Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 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;
5. The command of v. 4 developed and emphasized.
bow down serve ] The same combination, Deu 4:19; Deu 8:19; Deu 11:16; Deu 17:3; Deu 29:26; Deu 30:17, Jdg 2:19 (D 2 [176] ); and several times in Jer. [‘worship’ in these passages is in the Heb. bow down, as here].
[176] Deuteronomic passages in Josh., Jud., Kings.
a jealous God ] who will not tolerate that the reverence due to Him, should be given to another, whether to another god (Exo 34:14), or, as here, to an image worshipped, or, if an image of Himself, likely to be worshipped, as Divine, and whose jealousy is described elsewhere burning like fire against those who thus dishonour Him. Occurring, as it does here, in a comment on the original command (see p. 192), the expression is derived probably from Exo 34:14. It recurs Deu 4:24 (with ‘a devouring fire’), Exo 6:15, Jos 24:19 (E), each time in a similar connexion: cf. the verb in Deu 32:16; Deu 32:21 (the Song; hence Psa 78:58). Jehovah’s honour is, however, intimately connected with that of His people: so his ‘jealousy’ may also be exerted, if circumstances permit it, on His people’s behalf, as Isa 9:7; Isa 42:13; cf. Joe 2:18, Nah 1:2, Zec 1:14, with the writer’s notes.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
5. of them that hate me ] The term is a strong one, and denotes those who persistently and defiantly oppose themselves to God.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
5, 6. visiting , and doing ] a further definition of Jehovah’s ethical character, as displayed in His attitude towards sin and goodness, respectively. The definition is based (Di.) upon Exo 34:7 (cf. Num 14:18, Jer 32:18), only with the two clauses transposed, so as to give the warning the first place, as the context here demands.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 5. Jealous God] This shows in a most expressive manner the love of God to this people. He felt for them as the most affectionate husband could do for his spouse; and was jealous for their fidelity, because he willed their invariable happiness.
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children] This necessarily implies – IF the children walk in the steps of their fathers; for no man can be condemned by Divine justice for a crime of which he was never guilty; see Eze 13:1-9. Idolatry is however particularly intended, and visiting sins of this kind refers principally to national judgments. By withdrawing the Divine protection the idolatrous Israelites were delivered up into the hands of their enemies, from whom the gods in whom they had trusted could not deliver them. This God did to the third and fourth generations, i.e., successively; as may be seen in every part of the Jewish history, and particularly in the book of Judges. And this, at last, became the grand and the only effectual and lasting means in his hand of their final deliverance from idolatry; for it is well known that after the Babylonish captivity the Israelites were so completely saved from idolatry, as never more to have disgraced themselves by it as they had formerly done. These national judgments, thus continued from generation to generation, appear to be what are designed by the words in the text, Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Not only inward reverence is forbidden, but also all outward gestures that naturally or customarily express reverence, whether bowing down the body, as here; or bending the knee, as 1Ki 19:18; or kissing the idol, or ones hand towards it, as Job 31:27; Hos 13:2; one gesture being by a synecdoche named for all. To them, nor before them; for to bow to them, and to bow before them, are expressions in Scripture of the same extent and use, as appears by comparing this place with Lev 26:1 2Ch 25:14; and 2Sa 7:22, with 1Ch 17:25; and Mat 4:9, with Luk 4:7. Nor serve them; or, worship them, either inwardly in thy mind, or outwardly by any sensible mean or sign of worship given to them, as incense or sacrifice, vowing to them, or swearing by them, or the like. A jealous God, i.e. impatient of any partner in thy love and worship, and full of wrath against them that give my glory to images, Isa 42:8; as jealousy is the rage of a man Pro 6:34 against the defiler of his marriage-bed. God is pleased to call and account himself the Husband of his church and people, Jer 2:2 Hos 2:19; and therefore idolatry is called adultery, Deu 31:16; Jer 3:3,10; and Gods anger against idolaters jealousy. The word el properly signifies the strong God, and shows Gods ability to avenge himself, as the word jealous notes his readiness and resolution to do it. Visiting, i.e. remembering, inquiring into, or punishing, (as that word is commonly used, as hath been noted before,)
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children.
Quest. How can this be just?
Answ. 1. All are born sinners, and are children of wrath, and therefore justly punishable for their own sins.
Answ. 2. He speaks not here of eternal damnation, but of temporal punishments, in which there is no shadow of injustice; as appears,
1. Because the sins of parents are oft punished in their children, even in human courts, as is manifest in traitors, which practice being acknowledged to be just, it cannot with any sense be accounted unjust in God.
