Exodus 20:23

_YE SHALL NOT MAKE WITH ME GODS OF SILVER, NEITHER SHALL YE MAKE UNTO YOU GODS OF GOLD._ Ye shall not make with me gods of silver. It appears from Deuteronomy 4:14 that this injunction was a conclusion drawn from the scene on Sinai; that as no similitude of God was displayed then, they should not attempt to make any visible figure or form of Him....

22-26 Moses having entered into the thick darkness, God there spake in his hearing all that follows from hence to the end of chap. 23, which is mostly an exposition of the ten commandments. The laws in these verses relate to God's worship. The Israelites are assured of God's gracious acceptance of their devotions. Under the gospel, men are encouraged to pray every where, and wherever God's people meet in his name to worship him, he will be in the midst of them; there he will come unto them, and will bless them....

Verse Exodus 20:23. _YE SHALL NOT MAKE WITH ME GODS OF SILVER_] The expressions here are very remarkable. Before it was said, Ye shall have no other gods BEFORE _me_, אל פני al panai, Exodus 20:3. Here they are commanded, ye shall not make gods of _silver_ or _gold_ _itti_ WITH _me_, as _emblems_ or _representatives_ of God, in order, as might be pretended, to keep these displays of his magnificence in memory; on the contrary, he would have only an _altar of earth_-of _plain turf_, on which they should offer those sacrifices by which they should commemorate their own guilt and the necessity of an atonement to reconcile themselves to God. Exodus 20:4....

Nothing could be more appropriate as the commencement of the book of the covenant than these regulations for public worship. The rules for the building of altars must have been old and accepted, and are not inconsistent with the directions for the construction of the altar of the court of the tabernacle, Exodus 27:1 (compare Joshua 22:26)....

EXPOSITION THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT, (Exodus 20:1. Exodus 20:22, to Exodus 22:1.Exodus 22:23). The Decalogue is followed by a series of laws, civil, social, and religious, which occupy the remainder of Exodus 20:1. and the whole of the three following chapters (Exodus 21:1; Exodus 22:1. and 23.). I

YE SHALL NOT MAKE WITH ME,.... This is a proposition of itself, as appears by the accent Athnach placed at the end of it, which divides it from the following, and therefore "gods of silver" belong to the next clause or proposition; something seems to be wanting to complete the sense, which the Talmudists s and Jarchi after them supply thus, "ye shall not make with me as the likeness of my ministers which minister before me on high;'' as the seraphim, ministering angels, c. as the sun, moon, and stars and so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases the words, "ye shall not make, to worship, the likeness of the sun, and of the moon, and of the stars, and of the planets, and of the angels that minister before me:'' or rather, "ye shall not make any likeness with me", or any likeness of me; and so the words stand connected with the preceding verse, that since they only saw the cloud and fire,...

CHAPTER 20 THE COVENANT REVEALED _ 1. The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1)_ 2. Jehovah's gracious provision (Exodus 20:18) This law covenant is now stated. It was given three times. First orally here, when God spake all these words. Then in Exodus 31 Moses received the tables of stone, “written with the finger of God,” the same finger which later wrote on earth in the sand (John 8). The first tables were broken and Moses was commanded to hew two tables of stone upon which Jehovah again wrote the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:1). This law was given to Israel exclu

EXODUS 20:22 E. LAWS OF WORSHIP. This begins the Book of the Covenant, a small collection of religious and moral laws. The reference to God as talking with the people from heaven (Exodus 20:22_ b)_ was probably added after the insertion of the Decalogue. In Exodus 20:23 the pl. ye shows that this was not part of the Horeb book, in which thou is used. The RV seems to be right (against LXX) in making Exodus 20:23 a a doublet of Exodus 20:3. Perhaps it ran, Ye shall not serve (make) along with me other (silver) gods. In any case, it is over-costly images on

The collection opens with directions respecting the manner which God is to be worshipped (other directions about religious observances follow in Exodus 22:20; Exodus 22:29-31; Exodus 23:10-19)....

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 20 AND GOD SPAKE ALL THESE WORDS, SAYING, (2) I am Je-ho-vah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of E-gypt, out of the house of bondage. (3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (4) Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness _of any thing_ THAT IS IN HEAVEN ABOVE, OR THAT IS IN THE EARTH BENEATH, OR THAT IS IN THE WATER UNDER THE EARTH: (5) THOU SHALT NOT BOW DOWN THYSELF UNTO THEM, NOR SERVE THEM; FOR I JE-HO-VAH THY GOD AM A JEALOUS GOD, VISITING THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN, UPON THE THIRD AND UPON THE FOURTH GENERATION OF THEM THAT HATE ME, (6) AND SHOWING LOVINGKINDNESS UNTO THOUSANDS OF THEM THAT LOVE ME AND KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS. (7) Thou shalt not take the name of Je-ho-vah thy God in vain; for Je-ho-vah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. (8) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it...