Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 20:3
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
3. The Covenant: esp., and probably first, in Dt. and Deuteronomic writers (cf. above, p. 175): Exo 34:28 (?; see the note); Deu 4:13 ‘his covenant’ (cf. 23, Exo 5:2-3); and in the expressions, ‘the tables of the covenant,’ Deu 9:9; Deu 9:11; Deu 9:15, 1Ki 8:9 LXX. (see Skinner); and ‘the ark of the covenant (of Jehovah),’ Deu 10:8; Deu 31:9; Deu 31:25-26; Jos 3:3; Jos 3:6; Jos 3:8; Jos 3:11; Jos 3:14; Jos 3:17; Jos 4:7; Jos 4:9; Jos 4:18; Jos 6:6; Jos 6:8; Jos 8:33 (all JE or D 2 [173] ); Num 10:33; Num 14:44 (both JE); Jdg 20:27; 1Sa 4:3-5 , 2Sa 15:14; 1Ki 3:15; 1Ki 6:19; 1Ki 8:1; 1Ki 8:6; and several times in Chr. (In the occurrences in JE and other pre-Deuteronomic writers, ‘the covenant of’ is probably the addition of a redactor or scribe familiar with the Deut. expression 1 [174] .)
[173] Deuteronomic passages in Josh., Jud., Kings.
[174] This supposition is not arbitrary: because at least as far as we know until Dt. was written, the conditions for calling the ark the ‘ark of the Covenant’ did not exist: no covenant is concluded on the basis of the Decalogue in Ex.; this is first and to have been done in Dt. (cf. Chapman, Introd. to the Pent. p. 113 f.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3. The first commandment, against polytheism. The fundamental principle of Israel’s faith, presupposed throughout the OT., but specially insisted on when there is any danger of other gods, esp. Canaanite gods, being preferred to Jehovah, or worshipped equally with Him.
other gods ] so Exo 23:13; cf. in the singular Exo 34:14 ( ). Very frequent in Dt. and Deuteronomic writers (compilers of Judges and Kings; and Jer.), as Deu 6:14; Deu 7:4; Deu 8:19 al.; Jdg 2:12; Jdg 2:17; Jdg 2:19; 1Ki 9:6; 1Ki 9:9; 1Ki 11:4; 1Ki 11:10; Jer 1:16; Jer 7:6; Jer 7:9; Jer 7:18 al. Otherwise first in E (Jos 24:2; Jos 24:16), 1Sa 26:19 , 2Ki 5:17, Hos 3:1 (not in other prophets, except Jer., and never in P).
before me ] or, more distinctly, in front of me, obliging Me (un-willingly) to behold them, and also giving them a prominence above Me.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Exo 20:3
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
The First Commandment
I. This Commandment does not tell the Jews that the gods worshipped by other nations have no existence; it tells him that he must offer them no homage, and that from him they must receive no recognition of their authority and power. The Jew must serve Jehovah, and Jehovah alone. This was the truest method of securing the ultimate triumph of monotheism. A religious dogma, true or false, perishes if it is not rooted in the religious affections and sustained by religious observances. But although the First Commandment does not declare that there is one God, the whole system of Judaism rests on that sublime truth, and what the Jews had witnessed in Egypt and since their escape from slavery must have done more to destroy their reverence for the gods of their old masters than could have been effected by any dogmatic declaration that the gods of the nations were idols.
II. The First Commandment may appear to have no direct practical value for ourselves. It would be a perversion of its obvious intention to denounce covetousness, social ambition, or excessive love of children. These are not the sins which this Commandment was meant to forbid. It must be admitted that there is no reason why God should say to any of us, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. If He were to speak to many of us, it would be necessary to condemn us for having no god at all. The appalling truth is, that many of us have sunk into atheism. We all shrink from contact with God. And yet He loves us. But even His love would be unavailing if He did not inspire those who are filled with shame and sorrow by the discovery of their estrangement from Him, with a new and supernatural life. (R. W. Dale, D. D.)
The First Commandment
I. All want of a positive allegiance to Jehovah is a positive allegiance to another Elohim or supreme God. A self-reliant man, in the strict sense of the word, never yet existed. Mans nature is such that he looks without him for support, as the ivy feels for the tree or the wall. If he has not the true and living God as his stay, then he is an idolater.
II. All allegiance to God that does not recognize Him as He has revealed Himself is allegiance to a false god. So a view of God as careless of personal holiness in His creatures, or as too exalted to notice all their minute acts and thoughts, or as tyrannical and arbitrary in His dealings with them, or as appeasable by self-denials and penances, is a view of a false god, and not a view of Jehovah, the only living and true God. And the man who, despising or neglecting the Holy Scriptures, and trusting to his reason or his dreams, or to nature, or to nothing, holds such a god before his mind, is an idolater; he has put another Elohim before Jehovah Elohim. Because the thought of the Divine Being which he thus introduces into his heart becomes the substitute for the true motion that should guide his life, he puts the helm into as false hands as if he had delivered it to Mammon. Several subordinate thoughts naturally follow.
1. The help of the true God, Jehovah Jesus, should be sought by us to overthrow our false gods. By that very act we should offer rightful allegiance, and, in so doing, consecrate our life to the rightful service of Him who is our rightful King.
2. How watchful we should be in this earth, where the false gods are not only plenty, but exactly after the fashion of our own depraved hearts! It was said of Athens that at each corner there was a new god, and some have even said that in population Athens had more gods than men. It is so with our unseen gods of the unregenerate heart. They abound with different names and different characters, according to the tastes and characters of different men.
3. The Word of God ought to be in our hands all the while. This is the only offensive weapon against our false gods. (H. Crosby, D. D.)
The First Commandment
This Commandment, as all the rest, hath a positive part requiring something, and a negative part prohibiting something.
I. We shall, in the first place, speak to what is required here, and we take it up in these three things.
1. And first, it requireth the right knowledge of God; for there can be no true worship given to Him, there can be no right thought or conception of Him, or faith in Him, till He be known.
2. It requireth from us a suitable acknowledging of God in all these His properties. As–
(1) That He be highly esteemed above all
(2) Loved.
(3) Feared.
(4) Believed and trusted in.
(5) Hoped in.
(6) Adored.
(7) Honoured.
(8) Served and obeyed. And so–
(9) He must be the supreme end in all our actions that should mainly be aimed at by us.
3. It requireth such duties as result from His excellency, and our acknowledging Him to be such a one. As–
(1) Dependence upon Him.
(2) Submission to Him, and patience under cross dispensations from Him.
(3) Faith resting on Him.
(4) Prayers put up to Him.
(5) Repentance for wronging Him.
(6) Communion, and a constant walking with Him.
(7) Delighting in Him.
(8) Meditating on Him; and such other as necessarily may be inferred as duties incumbent on creatures in such a relation to such a God, whose excellency and worth calleth and inviteth men to all suitable duties.
4. Next, it is necessary that we add some advertisements to these generals.
(1) That the Commandment requireth all these, and in the highest and most perfect degree.
(2) That it not only requireth them in ourselves, but obligeth us to further them in all others, according to our places and callings.
(3) That it requireth the diligent use of all means that may help and further us in these; as reading and meditation, study, etc.
(4) That these things, which in some respect may be given to creatures, as love, fear, etc., yet, when they are required as duties to God, they are required in a far more imminent way.
II. In the next place, we should consider the negative part of this Commandment, for the extent thereof will be best discerned by considering what is forbidden therein, and how it may be broken. This idolatry is either:–
1. Doctrinal, or idolatry in the judgment, when one professedly believeth such a thing besides God to have some divinity in it; as heathens do of their Mars and Jupiter; or–
2. Practical, when men believe no such thing, and will not own any such opinion, yet are guilty of the same thing, as covetous men, etc.
3. It may be distinguished into idolatry that hath something for its object, as the Egyptians worshipped beasts, and the Persians the sun or fire, and that which has nothing but mens imaginations for its object, as these who worship feigned gods; in which respect the apostle saith, an idol is nothing (1Co 8:4).
4. We would distinguish betwixt the objects of idolatry; and they are either such as are in themselves simply sinful, as devils, profane men; or they are such as are good in themselves, but abused and wronged, when they are made objects of idolatry, as angels, saints, sun, moon, etc.
5. Distinguish betwixt idolatry that is more gross and professed, and that which is more latent, subtle, and denied. This distinction is like that before mentioned, in opinion and practice, and much coincideth with it.
6. Distinguish betwixt heart-idolatry (Eze 14:1-23.; Exo 14:11-12; Exo 16:2-3), and external idolatry. The former consisteth in an inward heart-respect to some idol, as this tumultuous people were enslaved to their ease and bellies in the last two fore-cited places; the other in some external idolatrous gesture or action. (James Durham.)
The First Commandment
First, there is the positive declaration of a personal God; and secondly, His claim to be worshipped as the one True and living God. The most obvious errors requiring our attention are four in number–Atheism, Polytheism, Pantheism, and Deism.
1. Except as a cloke for immorality and sinful indulgence, I am inclined to doubt the existence of Atheism, and the study of history confirms me in the doubt.
2. But what of the Polytheist, the worshipper, that is, of many gods; in this respect, at least, the very opposite to the last? It is not difficult to trace his origin. When time was young, men lived together in families, tribes, or small communities; beyond the circle of these they very rarely travelled. Before they were able to realize the idea of the oneness of the human race, each family would not unnaturally aim at being complete in itself; and as tending, especially to this, they would place themselves under the protection of some one particular god, and then gods multiplied, as a necessary consequence, upon the increase of people and subdivision of tribes. This was one cause. We might discover, without difficulty, others of a different nature. To take one instance, in times of ignorance, when the mind was unable to grasp the Infinite, men seized upon what was best in themselves, or what was noblest in nature, and deified this; and so at one time we find Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, receiving the homage of men; and at another we see temples arising to Faith, or Modesty, or Constancy, or Hope. But all this, whatever its origin, was openly denounced by the simple declaration standing at the head of the first table: I am, etc.
3. Of the Pantheist I shall only speak briefly. The meaning of the term is: one who believes that everything is God, and God is everything. He deifies all that is best in nature, especially the intellect or mind, and His Supreme Being is a combination of the united intelligences of the world. But if all that is intelligent, all that is best in created things, is God, then that which is best in myself is God, and demands my worship and adoration. And what is this but to give to the creature what belongs and is due to the Creator alone?
4. The Deist believes in a God, as his name implies, but does not believe that that God has ever revealed Himself to man; and this is to deny the Bible, to deny Christianity, to deny Christ. He holds that when the Supreme Being finished the creation of the world, He assigned to nature Laws that should never be broken, and then withdrew Himself from the government of the universe. Again, besides the fact that the Deist will not allow to God any superintendence or control over the works of His hands, thereby cutting off from man his most consoling faith in an all-wise and merciful Providence, He casts him adrift on the wide ocean of life, with no compass to steer by, and no chart to preserve his vessel from shoals and rocks, and all the countless perils of the deep. If God has not revealed Himself to man, then what can he know of a future life, what of the immortality of his soul? And with this unknown, it matters not what be his life and conduct on earth, for death is the close of all things, and there is nothing but darkness beyond the grave! (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
On going after other gods
Going after other gods is a snare of the spiritual life into which we are liable to drift before suspecting any danger, for it does not necessarily mean the pursuit of things evil in their nature, but of things, innocent enough perhaps in themselves, which, by impressing us with an exaggerated idea of their importance or blessing, absorb that devotion which we owe to God, and demand from us a service which is due to Him alone.