2. Because such external punishments have more good than evil in them, and are in many, and may be so in others, if themselves do not hinder it, instruments of the greatest good, exercises of their virtues and graces, and means of their eternal happiness.
3. Because children are a part and the possession of their parents, and therefore it is not unjust if they suffer with them, and for them.
Answ. 3. This is to be understood with an exception of repentance, and penitent children, as appears from Eze 18 And if any such be temporally punished for their fathers sins, God will abundantly recompense it to them some other way. But if children tread in their fathers sinful steps, it is but just that they should partake of their plagues.
Unto the third and fourth generation; and further too, as appears in the ten tribes, and afterwards in the two tribes, upon whom the iniquity of their fathers hath been visited now for many generations. But he mentions them in particular, partly, because a parent may live so long, and see the dreadful effects of his sin in his childrens children; partly, because so far the memory of a father may extend, and be matter of imitation to his children; and partly, to show the difference between his exercise of justice and mercy, as appears by comparing the next verse.
Them that hate me. This word is opposed to the conceit that idolaters, at least many of them, have of themselves, that they love God more than others do, because they love, and honour, and worship the creatures for his sake, and for those excellencies that he hath wrought in them; but this will no more excuse their idolatry, than it will excuse him that commits adultery with his friends wife, that he did it for his friends sake, and from the love he had to his friend, and for his relations.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Thou shall not bow down thyself to them,…. Perform any worship to them, show any reverence of them by any gesture of the body; one being mentioned, bowing the body, and put for all others, as prostration of it to the earth, bending the knee, kissing the hand, lifting up of hands or eyes to them, or by any outward action expressing a religious esteem of them, as if there was divinity in them:
nor serve them; in a religious manner, internally or externally, by offering sacrifice and burning incense to them; by praying to, or praising of them; by expressing love to them, faith and trust in them, hope and expectation of good things from them, and the like. The reason of this second command, relating to the making and worshipping of images, next follows:
for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God; jealous of his own honour and glory, and will not give it to another; even to graven images, nor suffer it to be given to them without resenting it; and jealousy is fierce and cruel, and breaks forth into great wrath, and issues in dreadful scenes oftentimes among men; as a man that has reason to be jealous of his wife, and especially if he takes her and the adulterer in the fact, it often costs them both their lives, being so enraged at such an insult upon him, and such a violation of the marriage bed; and thus the great Jehovah, the God of Israel, their head and husband, is represented, in order to deter from idolatry, or spiritual adultery, than which nothing could be more provoking to him:
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children; meaning chiefly, if not solely, the iniquity of idolatry; which being such an insult on his honour, “crimen laesae majestatis”, is treated by him as high treason is among men; not only he punishes the authors and perpetrators of it in their own persons, which is meant by “visiting”, but upon their children also, which are parts of themselves; and whatsoever is inflicted on them is the same as on themselves, and is an addition to, and a sensible aggravation of their punishment; and especially these are visited in such a manner, when they tread in their father’s steps, and fill up the measure of their iniquity. So the Targum of Jonathan,
“visiting the iniquity of ungodly fathers on rebellious children:”
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; as all idolaters must be thought to do, whatsoever love and affection they may pretend to God, by worshipping idols before him, besides him, along with him, or him in them: “the third and fourth generation” are mentioned, because sometimes parents lived to see these, and so with their eyes beheld the punishment inflicted upon their posterity for their sins, which must be distressing to them; or, however, these being but small removes from them, might impress their minds and affect them, to think what their sins would bring upon their descendants, who would quickly come after them, and share in the sad effects of their iniquities, and so be a means to deter them from them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(5) Nor serve them.The idolatry of the ancient world was, practically, not a mere worship of celestial beings through material representations of them, but an actual culture of the images themselves, which were regarded as possessed of miraculous powers. I myself, says Arnobius, not so very long ago, worshipped gods just taken out of the furnace, fresh from the anvil of the smith, ivory, paintings, stumps of trees swathed in bandages; and if I happened to cast my eyes on a polished stone smeared with olive oil, I made reverence to it, as if a power were present therein, and addressed myself in supplication for blessings to the senseless block (Advers. Gentes, i. 29). People pray, says Seneca, to the images of the gods, implore them on bended knees, sit or stand long days before them, throw them money, and sacrifice beasts to them, so treating them with deep respect (Ap. Lactant., ii. 2).
A jealous God.Not in the sense in which He was regarded as jealous by some of the Greeks, who supposed that success or eminence of any kind provoked Him (Herod. iii. 40, 125), but jealous of His own honour, one who will not see His glory given to another (Isa. 42:8; Isa. 48:11), or allow rivals to dispute His sole and absolute sovereignty. (Comp. Exo. 34:14; Deu. 4:24; Deu. 5:9; Deu. 6:15; Jos. 24:19.)
