Exodus 20:5

_THOU SHALT NOT MAKE UNTO THEE ANY GRAVEN IMAGE, OR 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:_ Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, х_ PECEL_ (H6459), a carved image, either of wood or stone; Septuagint, eidoolon]. OR ANY LIKENESS, х_ TªMUWNAAH_ (H8544), appearance, form; Septuagint, homoiooma] - namely, of Yahweh (Numbers 12:8; Deuteronomy 4:12; Deuteronomy 4:15). Both of these words, taken in connection with...

3-11 The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship of creatures is here forbidden. Whatever comes short of perfect love, gratitude, reverence, or worship, breaks this commandment. Whatsoever ye do, do all the glory of God. The second commandment refers to the worship we are to render to the Lord our God. It is forbidden to make any image or picture of the Deity, in any form, or for any purpose; or to worship any creature, image, or picture. But the spiritual import of this command extends much further. All kinds of superstition are here forbidden, and the us...

Verse Exodus 20:5. _JEALOUS GOD_] This shows in a most expressive manner the love of God to this people. He felt for them as the most affectionate husband could do for his spouse; and was _jealous_ for their fidelity, because he willed their invariable happiness. _VISITING THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN_] This necessarily implies - IF _the children walk in the steps of their_ _fathers_; for no man can be condemned by Divine justice for a crime of which he was never guilty; see Ezekiel 13:1. _Idolatry_ is however particularly intended, and _visiting_ sins of this kind refers principally to _national judgments_. By withdrawing the Divine protection the idolatrous Israelites were delivered up into the hands of their enemies, from wh

The Hebrew name which is rendered in our King James Version as the ten commandments occurs in Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 10:4. It literally means “the Ten Words.” The Ten Commandments are also called the law, even the commandment Exodus 24:12, the words of the covenant Exodus 34:28, the tables of the covenant Deuteronomy 9:9, the covenant...

EXPOSITION THE DELIVERY OF THE MORAL LAW. Every necessary preparation had now been made. The priests, as well as the people, had "sanctified themselves." A wholesome dread of "breaking" through the fence, and "touching" the mount, had spread itself among the people Moses had returned from the camp to the summit of the mount; and both he and the people were attent to hear the words of the "covenant," which had been announced to them (Exodus 19:5). Then, amid the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the smoke, and the earthquake throbs which shook the ground, a voice like that of a man, distinctly articulate, pronounced the words of that "moral law," which has been from that day to this the guide of life to thousands upon thousands, th

THOU SHALL NOT BOW DOWN THYSELF TO THEM,.... Perform any worship to them, show any reverence of them by any gesture of the body; one being mentioned, bowing the body, and put for all others, as prostration of it to the earth, bending the knee, kissing the hand, lifting up of hands or eyes to them, or by any outward action expressing a religious esteem of them, as if there was divinity in them: NOR SERVE THEM; in a religious manner, internally or externally, by offering sacrifice and burning incense to them; by praying to, or praising of them; by expressing love to them, faith and trust in them, hope and expectation of good things from them, and the like. The reason of this second command, relating to the making and worshipping of images, next follows: FOR I THE LORD THY GOD AM A JEALOUS GOD; jealous of his own honour and glory, and will not give it to another; even to graven images, no...

Exodus 20:1. _And God spake all these words saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me._ God is the only God, and no other object of worship is to be tolerated for a moment. Exodus 20:4. _Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or 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: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments._ Here we are forb

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 20-24, 34. THE CODES IN EXODUS. Recent study has by many converging lines of argument, based on subject matter, choice of words, relation to the context, idiomatic phrasing, comparison with the historical and prophetical literature, etc., and from an immense accumulation of Biblical facts, proved the extraordinary complexity of the laws in the Pentateuch. Only results can be given here. I. Perhaps the oldest collection is the little code in Exodus 34:17 * J, all short religious laws, and called in the present text the Ten Words of the Covenant. II. Closely parallel with this, both in form and substance, is a somewhat larger collection called The Words of Yahweh (Exodus 24:3) or The Book of the Covenant (Exodus 2

SHALT NOT BOW DOWN. To have or to make another god is to hate the true God. Here let it be observed that in the estimate of God there is no difference between forsaking him for another and hating him. The negative state of indifference to him, or inclination to another, necessarily involves the positive state of hatred to the true God.--_ Murphy._ A JEALOUS GOD. The passions of. moral being have their right as well as their wrong use. Hence anger, jealousy, hatred and revenge, are ascribed to God, not as passions, but as the feelings of. holy being in regard to that which is evil (Deuteronomy 32:21-22; Deuteronomy 32:35). As the Judge of the universe, God has the supreme right, not only to entertain these feelings, but also to carry out their holy beh