a graven image

graven image

An image of an idol, especially a carving or sculpture, that one worships (something that was expressly forbidden in the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God). Many residents have described the statues as graven images of the country's sordid past issues of slavery and racism.
See also: graven, image
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a graven image

a carved representation of a god used as an object of worship.
This expression is from the second of the Ten Commandments: ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image’ (Exodus 20:4).
See also: graven, image
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • graven
  • graven image
  • be the (very) image of (someone)
  • be the image of somebody/something
  • thumbnail
  • thumbnail sketch
  • a thumbnail sketch
  • on brand
  • image
  • RES
References in classic literature
He threaded his way back to the ferry landing, found nobody at large there, and walked boldly on board the boat, for he knew she was tenantless except that there was a watchman, who always turned in and slept like a graven image. He untied the skiff at the stern, slipped into it, and was soon rowing cautiously up- stream.
"`There was a graven image of Desire Painted with red blood on a ground of gold.'" murmured Gouvernail, under his breath.
He went in again, and put his right hand on the latch of the door to close it--but he did not close it: he was arrested, as he had been already since his loss, by the invisible wand of catalepsy, and stood like a graven image, with wide but sightless eyes, holding open his door, powerless to resist either the good or the evil that might enter there.
He saw him sign to his men that he had come upon that which he sought and he saw him pass out of sight toward the north, and still Korak sat like a graven image, with a heart that bled in dumb misery.
Hertzler would be violating his religion by taking a graven image of himself," the complaint argues.
In Deuteronomy 4:16 the Almighty Himself gives the warning: "Beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form of any figure..."
So why would God be sore about a graven image of his one true Self?
"How strange it is to create a graven image out of a document that says we are not supposed to have any graven images."
In the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:4 says "You shall not make for yourself a graven image." Lutherans do not even mention this verse when we list the commandments.
The second commandment dictates, "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." It also prohibits bowing down to any such images or serving them.
The irony here, notes Mitchell, is that the zealots of Zion have made the land itself an idol -- not a graven image, but a substitute nonetheless.
Alexandra Ansanelli's Bride has the pathos of a child innocent and the unearthly stillness of a graven image. Dressed in white, she is the only fully realized character of the ballet, although the Coda after the third tableau, "Lamentation of Mothers," allows Riolama Lorenzo and Monique Meunier to infuse their grief with an individualizing passion.