Later text
They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols. On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely.
Intertextuality Pair
Psalm 78:58-59 → Exodus 20:4
Allusion
Earlier text
Exodus 20:4BSB
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.
Significance
Exodus 20:4 prohibits making "a graven image or any likeness" (פֶּסֶל וְכָל תְּמוּנָה, pesel vekhol temunah), and Psalm 78:58-59 records how Israel violated this commandment: "They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols (פְּסִילֵיהֶם, pesileihem)." The psalm uses the same root פ-ס-ל (p-s-l, "carved image") found in the second commandment, making the verbal connection explicit. Psalm 78's poetic retrospective interprets Israel's history of idolatry as the cause of God abandoning Shiloh (78:60), demonstrating that the second commandment was not an abstract principle but a covenant obligation whose violation had concrete historical consequences.
- Found via
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Reference Type
- Allusion
- Connection Method(s)
- Longitudinal Theme — Exodus 20:4's prohibition of the carved image and Psalm 78:58-59's narrative of Israel's idols provoking furious rejection share the פ-ס-ל vocabulary that marks the canonical idolatry theme, a thread moving from Sinai's command through Shiloh's loss to the prophets — and finally to the Son, the Image of the invisible God whom no carving could represent.
Related Anchor-Text Networks
Linked Mentions 2