Was the 2nd Commandment Warning us Against AI?
Yesterday I thought it'd be fun to decipher a couple of the 10 commandments to see how they can be applied to daily life, only to find myself rereading the second because I just couldn't understand what it was talking about.
For reference, the second commandment (RSV bible that I read from) in Exodus 20: 4-6 says
"^(4) “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; ^(5) you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ^(6) but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."
Originally I thought it was about idolatry, because at face value it sounds like it's saying "Don't make physical images / idols of holy things and worship them", but looking in further there is another way it can be interpretted.
The passage says not to make "any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth". Those that are in "heaven above" must be angels, "earth beneath" are referencing humans, and "the water under the earth" mean demons.
Angels and demons are understandable, but I want to point out that God is saying to NOT make any physical beings that mimic or act like humans, because we might end up worshipping them as supreme deities instead of God.
Have I not heard of that before? A physical thing that mimics human likeness and behaviour?
Oh, that's right; AI.
What's something that people are "bowing down" to, by using it on a daily basis to the point where they can't think critically for themselves?
Also AI.
God had warned us from the very beginning to not create something like AI, but certain people went ahead and did it anyway. Now all of us are suffering because of it.
I'm not saying this interpretation is picture perfect, this is just how I ended up interpretting it. There's still a lot of digging left to do until I fully understand what this passage means, and if anybody has a solid answer as to what the true meaning of it is or has an interpretation to share, that'd be great! Thanks for reading!
Posted Sep 6, 2026, 3:20 AM UTC