Text: Psalm 78:58-59
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 20:4
Subject: idol prohibition and Israel's provocation by images
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Anchor Text: Exod 20 — The Decalogue
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 provoked Him to anger with their high places and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images (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.