Exodus 20:1-17 (1) and (2)

 We will spend more than 1 day on this passage. Too much to meditate on for 1 day.

(1) I always jumped in v.3 when I looked at the 10 commandments. Today, I found the proceeding verses are very important, too. 

v.2 I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

 
God repeatedly mentioned Who He is, "I, the LORD, am your God,..." v.2a. 

(NET) The revelation of Yahweh here begins with the personal pronoun. “I”—a person, a living personality, not an object or a mere thought. This enabled him to address “you”—Israel, and all his people, making the binding stipulations for them to conform to his will

And He reminded them what He did, "who brought you from..." v.2b. 

(NET) [you] is...singular. It is this person that will be used throughout the commandments for the whole nation. God addresses them all as his people, but he addresses them individually for their obedience.

Lastly, what condition they were in "from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery." v.2c. 

(NET) He has a claim on them for gratitude and obedience. But this will not be a covenant of cruel slavery and oppression; it is a covenant of love, as God is saying “I am yours, and you are mine.” This was the sovereign Lord of creation and of history speaking, declaring that he was their savior.

Reflection: The best way for the child to follow the commandments is because the person who gives them the commandments. Same as adults, when we love the person we follow their commandments easier. In the NT, Jesus said, (John 14:15), “If you love me, you will obey my commandments."

(2) From the 10 plagues in Egypt, they should know that God is above all other gods or idols. He had already proved to them that He alone is the Creator and no god can compare with Him.   Now, because God was the Creator, because of His rescue, and the gratitude, and because God has shown to them that He was above all other Gods, He can ask for their obedience to the 1st commandments.

20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
[before me] (NET)... “in front of me,” meaning obliging me to behold them, and also giving a prominence above me...[or] “You shall not prefer other gods to me”... illustrates it with marriage: the wife could belong to only one man while every other man was “another man.” They continued to exist but were not available to her... God demands absolute allegiance, to the exclusion of all other deities. The preposition may imply some antagonism, for false gods would be opposed to Yahweh... adds that God was in effect saying that anytime Israel turned to a false god they had to know that the Lord was there—it is always in his presence, or before him.

Reflection: We can deny that we have put anything else above God, but are we ready to present the things we love "before God?" e.g. when you are binge drinking can you present that in front of God? When you overspend your money in shopping can you tell God about that? What you are reading on the internet can we present them in front of God?

(3) What other things Israel shall do if they decide that God is their God 19:8, 20:3? They should stop worshipping other idols v.4-6, they should respect God v.7, and remember Him on the Sabbath v.8-11. If God is their God they should also respect the authority of their families, their parents v.12, and respect the people who were created in the image of God v.13-17. 

Reflection: Worshiping God involves many areas of our lives, from how we should spend our time, to whom shall we respect, to what does it mean to respect. How do we do on Sunday? How do we do the rest of the week? How do we do with time management? How do we do with work/rest balance? How do we do with our relationship with our parents and our relationship with others? God cares about all those. If we love God we will follow His commands in all these areas of our lives. 

Audrey

 (1) In v.4 the details of not having other gods were expanded

20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below.

This is the command that the violation of it would carry over to generations. 

20:5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me,20:6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Why is the punishment so serious? 

(NET) The word rendered “reject” is often translated “hate” and carries with it the idea of defiantly rejecting and opposing God and his word.

(NET) The verse may indicate that those who hate Yahweh and do not keep his commandments will repeat the sins their fathers committed and suffer for them. Deut 24:16 says that individuals will die for their own sins and not their father’s sins (see also Deut 7:10 and Ezek 18). It may have more to do with patterns of sin being repeated from generation to generation; if the sin and the guilt were not fully developed in the one generation, then left unchecked they would develop and continue in the next. But it may also indicate that the effects of the sins of the fathers will be experienced in the following generations, especially in the case of Israel as a national entity (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 243). God is showing here that his ethical character is displayed in how he deals with sin and righteousness, all of which he describes as giving strong motivation for loyalty to him and for avoiding idolatry. There is a justice at work in the dealings of God that is not present in the pagan world.

(2) The only commandment that comes with a blessing is in v.12

20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that you may live a long time in the land the LORD your God is giving to you.

(NET) The promise here is national rather than individual, although it is certainly true that the blessing of life was promised for anyone who was obedient to God’s commands (Deut 4:1, 8:1, etc.). But as W. C. Kaiser (“Exodus,” EBC 2:424) summarizes, the land that was promised was the land of Canaan, and the duration of Israel in the land was to be based on morality and the fear of God as expressed in the home (Deut 4:26, 33, 40; 32:46–47). The captivity was in part caused by a breakdown in this area (Ezek 22:7, 15). Malachi would announce at the end of his book that Elijah would come at the end of the age to turn the hearts of the children and the parents toward each other again.

(3) The other commandments might be important to the country, but only these 2 stand out when obeying/violating will affect the whole country. In other words, murder may not destroyed a country, but worship idols or not honoring the parents will destroy the land.  Other sins might destroy our relationship,  but God chose these 2 relationships to teach Israel that if they violated these 2 commandments they would destroy the most important relationship as a society. The wrong object of worship, the neglecting of parental authority given by God ruin us. After 700 years, Israel had committed both and they did faced captivity. 

Reflection: Is our relationship with God and with parents overlooked in our society today? Do we ourselves neglect these 2 relationships? 

Do we realize that we have passed down the effect of our sins to our next generations? If we left them unchecked, our next generations are coping from us. 

Does our home model morality and fear of God? If God sees the family as that important in the society, shall we?

Audrey