Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 20:2
I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
2. The Testimony (or attestation, averment, viz. of God’s will; see on Exo 25:16): 36 times in P (cf. ibid.). Elsewhere in this sense only 2Ki 11:12 (but doubtfully: see Skinner in the Century Bible, and Barnes in the Cambr. Bible), and 2Ch 24:6 (as Num 17:7-8 al.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2. Introduction. The commandments are introduced by the statement who it is that gives them: One, viz., who is Israel’s God and who has also been Israel’s benefactor; and who has thus both the right to impose them, and a claim upon Israel for obedience to them.
Jehovah thy God ] so Exo 20:5; Exo 20:7; Exo 20:10; Exo 20:12; Exo 15:26 (see note), Exo 23:19 = Exo 34:26, Exo 34:24, and frequently (more than 200 times) in Dt. Not elsewhere in Ex. Nu.
which brought thee out, &c.] and consequently has a claim upon thee for gratitude and obedience; cf. Exo 13:3; Exo 13:9; Exo 13:14; Exo 13:16: he same motive, also, Deu 5:15; Deu 6:12; Deu 8:14; Deu 13:5; Deu 13:10; Amo 2:10; Hos 13:4 (RVm.).
the house of bondage (lit. of slaves)] as Exo 13:3 (see note), 14; and often in Dt. (cf. esp. Deu 6:12, Deu 8:14, Deu 13:10, just quoted).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
Against mental or theoretic idolatry.
Verse 2. I am the LORD thy God] Yehovah eloheycha. On the word JEHOVAH, which we here translate LORD, See Clarke on Ge 2:4, and “Ex 6:3“. And on the word Elohim, here translated GOD, See Clarke on Ge 1:1. It is worthy of remark that each individual is addressed here, and not the people collectively, though they are all necessarily included; that each might feel that he was bound for himself to hear and do all these words. Moses laboured to impress this personal interest on the people’s minds, when he said, De 5:3-4: “The Lord made this covenant with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.”
Brought thee out of the land of Egypt, &c.] And by this very thing have proved myself to be superior to all gods, unlimited in power, and most gracious as well as fearful in operation. This is the preface or introduction, but should not be separated from the commandment. Therefore, –
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The only true God, and
thy God by special title, having entered into covenant with thee, and chosen thee for my peculiar people, to protect, and rule, and bless thee above all others. Gods authority and right over them is fitly put in the front, as the foundation of all Gods commands, and their duties.
Which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt; and so by right of redemption thou art mine. Out of the house, i.e. the place; for so the word house is sometimes used, as Jdg 16:21.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. I am the Lord thy GodThisis a preface to the ten commandmentsthe latter clause beingspecially applicable to the case of the Israelites, while the formerbrings it home to all mankind; showing that the reasonableness of thelaw is founded in their eternal relation as creatures to theirCreator, and their mutual relations to each other.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I am the Lord thy God,…. This verse does not contain the first of these commands, but is a preface to them, showing that God had a right to enact and enjoin the people of Israel laws; and that they were under obligation to attend unto them with reverence, and cheerfully obey them, since he was the Lord, the eternal and immutable Jehovah, the Being of beings, who gives being to all creatures, and gave them theirs, and therefore had a right to give them what laws he pleased; and he was their God, their covenant God, in a special and peculiar manner, their King and their God, they being a Theocracy, and so more immediately under his government, and therefore had laws given them preferable to what any other people had:
which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt: where they had been afflicted many years, and reduced to great distress, but were brought forth with an high hand, and with great riches, and in a very wonderful and miraculous manner; so that they were under great obligations to yield a ready and cheerful obedience to the will of God:
out of the house of bondage: or “servants” b; that is, where they had been servants and slaves, but now were made free, and were become a body politic, a kingdom of themselves, under their Lord, King, Lawgiver, and Saviour, Jehovah himself, and therefore to be governed by laws of his enacting; and this shows that this body of laws was delivered out to the people of Israel, and primarily belong to them; for of no other can the above things be said.
