Bible Contradiction? Is it OK to make images?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Is it OK to make images?

Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

Yes, at least when they are designed and commissioned by God.

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying…You shall make two cherubim of gold; make them of hammered work at the two ends of the atoning cover. 19 Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the atoning cover at its two ends. 20 And the cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the atoning cover with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the atoning cover.” (Exodus 25:1; Exodus 25:18-20)

“Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and violet, purple, and scarlet material; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skilled embroiderer.” (Exodus 26:1)

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.”” (Numbers 21:8)

No, graven images are abominations to God.

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth.” (Exodus 20:4)

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” (Deuteronomy 5:8)

“so that you do not act corruptly and make a carved image for yourselves in the form of any figure, a representation of male or female, 17 a representation of any animal that is on the earth, a representation of any winged bird that flies in the sky, 18 a representation of anything that crawls on the ground, or a representation of any fish that is in the water below the earth.” (Deuteronomy 4:16-18)

“So be careful yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you.” (Deuteronomy 4:23)

“‘Cursed is the person who makes a carved image or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall reply and say, ‘Amen.’” (Deuteronomy 27:15)

“He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places and smashed the memorial stones to pieces, and cut down the Asherah. He also crushed to pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel had been burning incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.” (2 Kings 18:3-4)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. The skeptic tries to pit three passages (Exodus 25:1, 18-20; Exodus 26:1; Numbers 21:8) as affirming the claim “It is ok to make images” against six other passages (Exodus 20:4, Deuteronomy 5:8, Deuteronomy 4:16-18, Deuteronomy 4:23, Deuteronomy 27:15, 2 Kings 18:3-4) as affirming “It is not ok to make images.”
4. The skeptics is correct to note that all three passages (Exodus 25:1, 18-20; Exodus 26:1; Numbers 21:8) do affirm the claim “It is ok to make images.”
   1. For Exodus 25:1, 18-20 and Exodus 26:1 God commanded that Cherubim be constructed as part of the Tabernacle.
   2. Numbers 21:8 involves God instructing Israel to make a fiery serpent for a pole so that those bitten by snake would be saved if they look at it.
5. It is true that those six passages cited by the skeptic (Exodus 20:4, Deuteronomy 5:8, Deuteronomy 4:16-18, Deuteronomy 4:23, Deuteronomy 27:15, 2 Kings 18:3-4) does teach “It is not ok to make images.”
6. However those six passages (Exodus 20:4, Deuteronomy 5:8, Deuteronomy 4:16-18, Deuteronomy 4:23, Deuteronomy 27:15, 2 Kings 18:3-4) are not condemning making images per se but they are prohibiting the making of images specifically as an idol. Stated another way these verses prohibit the purpose of making images in order to worship them and these passages are not prohibiting images in general. We see this established from the context of these passages.
   1. For Exodus 20:4 the next verse (Exodus 20:5) it states the reason for the prohibition: “You shall not worship them nor serve them.“
   2. Likewise with Deuteronomy 5:8 the next verse (Deuteronomy 5:9) it states the reason for the prohibition: “You shall not worship them nor serve them.“
   3. After the prohibition in Deuteronomy 4:16-18 the next verse (Deuteronomy 4:19) states the reason for the prohibition is so that they don’t “allow yourself to be drawn away and worship them and serve them.“
   4. For Deuteronomy 4:23 don’t forget the verse Deuteronomy 4:19 that we just cited revealing the reason is so that they don’t “allow yourself to be drawn away and worship them and serve them.“
   5. Deuteronomy 27:15 described the carved image that is prohibited is an abomination and within the book of Deuteronomy it teaches that idolatry is an abomination: “The carved images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be trapped by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 7:25). So reasonably this prohibition in Deuteronomy 27:15 has in mind the prohibition of idolatry of carved images.
   6. 2 Kings 18:3-4 describes King Hezekiah removing idols during his reign as king.  Sadly according to verse 4 this also meant Hezekiah “also crushed to pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made.”  The reason for this action is explained within verse 4: “for until those days the sons of Israel had been burning incense to it.” Burning incense to it would be engaging in idolatry.
7. Seeing all six passages prohibiting making images is specifically about prohibiting them for the purpose of idolatry, we don’t have a contradiction with other passages that permit or command making images for other reasons that are not idolatrous in nature.
8. There is no contradiction here.  Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
9. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”