Exodus 20
Notes
Transcript
Review
Review
God did not have to use 10 plagues for Pharoah and Egyptians to send Israel out! At the very least, it’s hard to imagine the killing of ALL the firstborn in all of Egypt would have convinced Pharoah of the power of this God Yahweh!
God used this to systematically show Israel most importantly but also the world that He was the Most High God, more powerful than the strongest gods of the strongest empire on Earth at the time!
Introduction
Introduction
We say Ten Commandments but more accurate to say Ten Words (The Decalogue)
Ex 34:28 “28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.”
commandments here in Hebrew (dābhar) is words
Is the Law for us today or just for before Jesus?
Gal 3:24-25 “24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
Gal 3:21-23 “21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.”
Matt 5:17-18 “17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 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.”
Most say 9 of the 10 are explicitly repeated in the New Testament saying the 4th (Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy) is the only one not.
Implied in many places in the NT though
Matt 22:37-40 “37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
37 and 38 sum up the 1st table of the law. Commandments 1-4 that deal with our relationship with God.
39 and 40 sum up the 2nd table of the law. Commandments 5-10 that deal with our relationships with one another.
Vodie quote
“The 10 commandments are a picture of God’s forever binding moral law, God’s character, and what God is forming in His people.”
“Also a picture of what God’s Son personifies and keeps on behalf of His people. This is the law that Christ keeps and is bound to.”
Exodus 20 Prologue
Exodus 20 Prologue
1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Won’t argue too strongly but put verses together it seems like God may have spoken the Ten Words to all of Israel AND Moses
Ex 19:16-17 “16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.”
Ex 20:18-19 “18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
God reminds Israel who He is and what He’s done!
It’s because of this that God told them how to live and who they are to be in relation to Him, each other, and everyone else:
Ex 19:3-6 “3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. 5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
The Ten Words will give the “how”!
First Commandment
First Commandment
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Sets Israel apart from every other nation that would be shocking to Israel (several hundred years in Egypt, living among a polytheistic people. What’s more they will be going into Canaan, which will be yet another polytheistic land
“before” is not a rank but they were not to have any other god in His presence, in worship, and in obedience
Ex 34:11-17 “11 Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: 13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: 14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; 16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. 17 Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.”
Images in vs. 13 is “statues”
Second Commandment
Second Commandment
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: 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; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Obviously “statues” for other gods;
Also not to make “statues” of Yahweh and worship the statue created with men’s hands rather than the Holy God that created everything in heaven and earth as well as men AND their hands.
No created thing was to be identified with the creator God. To do so is one step away from the same thing all the nations around them were doing
Both obedience and disobedience will affect Israel now and for generations to come (not contrary to Deut 24:16). How people act not only affects them, but generations after them. Sin and disobedience to God’s rules in God’s world destroys not only the individual, but damages all the people in their life and the lives of kids and kids, kids!
Third Commandment
Third Commandment
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.
Vain means emptiness, vanity, evil, ruin, uselessness, deception, worthless, without result, fraud, deceit. The primary meaning of the word is deceit, lie, or falsehood.
Also covers curses and blasphemy's
Fourth Commandment
Fourth Commandment
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Obvious to honor it because it’s important
Applies to physical (rest from work for all) but spiritual (worship “keep it holy). Worship and delight in God by following the pattern He used in creation.
Also acts as a transition from first table (us toward God) to second table (us toward each other and everyone else)
Fifth Commandment
Fifth Commandment
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Honor is to respect or esteem highly
We are to honor God (who is our heavenly Father) by honoring our earthly parents
Eph 6:1-4 “1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. 4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
God is helping them and us to understand honoring them, honors Him. Doing this leads to life long, and full, and true, and good, and beautiful!
Sixth Commandment
Sixth Commandment
13 Thou shalt not kill.
Don’t deprive your neighbor of his life
Not all killing. The Bible is clear this is WRONGFUL killing of other people. Murder.
There is biblically justified killing like (defense of self, family, and neighbor; defense of country; punishment for murder by the state (ironically one of the few things God says the state should do).
Every human is created as an image bearer of God (even if that image is marred by sin and not being remade by faith in Jesus). To take that life is to try to
Seventh Commandment
Seventh Commandment
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Don’t deprive your neighbor of his family
Not just physical but also in the heart. Not just actions but thoughts.
Matt 5:27-28 “27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
Eighth Commandment
Eighth Commandment
15 Thou shalt not steal.
Don’t deprive your neighbor of his stuff
We’ll learn more in next chapters but also:
Kidnapping and slavery: Ex 21:16 “16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.”
Animals:
Ex 22:1 “1 If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.”
Ex 22:12 “12 And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof.”
Stuff: Ex 22:7 “7 If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man’s house; if the thief be found, let him pay double.”
Ninth Commandment
Ninth Commandment
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Don’t deprive your neighbor of his reputation but protect it
Refers specifically to judicial “lying in court”
Ex 23:1-2 “1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. 2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:”
Ex 23:6-8 “6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. 7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. 8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.”
Tenth Commandment
Tenth Commandment
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
covet means to take pleasure in, to desire, to lust, to covet, to be desirable, to desire passionately.
Not simply to want it; but to desire it with so much of yourself that it changes you and how you look at your neighbor, and ultimately God Himself
To do this is to fundamentally say that what God has given you isn’t good enough. That He has failed to love you enough to give you what you want. To distrust that He is a good Father that will provide for your needs
Doing this will eventually lead to breaking the other commandments
Exodus 20 Epilogue
Exodus 20 Epilogue
18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. 21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
God was present with them!
When they heard Him they were terrified and rightly so:
Is 6:3-5 “3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
Lev 19:1-2 “1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.”
God requires a perfect keeping of the Law!
There’s the problem:
NEITHER PAUL, THE RICH YOUNG RULER IN MATTHEW 19, YOU, NOR I CAN KEEP GODS LAW 100% AS GOD GIVES IT IN THE 10 COMMANDMENTS HERE IN EXODUS 20!
Rom 7:7-11 “7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.”
Ecc 7:20 “20 For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.”
Rom 3:23 “23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
Rom 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Jesus is perfect and sinless and completely kept the Law in every point! That’s the good news that IS the Gospel
Rom 5:8 “8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Rom 10:9 “9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Rom 5:1 “1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”