IMAGE צלם: Statues, Idols, and the Image of God
The word IMAGE צלם (ṣelem) sits at the center of a major tension in biblical theology. On one side stand the images—statues, symbols, and idols—condemned in Israel’s law and prophetic writings. On the other stands the surprising confession that human beings themselves are made in the “image of God” (Genesis 1:26–27). In the ancient Near East, the Babylonian word ṣalmu described statues and symbolic representations of both gods and humans. Hebrew ṣelem corresponds closely to this word and can describe images of deities, yet the Bible reshapes the concept in a radical way: the true “image” of God is not a carved statue in a temple but living, breathing people whom God has made to represent Him in the world.
To understand IMAGE צלם, it helps to look first at how ṣalmu functioned in Mesopotamian and Arabian religion, and then how ṣelem functions in Israel’s Scriptures. This background clarifies why the Bible rejects the worship of carved images while exalting humanity as God’s appointed “image” and why the biblical God does not need a statue to dwell among His people.
ṣalmu in Babylonian Religion: Statues and Symbols, Not the God Itself
In Babylonian and related Mesopotamian contexts, ṣalmu referred to statues, reliefs, and symbolic objects representing gods or humans. The word could be used for:
statues “in the round” (three-dimensional idols or royal statues),
symbolic items associated with a deity,
stelae with relief carvings or depictions.
The important nuance is that, although the image (ṣalmu) could be treated with great reverence and sometimes even preceded by the divine determinative, the statue was not the god itself. Instead:
The deity was believed to be present in or represented by the image.
That presence could be withdrawn, especially if the image was desecrated.
Special rituals like pīt pî (“opening of the mouth”) and mīs pî (“washing of the mouth”) were used to consecrate or reconsecrate these images so that the god would once again “inhabit” them.
In this way, the statue operated as a ritual focal point of divine presence. At the same time, worshipers could sometimes be represented by their own votive figurines placed in temples, acting as a kind of permanent intercessor or stand-in before the god.
Language about kings being the “image” of a deity (for example, the king as the image of Šamaš) belongs to this same conceptual world: the king embodies, represents, and mediates the god’s authority on earth.
The Deity Ṣulmu: Image as a Hypostatized God in Taima
In north-west Arabia, ṣalmu / ṣlm moves one step further: it becomes the name of a god. In the city of Taima, inscriptions attest the worship of a deity known as Ṣulmu (ṣlm), reflected later in Greek and Latin as Solmos / Sulmus. This god seems to be:
the chief deity of Taima,
associated with the winged sun-disk as his symbol,
likely a hypostatized “image” of the sun god, an “Image” elevated to full divine status.
This development parallels other Near Eastern examples where cult objects themselves become gods:
Bethel (literally “house of God”), understood as a deified stone or sanctuary,
Sikkanu, another deified cult stone.
In this Arabian material, IMAGE ṣlm is no longer just a statue; it is a named deity. Yet the biblical tradition moves in the opposite direction—away from divinized images and toward the insistence that only the Lord is God, and that no image can capture His essence.
IMAGE צלם in the Hebrew Bible: Idols and Cast Images
The Hebrew word ṣelem corresponds to Akkadian ṣalmu both etymologically and conceptually. It can refer to the image of a deity, particularly in contexts of idol worship. For example:
Numbers 33:52 commands Israel to destroy ṣalmê massēkôt, cast metal images of idols.
The Baal temple in Jerusalem evidently contained such images (ṣelem) before its destruction (2 Kings 11:18 // 2 Chronicles 23:17).
Ezekiel criticizes Judah for turning their precious metals into “images” to worship (Ezekiel 7:20; 16:17).
Amos 5:26 refers to Kiyyûn ṣalmêkem, “your images,” in a critique of Israel’s idolatry in connection with astral worship.
In these passages IMAGE צלם is negative: it is part of the world of idols, forbidden representations of false gods or false representations of the true God.
However, ṣelem is not the main technical term for idols in the Hebrew Bible. More common words include:
pesel – “carved image,”
massēkâ – “molten image” or “cast idol.”
IMAGE צלם is one term among several, yet it remains important because of its wider theological reach, especially in Genesis.
The Hebrew Bible knows nothing like the god Ṣulmu, an “Image” turned into a deity. The closest parallel is the anointing of stones (maṣṣēbôt) such as Jacob’s pillar at Bethel (Genesis 28:18), where a stone marks sacred presence but is not named as a god in its own right.
IMAGE צלם and the Image of God: A Radical Reversal
The most profound use of IMAGE צלם in Scripture is found not in discussions about idols, but in the creation account:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image (ṣelem), after our likeness.’ … So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
(Genesis 1:26–27)
Here, the word used elsewhere for statues and idols is applied to human beings. Instead of saying that God needs a ṣelem (image) made out of wood, stone, or metal, Genesis declares:
Humans are God’s image.
God’s “statue” in the world is a living, relational, thinking, acting person.
Both male and female share this IMAGE צלם equally.
This is a radical reversal of ancient Near Eastern expectations:
In Mesopotamia, gods had ṣalmu placed in temples so their presence could be localized and honored.
Kings could be called the image of a god in hyperbolic royal diction.
In Genesis, every human—male and female, across the earth—is made in God’s image, called to rule and fill the earth as His representatives (Genesis 1:28).
The true “idol” of the biblical God is not a carved object but a living human being bearing His likeness.
Why the Bible Forbids Images but Honors the Image
This creates an important theological tension:
On the one hand, the Ten Commandments forbid making carved images to bow down to or serve (Exodus 20:4–5; Deuteronomy 5:8–9).
On the other hand, the Bible insists that humans are created in God’s image (ṣelem) and warns against shedding human blood precisely because of this status (Genesis 9:6).
The logic is:
No man-made image can capture God.
God has already appointed His own image—humanity.
To worship carved images is to replace God’s chosen way of representing Himself in the world. It dishonors both God and the human beings whose dignity is rooted in bearing His image.
From IMAGE צלם to Christ as the True Image
Within this biblical trajectory, the New Testament’s language about Jesus fits naturally:
Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).
He is “the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3).
Jesus fulfills the human vocation to be God’s image perfectly. Where idols are mute, blind, and powerless (Psalm 115:4–8), Jesus speaks, sees, acts, and reveals God’s heart. He is not a statue in a temple; He is the living Lord, the true IMAGE in whom humanity’s created calling is restored.
Conclusion
IMAGE צלם gathers together ancient practices of statues and idols, Arabian developments where “Image” becomes a god, and the biblical rejection of all such representations as rivals to the living God. In Mesopotamia, ṣalmu stood at the center of ritual, kingship, and temple worship. In Taima, Ṣulmu became a deity in his own right. In Israel, ṣelem can describe idols, but it reaches deeper: Scripture declares that God’s true image is humanity itself, and ultimately Christ, the perfect image.
The Bible therefore dismantles the logic of idol worship from the inside: no carved IMAGE צלם can reveal God, because the Creator has chosen to reveal Himself through His living image-bearers and supremely through His Son. Carved images must be destroyed; the human image must be honored, restored, and transformed in fellowship with the God who made it.
Bible verses about images, idols, and the image of God
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything… You shall not bow down to them or serve them.” (Exodus 20:4–5)
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (Genesis 9:6)
“You shall destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places.” (Numbers 33:52)
“And all the people went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces.” (2 Kings 11:18)
“They made for themselves images of their abominations and of their detestable things.” (Ezekiel 7:20)
“You also took your beautiful jewels… and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.” (Ezekiel 16:17)
“You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves.” (Amos 5:26)
“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.” (Psalm 115:4)
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Colossians 1:15)