b “servorum”, Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Ten Words commenced with a declaration of Jehovah concerning Himself, which served as a practical basis for the obligation on the part of the people to keep the commandments: “ I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee,” etc. By bringing them out of Egypt, the house of bondage, Jehovah had proved to the Israelites that He was their God. This glorious act, to which Israel owed its existence as an independent nation, was peculiarly fitted, as a distinct and practical manifestation of unmerited divine love, to kindle in the hearts of the people the warmest love in return, and to incite them to keep the commandments. These words are not to be regarded, as Knobel supposes, as either a confession, or the foundation of the whole of the theocratical law, just as Saleucus, Plato, and other lawgivers placed a belief in the existence of the gods at the head of their laws. They were rather the preamble, as Calvin says, by which God prepared the minds of the people for obeying them, and in this sense they were frequently repeated to give emphasis to other laws, sometimes in full, as in Exo 29:46; Lev 19:36; Lev 23:43; Lev 25:38, Lev 25:55; Lev 26:13, etc., sometimes in the abridged form, “I am Jehovah your God,” as in Lev 11:44; Lev 18:2, Lev 18:4, Lev 18:30; Lev 19:4, Lev 19:10, Lev 19:25, Lev 19:31, Lev 19:34; Lev 20:7, etc., for which the simple expression, “I am Jehovah,” is now and then substituted, as in Lev 19:12-13, Lev 19:16, Lev 19:18, etc.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(2) I am the Lord thy God.The binding nature of commands upon the conscience depends upon the authority of the person who issues them. That there might be no dispute as to what the authority was in the case of the Decalogue, God prefaced the commands themselves by this distinct statement. By whomsoever they were communicated (see the first Note on Exo. 20:1), they were the commands of Jehovah Himself.
Which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt.Thus exhibiting at once Almighty power and the tenderest compassion and care. God desires the obedience which springs from love, not fear.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. I am the Lord thy God Many of the Jews, as we have seen above, regard this verse as the first of the ten words, or commandments, but they are rather of the nature of an introduction, showing emphatically the origin and source of the commandments . As the Eternal God, the I AM of previous revelation, (Exo 3:14-15,) he appropriately announces his NAME, and mentions the redemption from Egypt as a ground of obligation for Israel to hear and keep his commandments . The singular form of the address, thy God, not your God, gives a particular individuality of personal appeal to this announcement. The same is to be noted in each of the commandments which follow. The redemption out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, was the greatest fact in Israel’s history, and he who wrought that wonderful deliverance is the author of this holy law, and directs its words to every individual of the nation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Exo 20:2. I am the LORD thy God, &c. This is supposed, by some, to be the preface of the first commandment; but it appears, rather, to be the general introduction to them all, especially as it is found in Lev 19:25; Lev 19:31; Lev 19:34, &c. subjoined to a great variety of commandments. Jehovah, being about to deliver laws to the Hebrews, as their peculiar God and King, in these words recognizes his august titles, and his just authority over them: grounding his claim to their obedience, not on the general argument of his universal supremacy and dominion; but on that of his particular protection towards them, founded upon the covenant he had entered into with their fathers, and upon that redemption of them from Egyptian bondage, which he had perfected in consequence of that covenant. I am JEHOVAH, thy
elohim, the promised Deliverer in covenant with thee and thy fathers; and who, in pursuance of that covenant, have brought thee forth from Egypt, in order to give thee the land which I have promised: thou, therefore, thus peculiarly related to me, hearken to my will, and obey my commandments; and thus shalt thou inherit the blessing.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Exo 20:2 I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Ver. 2. Which have brought thee. ] God’s blessings are binders; and every deliverance a tie to obedience. See Trapp (for summary of Law) on “ Exo 20:17 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I am, &c. = “I, Jehovah [am] thy God (Hebrew. Elohim). “App-4.
the LORD (Hebrew. Jehovah. thy God. This must go with Com. I, or we should not have the five repetitions of it in the first five.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the Lord: Gen 17:7, Gen 17:8, Lev 26:1, Lev 26:13, Deu 5:6, Deu 6:4, Deu 6:5, 2Ch 28:5, Psa 50:7, Psa 81:10, Jer 31:1, Jer 31:33, Hos 13:4, Rom 3:29, Rom 10:12
brought: Exo 10:1 – Exo 15:27, Lev 19:36, Lev 23:43
out of the: Exo 13:3, Deu 5:15, Deu 7:8, Deu 13:10, Deu 15:15, Deu 26:6-8
bondage: Heb. servants
Reciprocal: Exo 1:14 – was with rigour Exo 6:2 – I am the Lord Exo 6:26 – Bring Exo 22:21 – for ye were strangers Exo 29:46 – that I am Exo 32:4 – which brought Lev 11:44 – I am the Lev 11:45 – be holy Lev 18:2 – General Lev 22:33 – General Lev 25:10 – proclaim Lev 25:38 – which Lev 25:55 – my servants Lev 26:45 – General Num 23:22 – God Deu 6:21 – General Deu 28:58 – fear this glorious Deu 28:68 – there ye shall Jdg 2:1 – I made Jdg 6:10 – I am the 2Sa 23:3 – God 2Ki 17:7 – which had 2Ch 20:7 – our God Psa 95:7 – For he Psa 105:7 – the Lord Psa 114:1 – Israel Jer 16:14 – that brought Eze 20:5 – I am Eze 20:10 – General Eze 20:19 – the Lord Hos 12:9 – I that Mic 6:4 – I brought Rev 11:8 – Egypt
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 20:2. I am the Lord thy God Herein God asserts his own authority to enact this law; and proposeth himself as the sole object of that religious worship which is enjoined in the four first commandments. They are here bound to obedience. 1st, Because God is the Lord, Jehovah, self-existent, independent, eternal, and the fountain of all being and power; therefore he has an incontestible right to command us. 2d, He was their God; a God in covenant with them; their God by their own consent. 3d, He had brought them out of the land of Egypt Therefore they were bound in gratitude to obey him, because he had brought them out of a grievous slavery into a glorious liberty. By redeeming them, he acquired a further right to rule them; they owed their service to him to whom they owed their freedom. And thus Christ, having rescued us out of the bondage of sin, is entitled to the best service we can do for him. The first four commandments concern our duty to God, commonly called the first table. It was fit those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love before he had a neighbour to love, and justice and charity are then only acceptable to God when they flow from the principles of piety.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
THE PROLOGUE.
