The first two commandments read like this, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” and, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any 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 thyself to them, nor serve them…” (Exodus 20:3-5).

The diverse language groups that now made up the nations were totally intoxicated with the religion of Babel. They worshipped the sun and moon, the stars and the planets and made idols to represent them. These first two commandments, then, were of great importance to remember if Israel were to dwell “in the midst of the nations” (Ezekiel 5:5).

Just prior to entering the land of Canaan, they were reminded once again by Moses, “the LORD commanded me … to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day … Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:14-20, 23, 24).

Israel was commanded to be separate from the nations who practiced this form of Babylonish idolatry. The Lord told them, “Learn not the way of the heathen [Hebrew: goy; also translated nations or Gentiles], and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good … Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them” (Jeremiah 10:2-5, 14).

On the fourth day God created the “lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night”, and God said, “let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Genesis 1:14). However, the nations became “dismayed at the signs of heaven” (Jeremiah 10:2). Their minds were filled with superstition and fear, and connected to their dismay was the “custom” of making idols to represent the celestial powers they worshipped.

As they saw the stars and planets travel about their circuits, as they witnessed the sun and moon, rise and fall, and as the seasons changed with the earth's orbit about the sun, it appeared in their minds at least, that the constellations were directing the seasons. So the future, they believed, was controlled by the great starry host of heaven.

Certain seasons could bring various blessings such as an abundant crop, but a hailstorm or a flood could destroy that same crop. If the “gods” withheld the rains a drought could dry up the land and lightning could set the country ablaze. In the blindness of their hearts they began to venerate the grand “host of heaven” and to appease them with offerings and sacrifice. In effect, they “worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).