Exodus 20:1

‘THE TEN WORDS’

‘All these words.’

Exodus 20:1

By way of introduction note: 1. The harmony between the solemn surroundings of Sinai, and the solemn revelations there made by God. Dean Stanley brings this out well; and it is the subject of the impressive contrast drawn in Hebrews 12:18. God’s Nature is in harmony with God’s Word. Nature is like the organ that accompanies the Divine solo. 2. The importance of moral preparations for personal or national audience with the Holy God. 3. There is a question whether an actual Divine voice was heard sounding from Sinai, or whether the people were frightened by the inarticulate sound of mighty thunderings. To decide this ch. 19 should be studied.

I. The Overwhelming Solemnity of the Proclamation of the ‘Ten Words,’ as compared with the precepts of the Ceremonial Law. Those were given through Moses: these, amid accompaniments of indescribable majesty, by God Himself. They were afterwards written on tables of stone by His own finger, to be preserved for ages in the Ark of the Covenant, and immediately beneath the Mercy-seat itself.

II. The Order,—God first, man second; as in the Lord’s Prayer. Morality rests on religion. The only sure road to thorough righteousness manward is the way of holiness. Honour God, and you cannot be a bad neighbour. Love to Him soon works out in love to others. The law begins with the state of heart towards God: it ends with the state of heart towards man,—‘Thou shalt not covet.’ How important, then, to begin at the right place, to get right with God!

III. These old words judge each one of us to-day; and they search, as Jesus tells us, not the act merely, but the thought, the desire, the secret purpose. Who can abide their searching light? None. We are all verily guilty. What then? The glorious Gospel with its promise of complete salvation from the curse of the broken law, through the Atoning Lamb, and from the curse of a godless heart, by the gift both of the new spirit and of the Holy Spirit Himself to live therein as the well-spring of all righteousness, the Eternal Life.

Illustration

(1) ‘This code of commandments is a transcript of the records of conscience in the heart of men. This is to those what the great town clock is to the watches which the citizens carry in their pockets. We cannot keep this holy law, in its letter or in its spirit, as expounded by our Lord. It is high, we cannot attain to it. Every attempt is doomed to fail, as St. Paul tells us in Romans 7, which we make in the energy of our own nature. And it is only when we are filled with the Holy Spirit that we are able to realise the Divine purpose in laying down these transcendently glorious claims. We yield obedience then, not because of pressure brought to bear on us from without, but from an inward impulse, which it is our joy to obey. We are not actuated by the fear of a slave, but by the love of a child, who is animated by the spirit of his Father.’

(2) ‘The glory of the Decalogue is that, while the tables are two, the law is one, and that it unites religion and morality at a time when they were supposed to be entirely separate. Significantly, the Commandments are mostly prohibitions. “Thou shalt not” is needed in a sinful world. Negative commandments are the rough rind which guards the ripening fruit. The deliverance is basis of all, so even then a redemptive act was the foundation of God’s claim on men, and grateful love was the motive of obedience.’

(3) ‘Ah, but let me have the new spirit created in me from above—and what a change! The law is now my Father’s law, and, since all His thoughts toward me are thoughts of peace and not of evil, I am eager to please Him. It is now my Saviour’s law, and, since for my sake He emptied Himself and welcomed the death of the Cross, I cannot do enough in His service.

When the man is right, the Commandment is not grievous.’