I. There is the God of public opinion. There is such a thing as healthy public opinion; but there are times when its tone becomes lowered, and a very imperfect standard of conduct is all that is needed to satisfy its requirements. It involves a moral effort to which many are unequal to retain, in its integrity, the sense of sinfulness attached to any course of conduct which God forbids when public opinion gives its sanction.
II. There is the god of pleasure. This is a deity which, when once installed in the heart of a man, is insatiable in its demands. Instead of remaining the handmaid of duty, it becomes its sworn foe; instead of being the solace and refreshment of toil, it harasses and interferes with our work. The man who is a slave to pleasure looks upon all work as a grievance more or less; to be shirked altogether, if possible, or to be got through as quickly as may be. His main interest in life is not centred in duty, but in amusement. But this exacting deity not only grudges every moment of our time which is not given up to its service, it grudges, too, every penny of our money which is not spent for its gratification.
III. There is the god of success. The dangers of the spiritual life attached to the worship of this god are very real. The man who worships success, who in his innermost heart values it more than anything else, and looks upon it as the one object to set before himself, by a natural law of his being, is prepared, if the need arises, to make any sacrifice for it, including even the incurring of Gods displeasure. There is no more dangerous rival deity which we can admit into our hearts than success. It blinds us to all that is by the way. It makes us inconsiderate and unscrupulous in the struggle of life; and as the competition of life increases, and the chances of getting on become fewer, we are tempted to subordinate all higher considerations to the one idea of personal advancement. Another and by no means the least mischievous effect of putting too great store by success in any shape, is that it leads us to look to it for our sole encouragement and reward in the efforts both of spiritual and secular life. As it is not in man to command success, it follows that those who make success their god can have nothing to fall back upon in the hour of failure. (M. Tweddell, M. A.)
The First Commandment
How shall we conceive of God? Who is He? What is His name? The First Commandment answers these questions. The language is local, but the meaning is universal.
I. The meaning of the First Commandment for the ancient Jew.
II. The meaning of the First Commandment for ourselves.
1. The Divine declaration.
(1) The name Jehovah. Jesus of Nazareth is Deity in exposition–the Word of God. See how the I AM of the burning bush reappears in the I am of the Nazarene (Mat 18:20; Mat 28:20; Joh 8:58; Joh 14:3; Joh 17:24; Rev 1:8).
(2) The Divine relation. Who is Jehovahs Israel in our day and land? It is the Church of the Living God (see Rom 2:28-29; 1Co 12:27). If we really belong to Christ, truly loving Him and obeying Him and sharing His character, we are, in spite of all our diversities, one Christian personality; for in Christ Jesus there can be neither Jew nor Gentile, neither Greek nor Scythian, neither male nor female; for all in Christ are one, and Christ is all and in all.
(3) The Divine deliverance. As it is the Church that is the true Israel, so it is Diabolus who is the true Pharaoh, and Sin which is the true Egypt, and Jesus who is the true Deliverer.
2. The Divine prohibition. We ourselves need this prohibition no less than did ancient Israel. For, although Christendom, theoretically speaking, is monotheistic, yet Christendom, practically speaking, is largely polytheistic. Recall, for example, the practical tritheism of many Trinitarians, conceiving the three Persons in the Trinity as three distinct Gods; or the practical dualism of many Christians, conceiving the Father as the God of wrath, and the Son as the God of love: or, again, conceiving the Creator as the God of nature, and the Redeemer as the God of Scripture. Behold in the Pantheon of our Christendom how many niches there are for various gods–the god of the deist, the god of the materialist, the god of the fatalist, the god of the sentimentalist, the god of the churchman, the god of the pantheist. Concluding lessons:
1. Our indebtedness to the Jew for monotheism.
2. Jehovah is to be worshipped.
3. Jehovah alone is to be worshipped. (G. D. Boardman.)
The First Commandment
I. What is it to make God to be a God to us?
1. To acknowledge Him for a God. Deity is a jewel that belongs only to His crown.
2. To choose Him. An act of mature deliberation and self-dedication.
3. To enter into a solemn covenant with Him.
4. To give Him adoration.
(1) Reverence.
(2) Worship.
5. To fear Him. This fearing of God is
(1)–To have God always in our eye, I have set the Lord always before me; mine eyes are ever towards the Lord. He who fears God, imagines that whatever he is doing God looks on, and, as a Judge, weighs all his actions.
(2) To fear God, is when we have such a holy awe of God upon our hearts that we dare not sin; Stand in awe and sin not. It is a saying of Anselm, If hell were on one side and sin on the other, I would rather leap into hell than willingly sin against my God.
6. To love Him. In the godly, fear and love kiss each other.
7. To obey Him.
II. That we must have no other God.
1. There is really no other God.
(1) There is but one First Cause.
(2) There is but one Omnipotent Power.
2. We must have no other God. This forbids–
(1) Serving a false God.
(2) Joining a false God with a true.
III. What is it to have other gods besides the true God
1. To trust in anything more than God.
(1) Riches.
(2) Arm of flesh.
(3) Wisdom.
(4) Civility.
(5) Grace.
2. To love anything more than God.
(1) Our estate.
(2) Our pleasures.
(3) Our belly.
(4) A child.
If we love the jewel more than Him that gave it, God will take away the jewel, that our love may return Him again.
Use 1. It reproves such as have other gods, and so renounce the true God.
(1) Such as set up idols; According to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah; Their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field.
(2) Such as seek to familiar spirits (see 2Ki 1:6).
Use 2. It sounds a retreat in our ears. Let it call us off from the idolizing any creature; and renouncing other gods, let us cleave to the true God and His service. If we go away from God, we know not where to mend ourselves.
(1) It is honourable serving of the true God; it is more honour to serve God than to have kings serve us.
(2) Serving the true God is delightful, I will make them joyful in My house of prayer.
(3) Serving the true God is beneficial; they have great gain here–the hidden manna, inward peace, and a great reward to come.
(4) You have covenanted to serve the true Jehovah, renouncing all others. You cannot go back from God without the highest perjury.
(5) None had ever cause to repent of cleaving to God and His service. (T. Watson.)
The First Commandment
I. Four things are here required.
1. That we must have a God–against atheism.
2. That we must have the Lord Jehovah for our God–which forbids idolatry.
3. That we must have the only true God the Lord Jehovah alone for our God.
4. It requires that all these services and acts of worship, which we tender unto the true and only God, be performed with sincerity and true devotion. This is implied in that expression before Me, or in My sight. And this forbids both profaneness on the one hand and hypocrisy on the other.
II. It forbids us four things.
1. Atheism, or the belief and acknowledgment of no God.
2. Ignorance of the true God.
3. Profaneness, or the wretched neglect of the worship and service of God.
4. Idolatry, or the setting up and worshipping of false gods. (Bp. E. Hopkins.)
The First Commandment
The object of religious devotion has to be defined, and it has to be set into some ascertained relationship with ourselves.
I. What we have first to look at, therefore, is the self-disclosure of God, upon which He grounds His claim to Israels devotion. God is a Person; a personal Spirit like our own; a self-existent, eternal Spirit, apart from and above His world; a Person capable of entering into converse with men, and acting towards them as Deliverer and Saviour from evil. What follows? This follows–This God shalt thou have for thy God; and thou shalt have no other! A tie on both its sides solitary and unique must bind the human person with the Divine; saved with Saviour; Jehovahs people with Jehovahs self.
II. We are now, you perceive, in a position to examine our fundamental law, or First Commandment, defining the object of worship. It has resolved itself into this–a mutual relationship exists betwixt God and His human people, absolutely unique and exclusive. Besides Jehovah, Israel has no other Saviour; Israel, therefore, ought to know no other God. Jehovah is not simply first; He is first without a second. He is not the highest of a class of beings, but in His class He stands alone. Other Helper have we nowhere; beneath the covert of His everlasting wings must we run to hide. If we are not to people the heavens with shadowy powers, half Divine, or parcel earth among forces of nature, as the provinces of an empire are parcelled among satraps, or elevate human aid into the remotest competition with the Almightys; if to us there is but one seat of power, source of help, well-head of blessing, Author and Finisher of deliverance from every species and form of evil: then, what undivided dependence upon God results! what absoluteness of trust! what singleness of loyalty! what unstinted gratitude! what perfect love! More is shut out than polytheistic rites. Superstition is shut out, which trusts in mechanical aids and not in the free, living, and righteous Will. Magic is shut out, which seeks to extort deliverance by spells from unholy spirits. Luck is shut out, and the vague hope in what will turn up. Spiritual tyranny is shut out, which makes one man the lord of anothers faith and conscience. Policy is shut out, or godless state-craft, with its trust in human foresight, but none in the justice of Providence. Irreligion is shut out, which doubts if prayer avail or God can help, and puts its confidence only in the strongest battalions. Everything, in short, which divides the deep trust and hope of the heart between God and that which is not God, becomes a breach of loyalty to the unique, the solitary Deliverer. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)
The First Commandment
1. It is quite evident that this Commandment prescribes a general fitness of things, the proper relation of man to God; aims to promote the highest happiness, directing man to seek his good in the highest source–God Himself; and describes the nature of man, setting forth a great principle of his being, that he is capable of giving allegiance to God, has faculties and powers capable of knowing and loving God. Our power of knowing and loving Him in the distinguishing power of man, separating him from the brutes with whom he is in many other respects allied, Not to exercise this power is to cast away the crown of our manhood. Of course, we cannot know God fully. Our weak, limited minds cannot comprehend the Infinite One. If we could comprehend God, we would be greater than He. The unknowable in God leads us to worship the God we know. This command calls us to a constant advance in the knowledge of God, so securing the activity and development of our power of knowing, and making it our duty to carefully attend to the revelation He has made of Himself. This certainly commends the study of nature; not only the poetic listening to its subtle teaching, but the scientific research for its great truths. This certainly commends the study of the Scriptures. Every neglected Bible should thrill the conscience with the charge, You have not yet taken the first step towards obeying this commandment. Gods revelation of Himself in the Bible is progressive. It had reached a certain stage at the time the Law was given at Sinai, sufficiently clear and full to make mans duty plain. But it did not stop there. It unfolded through succeeding ages until it culminated in the Lord Jesus Christ. So this first commandment makes it our duty to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. To reject Him is not merely to reject an offer of mercy; it is to refuse to receive the complete revelation of God made in His Son.
2. The prohibitory form of the Commandment shows that there are tendencies in our nature to break this law of our being. We are prone to give supreme allegiance to and find our highest good in some person or thing other than God.
3. But even if we had full and accurate knowledge of the one true God, and were free from all debasing superstitions, we would still have tendencies drawing us away from entire consecration to Him. Whatever we value more than God, is our god. Wherever a man makes the gratification of himself his chief aim, he takes the crown belonging to God and crowns himself.
