Graven Image

A graven image (Hebrew pesel) is a carved or sculpted idol — a representation of a deity shaped from wood, stone, or metal. The making and worshiping of graven images is explicitly prohibited in the second commandment (Ex. 20:4–5; Deut. 5:8–9) and is condemned throughout the prophets as the fundamental form of idolatry. Isaiah's extended satirical description of idol-making (Isa. 44:9–20) — where a man fells a tree, burns half for fire, and fashions the other half into a god — reduces the practice to absurdity. Graven images were to be utterly destroyed when Israel entered Canaan (Ex. 34:13; Deut. 7:5). The prohibition covers not only the making of images of foreign gods but also any image made to represent the God of Israel (Deut. 4:15–19), since God has no visible form and transcends all human representation.