the things that are his own, and are the things which constitute his will.

[2] This matter also becomes clear to anyone if he reflects, merely from the consideration that when a person is born he is the lowest thing alive among all wild animals and beasts. And when he grows up and becomes responsible for his own actions he would rush into every kind of ungodliness but for external legal restraints and the restraints he imposes on himself to the end that he may become pre-eminent and very wealthy. He would not rest content until he had made everyone throughout the world subject to himself and had raked in the wealth of everyone in it. He would spare no one except those who surrendered to him as his mere slaves. Such is the nature of everyone, though those people do not recognize it who do not have the opportunity and ability to behave in that way, or who are subject to the restraints mentioned above. But once the opportunity and ability have been provided and the restraints have been loosened, they would plunge themselves, as far as they were able, into such actions. Wild animals never demonstrate natures such as this, but are born into a certain natural order. Those that are savage beasts of prey do inflict harm on other animals, yet only in self-defence; and their devouring of other creatures is so that they may satisfy their hunger. And once that is satisfied they harm none. The human being however is altogether different. From this it is clear what man's proprium is and what his will is.

[3] Since a person is just so much evil and excrement, it is clear that he cannot possibly from himself rule over evil. To say that evil can rule over evil is an utter contradiction. And this applies not only to ruling over evil but also over hell, for everybody is in communication with hell by means of evil spirits, and it is from that source that the evil residing with him is activated. From these considerations anyone may know, and he who is mentally normal may conclude, that it is the Lord alone who rules over evil residing with man and over hell residing with him. So that the evil residing with a person, that is, hell which is trying moment by moment to force its way into him and destroy him eternally, may be overpowered, a person is regenerated by the Lord and has a new will conferred on him, which is conscience, and through which the Lord alone works everything good. These considerations are matters of faith, that is to say, the considerations that man is nothing but evil and that everything good comes from the Lord. A person ought therefore not merely to know them but also acknowledge and believe them. If he does not acknowledge and believe during his lifetime, it is demonstrated to him convincingly in the next life.