(1) There is a strong tendency to make the gratification of even the lowest portion of our nature our chief aim and greatest delight. He only can have the highest animal enjoyment who remembers that he is more than an animal, and honouring God, seeks to discover and obey His laws of healthful living.
(2) One would think that the exercise of our reasoning powers would lead the soul to God, yet there is a very strong tendency to make this exercise end in itself. Many of the great thinkers of the world have been worshippers of their own powers of thinking, and we who can with difficulty follow their great thoughts are prone to worship our own intellectual culture and acquirements, and to claim a considerable amount of incense from our fellow-men.
(3) How prone we are to make our loved ones idols! Now the idolatry of loved ones does not consist in loving them too much, but in not loving them enough. The father who allows his child to so absorb his love that he has no thought of or love for God, does not love his child as an immortal spiritual being, nor does he regard himself as such.
(4) Above the animal, the intellectual, and the social nature in man, is the spiritual. To ignore this nature, or dwarf it, is to degrade man. To have this nature in healthful control, and giving supreme allegiance to God, is to bring the whole man into obedience to this Commandment; it is to ennoble his social, inspire his intellectual, and elevate his animal natures; it is to reach the noble manhood God designs for us. (F. S. Schenck.)
The First Commandment
I. The question we are now to try and answer is, what is it to have a God? I mean by this a true God, such as the Lord Jesus Christ is to us.
1. To have a God is to have one who can do three things for us.
(1) The first thing we want our God to be able to do is, always to help. The little child always needs the help of its mother. The blind man always needs the help of some one to guide him. The sick man always needs the help of a physician. We need some one who can always help us. Then it must be some one who is present in every place, whose eye never slumbers, and whose arm never grows weary. Is there such a one to be found? Yes, God our Saviour is just such a one.
(2) The second thing we want our God to be able to do is, always to save us. Our bodies are often in danger as well as our souls, and we want a God who can save them both. We cant preserve ourselves; and our best friends cant preserve us. Jesus says, Look unto Me, all ye ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. Besides Me there is no Saviour. We need a God who can always save.
(3) But, then, there is a third thing that we expect God to be able to do for us, and that is, always to make us happy. When we are in health, and have affectionate parents and kind friends, and many comforts and enjoyments around us, we do not feel so much our need of God.
2. But, then, there are three things that He who is our God has a right to expect from us.
(1) He has aright to expect our highest love. He is good; He is holy. God is love. He expects, and He deserves, our highest love. It is right to love Him better than any one else; but it is neither right nor possible to love any one else in this way.
(2) The second thing He has a right to expect from us is, our unquestioning obedience. It may not be always right to obey, without questioning, all that others command us; but it is always right to obey, without questioning, everything that God commands. He never does wrong Himself, and never commands others to do wrong.
(3) Then there is a third thing God expects from us, and that is, sincere worship. Sincere means that which is true or pure. Worship. Let us see what this means. Worship is a word made up of two other words, viz., worth, and ship or shape. It means, then, that we should put ourselves in the position or shape that is worthy of God. Or, it means that we should render to Him the service that is worthy of Him. And what is the proper shape or position for sinners such as we are to put ourselves in before God? David tells us, when he says, O come, let us worship and fall down; and kneel before the Lord our Maker. Yes, a position of humble reverence is what we should put ourselves in when we would worship God. This is the shape or condition worthy of God for sinful creatures to appear in. But the shape of a thing denotes its use or service. If you see iron put in the shape of a bright, sharp blade, you know it is designed to cut. If you see it put into a round shape, like a ball, you know it is designed to roll. If you see a pile of wood broken up into the shape of kindling, you know it is designed to burn. And if you see a man in the form of a servant, with an apron on, and his sleeves rolled up, you know he is designed for work. And so when we appear before God as His worshippers–in the form or shape worthy of Him–we mean to say that we are ready to offer Him our prayers and praises, and that we desire to serve Him. And when we do this honestly and earnestly, with all our hearts, that is sincere worship. This is the service God deserves. He is worthy of it.
II. The reason why we should have no other gods than the Lord. I wish to speak of three reasons.
1. The first reason is, because it is very foolish to do so.
(1) God is too rich for any one to take His place. All the gold and silver, all the gems and jewels and precious things in the world, and in all other worlds, belong to Him. He has need of them to supply the wants of His creatures. It is very foolish to have any one else than the Lord for our God, because no one else is rich enough to be our God.
(2) God is too great for any one to take His place. He is the greatest of all beings. How foolish it would be to blot out the sun from the sky, and then try to light up the world with candles! Yet it would be easier to do this than to put anything in the place of God.
(3) And then God is too wise for any one to take His place. How strange it is that anybody should ever think of putting stupid idols of wood or stone in the place of God!
2. The second reason why we ought to have no other gods than the Lord is, because it is very injurious.
(1) To have any other God than the Lord is injurious in two ways: one way in which it is so is, that it leaves us without help. Wouldnt it be very injurious to a sick man to leave him in a place where he could get no physician, no medicine, and no nurse? Wouldnt it be very injurious to a hungry man to leave him in a position where he could get no food?
(2) The other way is this: it exposes us to many troubles. We are told in the Bible, Their sorrows shall be greatly multiplied who go after other gods. All who are not Christians have some other god but the Lord. And all who do this will be made to feel how very injurious it is. When trouble and sorrow come upon them, they will have none to comfort them. When their sins press upon them as a heavy burden, they will have none who can give them pardon, and so lift off that burden. When they come to die, they will have no one to lean on as they go through the dark valley. At the judgment seat they will have no one to be their friend. In eternity they will have nothing to make them happy.
3. The third and last reason is, that it is very wicked. There are two things about this which show how wicked it is.
(1) There is robbery in it. And it is not robbing our friends, or our relations, or our fellow-creatures, or the angels of heaven. Any of these would be bad enough; but this is worse than all of them put together. It is robbing God!
(2) There is treason in it. (R. Newton, D. D.)
God supplemented
No other gods before Me. That is, No other gods in My presence; in sight of Me. God will not share His sovereignty with any being. And this is the commonest way of breaking this Commandment in our day. There is no danger of breaking it through over-loving a fellow-creature, through loving a child, or a wife, or a parent, or a friend, too dearly. It is a frightful error to suppose that. But it is possible for us to think that Gods power must be supplemented by mans power, by mans influence, by mans wealth, by mans work. A pastor may lean on God:–and a rich member of his congregation; but not without breaking the First Commandment. A politician may think that, besides Gods favour, he must have popular favour, to give him success. A business man may have it in his mind that public sentiment–even against strict right–must be yielded to in his business, although he believes in God as above all. A parent may feel that fashion and wealth have a power that cannot be dispensed with in giving his child a desirable place in life. A professed Christian may feel that Jesus Christ will save him, if only he does enough for his own salvation. All these are ways of breaking the First Commandment; not very uncommon ways, either! (H. C. Trumbull.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.] elohim acherim, no strange gods – none that thou art not acquainted with, none who has not given thee such proofs of his power and godhead as I have done in delivering thee from the Egyptians, dividing the Red Sea, bringing water out of the rock, quails into the desert, manna from heaven to feed thee, and the pillar of cloud to direct, enlighten, and shield thee. By these miracles God had rendered himself familiar to them, they were intimately acquainted with the operation of his hands; and therefore with great propriety he says, Thou shalt have no strange gods before me; al panai, before or in the place of those manifestations which I have made of myself.
This commandment prohibits every species of mental idolatry, and all inordinate attachment to earthly and sensible things. As God is the fountain of happiness, and no intelligent creature can be happy but through him, whoever seeks happiness in the creature is necessarily an idolater; as he puts the creature in the place of the Creator, expecting that from the gratification of his passions, in the use or abuse of earthly things, which is to be found in God alone. The very first commandment of the whole series is divinely calculated to prevent man’s misery and promote his happiness, by taking him off from all false dependence, and leading him to God himself, the fountain of all good.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Heb.
There shall not be to thee another god, or other gods, to wit, idols, which others have, esteem, and worship as gods, and therefore Scripture so calls them by way of supposition, Deu 32:21; 1Sa 12:21; 1Co 8:4,5; but thou shalt not have them in any such reputation or veneration, but shalt forsake and abhor them, and cleave unto me alone.
Before me, i.e. in my presence, in my house or Church, which you are, where I am especially present; and therefore for you to worship any other god is most impudent idolatry, even as when a woman commits adultery before her husbands face. He may also intimate, that all the idolatry which any of them shall hereafter commit, though never so cunningly and secretly managed, is manifest to his eyes, Psa 44:20,21. Others translate it with me, or besides me, as it is rendered Mat 12:30. He forbids the worship of all others, not only in opposition to him, but also in conjunction with him, or subordination to him. See 2Ki 17:33; Exo 32; Ac 7:41; Rev 19:10; 22:8,9.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Thou shalt have no other godsbefore mein My presence, beside, or except Me.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. This is the first command, and is opposed to the polytheism of the Gentiles, the Egyptians, from whom Israel was just come, and whose gods some of them might have had a favourable opinion of and liking to, and had committed idolatry with; and the Canaanites, into whose land they were going; and to prevent their joining with them in the worship of other gods, this law was given, as well as to be of standing us to them in all generations; for there is but one only living and true God, the former and maker of all things, who only is to be had, owned, acknowledged, served, and worshipped as such; all others have only the name, and are not by nature gods; they are other gods than the true God is; they are not real, but fictitious deities; they are other or strange gods to the worshippers of them, that cry unto them, for they do not answer them, as Jarchi observes: and now for Israel, who knew the true God, who had appeared unto them, and made himself known to them by his name Jehovah, both by his word and works, whom he had espoused to himself as a choice virgin, to commit idolatry, which is spiritual adultery with other gods, with strange gods, that are no gods, and this before God, in the presence of him, who had took them by the hand when he brought them out of Egypt, and had been a husband to them, must be shocking impiety, monstrous ingratitude, and extremely displeasing to God, and resented by him; and is, as many observe, as if a woman should commit adultery in the presence of her husband, and so the phrase may denote the audaciousness of the action, as well as the wickedness of it; though, as Ben Melech from others observes, if it was done in secret it would be before the Lord, who is the omniscient God, and nothing can be hid from him: several Jewish commentators, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Aben Ezra, interpret the phrase “before me”, all the time I endure, while I have a being, as long as I live, or am the living God, no others are to be had; that is, they are never to be had; since the true God will always exist: the Septuagint version is, “besides me”, no other were to be worshipped with him; God will have no rivals and competitors; though he was worshipped, yet if others were worshipped with him, if others were set before him and worshipped along with him, or it was pretended he was worshipped in them, and even he with a superior and they with an inferior kind of worship; yet this was what he could by no means admit of: the phrase may be rendered “against me” c; other gods opposition to him, against his will, contrary to obedience due to him and his precepts: this law, though it supposes and strongly inculcates the unity of the divine Being, the only object of religious adoration, yet does not oppose the doctrine of the trinity of persons in the Godhead; nor is that any contradiction to it, since though the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, there are not three Gods, but three Persons, and these three are one God, 1Jo 5:7.
