Exodus 20:1-17
1 And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”
The Lord God gave His sayings as commands to follow; they were not just nice suggestions or wishes, they were what God commanded to His people to do and live by as these tested their hearts toward Him. Some may attempt to weaken this by a literal interpretation of the word for commandments (דָּבָר ḏâḇâr) as words or mere advice, but the context makes it clear these are actual commands to follow fearfully and wholeheartedly. The first four speak of our view of and service to our Almighty God. The other six deal with our love in action for one another. The first two are almost as one; we are to have only the Lord revealed to His people as God. Therefore, we cannot and dare not attempt to worship any other God or make idols by our own hands to worship in place of or additional to Him alone. He is a jealous God, not as a man or woman shows jealousy, but as one who made us for Himself and who guards His people as His alone from the heart to the hand. This then means that we do not take His holy name lightly or swear false promises to it without hearts set on the obedience of yes or no in our actions (James 5:12, Matthew 5:33-37). The seventh day rest was to rest from our work as God did to remember that He does all the work and we rest now in Christ’s instead for God’s favor (Hebrews 4:3-5, 9-10). The last six commands to us fulfill the command to love others as ourselves as Jesus explained at the Sermon on the Mount; these deal with outward actions and reactions originating from a true and pure heart (1 Timothy 1:5, 1 Peter 1:22). Love for others begins with honoring our parents who have been given children to watch over in the Lord. Then we are not to murder others out of spite or selfish gain. We are forbidden to destroy the marriage relationships of others by adultery for our own pleasure or gain. To love others means that we do not take from them what God has given them. When we selfishly lie about what others have done instead of being truthful for our own gain or to cover our own sin, we show hate for God’s creation and for Him as well. As it is written, godliness with contentment is great gain. Finally, we cannot desire what God has given others just because we want those things that we feel entitled to and bitter because we feel cheated without them. All these things we are to do and not do as commanded to please and glorify God. And they are to be done willingly from the heart and in our minds as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment