Chapter Exodus 20:1-21 _The Decalogue. Introduction to the Book of the Covenant_ The Decalogue is a concise but comprehensive summary of the fundamental duties of an Israelite towards God, and his neighbour. Jehovah is to be the only God recognized by Israel: He is to be worshipped under no materi... [ Continue Reading ]
The _Ten Words_: Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 10:4; and probably (see the note Exodus 34:28. The Greek equivalent, -Decalogue" (ἡ δεκάλογος), is used first be Clem. Al. [_Paedag._iii. 89 _al._). _And God spake_, &c. the sequel in E to Exodus 19:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
The _Testimony_(or _attestation, averment_, viz. of God's will; see on Exodus 25:16): 36 times in P (cf. _ibid._). Elsewhere in this sense only 2 Kings 11:12 (but doubtfully: see Skinner in the _Century Bible_, and Barnes in the _Cambr. Bible_), and 2 Chronicles 24:6 (as Numbers 17:7-8 _al._). Intr... [ Continue Reading ]
The _Covenant_: esp., and probably first, in Dt. and Deuteronomic writers (cf. above, p. 175): Exodus 34:28 (?; see the note); Deuteronomy 4:13 -his covenant" (cf. 23, Exodus 5:2-3); and in the expressions, -the tables of _the covenant_," Deuteronomy 9:9; Deuteronomy 9:11; Deuteronomy 9:15; 1 Kings... [ Continue Reading ]
_a graven image_ an image of carved wood (sometimes enclosed in a metal casing, Isaiah 30:22) or stone, such as were common in antiquity, and are so, of course, still among heathen nations. Cf. Deuteronomy 4:16 f. the likeness of _any form_, &c. By an inexactness of language, the Heb. identifies th... [ Continue Reading ]
The _second_commandment, against image-worship. The prohibition is general; and includes both images of Jehovah, who, as a spiritual Being, cannot be represented by any material likeness (see the development of this thought in Deuteronomy 4:15-19), and also those of other gods, or of deified creatur... [ Continue Reading ]
The command of _v._4 developed and emphasized. _bow down … serve_ The same combination, Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 8:19; Deuteronomy 11:16; Deuteronomy 17:3; Deuteronomy 29:26; Deuteronomy 30:17; Judges 2:19 (D 2 [176]); and several times in Jer. [-worship" in these passages is in the Heb. _bow... [ Continue Reading ]
_visiting_…, _and_ DOING …] a further definition of Jehovah's ethical character, as displayed in His attitude towards sin and goodness, respectively. The definition is based (Di.) upon Exodus 34:7 (cf. Numbers 14:18; Jeremiah 32:18), only with the two clauses transposed, so as to give the warning th... [ Continue Reading ]
_unto thousands, of them_, &c. i.e. not thousands _consisting of_them that love me, but (notice the comma added in RV.) thousands BELONGING to them that love me (Heb. _le_, just as in _v._5, properly - BELONGING TO them that hate me"). The antithesis is between the narrow limits, the third or fourth... [ Continue Reading ]
The _third_commandment. The name of God to be treated with reverence. _take … in vain_ properly, TAKE UP (viz. upon the lips, as Exodus 23:1; Psalms 15:3; Psalms 16:4) … FOR UNREALITY (Di. -zur _Nichtigkeit_") i.e. make use of it for any idle, frivolous, or insincere purpose. The root idea of _shâw_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Remember_ -Think of it always, so as never to forget it, as a day to be distinguished from ordinary days, and held sacred: _remember_, as Exodus 13:3 " (Di.). Deuteronomy 5:12 substitutes the more ordinary -Observe." _sabbath_ Heb. _shabbâth_. The derivation is uncertain. As a _Hebrew_, word, it wo... [ Continue Reading ]
The _fourth_commandment. The observance of the Sabbath.... [ Continue Reading ]
_work_ more precisely, _business_, the word regularly used of the -work" or -business" forbidden on the sabbath (Exodus 31:14-15; Jeremiah 17:22; Jeremiah 17:24 _al._: cf. Genesis 2:2), or other sacred day (Exodus 12:16).... [ Continue Reading ]
Explanation _how_the sabbath is to be kept holy.... [ Continue Reading ]
The rest is to be a general one: no work is to be done either by the Israelite himself, or any member of his household (including his servants), or by his cattle, or by the -sojourner" settled in his cities. in it] LXX. Pesh. Vulg. express this; Sam. and the Nash papyrus read it. _manservant … mai... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why_the sabbath is to be observed. The reason is based upon Genesis 2:3, cf. Exodus 31:17 b (both P). The motive may have operated with the writer of the comment; but it cannot state the real reason for the observance of the sabbath. -P's story of the Creation, with the six days followed by the sac... [ Continue Reading ]
The _fifth_commandment. Honour to be paid to parents. Cf. in H Leviticus 19:3. The position accorded to parents is a high one: they are mentioned in the first table of the Decalogue, and duty towards them stands next to duties towards God (so in Exodus 21:17 and Leviticus 20:9 [H] the penalty for cu... [ Continue Reading ]
The _sixth_commandment. The sanctity of human life to be upheld (cf. Genesis 9:5-6 P). Here the duty is laid down simply as a Divine command: the human penalty for infringing it is prescribed elsewhere (see on Exodus 21:12). _shalt do no murder_ AV. had _shalt not kill_: but the Heb. word implies v... [ Continue Reading ]
