Exodus 20:1-3

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Exodus 20:1. All these words.] Concerning which observe

(1.) That they form the basis of the covenant, of which ch. Exodus 19:3 offers the first proposal; chs. 21–23, the detailed sketch; and ch. Exodus 24:1, the formal ratification.

(2.) That they are all grounded upon the existing relationship between Jehovah and Israel announced in Exodus 20:1; so that THE LAW, par excellence, is itself founded upon redeeming grace.

(3.) That thus they may all be united by the principle to which they owe their privileged position—faithfulness to Him who has redeemed Israel, shown directly towards God Himself in matters of worship (“four commands.” 3–11); and indirectly towards man—for whom Jehovah cares—in matters of social intercourse (“six commands.” 12–17).

(4.) That, nevertheless, they reveal the immeasurable inferiority of the old covenant to which they give character, as compared with the new: the leading note of the former being “Thou shalt,” that of the latter “I will” (cf. Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Exodus 20:1

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

The recollection, and admiration, and love, and worship, and obedience, and fellowship of God, form the substance of true religion. Salvation is God revealed in Christ.

I. Every man must have a god—originally.

1. Man must draw enjoyment from without—God alone is independent.
2. Man has capacities which are exercised on something external.

3. Man must now have many gods (Jeremiah 2:28).

II. Jehovah claims to be the God of each individual. The grounds of this claim are stated in the Preface to the Ten Commandments. “I am the Lord thy God.

1. His intrinsic excellence.
2. His relation to men—to His people—to all.

3. God willingly submits to comparison (1 Kings 18).

III. Jehovah’s claims to be the God of His creatures are generally overlooked and rejected. The forms of human idolatry are very numerous.

1. The creature is deified (Romans 1:25).

2. God Himself is made after the fancies and tastes of depraved men.
3. God is contemplated out of Christ.

IV. Jehovah observes and marks the manner in which His Divine claims are disposed of by men.—

1. He observes it as omniscient.
2. He observes it as jealous of His glory.
3. He observes it as forming a righteous judgment respecting the conduct of all His creatures.
4. He observes it that He may deal with men accordingly.
5. Prepare to meet thy God.—Outlines by Stewart.

ILLUSTRATIONS

BY
THE REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON

Law Divine! Exodus 20:1. A converted infidel exclaimed on reading Exodus 20, “Where did Moses get this law? The Egyptians and the adjacent nations were idolaters. So were the Greeks and Romans. The wisest Greeks and the best Romans never gave a code of morals like this. Where did Moses get this Law, which surpasses the wisdom and philosophy of the most enlightened age? He lived at a period comparatively barbarous; yet he has given a law in which the learning and sagacity of all subsequent time can detect no flaw. Where did he get it? He could not have soared up to it. It must have soared down to him. It must be from God.” No Canova-eye can detect the tiniest flaw in this snow-white marble code.

“How holy is the precept,
How righteous the decree,
Revealing to His creatures
The Lord’s own purity.”

Moral Law! Exodus 20:1. A boat on a summer sea is a pleasant picture. But a boat full of people on the Indian Ganges or the mighty Amazon, when the day is dull and the sky dismal—when the wind roars and the thunder peals—when the waters swell and the stream flashes past—is a spectacle of horror. You hear the shrieks between the thunderpeals as they on surging waters, and you on solid strand, wonder how salvation is to come. Ah! if their frail barque could but be drawn into yonder narrow creek, all would be well. A rope is flung out to them, and fastened to the boat. Suddenly a frantic sailor seizes a hatchet, and by one frenzied blow severs the rope. One blow—no more! The boat sweeps headlong against the rock. A crash—and all is o’er. It needs not that the rope should be cut in ten places to sever the connection and injure salvation. If one commandment be broken; if frenzied passion cut God’s Law at any one point—all is broken. Thus we see how

“One mischief entered brings another in;
The second pulls a third, the third draws more,
And they for all the rest set open the door.”

—Smith.

Divine Denial! Exodus 20:2. Kircher, the famous astronomer, anxious to convince an infidel friend of the Divine existence, procured a very handsome astronomical globe, and placed it in a corner of his room. When his friend called, he saw the globe, and admiring it, inquired to whom it belonged! “It was never made; it came here by ‘chance.’ ” The sceptic declared it was but a sorry jest, since such was impossible. The wise philosopher at once happily retorted, “You will not believe that this tiny, frail globe came from ‘chance,’ and yet you expect me to believe that all those mighty worlds have no Maker!” He then proceeded to reason with his friend, so earnestly that he flung his infidel ideas to the wind, convinced of the existence of the Divine “I am.”

“Infinite strength, and equal skill,

Shine through Thy works abroad;

Our souls with vast amazement fill,

And speak the builder God.”

—Watts.

Idolatry! Exodus 20:2. A man’s idol is not necessarily an image of gold. It may be a child of clay—the fruit of his own loins—the wife of his bosom. It may be wealth, fame, position, success, business—anything which absorbs unduly the affections and attention. Against such idols God hurls His resistless missile here as resolutely as against “the heathen idols of wood and stone.” When the English captured Rangoon, the saintly Havelock established a prayer-meeting in a famous heathen temple. The room was filled with idol-images, and in the lap of each of these “dumb gods” he placed a lamp to give light. He turned the idols into lampstands for the Divine glory. When there is no danger of our worshipping our old human-idols, let us turn them to good account. We may transform them into lampstands. We may make them serveas lights to enable us to worship Him, whose glory is that of the One True God.

“There are many heathen people,

Who yet God’s name have known;

And many other idols

Than those of wood and stone.”