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children.It is a fact that, under Gods natural government of the world, the iniquity of fathers is visited upon their children. Diseases caused by vicious courses are transmitted. The parents extravagance leaves their children beggars. To be the son of a felon is to be heavily handicapped in the race of life. That this should be so is perhaps involved in the nature of thingsat any rate, it is part of the scheme of Divine government by which the world is ordered. We all inherit countless disadvantages on account of our first parents sin. We each individually inherit special tendencies to this or that form of evil from the misconduct of our several progenitors. The knowledge that their sins will put their children at a disadvantage is calculated to check men in their evil courses more than almost anything else; and this check could not be removed without a sensible diminution of the restraints which withhold men from vice. Still, the penalty upon the children is not final or irreversible. Under whatever disadvantages they are born, they may struggle against them, and lead good lives, and place themselves, even in this world, on a level with those who were born under every favourable circumstance. It is needless to say that, as respects another world, their parents iniquities will not be visited on them. Each man will bear his own burthen. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him (Eze. 18:20).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them This confirms the view expressed in the last verse, that idolatrous images are contemplated, not any and all productions of art . Images of Deity, whether under the form of man, or beast, or bird, or the luminaries of the sky, have ever proven a temptation and snare; and for a people just delivered from Egypt, where almost every object in nature was thus deified, such a most emphatic and particular prohibition was demanded . Jehovah therefore proclaims himself a jealous God, and only the shallow sentimentalist will find fault with such a designation of the God of Israel. In the nature of things he cannot undeify himself by giving his glory to another, and his praise to graven images. Isa 42:8. This would be as impossible as it is for God to lie . Here are closely brought together three divine names, JEHOVAH, ELOHIM, and EL. The Almighty and Eternal Being who bears these titles cannot allow his place and name to be taken by another any more than the faithful husband can allow adultery in his wife. This imagery is frequent in the Old Testament, and all idolatry is regarded as spiritual adultery.
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children Here is testimony to a law of heredity stamped upon the human race. Mankind are constituted a living, self-perpetuating organism, and one may, by hateful opposition to God, bequeath a curse upon his posterity which will extend unto the third and fourth generation. The word , iniquity, means the inherent badness of a perverted moral nature . This is the characterizing quality of them that hate the God of holy revelation . As an idol is a deceptive nothing, (1Co 8:4,) so all who make and worship idolatrous images are virtually the same as those who love and make a lie, (Rev 22:15😉 and history shows how the iniquity of idolatry has been wont to propagate itself through many generations. Nor is idolatry the only mortal curse that is wont to be thus entailed. But this Scripture is not to be construed, contrary to Eze 18:20, to mean that children will be punished for their parents’ sins . Guilt cannot be entailed . The child may, physically and mentally, suffer evil consequences because of a parent’s sins, but no guilt of theirs is or can be justly imputed to him who had no part in the sin . The following table, by Lummis, of distinctions between natural consequences and punishment puts the subject in a clear light, and furnishes in itself a valuable study .
Distinctions to be made between Natural Consequences and Punishment.
Exo 20:5. Thou shalt not bow down thyself, &c. This fully shews the meaning of the prohibition in the former verse. As a strong sanction to secure its observance, the LORD adds, that he is a jealous God, i.e. (speaking of God after the manner of men) so zealous for his own honour, as not to bear a rival in his worship, Isa 42:8 and so full of just indignation, when that honour is injured, as not to spare those who transgress against him; visiting the iniquity of the fathers, &c. This, which so well suits the context, seems to me to be the true meaning of the word kanne, translated jealous here. Others, however, refer it to that jealousy which a husband has of his wife; and which, they think, may properly be applied to the Lord, who is frequently considered in Scripture as having espoused the Jewish nation, whose idolatry is hence frequently called adultery, spiritual adultery, and going a whoring from GOD. See Exo 34:15. Deu 31:16. Jdg 2:17. Jer 9:20. kanne, signifies any fervor of mind which exerts itself, whether in indignation, jealousy, or the like; and the idea is derived from that action of fire, which corrodes and consumes the substance of material things. It is remarkable, that God never expresses himself against any crime with so much indignation and zeal, as against idolatry; and that for this plain reason, because idolatry includes a total depravation of principles, together with an entire corruption of manners.