The _seventh_commandment. The purity of the married state to be maintained (cf. Genesis 2:24 J). Cf. Leviticus 18:20 (H), Job 31:9-12, and Matthew 5:27-32. For the penalty for adultery, see Leviticus 20:10 (H), Deuteronomy 22:22. In LXX. (B, and several cursives, both here and in Dt.), and the Nash... [ Continue Reading ]
The _eighth_commandment. The rights of private property to be respected. Cf. in H Leviticus 19:11. For penalties for stealing, see Exodus 21:16; Exodus 22:1. It is hardly necessary to quote from the prophets passages illustrative of these duties: but Hosea 4:2; Jeremiah 7:9 are particularly worth r... [ Continue Reading ]
The _ninth_commandment. Against bearing false witness, primarily in a court of law, a specially common crime in the East, but also more generally by taking away the character of a neighbour by false imputations (cf. Exodus 23:1). _bear false witness_ lit. ANSWER (in a forensic sense, in a court of l... [ Continue Reading ]
The _tenth_commandment. The most inward of all the commandments, forbidding not an external act, but a hidden mental state, a state, however, which is the spring and root of nearly every sin against a neighbour, the unlawful _desire_(ἐπιθυμία) for something which is another's. _covet_ lit. _desire_... [ Continue Reading ]
_saw_ Heb., more graphically, _were seeing_. _the thunderings_(Heb. _voices_), &c. see Exodus 19:16; Exodus 19:19. _and when_, &c. Heb. _and the people saw and trembled_, where -saw," after clause a, is tautologous. Read probably, with merely a change of vowel-points, _and the people_ WERE AFRAID,... [ Continue Reading ]
The people, alarmed by the terrible accompaniments of the theophany, express a desire that in future Moses may speak to them instead of God. Their wish is implicitly granted. Cf. Deuteronomy 5:22-31.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Speak_ THOU (emph.), … _and we will hear_ i.e. it is implied, listen and obey (see Deuteronomy 5:27 _end_). _lest we die_ cf. Deuteronomy 5:25 f.... [ Continue Reading ]
_to prove you_ to put you to the proof (Exodus 16:4; cf. on Exodus 17:2), to the whether (Deuteronomy 8:2), as you have just said (_v._19), you will really obey Him, and in order to inspire you with the dread of offending Him. _and that his fear_, &c. That the fear which His presence creates may be... [ Continue Reading ]
_thick darkness -ǎrâphel_, the word, mostly poetical (Psalms 18:9; 1 Kings 8:12), used in Deuteronomy 4:11; Deuteronomy 5:22 [Heb. 19]. With the preceding narrative, especially the parts that belong to E Exodus 9:16-19; Exodus 20:1-21), comp. the rhetorically amplified descriptions... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus thou shalt say_ Cf. Exodus 19:3. _from heaven_ As their position in the Heb. shews, these are the emphatic words in the sentence: their intention is to shew that the Israelites" God is exalted far above the earth, and that consequently (_v._23) no material gods are to be venerated by them. Cf... [ Continue Reading ]
Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33 _The Book of the Covenant_ The -Book of the Covenant" (see Exodus 24:7 in explanation of the name) is the oldest piece of Hebrew legislation that we possess. The laws contained in it are spoken of in Exodus 24:3 as consisting of two elements, the WORDS (or commands) an... [ Continue Reading ]
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).... [ Continue Reading ]
Cf. Exodus 20:3-4 f.; and in the other codes Exodus 34:17 (J), Leviticus 19:4 (H), Deuteronomy 4:15-18; Deuteronomy 27:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
_altar_ The word in Heb. (_mizbçaḥ_) means a -place of slaughter _or_sacrifice." Altars of _earth_were also common among the Romans (Tert. _Apol._25 attributes _temeraria de caespite altaria_to the earliest times; cf. the _arae gramineae of Aen._xii. 118 f., and the -positusque carbo in _Caespite_vi... [ Continue Reading ]
Altars were to be of the simplest material, of earth, or, if of stone, of unhewn stone: they might be erected wherever Jehovah gave occasion for His name to be commemorated; and any Israelite might sacrifice upon them. The passage evidently reflects an early stage of Heb. usage: in later times much... [ Continue Reading ]
Altars, their construction, and the places at which they may be erected.... [ Continue Reading ]
_tool_ The word (_ḥéreb_) commonly rendered -sword," occasionally used of other sharp instruments, Joshua 5:2-3 (-knives"): in Deuteronomy 27:5 E (Joshua 8:31) the word is replaced by -iron." Cf. 1Ma 4:47. The prohibition may be a survival either from a time when instruments of iron were not in gene... [ Continue Reading ]
Steps are prohibited, because the command is addressed to the Israelite in general, who would sacrifice in his ordinary dress. In later times, when altars of larger size were constructed, a ledge (see on Exodus 27:5), or steps (Ezekiel 43:17), came into use: but sacrifice was then confined to the pr... [ Continue Reading ]