Exo 20:2.
The Decalogue is introduced by the words “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
Here, and in the previous chapter, is already a great advance upon the time when it was said to them “The God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath appeared.” Now they are expected to remember what He has done for themselves. For, although religion must begin with testimony, it ought always to grow up into an experience. Thus it was that many of the Samaritans believed on Jesus because of the word of the woman; but presently they said, “Now we believe, not because of thy speaking, for we have heard Him ourselves, and know.” And thus the disciples who heard John the Baptist speak, and so followed Jesus, having come and seen where He abode, could say, “We have found the Messiah.”
This prologue is vitally connected with both tables of the law. In relation to the first, it recognises the instinct of worship in the human heart. In vain shall we say Do not worship idols, until the true object of adoration is supplied, for the heart must and will prostrate itself at some shrine. A leader of modern science confesses “the immovable basis of the religious sentiment in the nature of man,” adding that “to yield this sentiment reasonable satisfaction is the problem of problems at the present hour.”[35] It is indeed a problem for the unbelief which, because it professes to be scientific, cannot shut its eyes to the fact that men whose faith in Christ has suffered shipwreck are everywhere seen to be clinging to strange planks–spiritualism, esoteric Buddhism, and other superstitions,–which prove that man must and will reverence something more than streams of tendencies, or beneficial results to the greatest numbers. The Law of Moses abolishes superstition by no mere negation, but by the proclamation of a true God.
Moreover, it declares that this God is knowable, which flatly contradicts the brave assertion of modern agnostics that the notion of a God is not even “thinkable.” That assertion is a bald and barren platitude in the only sense in which it is not contrary to the experience of all mankind. As we cannot form a complete and perfect, nor even an adequate notion of God, so no man ever yet conceived a complete and adequate notion of his neighbour, nor indeed of himself. But as we can form a notion of one another, dim and fragmentary indeed, yet more or less accurate and fit to guide our actions, so has every nation and every man formed some notion of deity. Nor could even the agnostic declare that God is unthinkable, unless the word God, of which he makes this assertion, conveyed to him some idea, some thought, more or less worthy of the thinking. The ancient Jew never dreamed that he could search out the Almighty to perfection, yet God was known to him by His actions (the only means by which we know our fellow-men); and the combined terror and loving-kindness of these at once warned him against revolt, and appealed to his loyalty for obedience.
In relation to the second table, the prologue was both an argument and an appeal. Why should a man hope to prosper by estranging his best Friend, his Emancipator and Guide? And even if disobedience could obtain some paltry advantage, how base would he be who snatched at it, when forbidden by the God Who broke his chains, and brought him out of the house of bondage–a Benefactor not ungenial and remote, but One Who enters into closest relations with him, calling Himself “Thy God”!
Now, a greater emancipation and a closer personal relationship belong to the Church of Christ. When a Christian hears that God is unthinkable, he ought to be able to answer, ‘God is my God, and He has brought my soul out of its house of bondage.’
Moreover, his emancipation by Christ from many sins and inner slaveries ought to be a fact plain enough to constitute the sorest of problems to the observing world.
It must be observed, besides, that the Law, which was the centre of Judaism, does not appeal chiefly to the meaner side of human nature. Hell is not yet known, for the depths of eternity could not be uncovered before the clouds had rolled away from its heights of love and condescension; or else the sanity and balance of human nature would have been overthrown. But even temporal judgments are not set in the foremost place. As St. Paul, who knew the terrors of the Lord, more commonly and urgently besought men by the mercies of God, so were the ancient Jews, under the burning mountain, reminded rather of what God had bestowed upon them, than of what He might inflict if they provoked Him. And our gratitude, like theirs, should be excited by His temporal as well as His spiritual gifts to us.
FOOTNOTES:
[35] Prof. Tyndall, Belfast Address, p. 60. What progress has scientific unbelief made since 1874 in solving this “question of questions for the present hour”? It has perfected the phonograph, but it has not devised a creed.