What means - "Graven Image"

[JRKH]

I note that the term “Graven Image” is often used, but also that diferent translations use different terms.

Also when I tried to look up the term “Graven” it referenced having to do with the “Grave”.
The Term “Graven Image” is often defined as a carved image.

Could someone enlighten me as to the Hebrew term used and what the “clearest” translation of the Word is?

Thanks.

Peace
James

 

[nkbeth]

From sacrednamebible.com/kjvstrongs/STRHEB64.htm
(Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary)

name: pciyl
pronunciation pes-eel’
from ‘pacal’ (6458); an idol:–carved (graven) image, quarry.

name: pacal
pronunciation: paw-sal’
a primitive root; to carve, whether wood or stone:–grave, hew.

name: pecel
pronunciation: peh’-sel
from ‘pacal’ (6458); an idol:–carved (graven) image.

I just found this via google. I’m sure it’s not a Catholic dictionary. I don’t know Hebrew.

I’m sure “graven” has the same English root as “engraved”

 

[patrick457]

I note that the term “Graven Image” is often used, but also that diferent translations use different terms.

Also when I tried to look up the term “Graven” it referenced having to do with the “Grave”.
The Term “Graven Image” is often defined as a carved image.

For a start, the English word “graven” is synonymous with “engraved”, as you might know. Both come from the Old English word grafan which meant “to dig”, or by extension, “to carve or cut on some hard substance” or “to sculpture”.

Grafan is related to OE “græf”, which became our “grave” in the sense of “tomb” or “sepulcher” - because one early way of making graves were ‘graving’ (digging) the earth (i.e. the Anglo-Saxon burial mounds).

Could someone enlighten me as to the Hebrew term used and what the “clearest” translation of the Word is?

Thanks.

Peace
James

The Hebrew word is “pesel” (derived from the verb pasal, “to hew [into shape]”, “fashion by cutting” or “to carve”). Biblical usages of the word would suggest a sort of image hewn from stone or cut from wood (later, the usage would extend to those cast from metal).

 

[Ignatius]

I note that the term “Graven Image” is often used

Graven means to carve or shape with a chisel.

 

[Silvereel]

Yes, but generally when mentioned in a Biblical context it means an idol, that is worshipped.

 

[JRKH]

Yes, but generally when mentioned in a Biblical context it means an idol, that is worshipped.

Understood - But what it means in the Bible should be dependant upon what the word means otherwise the translators should have chosen a different word. - Right?

Exodus says make no graven image. Then goes on to say not to bow down to them or woprship them.
So if one takes the language literally we should carve no images - Period.
In addition we should not bow down or worship any that are made by others.

Of course if Graven means “carved” or “engraved” that kind of eliminates “Pictures and Paintings” from that list. - Literally Speaking I mean.

Peace
James

 

[kepha1]

Exodus does not say “make no graven image, PERIOD”. It’s says,

“You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow down to them or serve them” (Ex. 20:4–5); “Alas, this people have sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold” (Ex. 32:31).

**It means the graven images are not to be worshipped. ** Just because one might see a Catholic bowing in prayer to God in front of a statue of Jesus or a crucifix or some great saint does not mean that person is worshipping a hunk of plaster or wood. It does in Hollywood movies, but not in reality. Such a false charge is extremely insulting to my intelligence as a human being. This is called a misperception, basing a false conclusion from a limited amount of information (one observes a Catholic bowing in front of a statue). Anti-Catholics will use this false charge of statue worship because it’s quick, and the explanation that Catholics have is much more in depth than the simplistic insults. There are several topics to consider:

1. God COMMANDED the use of statuary in the Temple and the bronze serpent in the Book of Numbers. .
2. 400 years of Calvinoid iconoclasm deeply imbedded in the minds of many good Christians is a difficult obstacle to overcome.
3. proper use of physical objects for religious purposes it thoroughly BIBLICAL.
4. The Incarnation elevated all physical matter to new heights, and the principle of sacramentalism needs to be explained.
5. the heresy of Gnosticism forbids physical matter to be good, which means nothing on this earth is good enough to elevate the mind to God.

For more information on statue worship, graven images etc., here are some from my collection:

Do Catholics Worship Statues?
http://www.catholic.com/library/Do_Catholics_Worship_Statues.asp
IMAGES AND STATUES, RELICS & HOLY WATER
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/sacramentals.html

Lastly I would add that the graven images familiar to the Jews at the time God gave the commands are not images of Jesus, Mary, the saints, or a picture of your mother. It refered to an animal. This is verified by the fact that the commands were delivered after the Golden Calf incident, which is why animals were to be sacrificed…to drive the message home.

 

[Mintaka]

Carved idols, no. Carved cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant, yes. Carved almond blossom branch candlesticks, yes. Carved bulls on the rim of the bowl called “The Sea”, yes. Carved pomegranate chain designs, yes.

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

For that matter, as St. John Damascene pointed out, God made images and became an image – Man is made in the image of God, yes? So it’s not that God is against images per se, or otherwise we’d have to run around blindfold to keep our optic nerves from doing such a naughty thing, and we’d be forbidden to use writing systems because it’s the image of a sound.

 

[patrick457]

Yes, but generally when mentioned in a Biblical context it means an idol, that is worshipped.

Correct! In most occurrences of the noun pesel in the OT it generally means a sort of “cultic image” (i.e., an idol) and occurs almost exclusively in the context of references to imagery - apparently the word was so strongly colored by the contexts in which it is used.

This usage is in contrast to other attested usages of cognates in Northwest Semitic languages, where the root psl still had the main meaning of “to hew” or “to carve”. In Ugaritic for example psl designates craftsmen who work on stones and wood. The occurrences of psl in Punic and Nabataean inscriptions are also associated with stone- or wood-work. The Syriac (psl) and Aramaic (psl/psylh, pslh) cognates, as well as extrabiblical Hebrew usages of the word also fall along the same lines.