c “contra me”, Noldius, No. 1801. p. 731.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The First Word. – “ Let there not be to thee (thou shalt have no) other gods ,” lit., beyond Me ( as in Gen 48:22; Psa 16:2), or in addition to Me ( as in Gen 31:50; Deu 19:9), equivalent to (lxx), “by the side of Me” ( Luther). “Before Me,” coram me ( Vulg., etc.), is incorrect; also against Me, in opposition to Me. (On see Exo 33:14.) The singular does not require that we should regard Elohim as an abstract noun in the sense of Deity; and the plural would not suit this rendering (see Gen 1:14). The sentence is quite a general one, and not only prohibits polytheism and idolatry, the worship of idols in thought, word, and deed (cf. Deu 8:11, Deu 8:17, Deu 8:19), but also commands the fear, love, and worship of God the Lord (cf. Deu 6:5, Deu 6:13, Deu 6:17; Deu 10:12, Deu 10:20). Nearly all the commandments are couched in the negative form of prohibition, because they presuppose the existence of sin and evil desires in the human heart.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Exo 20:3
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. In this commandment God enjoins that He alone should be worshipped, and requires a worship free from all superstition. For although it seems to be a simple prohibition, yet must we deduce an affirmation from the negative, as will be more apparent from the following words. Therefore does He set Himself before them, in order that the Israelites may look to Him alone; and claims His own just right, in order that it may not be transferred elsewhere. All do not agree in the exposition of the words, for some construe the word פנים , (278) panim, “anger,” as if it were said, “Thou shalt not make to thyself other gods to provoke my anger;” and I admit that the Hebrew word is often used in this sense. The other interpretation, however, seems to me the more correct, “Make not to thyself gods before my face.” Yet still there remains a difference of opinion, for people are not agreed as to the particle על, gnel. Some explain it, “Make not to thyself gods above me, or whom thou mayest prefer to me;” and they quote the passage in Deu 21:15, wherein God forbids a man, if he have two wives, and children by both, to transfer the rights of primogeniture to the second before the face of the first-born. But though we admit that a comparison is there made between the elder and the younger, still it would be too frigid an interpretation here to say that God demands nothing more than that other gods should not obtain the higher place; whereas He neither suffers them to be likened to Him, nor even to be joined with Him as companions; (279) for religion is defiled and corrupted as soon as God’s glory is diminished in the very least degree. And we know that when the Israelites worshipped their Baalim, they did not so substitute them in the place of God as to put Him altogether aside, and assign to them the supreme power; nevertheless, this was an intolerable profanation of God’s worship, and moreover an impious transgression of this precept, to choose for themselves patrons in whom some part of the Deity should be lodged; because if God have not alone the pre-eminence, His majesty is so far obscured. I consider,therefore, the genuine sense to be, that the Israelites should not make to themselves any gods, whom they might oppose to the true and only God. For in Hebrew the expression, before the face, generally means over against; therefore God would not have companions obtruded upon Him, and placed as it were in His sight. Meanwhile, it seems probable to me that He alludes to that manifestation of Himself which ought to have retained His people in sincere piety; for true and pure religion was so revealed in the Law, that God’s face in a manner shone forth therein. The case was different with the Gentiles, who, although they might rashly make to themselves false gods, still would not do so before the face of God, which was unknown to them. Let us then understand, after all, that those alone are accounted the legitimate worshippers of God who bid adieu to all figments, and cleave to Him alone. Nor can it be doubted that these words comprehend the inward worship of God, since this commandment differs from the next, whereby external idolatry will be seen to be condemned. It is sufficiently notorious, that men may make to themselves gods in other ways besides in statues, and pictures, and in visible forms. If any should adore the angels instead of God, or should foolishly imagine any other secret divinity, none will deny that he would offend against this Law. God, therefore, calls for the affections of the heart, that He alone may be spiritually worshipped; and the expression “before my face,” may be not inaptly referred to this; because, although their impiety, who secretly turn aside to false worship, and cherish their errors within their own bosoms, may be able to evade the eyes of men, yet their hypocrisy and treachery will not escape the notice of God. Hence, again, it follows, that the one God is not rightly worshipped, unless He be separated from all figments. Wherefore it is not enough to make use of His name, unless all corruptions opposed to His word be laid aside; and thence we arrive at the distinction between true religion and false superstitions; for since God has prescribed to us how He would be worshipped by us, whenever we turn away in the very smallest degree from this rule, we make to ourselves other gods, and degrade Him from His right place.
(278) פנים, signifying properly the face or countenance, is sometimes used by metonymy for those passions which shew themselves in the countenance. — W.
(279) Addition in Fr., “encore qu’on les estime inferieurs;” even though they be counted his inferiors.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
FIRST AND SECOND COMMANDMENTS VERSUS IDOLATRY
Exo 20:3-6
IN beginning this series of nine chapters on the Ten Commandments, I am keenly sensible of presenting certain laws which all admit to be ancient and honorable, but which are reckoned by not a few as out of date. There are many who deny inspiration to this decalogue, and then there are other men who suppose that the Gospel displaced the Law, and that, as we live under the former, we have nothing whatever to do with the latter. But all such forget that Jesus Christ Himself said,
Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil; for verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled (Mat 5:17-18).
Joseph Parker expressed the truth when he said, We cannot get rid of Sinai in human education. * * Sinai is in every life. Let us part with as much as we can of the merely external, and still there remains the fact that in our lives are lightnings and thunderings and great trumpetings of power, as well as solemn claims and urgent appeals to every quality and force in our nature.
Never in this world, at least, could we live without law, and even when men have been regenerated by the Holy Ghost, they do not escape the law, but are made willing to receive the law in its entirety, and to find in that law their own liberty.
The Psalmist said of the laws of God, I will walk at liberty for I seek Thy precepts: and Gods promise to Israel with reference to the coming day of her blessing is, After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people (Jer 31:33).
Ezekiel, referring to the time when the Spirit of God should be poured out upon His people, said, I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh: That they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
And thus it comes about that the Law of God, as written in the Ten Commandments, is the very liberty in which the Christian is to walk, and for nine evenings we will give ourselves to the study of its mandates.
In the first verse of our text
POLYTHEISM IS PROHIBITED
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. It means either, thou shalt have no other gods in preference to Me, or, thou shalt worship no other gods before My face, or both.
To American Christians, this command seems scarce essential. We are unused to any other thought than that of monotheism; we are unaccustomed to the sight of men bowing before stocks and stones; and we are so trained from infancy that the thought of a multiplicity of gods is offensive to our reason. But when we review the history of Israel, or the history of nations in general, we find the absolute need for this first commandment, for man has been prone always to make for himself a multiplicity of gods. Heathen nations have their gods by the hundreds and thousands, and to keep the people of Jehovah from imitating them in this matter was one of the most difficult undertakings of the ancient day; and, in fact, is not easy at this present time.
There is little danger in this country, at least, that men will make golden calves, and bow before them, or worship Baal, or Ashtoroth, or Dagon, or such like. But, alas, this does not secure us against this ever-present disposition to depart from Jehovah and dethrone Him by exalting another to His seat. To my mind, many Americans are in direst need of the first commandment.
There are many among us who would unseat God and put man into His place. One characteristic of the nineteenth century is its disposition to exalt man above his Maker. We hear a vast deal in these days of the humanity of God. We hear even more of the divinity of man.
It is just as Robert Eyton of St. Paulssubalmoner to Her Majesty the Queenonce said, Many of the most accurate of the materialists * * * * have, so to speak, constructed a Goda being immense and eternalHumanity. The Positivist sees that there are certain instincts in mans nature, a craving for reality, a passion for the infinite, which nothing purely physical can satisfy. He sees that man cannot live without religion, so he sets up his Godthe great being, Humanity. He asks us to prostrate ourselves before the sum and total of human flesh and blood. But, as Eyton replies, We men know man too well to care to worship him. What satisfaction could there be for our best aspirations? What power to rid us of our bad selves in the worship of the totality of human being? Even the cynic is wiser than the positivist.
When Conte assures us that the only religion is the religion of Humanity by which, as Dr. Lorimer said, he means a religion without a revelation, and even without a God, making man at once the worshiper and the object worshiped, he utterly repudiates the first commandment and attempts to transfix with the spear of his positivism the faith that is in God through Jesus Christ; and he needs to hear again the thunder of Sinai, and read in the light of her lightnings, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
By some, Science has been exalted to Gods seat. More and more am I amazed at the number of people who are devotees of this term Science. I find that very many of those who have a smattering of knowledge, a semi-education, believe that Science is everythingthe solution of all mysteries, the divinity of all graces; and I discover that if such people happen to have a close relative who occupies a professors chair, then there is no question in the minds of such that every knee should bow: at the altar of Science, and every tongue confess to her glory.
Men of such attainments as Sir Henry Drummond and Prof. Simpson, Jr. made no such pretentions in the name of their special study. Simpson did not hesitate to say of his science, that in ten years practically all its previous claims had been disproved; while Henry Drummond, in his booklet, The Greatest Thing in the World, said, The Apostle is right in declaring, Whether there be knowledge, it shall pass away, and quoted approvingly from Simpsons statement to illustrate the fact that the science of today will be discarded tomorrow. The Editor of the Journal of Education lately affirmed that Science text-books over eight years old were either comedy or tragedy.
Dr. Henry Van Dyke, in his volume, A Gospel for an Age of Doubt, said, We observe that in those departments of science where the knowledge of the magnitude and splendid order of the physical universe is most clear and exact, namely, in astronomy and mathematics, we find the most illustrious men of science who have not been skeptics, but sincere and steadfast believers in the Christian religion. Kepler and Newton were men of faith. The most brilliant galaxy of mathematicians ever gathered at one time and place was at the University of Cambridge, in the latter half of last century. Of these, Sir Wm. Thompson, Sir George Stokes, Profs. Tate, Adams, Clerk-Maxwell and Cayley, not to mention a number of lesser lights, such as Roth, Todhunter, Ferrers, etc., were all avowed Christians. They wrought with science. They worshiped only God. And when I hear small men and women talking loudly about Science as if she were the only god before whom the thinking men of this world should bow, I wish that all such were slightly familiar with history so they could see how Sir Isaac Newton had an hypothesis that he supposed to be perfect until Tyndale turned it upside down, and Dolland proved it to be wrong. Aristotle and Descartes had a philosophy of nature which the people of their time thought indisputable, but Newton published his Principia, and that philosophy was forever at an end. Then John Hutchinson proved Newton to be wrong, and the wise men of the time went with him for a While, only to learn eventually that Hutchinson himself was mistaken.
I dont wonder that the great Gladstone, in his book, The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture, held to ridicule Mr. Huxleys fine speech, when speaking of the contest between Christianity and Science, he describes it as a fight which has on the one side the old-fashioned artillery of the churches, and on the other the weapons of precision; for Mr. Gladstone easily shows that Mr. Huxley himself had employed in his further arguments claims that are utterly false from a scientific standpoint.
Ah, it is time that many of us joined in Dr. Myers warning, Beware of the man who professes himself to be too deeply versed in the science of the day to believe in the Bible and ridicules those who do. It is an easy thing to ask a question that might take days of teaching and instruction to answer. Destructive criticism is childs play. Any fool can fire a cathedral which would take centuries in building, and any street Arab may smash a window which neither modern wealth nor art can reconstruct.
