Ge 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
We have before us the foundation of the second commandment of the Ten Commandments: "You shall not make for yourself a carved 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; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them."
Can you imagine the image of God bowing down before animals and beasts? Can you imagine God's appointed king bowing before "birds and four-footed animals and creeping things?"
Idolatry is an insult to God and a degradation of man's dignity. Idolatry is the turning of God's appointed order upside down. Instead of man having dominion over beasts, man is seen bending and bowing before them.
Moses had to educate Israel here about man's dignity and privilege for the Israelites were heavily influenced by idolatrous pagans around them.