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers, &c. Visiting, i.e. punishing, with signal judgments, the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, not only personally punishing the parents themselves, but further causing their guilt to prove a punishment to their posterity, even to the thirds and fourths, according to the letter of the Hebrew; and so, in the sixth verse, to the thousands; i.e. (as the versions properly supply) to the third, fourth, and thousandth generation. We may observe, how peculiarly abominable idolatry must be to GOD, and how grievous a sin in itself, by the word here used for it; them that hate me. Idolatry is utter opposition and downright hatred of God. Rewards and punishments are the great sanctions of every law: temporal rewards and punishments were the peculiar sanctions of the Jewish law. The strongest and most affecting of these to human nature, the happiness or the misery of their offspring, are here proposed to the Israelites as their preservatives from idolatry, the most capital offence against their supreme Lord and King; who declares, that the fathers, guilty of this crime, should be punished even to the fourth generation of their posterity; while those who preserved themselves from this hateful offence, should find his mercy extended even to a thousand; i.e. to countless generations of their posterity. Let it be remembered, that God is here to be considered as the King and Lawgiver of the people; and this act of idolatry being immediate rebellion and high-treason against him, there can be no more injustice in his causing the sin of the fathers to prove an evil and a punishment to the sons, than there is injustice in an earthly king thus punishing treason, as is the case, in any of his rebellious subjects. Besides, it is most probable, as God speaks to the people or Jewish nation as one person, thou shalt, &c. &c. that this sanction is to be understood more especially as referring to the nation as such, whose idolatry he threatens, nationally, to punish or reward, as their King and Ruler. Let it be observed further, in justification of the commandment and its penalty, that wicked parents too commonly occasion wicked children: nor can any man avow such an exemption from personal defect, as to claim, for his own sake, an entire exemption from punishment. Here too it is to be observed, in testimony of the Divine goodness, and how much more he delights in mercy than in punishment, that he threatens to visit the rebellious only to four, while he promises to spare the obedient to a thousand generations. This appears to us to be a sufficient vindication of the passage before us; and which they seem greatly to mistake, who suppose that the words, of them that hate me, refer to the children, not the fathers: for thus the threat would be no threat at all; personal guilt would only find, as we are assured it will, personal punishment; and the contrast would be wholly destroyed between those who hated, and those who loved God. But how, upon this view, shall we reconcile what is said Deu 24:16 and Eze 18:20? which latter passage is a full and undeniable proof, that we render and understand this passage in the commandment rightly; and, consequently, that all solutions of the difficulty, founded on different translations of the original, are vain. Now, for the first, (Deu 24:16.) it is evident, that the injunction there delivered, that fathers should not be put to death for their children, or children for their fathers, is delivered in opposition to some idolatrous and wicked practices, which admitted of this kind of transmutation: for the latter, it is no less evident, that the case which the prophet there puts, is an exempt one from the general practice. Such was the hateful and contagious wickedness of idolatry, that a family, once tainted with it, too commonly continued in the practice; and thus derived, from their father, his guilt and his punishment. Besides which, the immediate punishment inflicted upon the father by GOD, may be supposed sensibly to have affected the interests of the family: but the case was put to the prophet Ezekiel, that, if the son of a wicked or idolatrous father, convinced of his own and his father’s crimes, would repent and turn, would not the repentance of that soul be accepted? would GOD strictly adhere to his denunciation, of punishing the iniquity of the father in the children? To which the prophet plainly and peremptorily replies, that when the son hath done that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not thus bear the iniquity of the father, nor the father the iniquity of the son. In this view, there is no contradiction in the texts; for it is an allowed maxim, that all lawgivers may, with justice, relax the punishments they have threatened; though they cannot, with justice, diminish the rewards they have promised. But further still, I would observe, that it seems most probable the punishments alluded to here, and in the prophet Ezekiel, are of a different nature. GOD, as we have remarked, speaks at present in the character of the immediate King and Lawgiver of the Jews, and his promises and threats have all a temporal aspect. In Ezekiel, the question is not concerning temporal, but spiritual punishment: and though it may be strictly just in a legislator to inflict temporal punishments on children for the iniquity of their parents; i.e. to deprive them of many privileges with which they would have been invested by the fealty of their parents; it does not seem at all consistent with the ideas we have of the common Parent of the universe, to punish eternally, either children, or any of the race of mankind, for the crimes of parents or of any other. In this respect, surely, it is an eternal truth, that the children shall not bear the iniquity of their fathers, nor the fathers that of the children.