And again, let us see that Nature is creation, not Creator.
I believe in speaking well of the natural world. I rejoice in the beauties of the heavens above and the earth beneath. I think he would be a dead soul, indeed, who could walk abroad at this season of the year, when the throat of every bird is filled with sound; the blossom of every tree with perfume; the beauty of every rose with sweet aroma, and the azure of the sky and the verdure of the earth vie with one another, and not rejoice. He needs to have God teach his heart to bear its part, and join in the praise of spring.
But, when my Theosophist friend, my Buddhist friend, my Pantheist friend, ask me to agree with that representative hymn of The Veda,
The wise man views that mysterious Being
In whom the universe perpetually exists,
Resting upon that sole support,
In Him is the world absorbed,
From Him it issues.
In creatures is He twined and wove in various forms,
I dissent.
For nature has no mind, and notwithstanding all the beautiful and pathetic things said about natures heart, she has none. The man who employs the term is perfectly conscious of the fact that he is making use of the poets license.
I listened one day to an ex-soldier of the Civil War relate his experience in the bloody angle of Spottsylvania, and tell how in that corner, with only a few feet of earthworks between their faces, the boys in blue and the boys in grey stood face to face in deadly combat for hours, fighting almost hand to hand so that when the battle was over and this comrade was detailed to burial duty, he found in a little spot, not larger than my church, 1600 dead men. And yet, the next morning, nature smiled on the scene; the birds about sang as merrily; the trees that had not been wounded themselves by bullets waved their arms with the old glee as the breath of the winds blew upon them. The very earth itself drank in the blood of the dead and dying, and rejoiced to be thus enriched. No care; no concern! Save me from worshiping such a God!
Some years ago we had in our home a girl caring for our little ones who was a member of my churcha very Christian spirit. One day when Mrs. Riley and I were away from home, a thunderstorm came up and the children became frightened, and this girl took them into the bedroom and prayed the Lord to take the storm away. Shortly, the sky cleared and the children rejoiced in what they believed to be an answer to prayer. Some months after that, when they were in charge of another girl, who was not informed as to this procedure, a second severe thunderstorm was on, and when a particularly loud crash of thunder came, the older boys were filled with fear, but the baby said, Oh, Is goin to pray, and dropping down upon his knees, he repeated his table thanks, Heavenly Father, thank Thee for this food, Amen, and when I got home, the bigger lads told me in triumph that the Lord had heard the prayer of the baby and had taken away the storm. Be that as it may, It is certain the storm cared nothing about the prayer, and did not so much as know that that little fellow existed, and if the prayer were heard at all, it was heard not by nature (which would as soon strike an innocent babe with her thunder-bolt as the most hardened criminal), but by that God who keepeth watch above His own, who numbers the very hairs of our head, and who cares for us with an affection above any earthly father.
In the second verse of our text,
IDOLATRY IS FORBIDDEN
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.
The images of art are inhibited. No painting nor piece of sculpture is entitled to the prostrations or praise of men. Romanism is full of rank violations of the second commandment. There are those among our Catholic friends, who, if you charge them with idolatry, will answer, You dont suppose we worship because we bow before the image of Mary. We only pray to Mary to pray to the Father, or Son, for us, to intercede, that is all.
But suppose it is so, what do the Scriptures say?
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness that is in the 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.
It is in vain that men repudiate the charge of Mariolatry so long as they both make images of her for their sanctuaries and bow down before the images. It is in vain that men repudiate the charge of worshiping the Cross, so long as they both make images of it and bow down before the image. It is in vain that men repudiate the charge of saint worship so long as supposed representatives of the Apostles and others have the chief pedestals of the sanctuary, and men and women and children prostrate themselves at sight of them.
When Israel worshiped the golden calf, they insisted that they were not idolators, for they were worshiping God, Jehovah, under that image. But, you remember that Gods wrath was not restrained by such excuse; He charged them with having turned their glory into the similitude of the calf that eateth hay, and His servant Moses was greatly angered at the sight of such behavior, and the judgment was one of grinding the calf to powder and strewing it upon the waters and making the people to drink thereof.
Charles Dudley Warner once told of his surprise and his shocked amazement, when, having made a trip around the world, he came back to Italy, a country called Christian, and entering the Cathedral of Brindisi, he looked about him, and lo, there was a crucified Christ upon whose form the dust of a dark corner had gathered, and two men were prostrating themselves there; but back of the chancel railing and above the head of the priest was the flaming figure of Mary, clad in the latest French millinery, and all the people had their eyes upon her, and were prostrating themselves before her.
Every such cathedral needs to have thundered into it the second commandment,
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.
The images of the imagination are debarred. Man has no more right to make a mental picture and bow before it than he has a right to pencil one on canvas, or carve a figure from stone, and bow before them.
There are people, not a few, who live in the lightest possible literature; who are always reading about imaginary heroes and heroines, and who, out of such thought, have evolved a hero or heroine for themselves, in search of whom they go through the world.
Rebert Eyton says, speaking of the image that is impressed upon the mind by certain frothy books, that it results in daubing hideous pictures on the inward temple, and insists, also, that the best romance becomes dangerous directly it creates such an interest as to make the ordinary life uninteresting, and to increase the morbid craving for scenes in which we shall never be called upon to act.
There are women walking through the world who are not content with their husbands and sweethearts, but are in search of the hero to come; and there are men indulging the same deception touching the heroine of imagination; and the result is that those of earth to whom we ought to be bound by the tenderest ties are ill-treated, and the God of Heaven is practically dethroned.
Do you remember what Ezekiel wrote in the 14th chapter of his Book, the 4th verse (Eze 4:4),
Thus saith the Lord God, every man of the House of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of iniquity before his face, and cometh to the Prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; that I may take the House of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
I know nothing in this world more to be desired by the man, the woman, the child, who would be Christ like, who would know God and come into the experience of His love, than an imagination void of idols, cleansed from them every one, and every one of whose activities go up to the everlasting God.
The images of affection are also disallowed. There may be such a thing, I think, as giving to wife, or child, the place appointed for God, and Him alone. But the danger here is not great since God rejoices in and approves of all holy affection. But, alas, for the affection of a Caesar for Cleopatra, or a Mark Anthony for that same sweet-faced but evil woman, or a Felix for Drusilla.
If you could walk through the streets of the city of Minneapolis tonight, and by some spiritual power sound the recesses of the hearts of men and women, you would find hundreds of them without God and without hope, because their hearts have been inhabited by an unholy affection.
John McNeil tells us that when Mahmoud, the Conqueror of India, had taken the city of Gujarat, he proceeded, as was his custom, to destroy the idols. There was one fifteen feet high which its priests and devotees begged him to spare. He was deaf to their entreaties, and seizing a hammer, he struck it one blow, when, to his amazement, from the shattered image there rained down at his feet a shower of gems, pearls and diamonds, treasures of fabulous value which had been hidden. Had he spared the idol, he would have missed all this wealth. Let us not spare our idols.
It is to our interest to demolish them. If we shatter them (even the most precious) there will rain about our hearts the very treasures of Heaventhe gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit.
In the third and fourth verses of our text
THE TRUE GOD IS REVEALED
We learn, in the first place, that He is Lord over all.
For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. One of the fundamentals of true religion is the personality and lordship of the mighty God.
Henry Van Dyke says, If it be true that a person is a fact, it is no less true that a person is a force. The world moves by personality. All the great currents of history have flowed from persons. Organization is powerful, but no organization has ever accomplished anything until a person has stood at the center of it and filled it with his thought, with his life.
Dr. Swing, a short time before his death, preaching an Easter sermon, said, Heaven rests wholly upon one power, one wisdom, one lovethat of God. This life has its roots in God. The upper blossoms of immortality are also there. If the top of lifes tree waves high, it is because its roots are deep. Man is not the solution of mystery, but God is the answer of everything, and His Lordship over all, He asserts in our text, and all history attests the truth of His claim.
His judgments are just.
He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him.
At this point many people stumble. Why cannot we keep cool long enough for a sensible interpretation of Gods Word? It does not say God is angry with the innocent children of sinful men. Cain was not driven from the presence of the Lord because Adam had tasted forbidden fruit, but because he had stained his hands in his brothers blood. It is only when the sons are equally guilty with the fathers that they are condemned, and if they have to suffer in some respects for the fathers sins, it is only because God is keeping to the best law of His universe, namely, that in which He declared of every seed, It shall bring forth after its kind. And the very fact that righteous law, when broken, imposes penalties, makes it self-corrective. So I am persuaded that of this law we must say with Paul, The Law is holy, and the Commandment holy and just and good.
But thanks be to God, the same Scriptures that declare His justice voice His mercy; for eer we have finished there is added, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
It is no pain for me to preach justice, for I can preach mercy over against it. It is no pain to me to preach damnation on account of sin, because when one feels his condemnation and cries out, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the bondage of this death, I can point him to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. I can say to him, Go there and in His Name God will give you mercy.
It is not such an intolerable sorrow to me when I see men and women crying out under the mental and heart torture of conviction, because I know that for all such there is escape by the mercy of my God.
And I plead with any here tonight, who are condemned by the Law, that you receive the Gospel and go free; you who are condemned by conscience, that you turn to Christ who says, I do not condemn thee; go and sin no more; you who feel that all their best behavior is as filthy rags before His face, remember that in Him is an infinite heart of love, and your rags may be your commendation.
Dr. Bernardo of London, the great philanthropist, was standing at his front door on one bitter day when a ragged chap came up to him and asked for an order of admission to his home. To test the boy, he pretended to be rather rough with him. How do I know, he said, if what you tell me is true? Have you any friends to speak for you? Friends? the little fellow shouted, No, I aint got no friends, but if these here rags (and he waved his arm about him as he spoke) wont speak for me, nothing else will.
So you may be sure your very needs stir the deepest recesses of the great Saviours heart, and if you come to Him tonight and lay your finger upon every ugly sin, and showing it fully to His eyes, say, Master, You see my need, oh, help my soul, you may be saved.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
(3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me.Heb., There shalt be to thee no other god before me. The result is the same, whether we translate Elohim by god or gods; but the singular verb shows that the plural form of the name is a mere plural of dignity.
Before meliterally, before my facemeans strictly, side by side with mei.e., in addition to me. God does not suppose that the Israelites, after all that He had done for them, would discard Him, and substitute other gods in His place, but fears the syncretism which would unite His worship with that of other deities. All polytheisms were syncretic, and readily enlarged their pantheons, since, when once the principle of unity is departed from, whether the plurality be a little greater or a little less cannot much signify. The Egyptian religion seems to have adopted Ammon at a comparatively late period from Arabia; it took Bar, or Baal, Anta, or Anatis, Astaret, or Astarte, Reshpu, or Reseph, &c., from Syria, and it admitted Totuu from Ethiopia. Israel, in after-times, fell into the same error, and, without intending to apostatise from Jehovah, added on the worship of Baal, Ashtoreth, Moloch, Chemosh, Remphan, &c. It is this form of polytheism against which the first commandment is directed. It asserts the sole claim of Jehovah to our religious regards.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT, Exo 20:3.
