Don't bow
Scripture doesn’t use the phrase “Ten Commandments.” Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 record Yahweh’s “Ten Words” (Exod 34:28; Deut 4:13). These texts contain imperatives, but, like the rest of the Torah, they include declarations, warnings, and promises. That multiplicity of speech acts is better captured by the phrase “Ten Words.” The First of the Ten Words speaks to the question of whom we worship: We are to have no other gods before the face of Yahweh. The Second Word had to do with how we worship: We are to approach God as He commands us to approach Him. The Second Word needs to be more frequently understood. The question isn't whether physical things, man-made things, can become vehicles for God's self-communication, places and moments of communion with God. The question is, which things and moments has God given as vehicles for His self-gift. Nowhere does God promise to be present through pictures or statues. The Second Word has also gotten tangled up in debates about whether...