An important book about a remarkable phenomenon. This is the first in-depth study of Israelite aniconism in the light of comparative material from the ancient Near East. In an introductory chapter Dr. Mettinger introduces a distinction between de facto aniconism and programmatic prohibition of images. He then goes on to demonstrate that de facto aniconism was a conventional practice in several West Semitic cultures. Finally, he sketches the development from West Semitic aniconism (with aniconic stelae as symbols of the divine) to Israelite iconoclasm.