3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me The rendering before me follows the Vulgate. The Septuagint has , besides me . But the Hebrew words mean rather over against me; in front of me; and the commandment prohibits all recognition and worship of any deity that could be conceived as a rival of Jehovah . A proper conception of the unity of God, and of his omnipresence and other attributes of infinity, necessarily excludes the existence of other gods . Hence, a correct knowledge of divine things shows, as the apostle says, 1Co 8:4, “that no idol is any thing in the world, and that there is no God but one.” A proper concept of God lies at the foundation of all pure worship. “Gods many and lords many” produce confusion of thought and consequent darkness of soul; for the acknowledging of such changes the truth of God into a lie, and leads logically to a worship of the creature rather than the Creator. Comp. Rom 1:21-25. Hence it is that the recognition and worship of the one true God is the basis of pure morality as well as of religion . Vainly will men seek to divorce these from one another . This commandment stands against all doctrines and forms of heathen idolatry and polytheism . It strikes at the root of all degrading superstitions . Atheism and infidelity, as well as polytheism, are herein condemned . Pantheism cannot stand the test of these words of a personal God . The commandment is holy and uplifting, and, applied to the inner life, condemns also every species of spiritual idolatry the setting of the affections on earthly rather than on heavenly things . So he who claimed to have observed all the commandments from his youth had in reality failed to know fully the import of the first one, and loved and clung to his “great possessions” when they stood between him and eternal life . Mar 10:17-22.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The First Four Commandments Jesus revealed that the first four commandments deal with our relationship to God.
Mar 12:30-32, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
They teach us to serve the Lord with our heart, soul, mind and strength:
1st Commandment (Exo 20:3) – No other Gods before Me. Love God with all your heart.
2nd Commandment (Exo 20:4-6) – No worship of graven images. Love God with all your soul.
3rd Commandment (Exo 20:7) – Do not take God’s name in vain. Love God with all your mind.
4th Commandment (Exo 20:8-11) – Keep the Sabbath. Love God with all your strength.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:3
Exo 20:5, “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;”
Exo 34:14, “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God :”
Deu 4:24, “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God .”
Deu 5:9, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto 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,”
Deu 6:15, “(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.”
Jos 24:19, “And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God ; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.”
The New Testament Perspective:
Mat 4:10, “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”
Mat 19:16-22
Mat 22:34-46
Mar 12:28-34
Luk 10:25-37
Rom 13:10, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Php 3:19, “Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)”
2Ti 3:4, “Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;”
Your God is who you serve and try to please the most, or above all else. Illustration:
Gal 1:10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
Your God is who you believe in and serve. Illustration:
1Sa 8:1-9; 1Sa 10:17 f
Exo 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:
Exo 20:5 Exo 20:5
Exo 34:14, “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God :”
Deu 4:24, “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God .”
Deu 5:9, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto 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,”
Deu 6:15, “(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.”
Jos 24:19, “And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God ; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.”
Exo 20:5 “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children” – Word Study on “visiting” Strong says the Hebrew word “visiting” “paqad” ( ) (H6485) is a primitive root that literally means, “to visit (with friendly or hostile intent).” This word carries a wide use of meanings in the Old Testament, such as “to attend to, muster, number, reckon, visit, punish, appoint, look after, care for.” The Enhance Strong says it is used 305 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “number 119, visit 59, punish 31, appoint 14, commit 6, miss 6, set 6, charge 5, governor 5, lack 4, oversight 4, officers 4, counted 3, empty 3, ruler 3, overseer 3, judgment 2, misc 28”.
Exo 20:5 “unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” Comments – Why three or four generations? Because it is possible for the third and fourth generations to live during the time of the aged head of the family, and to be influenced towards either bad or good. In many societies, the aged head is considered the one who has the wisdom the lead the family and make all major decisions for his offspring.
It appears that God’s judgment ends or culminates in the third and fourth generations. We find this stated a number of times in Scriptures.
Exo 20:5, “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;”
Exo 34:7, “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”
Num 14:18, “The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.”
Deu 5:9, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto 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,”
Deu 23:7-8, “Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.”
We have examples in the Scriptures of God’s judgment taking place or culminating in the fourth generation. Remember that God gave several kings of Israel four generations to rule and He gave them time to correct themselves before he would destroy their lineage of kingship. For example, God judged the fourth generation of Jehu by cutting off his seed from being king.
2Ki 10:30, “And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.”
2Ki 15:12, “This was the word of the LORD which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass.”
Exo 20:5 Comments – We may ask the question of how God visits the iniquity of the fathers upon their children. One interesting newspaper article suggests that some diseases can be passed down to at least four generations of offspring.
“Toxic chemicals that poisoned your grandparents, or even great-grandparents, may also affect your health, US researchers suggested on Thursday. A study in rats shows the effects of certain toxic chemicals were passed on for four generations of males. The finding, published in the journal Science, suggests that toxins may play a role in inherited diseases now blamed on genetic mutations. ‘It’s a new way to think about disease,’ said Michael Skinner, director of the Centre for Reproductive Biology at Washington State University. ‘We believe this phenomenon will be widespread and be a major factor in understanding how disease develops.’ For their study, Skinner and colleagues injected pregnant rats with vinclozolin, a fungicide commonly used in vineyards, and methoxychlor, a pesticide that replaced DDT. Both are endocrine disrupters synthetic chemicals that interfere with the normal function of reproductive hormones, notably testosterone and oestrogen.
“Characteristics Animal studies have shown they can affect fertility and the development of genitals, for example. Scientists knew that treating pregnant rats with high doses of vinclozolin every day produces sterile male pups. Skinner’s team injected vinclozolin into pregnant rats during a specific time during gestation when the developing embryos take on sexual characteristics. ‘It is when either an ovary or testes develop,’ Skinner said in a telephone interview. The time was comparable to mid-gestation in humans. Male rat pups born to these mothers had a 20 percent lower than normal sperm count, their sperm were less motile, meaning they did not swim as well, and they were less fertile. There were similar results with methoxychlor. When these male offspring were mated with females that had not been exposed to the toxins, 90 percent of the new male offspring had similar problems. The effect held for a fourth generation. That has never been seen before, although radiation and chemotherapy are known to affect fertility and the children of people affected.” [85]
[85] Tests Show Poisoning May Last Four Generations: Result of toxin exposure could pass through male descendants, (Washington: Reuters), in Gulf News (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), Saturday, June 4, 2005.
Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Exo 20:4-6
We are to worship God in spirit and truth (Joh 4:24).
Joh 4:24, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
Note other passages that talk about the evils of idolatry:
Rom 1:23-25
Eph 5:5, “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man , who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”
Col 3:5, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry :”
The Lord told Joshua and the children of Israel not to make any carvings of images. In the crossing of the Jordan River, they took twelve uncarved stones to make a memorial (Jos 4:1-3; Jos 4:19-24). Note how the brasen serpent so easily became an idol to the children of Israel and Hezekiah had it destroyed (Num 21:8-9, 2Ki 18:1-5). Also, Gideon made a golden ephod, which became a snare unto the children of Israel (Jdg 8:24-27).
Jdg 8:27, “And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.”
Being superstitious of objects and “good lack charms” would be a form of idolatry and of breaking this commandment.
Note other passages regarding Exo 20:5 (visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the third and fourth generations):
Exo 34:6-7, “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”
Lev 20:4-5, “And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not: Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.”
Note illustrations of Exo 20:5:
The Amalekite were killed for fighting with Israel.
1Sa 15:1-3, “Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”
Saul’s sons killed because Saul killed the Gibeonites.
2Sa 21:1 f
God judged the children of Israel because of their years of idolatry.
2Ki 23:24-26
Note other verses.
1Jn 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”
Sacrilege is to appropriate to your own use what is consecrated to God.
Rom 2:22, “Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?”
The blessings of the righteous will forever be handed down to his descendents as it brings never-ending blessings from one generation to the next. But the punishment that God hands down to the wicked will cut off their seed after the fourth generation and thus, purge the world of this wickedness. For example, Jesus Christ gave His blessings to twelve apostles. The blessings from the Gospel of Jesus has been handed down for thousands of years, and even into eternity. In contrast, the Lord cut off Ahab and other wicked leaders in Israel in their fourth generation.
Exo 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Exo 20:7
The Old Testament prophets delivered oracles from the Lord and swore by His name. However, when a person swears by the Lord that he will go and do this or that in his life, he is in sin because he does not have power over the future to ensure something will happen. Only God in Heaven can know and determine the future. He wants our lives and destiny to be in His hands. He wants His children to look to Him daily for guidance and direction, rather than a person deciding his own destiny by swearing that something will happen. We have a clear example of this commandment in Jas 4:13-15, in which James condemns those who say they will go into a city, work for a year and gain prosperity. The truth is that they do not know what the future holds for them. He refers to such boastful acts in Exo 5:12 by saying, “Swear not.”
Jas 4:13-15, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”
Jas 5:12, “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:8
Exo 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day” Comments – See Isa 58:13 for insight into the true purpose and meaning of the Sabbath day rest:
Isa 58:13, “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.”
Exo 20:8 Comments Hughes Old says the fourth commandment found in Exo 20:8 involves the concept of “holding the memorial appropriate to the Sabbath day.” He believes this memorial event involves remembering the Creation Story, Salvation history, the words of the prophets, etc., so that this is a time for the Jews to recite their redemptive history and pass it on to the next generation. [86]
[86] Hughes Oliphant Old, “The Reading and Preaching of Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church,” Expository Homiletical Conference, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Hamilton, Massachusetts, 14 October 2011.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 Exo 20:11 Exo 20:8-11
Exo 31:15, “Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.”
Illustration:
Num 15:32-36
We see in Lev 25:1-7; Lev 25:18-22 how the land was also to observe a Sabbath rest. Note that in the Garden of Eden, the land had rest. Man was to eat of the trees’ fruit, and herbs, what grew of itself and he was to tend the Garden. Now ground is cursed and must be cultivated, so the land needs rest from this toil.
Psalms 92 is a song for the Sabbath day to give God thanks on that day.
Isa 58:13-14 is a prophecy for us today on how to keep the Sabbath day.
Isa 58:13-14, “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
Jesus explains the Sabbath in the Gospels.
Mat 12:5, “Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?”
Mar 2:27, “And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:”
Joh 7:20-24
When Jesus healed on the Sabbath day, the Jewish leaders were angered.
Luk 13:14, “And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.”
When a man works six days, it represents his way of doing things in order to prosper. The Sabbath day was symbolic of how man was to enter into God’s life of faith and rest and trust Him.
Heb 4:9, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”
Therefore, healing and the Sabbath Day go together. However, the world wants to prosper by their worldly ways, not by God’s way of faith.
According to Hebrews 4, we enter God’s Sabbath rest by ceasing from walking in flesh and living by faith.
In Job 1:5 Job prayed for his children at the end of each cycle of feasting, praying for God’s healing and sanctification. This was a type of Sabbath rest.
Job 1:5, “And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.”
In the New Testament we attend Church on Sunday as a biblical New Testament pattern.
Act 20:7, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.”
1Co 16:2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”
Paul taught the believers that there was no need to observe particular days under the New Covenant.
Rom 14:5-6, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.”
Gal 4:9-11, “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.”
Col 2:16-17, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
According to Malachi 3, tithing is a way of healing finances.
Exo 20:8-11 Comments – The Fourth Commandment (The Sabbath and the New Covenant) – Under the new covenant of the New Testament Church, we also are to bear no burden on the Sabbath because we have entered in a Sabbath rest (Mat 11:28-30, Heb 4:9-10). This means that we are to cease from our own works in the flesh and to be led by the Spirit of God.
Mat 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Heb 4:9-10, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Exo 20:3. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me After the general preface follow the commandments; which, as we read hereafter, were delivered by God to Moses in two tables; the one containing, according to that division which has since generally prevailed, the four first commandments, which comprize our duty towards God; the other, the six last, which comprize our duty towards our neighbour: and hence that grand division made by our Saviour, of the love of GOD, and the love of our neighbour. See Mat 22:37; Mat 22:46. Let it be observed, once for all, that these precepts, though delivered in negative terms, imply positive duties: for though to abstain from evil is a great and essential point of duty; yet the Almighty requires, that we should be as careful, on the other hand, to perform what is right. Further, also, it may be necessary to remark, in how authoritative a manner these laws are delivered; a manner, which clearly bespeaks the superlative rule and power of the Divine Lawgiver. In this first commandment, Jehovah, who had declared himself the covenant-GOD of the Jews, here forbids rebellion against himself; by strictly enjoining, that there should be to them no other god, , that they should hold or confess no other Deliverer or Saviour than Him: Thou shalt know no God but me; for there is no Saviour beside me, says he, in Hos 13:4. As the whole Mosaic institution was calculated to preserve the knowledge of the true God the only Redeemer of mankind, and to preserve the people from the contagion of prevailing idolatry; so this commandment is immediately levelled at those false deities and imaginary saviours, whom the Egyptians, Canaanites, and other idolaters worshipped. The phrase, before me, ol peni, is variously interpreted. The LXX render it , beside me; which Houbigant approves. The Hebrew is, literally, before faces, or my faces; and, therefore, before me, is preferred by Le Clerc and others; who think, that the phrase refers to the continued presence and inspection of Jehovah over Israel. Ainsworth thinks, that it may also signify, 1st, As long as I am, or for ever. And 2nd, In all places; for the face of God is everywhere. As God was now leading the Israelites, going before their face, as their Ruler and Guide; and as he always continued in a peculiar sense, during the theocracy, in this relation, as the God before whom they were to walk, may not the meaning of the commandment be, there shall not be to thee any strange gods before thy face? I render the word acherim, strange, as does Houbigant, following the Vulgate (alienos); referring to those strange gods of the heathens; against whom, we have observed, this commandment seems especially directed.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
This is the first of the four first commandments, which belong to the first table of the law, concerning our duty to God. Our blessed Lord is the great Commentator upon it. Mat 22:36-38 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Ver. 3. Thou shalt have. ] This “thou” reacheth every man. Xenophon saith of Cyrus, that when he gave anything in command, he never said, Let some one do this; but, Do thou this. a
No other gods before me.
a Hoc tu facias. – Xenophon’s Cyropaed.
before Me = before My face.
Exo 15:11, Deu 5:7, Deu 6:5, Deu 6:14, Jos 24:18-24, 2Ki 17:29-35, Psa 29:2, Psa 73:25, Psa 81:9, Isa 26:4, Isa 43:10, Isa 44:8, Isa 45:21, Isa 45:22, Isa 46:9, Jer 25:6, Jer 35:15, Mat 4:10, 1Co 8:4, 1Co 8:6, Eph 5:5, Phi 3:19, Col 2:18, 1Jo 5:20, 1Jo 5:21, Rev 19:10, Rev 22:9
Reciprocal: Gen 35:2 – strange Exo 20:23 – General Exo 32:1 – make Exo 32:8 – which I Exo 34:14 – worship Lev 19:4 – General Deu 13:8 – consent Jos 24:14 – put Jdg 6:10 – I am the 2Ki 17:12 – whereof 2Ch 25:14 – his gods 2Ch 28:5 – his God Isa 42:8 – my glory Jer 7:9 – and walk Eze 20:5 – I am Eze 20:19 – the Lord Dan 3:18 – that Hos 8:13 – now Mal 4:4 – the law Act 15:20 – from pollutions 2Co 6:16 – what
THE ONLY GOD
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
Exo 20:3
I do not know whether you have ever noticed the great part which the Commandments play in the instruction of members of the Church of England. In the early days of our English Church every clergyman was commanded to explain the Ten Commandments every quarter. When children come to be baptised the learning of the Ten Commandments and their meaning is placed on the same footing as the learning of the Lords Prayer and the Creed. We are told to place these Commandments up in our churches; they are read at every celebration of the Holy Communion; they are the standard according to the Church of England by which you are to examine yourselves to see whether you are living a godly, righteous, and sober life, and whether you are fit and prepared to come to the Holy Communion. Therefore it is necessary for us to know what is the meaning of these Commandments; and I want to speak about this first one, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
I. It tells you thisfirst, that there is a God; second, that you are to have that God for your God; and third, that you are not to have any other. Some people tell you these Commandments are old-fashioned, that they need not be read now. The man who says they are old-fashioned probably has something in his character that the Commandments touch, and he does not like that. We must judge ourselves by them as the Prayer Book tells us to do. Why is this Commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, placed first? The reason is thisthat there is no ground for morality, and truth and justice, and purity except the belief in religion and the basis of the love of God.
II. Are we putting it first? That is the question which we have to ask. It was first put to the Jews because they were tempted to have a great many gods. We know that one of their great sins was idolatry, that they made images and worshipped them, and so God says: Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. But that is not the temptation with you and me. We are not likely to have a number of gods of that nature. The temptation to us is to have no God at all. Somebody says: You never would think I would say there is no God. No; I have never met a man yet who said there was no God. I have read about them. But many of us act as if there were no God, and that is just the same thing. Whether we believe in a God does not depend on what we say, but it depends upon the life we live.
III. Look at the gods which your forefathers had. Take the Egyptians, for instance. The Egyptians worshipped the river Nile. Why? The river Nile is the fertiliser of Egypt. That is the reason that when there was a famine in the land of Canaan there was still corn in Egypt. The Egyptian said: The river Nile is good to me. It makes the corn and the rice grow in my country. I will thank it and bow down to it. What a beautiful spirit, though he was wrong in his worship! Does he not set us a beautiful example? We know that it is not the creature but the Creator Who made the river, Who caused it to overflow its banks. Do we turn to the Creator with the same thankfulness as the old Egyptian turned to the Nile? Or take your own forefathers. They looked up to the sun, and they said: The sun warms us, gives us light, makes the things grow in our land. Oh, the sun is good! We will bow down and worship it. It is the kindest thing we know. And so they worshipped the sun, and the sun was one of their gods. We know that we ought not to worship the sun, and moon, and stars, and suchlike, because we know that we must go behind those to the Creator Who made them. But have we the same spirit of thankfulness and praise to Him Who gave the sun to shine on us, to Him Who sends every good and every perfect gift to each one of us, and has given the Saviour to die for us? Do we thank Him, worship Him, bow down before Him as these heathen did to the river, and the sun and the moon? But is there nothing that we are likely to make a god of? I think there is. I am perfectly certain there is many a person in this church who is making a god of something. Anything which comes between you and the great God Himself is your god. Now, is there anything? Look into your own life and soul. You can find numbers of examples in the Bible of people who put things before their God. Nobody and nothing must stand between you and God. Your love must always be submissive to the Will of God. I am to be first, God says; and if there come a conflict between Gods Will and your own, then Gods Will must come first.
IV. Is there anybody here who is putting all his life and soul into getting money? There are hosts of men and women who do it. The one thing in life is money, to some people. It is getting such a power in the world that everybody is grasping after it. Money is their god. If they do anything in the pursuit of this money which is contrary to the law of God, in which they have to shut God from their eyes and dare not look at Him, then that is their god. Do you think there is anything necessary in your life that God will not give you? Of course there is not. It is because we do not trust Him, it is because we grasp things which are not necessary to our life, that we have to do such things as that. There are others who put their pleasure first, and who, if there is a conflict between duty and pleasure, will take the pleasure and leave the duty to their God. They must have their pleasure whatever else comes. Then pleasure is their god.
Oh! do not let us put things before God. Let us try day by day to be conscious of the Presence of God. It is a wonderful strength and power which God has given you, which will help you whatever trials and difficulties come in your life. You must make an effort to be really conscious of your God. That is the only way to make Him really your God, and place Him first.
V. How can I do this? How am I to be conscious of Him? Well, my answer is, It is a very slow process, and a very difficult one. The first thing you do should be to ask God to help you to be conscious of His Presence. If you do not, it will become a habit in your life when a difficulty comes to you to turn and try to realise the fact that you are in the presence of God; and God is only our God when it becomes natural to us in all difficulties to turn our mind to Him. But you can never do anything that is worth anything without work and labour. You cannot set God as your God before everything else without an effort. Oh! a tremendous effort it will be sometimes, and the more you try the more you may depend upon it the devil will try to take God out of your presence. But do not be afraid. The Lord Jesus Christ is stronger than Satan, and it is not a sign that you are getting on when the devil does not trouble you. Life is full of difficulties and trials, and it sometimes seems as if you are going to give way. That is the time when you are making real progress. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
Illustration
The First Commandment sounds as if moulded by consideration for the comparatively rude people of the Exodus, for it does not proclaim monotheism as plainly as later prophets would probably have done, but confines itself to strictly enjoining forbidding polytheism for Israel. It leaves the question of the existence of other gods undealt with, only sternly demanding that they shall not be recognised by the people. Surely that tone is a trace of the early origin of the Decalogue. This Commandment has no reason annexed; the reason lies in the redemptive act just spoken of. Idolatry is forbidden in the Second Commandment. We cannot realise the tremendous force of the temptation to worshipping a visible representation of God which still holds so many peoples in its grip; but we can see that even now it has not lost all its seducing power, and that fibres of that root of bitterness still remain even in the soil of the church.
For Israel the temptation was overwhelming. To stand alone against the world was beyond them. Let us not blame them harshly, since we have little of their temptations, and since some parts of the church are not wholly free from their sin.
Exo 20:3-6. The first commandment is concerning the object of our worship, Jehovah, and him only: Thou shalt have no other gods before me The Egyptians, and other neighbouring nations, had many gods, creatures of their own fancy. This law was prefixed because of that transgression; and Jehovah being the God of Israel, they must entirely cleave to him and no other, either of their own invention, or borrowed from their neighbours. The sin against this commandment which we are most in danger of, is giving that glory to any creature which is due to God only. Pride makes a god of ourselves, covetousness makes a god of money, sensuality makes a god of the belly. Whatever is loved, feared, delighted in, or depended on, more than God, that we make a god of. This prohibition includes a precept, which is the foundation of the whole law, that we take the Lord for our God, accept him for ours, adore him with humble reverence, and set our affections entirely upon him. There is a reason intimated in the last words, before me. It intimates, 1st, That we cannot have any other god but he will know it; 2d, That it is a sin that dares him to his face, which he cannot, will not overlook.
