Exodus 20:1-26
The Ten Commandments
20:1-2 God establishes His authenticity, He makes Himself known: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Do not make the mistake of thinking that God is not speaking directly to you. Your life, the entrance of your soul into this earth was enabled through the rescue He has provided throughout generations of your ancestors. He had you in mind the entire time. You are His beloved and He has given every effort to ensuring the beat of your heart in this precise moment.
Before He begins the commandments, He is establishing familiarity. You know Him. He knows you, and has been with you. Trust Him to remain with you, He's about to outline exactly how to do that.
20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
This is the first commandant because it is paramount. We must at all time be able to identify our True Source of Life. Why? Not because God is greedy for power but because He loves us and knows that only He is able to heal and love us in the very particular and abundant way we need to be healed and loved.
20:4-6 You shall not make for yourself a carved imagine - any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and forth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep my commandments.
We must consider the ways we might be idolizing something other than our creator. God is specific in explaining what an idol is. In our generation, we often figuratively bow to money, time, greed and control and fame. We give our attention, dedication, space and time to things other than God. By doing so, we lose our humility. We distract ourselves from the simple and the true.
God proclaims Himself to be a jealous God. He loves you. He is so in love with you that it hurts Him to see you choose another. He is your Father, your Creator; you mean everything to Him. It is so painful for Him to see you walk away. He's jealous because we willingly give ourselves over to things that are so much less than He is! Even though he possesses and offers us abundant beauty and love and blessings, we trade Him for corrupt things.
God makes it a point to explain that He will hold people responsible for their corruption, even throughout generations. If generation after generation of a family or nation remains corrupt, He remembers. Do not mistake this verse to mean that we are responsible for other peoples transgressions. Jeremiah 31:29 explains to us through metaphor that the actions of our ancestors do not determine God's treatment of us.
20:7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Approach God with solemnity. Speak of God with solemnity. Contemplate God with solemnity. God Him in the High regard He deserves. He has earned our respect. Look around: this earth has been intricately tailored to support the life within us. With microscopic detail He has made this place our temporary home. Do not take His name in vain because He is our permanent Home. Keep the relationship you have with your Home pure and sanctified.
20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
- But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, not your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
- For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
God knows our souls and our bodies. He knows how easily distracted we are. He knows how weary we become. He initiates and ordains this day of rest. The world has largely abandoned this rest day, do not make the same mistake. Your soul, spirit, mind and body need time and space to rest and contemplate and reflect. So much of life happens so swiftly it leaves us spinning. God wants us to take a rest day to re-stabilize. Reestablish our balance so that we are always walking straight and forward, toward Him.
20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
Regardless of the condition of your relationship with them, your parents are the vessels through which you came to the world. If you have loving and generous, attentive and present parents... wonderful. If not, you are still in the same position as the others. We all have imperfect earthly parents but a perfect spiritual parent. Our parents here on earth are imperfect but God wants us to respect them anyway. Why? Because our parents are the first relationship we have here on earth, regardless of how brief it might be. Establishing a respectful disposition with them is the foundation we have when it comes to interacting with all others.
If we become able to understand our parents, flaws and all, God knows we will be more able to understand others despite their flaws as well. Since we live in a flawed world, this ability is crucial to have.
20:13 You shall not murder. The original word used for murder in this verse is the word ratsach, meaning: premeditated murder. God understands self-defense: Psalm 144 (Psalmist David prepares for war against evil).
20:14 You shall not commit adultery. This commandment is straightforward. Honor the relationships you have with others: social, platonic, romantic, spiritual. Be respectful. Be faithful. When you unite your soul with someone, remain distractedly committed. Moreover, be loving and attentive to that person (as God has been with you).
20:15 You shall not steal. God provides. Develop the trust and faith to believe that you will never starve or hunger when He is your center of focus. He provides abundantly. In Exodus 16, God provides manna to the children of Israel and instructs them to only take what they need for the present day. Why? Because He will continue to provide fresh blessings every morning and every evening. Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Let only truth come out of you. Never condemn someone with your lies. God protects His righteous children. 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. If you need an escape, God will provide it. Yet if we follow His other commandments, we have no reason to lie.
20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house;
- You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
Consider this definition of covetousness from Susannah Baker: "To covet is to want what God has not chosen for you. We want what we do not have and we hoard what we do. The remedy: Transfer your treasure. Stop seeing God's "No" as deprivation or limitation, and see it instead as invitation."
God invites us to leave certain spaces in our lives open so that we may welcome blessings from Him in perfectly appointed time. And finally, "Do not allowed yourself to be possessed by things - possess the Lord." He is all you need.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 explains to us that God provides. He provides specific to the individual. No one is left out. Our gifts from Him might be different but they are equal. We can all trust and rely on His promise to provide precisely for the individual. Each gift is chosen purposefully to enable the individual to be purposeful:
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
The upshot is that you do not need to covet anything. It is a waste of time and energy. Enable Him to do so by widening and strengthening your faith. Create the tunnel and the landing pad through and on which blessings arrive.
20:18-19 God nears completion of His message to Moses and the children of Israel are expectant, eager to receive it. Notice that people were not yet able to have a personal relationship with God. Oh, how much sweeter life is now that we have this intimate, personalized connection with God! They were not ready. God's power intimidating them. They did not realize that love and compassion are what comprise God's awe-some, stunning, quaking power. They did not know gentle love from a God and Creator. God's mission, and we read of the process throughout the Bible, is to change that. He wants to bring people closer to His safe love.
20:20 The first words out of Moses' mouth are: Do not fear. We do not not ever need to fear God, our enemies do. Injustice does. Corruption does. Evil and greed do. But we, as His compassionate children, do not. Moses continues with the message that everything God does is meant to grow us in courage and faith and ability.
20:21 Moses delivers this message in the thick of God's tremendous power but the children of Israel stand back. Be like Moses, trust God to envelope you in love, comfort and wisdom. Do not stand back because it is so sweet to be within Him.
20:22-23 God explains that we do not need to make physical representations of Him. Go to Him directly. Speak with Him directly. You do not need a middle-man or thing. Gold and silver and earthly things have no value to Him. He values your love and compassion.
20:24-26 To remember me, God explains, build an altar from which to pray and sacrifice with solemnity. For more on sacrifice, refer to our study in Exodus 18:12. Build an altar in your heart from which to be blessed by Him. After all, God promises in this very verse: I will come to you, and I will bless you. The condition is that we need to be in His sphere to receive Him and His blessings. Remain in His sphere of love, truth, wisdom and compassion and feel the blessings flow into your life.
