The Organization of Religious Signs and the Imperial Mind of Some Early Rabbis

Abstract

The political combat against religious signs can be regarded as an epiphany of the biblical myth, in which a god asks his followers to eradicate all the representations of his competitors. After making this claim, I go on to criticize the too theological reading of the so-called “second commandment” that hinders its mythical substance. I then move on to the rabbinic document from the early third century, the Mishnah, in order to show how the ancient rabbis manipulated the prescription to eradicate the idols.