As this law is by the infidels accused of injustice, we have thought it our duty to spend some time in defending it from this calumny. It is not to be looked upon as a part of universal religion, but only as a part of a civil institute, given by Jehovah to one people, as their tutelary God and civil Governor. Now we know it to be the practice of all states, to punish the crime of lese majesty, or treason, in this manner. In the Jewish republic, this method of punishment was administered with more lenity, and with infinitely more rectitude, than in any other: for, although GOD allowed capital punishment to be inflicted for lese majesty on the person of the offender; yet, concerning his family or posterity, he reserved the inquisition to himself: this abundantly justified the equity of it, because no power less than omniscient could, in all cases, keep clear of injustice in such an inquisition.GOD supported the Israelites in Judea by an extraordinary providence; the consequences of which were great temporal blessings, to which they had no natural claim, on condition of obedience. Nothing, therefore, could be more equitable than, on the violation of that condition, to withdraw those extraordinary blessings from the children of a father thus offending. How then can the infidel charge this law with injustice!
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;
Ver. 5. Thou shalt not bow down. ] Images came first from Babylon. For Ninus having made an image of his father Belus, all that came to see it were pardoned for their former offences: whence in time that image came to be worshipped, through the instigation of the devil, who is, saith Synesius, ; one that rejoiceth in images.
Am a jealous God.
Visiting the iniquity. a Speed’s Chro.
jealous = zealous. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6. Compare Deu 4:24. Heb 12:29.
GOD = El. See App-4.
visiting = charging. This burden of God’s revela tion of Himself reappears in Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7. Num 14:18. Deu 5:9, Deu 5:10. The punishment being not lengthened in vengeance, but distributed in mercy over the third and fourth, so that the whole weight falls not on the first or second. iniquity. Hebrew. ‘avon. App-44.
children = sons.
bow down: Exo 23:24, Lev 26:1, Jos 23:7, Jos 23:16, Jdg 2:19, 2Ki 17:35, 2Ki 17:41, 2Ch 25:14, Isa 44:15, Isa 44:19, Mat 4:9
for I: Exo 34:14, Deu 4:24, Deu 6:15, Deu 32:21, Jos 24:19, Psa 78:58, Pro 6:34, Pro 6:35, Eze 8:3, Dan 1:2, Nah 1:2, 1Co 10:22
visiting: Exo 34:7, Lev 20:5, Lev 26:29, Lev 26:39, Lev 26:40, Num 14:18, Num 14:33, 1Sa 15:2, 1Sa 15:3, 2Sa 21:1, 2Sa 21:6, 1Ki 21:29, 2Ki 23:26, Job 5:4, Job 21:19, Psa 79:8, Psa 109:14, Isa 14:20, Isa 14:21, Isa 65:6, Isa 65:7, Jer 2:9, Jer 32:18, Mat 23:34-36
of them: Deu 7:10, Deu 32:41, Psa 81:15, Pro 8:36, Joh 7:7, Joh 15:18, Joh 15:23, Joh 15:24, Rom 1:30, Rom 8:7, Jam 4:4
Reciprocal: Gen 21:1 – visited Exo 32:34 – the day Num 16:29 – visited Num 25:2 – bowed Deu 4:16 – corrupt Deu 4:23 – make you Deu 7:4 – so will Deu 23:8 – third generation Deu 29:20 – his jealousy Jos 7:24 – his sons Jdg 2:12 – bowed 1Sa 31:2 – Saul’s sons 2Sa 21:9 – before the Lord 1Ki 11:12 – I will rend it out 1Ki 11:35 – I will take 1Ki 14:1 – the son 1Ki 16:7 – and against his house 1Ki 19:10 – very jealous 1Ki 19:18 – the knees 1Ki 21:21 – Behold 2Ki 2:24 – children of them 2Ki 5:18 – and I bow 2Ki 9:26 – I will requite 2Ki 22:13 – great 2Ki 24:3 – for the sins 1Ch 10:2 – the sons 1Ch 21:17 – on my father’s 2Ch 19:2 – hate the Lord 2Ch 21:14 – thy children Est 9:10 – ten sons Job 7:18 – visit Job 17:5 – the eyes Psa 37:28 – but Psa 59:5 – visit Psa 68:1 – that hate Psa 95:6 – worship Psa 106:20 – into Isa 44:13 – he marketh Jer 29:32 – punish Lam 5:7 – fathers Eze 18:19 – Why Eze 38:8 – thou shalt be Dan 3:6 – falleth Dan 3:28 – serve Dan 9:16 – for the Mat 27:25 – and Luk 11:50 – may Act 7:43 – figures
20:5 Thou shalt not {c} bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a {d} jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;
(c) By this outward gesture, all forms of service and worship to idols is forbidden.
(d) And will have revenge on those who condemn my honour.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes