Stages, Altars, and Thrones: on our inclination towards image-making

Throne of Preparation, part of a Fresco of the Last Judgment (1300’s, Serbia)

One can readily understand the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Up until this point in the narrative, the singularity of this particular God, YHWH, is emphasized in multiple ways and leads us to be unsurprised by this first requirement of his.