Too often the second commandment of the Big Ten is the stepchild of the rest, often discounted or ignored. Some versions of the Bible totally ignore it as one of the Ten. If not ignored in the text, this commandment is discounted as being relevant because people say, "We don't have wooden and metal idols like the backward people of the Old Testament." Just for your information, my study (including the numbering) of the Ten Commandments is based on the New American Standard Bible (NASB), Update Edition.

Yet, as stated by the ancient Hebrew Bible which predates the NASB and the New Jerusalem Bible, the second commandment is: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down unto them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the fourth and fifth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love me and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20).

The people of 4,000 years ago were no different from the people today. They wanted things you could see and feel and platform to be their gods. Since many were nomadic, they wanted portable gods. As poor people, they wanted equal opportunity gods - gods not too unaffordable. Therefore a piece of polished metal which would reflect the power of the sun would be portable and affordable.

Now, I have visited an idol of a god in Uganda. The god is a tree, the tree of blood. Many kings and warriors have offered sacrifices of human and animal blood to this particular tree. It's not movable, but it is equally accessible by one and all. The time I called upon the tree, our young female guide brought us to the tree, bowed down, and speaking to the tree said, "Visitors have come."

But there I go again. That's in third world Uganda. We in sophisticated United States of America don't do that sort of thing. Well, remember the movie, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" The father of Ferris' good friend, Cameron, owned a sports car which he kept housed in a special glass "temple." That sports car was an idol. They took the car on a joy ride in part to protest the idea that Cameron's dad worshipped the car more than he loved Cameron.

Oh, we've got our idols and the second commandment is very much relevant. Anything or anyone that comes between God and us is an idol and should be smashed or removed to its appropriate room. Present day idols include money, power, social status, or political prestige. If making money is your number one occupation, money, then, is your idol and you are violating the second commandment and one day you will be broken yourself. The "breaking" might not occur until your family gathers around your dying bed, making you realize that money had been your god and therefore money had prioritized all your other relationships.

Religious folks must seriously allow the second commandment to speak to them. Religion can become idolatrous. If your religion and the observance of your religion become more important than your relationship with God, it's idolatrous. That's what Jesus observed about the Pharisees and Sadducees. They had fallen in love with the form of religion and ignored both the Lord of religion and the essence of religion: "to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).

Without question, the good book, the Bible, can become idolatrous. When the Bible becomes the one and the only Word of God, completely identified with God, it's idolatrous. The Bible is a sacred witness to God. It is not God and never intended to be such. The Bible has never saved anyone. The God of the Bible has and can today.

But watch out: even something like the holy estate of marriage can become idolatrous. When your marriage becomes your most important relationship on earth, you are in trouble and your marriage is in trouble. No marriage is perfect and no marriage can stand for long while being worshipped. Dethrone your marriage, enthrone God and you will have a much better lot in the life as marrieds.

So, why not get out the Family Bible, brush off the dust, and take a fresh look at the good old second among the ten (Exodus 20). You might find some gods you need to throw out in the trash.

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