The second commandment is concerning the ordinances of worship, or the way in which God will be worshipped, which it is fit himself should appoint. Here Isaiah , 1 st, The prohibition; we are forbidden to worship even the true God by images, Exo 20:4-5. First, The Jews (at least after the captivity) thought themselves forbidden by this to make any image or picture whatsoever. It is certain it forbids making any image of God, for to whom can we liken him? Isa 40:18; Isa 40:25. It also forbids us to make images of God in our fancies, as if he were a man as we are. Our religious worship must be governed by the power of faith, not by the power of imagination. Secondly, They must not bow down to them Show any sign of honour to them, much less serve them by sacrifice, or any other act of religious worship. When they paid their devotion to the true God, they must not have any image before them for the directing, exciting, or assisting their devotion. Though the worship was designed to terminate in God, it would not please him if it came to him through an image. The best and most ancient lawgivers among the heathen forbade the setting up of images in their temples. It was forbidden in Rome by Numa, a Pagan prince, yet commanded in Rome by the pope, a Christian bishop! The use of images in the Church of Rome, at this day, is so plainly contrary to the letter of this command, that in all their catechisms, which they put into the hands of the people, they leave out this commandment, joining the reason of it to the first, and so the third commandment they call the second, the fourth, the third, &c.; only to make up the number ten, they divide the tenth into two. For I the Lord, Jehovah, thy God, am a jealous God Especially in things of this nature. It intimates the care he has of his own institutions, his displeasure against idolaters, and that he resents every thing in his worship that looks like, or leads to, idolatry; visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation Severely punishing. Nor is it an unrighteous thing with God, if the parents die in their iniquity, and the children tread in their steps, when God comes, by his judgments, to reckon with them, to bring into the account the idolatries their fathers were guilty of. Keeping mercy for thousands of persons, thousands of generations; of them that love me, and keep my commandments This intimates that the second commandment, though in the letter it is only a prohibition of false worship, yet includes a precept of worshipping God in all those ordinances which he hath instituted. As the first commandment requires the inward worship of love, desire, joy, hope, so this is the outward worship of prayer and praise, and solemn attendance on his word. This mercy shall extend to thousands, much further than the wrath threatened to those that hate him, for that reaches but to the third or fourth generation.
20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods {b} before me.
(b) To whose eyes all things are open.
The first commandment 20:3
"The Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches follow Augustine in making Exo 20:2-6 the first commandment, and then dividing Exo 20:17, on covetousness, into two. Modern Judaism makes Exo 20:2 the first commandment and Exo 20:3-6 the second. The earliest division, which can be traced back at least as far as Josephus, in the first century A.D., takes Exo 20:3 as the first command and Exo 20:4-6 as the second. This division was supported unanimously by the early church, and is held today by the Eastern Orthodox and most Protestant churches." [Note: Johnson, p. 69.]
Some scholars have argued that the first commandment comprises Exo 20:3-6, the second Exo 20:7, etc., and the tenth commandment begins, "You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife" in Exo 20:17 b. [Note: E.g., Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., pp. 284-85.] Most scholars do not accept this view.
This commandment was a call to monotheism and faithfulness to the Lord. Israel was to have no other gods besides Yahweh. He was not just to be the first among several (henotheism) but the only One (monotheism; cf. 1Co 10:31; 1Ti 2:5; Act 14:15; Jas 2:19; 1Jn 5:20-21).
"Yahweh had opened himself to a special relationship with Israel, but that relationship could develop only if Israel committed themselves to Yahweh alone. Yahweh had rescued them and freed them, delivered them and guided them, then come to them. The next step, if there was to be a next step, belonged to them. If they were to remain in his Presence, they were not to have other gods." [Note: Durham, p. 285.]
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.
“Thou shalt have none other gods before Me.”– Exo 20:3.
When these words fell upon the ears of Israel, they conveyed, as their primary thought, a prohibition of the formal worship of rival deities, Egyptian or Sidonian gods. Following immediately upon the proclamation of Jehovah, their own God, they declared His intolerance of rivalry, and enjoined a strict and jealous monotheism. For God was a reality. Races who worshipped idealisations or personifications might easily make room for other poetic embodiments of human thought and feeling; but Jehovah would vindicate His rights. He had proved himself very real in Egypt. Other gods would not displace Him: He would observe them: they would be “before Me.”[36] God does not quit the scene when man forgets Him.
Now, it is hard for us to realise the charm which the worship of false gods possessed for ancient Israel. To comprehend it we must reflect upon the universal ignorance which made every phenomenon of nature a portentous manifestation of mysterious and varied power, which they could by no means trace back to a common origin, while the crash and discord of the results appeared to indicate opposing wills behind. We must reflect how closely akin is awe to worship, and how blind and unintelligent was the awe which storm and earthquake and pestilence then excited. We must remember the pressure upon them of surrounding superstitions armed with all the civilisation and art of their world. Above all, we must consider that the gods which seduced them were not of necessity supreme: homage to them was very fairly consistent with a reservation of the highest place for another; so that false worship in its early stages need not have been much more startling than belief in witchcraft, or in the paltry and unimaginative “spirits” which, in our own day, are reputed to play the banjo in a dark room, and to untie knots in a cabinet. Is it for us to deride them?
To oppose all such tendencies, the Lord appealed not to philosophy and sound reason. These are not the parents of monotheism: they are the fruit of it. And so is our modern science. Its fundamental principle is faith in the unity of nature, and in the extent to which the same laws which govern our little world reach through the vast universe. And that faith is directly traceable to the conviction that all the universe is the work of the same Hand.
“One God, one law, one element;”–the preaching of the first was sure to suggest the other two. Nor could any race which believed in a multitude of gods labour earnestly to reduce various phenomena to one cause. Monotheism is therefore the parent of correct thinking, and could not draw its sanctions thence. No: the law appeals to the historical experience of Israel; it is content to stand and fall by that; if they acknowledged the claim of God upon their loyalty, all the rest followed. Their own story made good this claim. And so does the whole story of the Church, and the whole inner life of every man who knows anything of himself, bear witness to the religion of Jesus.
Never let us weary of repeating that while we have ample controversial resource, while no missile can pierce the chain-armour of the Christian evidences, connected and interwoven into a great whole, and while the infidelity which is called scientific is really infidel only so far as it begs its case (which is an unscientific thing to do), nevertheless the strength of our position is experimental. If the experience which testifies to Jesus were historical alone, I might refuse to give it credit: if it were only personal, I might ascribe it to enthusiasm. But as long as a great cloud of living witnesses, and all the history of the Church, declare the reality of His salvation, while I myself feel the sufficiency of what He offers (or else the bitter need of it), so long the question is not between conflicting theories, but between theories and facts. To have another god is to place him beside One Whom we already have, and Who has wrought for us the great emancipation. It is not an error in theological science: it is ingratitude and treason.
But it very soon became evident that men could apostatise from God otherwise than in formal worship, chant and sacrifice and prostration: “This people honoureth me with their mouths, but their hearts are far from Me.” God asks for love and trust, and our litanies should express and cultivate these. Whatever steals away these from the Lord is really His rival, and another god. “What is it to have a God? or what is God?” Luther asks. And he answers, “He is God, and is so called, from Whose goodness and power thou dost confidently promise all good things to thyself, and to Whom thou dost fly from all adverse affairs and pressing perils. So that to have a God is nothing else than to trust Him and believe in Him with all the heart, even as I have often alleged that the reliance of the heart constitutes alike one’s God and one’s idol…. In what thing soever thou hast thy mind’s reliance and thine heart fixed, that is beyond doubt thy God” (Larger Catechism).
And again: “What sort of religion is this, to bow not the knees to riches and honour, but to offer them the noblest part of you, the heart and mind? It is to worship the true God outwardly and in the flesh, but the creature inwardly and in spirit” (X. Prcepta Witt. Prdicata).
It was on this ground that he included charms and spells among the sins against this commandment, because, though “they seem foolish rather than wicked, yet do they lead to this too grave result, that men learn to rely upon the creature in trifles, and so fail in great things to rely upon God” (Ibid.)
This view of false worship is frequent in Scripture itself. The Chaldeans were idolaters of an elaborate and imposing ritual, but their true deities were not to be found in temples. They adored what they really trusted upon, and that was their military prowess–the god of the modern commander, who said that Providence sided with the big battalions. The Chaldean is “he whose might is his god,” whereas the sacred warrior has the Lord for his strength and shield and very present help in battle. Nay, regarding men “as the fishes of the sea,” and his own vast armaments as the fisher’s apparatus to sweep them away, the Chaldean, it is said, “sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense unto his drag; because by them his portion is fat and his meat plenteous” (Hab 1:11, Hab 1:14-16). Multitudes of humbler people practise a similar idolatry. They say to God “Give us this day our daily bread”; but they really ascribe their maintenance to their profession or their trade; and so this is the true object of their homage. They, too, burn incense to their drag.
Others had no thought of a higher blessedness than animal enjoyment. Their god was their belly. They set the excitement of wine in the place of the fulness of the Spirit, or preferred some depraved union upon earth to the honour of being one spirit with the Lord (Php 3:19; Eph 5:18; 1Co 6:16-17). And some tried to combine the world and righteousness; not to lose heaven while grasping wealth, and receiving here not only good things, but the only good things they acknowledged–their good things (Luk 16:25). As the Samaritans feared the Lord and served graven images, so these were fain to serve God and mammon (2Ki 17:41; Mat 6:24).
Now, these departures from the true Centre of all love and Source of all light were really a homage to His great rival, “the god of this world.” Whenever men seek to obtain any prize by departing from God, they do reverence to him who falsely said of all the kingdoms of the earth, and their glory, “These things are delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give them.” They deny Him to Whom indeed all power is committed in heaven and earth.
What is the remedy, then, for all such formal or virtual apostasies? It is to “have” the true God–which means, not only to know and confess, but to be in real relationship with Him.
Despite His so-called self-sufficiency, man is not very self-sufficing, after all. The vast endowments of Julius Caesar did not prevent him from chafing because, at the age when he was still obscure, Alexander had conquered the world. To be Julius Caesar was not enough for him. Nor is any man able to stand alone. In the Old Testament Joshua said, “If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve,”–implying that they must obey some one and will do better to choose a service than to drift into one (Jos 24:15). And in the New Testament Jesus declared that no man can serve two masters; but added that he would not break with both and go free, he was sure to love and cleave to one of them. Now, he only is proof against apostasy, who has realised the wants of the soul within him, and the powerlessness of all creatures to satisfy or save, and then, turning to the cross of Christ, has found his sufficiency in Him. “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of everlasting life.” Marvellous it is to think that underneath the stern words “Thou shalt have none other,” lies all the condescension of the privilege “Thou shalt have … Me.”
FOOTNOTES:
[36] “Or beside Me” (R.V.) The preposition is so vague that either of our English words may suggest quite too definite a meaning, as when “before Me” is made to mean “in My angry eyes,” or “beside Me” is taken to hint at resentment for intrusion upon the same throne.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary