I'm guessing you did not draw that conclusion on your own but were taught it...correct? I'm also guessing someone had a hole to fill because they were told what they were doing was wrong, so they stretched that scripture to fill that hole out of personal need and not because it was true. I stick with the fact that falling on ones face is not bowing to the ark, and another reason I believe that is because it doesn'r say he "bowed before the ark". Then I look at the commentaries to see where they stand, one of which I posted below, and at least that one seems to agree. Falling on ones face is not bowing, and it does not represent bowing. Once again someone needed it to mean that just as you seem to, so it does. I'll include the link to where I got that commentary from as there are more on that page, and you may want to look through them and maybe you can find something to back your view.
I'm not certain what that is in reference to. Maybe it was to something I mentioned awhile back and forgot or for whatever reason I'm just not able to connect it. But no matter why, if you could please post a quote of what that's in reference to, it would help me in getting an answer for you, and I apologize for the trouble if I'm overlooking something obvious.
Did that dictionary have other meanings? And the why's one would bow down are not what I was getting at right now, my disagreement was referring to bowing down to it, period, regardless of intentions.
Also, did we ever get to where exactly Moses bowed to idols, or did I miss your posting the scripture I requested?
When you fall on your face to someone or something you bow down to it. I’ll even use John Gill’s commentary to support my point:
And Joshua rent his clothes,.... As was usual in those ancient times, on hearing bad news, and as expressive of grief and trouble (r); see
Genesis 37:29,
and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord, until the eventide; in a posture of adoration and prayer, in which he continued till even; how long that was cannot be said, since the time is not mentioned when the army returned from Ai; very probably it was some time in the afternoon: this was done before the ark of the Lord, the symbol of the divine Presence, not in the most holy place, where that usually was, and into which Joshua might not enter, but in the tabernacle of the great court, over against where the ark was:
he and the elders of Israel; either the elders of the people in the several tribes, or rather the seventy elders, which were the sanhedrim or council, and which attended Joshua, and assisted him as such:
and put dust upon their heads; another rite or ceremony used in times of mourning and distress, and that very anciently, before Joshua's time and after, see
Job 2:12; and among various nations; so when Achilles bewailed the death of Patroclus, he is represented by Homer (s) taking with both his hands the black earth, and pouring it on his head; so Aristippus among the Athenians is said (t) to sprinkle dust on his head in token of mourning on a certain account.
(r) "Tum pius", Aeneas, &c. Virgil. Aeneid. l. 5. prope finem. (s) , &c. Iliad. 18. ver. 23. Vid. Odyss. 24. "Sparsitque cinis", &c. Seneca, Troad.
Acts 1. Chorus. (t) Heliodor. Aethiop. l. 1. c. 13.
Joshua 7 Gill's Exposition
What does prostrating represent then? My reference to Deuteronomy 10:17 is to show God has no partiality when it comes to his commandments so it means there’s a difference between images of veneration and graven images, Gods not going to make an exception to the ark if they’re the same thing. You can just simply go to Merriam Webster on epf the best online dictionaries out there and type in the words graven images and see what comes up, images of worship again. Also bowing down to images isn’t as a sign of respect isn’t wrong unless your actually intending worship all Jews in the Old Testament bowed down to the temple I don’t even need scripture to prove that or that the temple had images and icons in it.