WEDNESDAY
Next, at the beginning of chapter 20, we come to the summary of the covenant stipulations in what is known as the Ten Commandments. Now, we have to remember where we are at in the story at this point. God has already established a covenant with the descendants of Abraham. He is following through on that covenant by redeeming them from Egypt, making them into a great nation, and bringing them back to the land. They are his people, and now they are being taught how to live as God’s people. It’s not the other way around. They are not to behave as God’s people so that he will make them his people. The covenant is not intended to be a ladder for people to get to God. It is God revealing to his people how they are to live as people who belong to him already. God is dictating the terms of his relationship in the form of a suzerain-vassal covenant, but as we will see next week and throughout the whole Old Testament, when God’s people violate the terms of the covenant, he does not break his covenant obligations with them even though he would be completely justified in doing so. So in this sense, his relationship with his people looks more like a marriage covenant or a parental relationship. The New Testament authors will prefer these relational images.
Exodus 20:1–21 (NIV) 1 And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
The identity of Yahweh is the foundational principle in this covenant. His action of redeeming them from slavery in Egypt now leaves the people in his possession.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
The idea here is simple—Yahweh alone is to be your God. The people’s allegiance is to be given fully and exclusively to Yahweh. Remember, we said that this is an expected part of this type of covenant in the ancient world.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
In the second commandment, the people are to know that God is completely “other” than creation. He cannot be represented by a statue or a pillar. This practice of idol-making was everywhere in the ancient world, so the people would think this to be normal. In fact, next week we will see they violate this commandment rather quickly.
God says that he is a “jealous” God. This particular form of the word is only used in the Old Testament to describe God. So, it likely is to differentiate God’s jealousy from human jealousy. This word can imply passion, concern, and zeal. God is not aloof and indifferent in regards to this covenant he is entering into. He is jealous for his people’s exclusive devotion to him.
God’s punishment of the children for the parent’s sins tends to raise lots of eyebrows and leads us to accuse God of injustice. But this statement is meant to be taken in context with the next line. It reveals that God’s punishment is limited but his love (hesed - covenant faithfulness, unfailing love, never ending kindness) is without limit. No one accuses God of injustice when he shows love to children on account of their parents. Perhaps this reveals our warped sense of justice and our lack of appreciation for grace. We all deserve God’s just punishment. It is only by his grace that he shows his favor to any of us at all.
Also note that the obedience to God’s commands is framed in the context of “those who love me.” Whereas disobedience is framed in the words “those who hate me.” Our obedience or disobedience is representative of the deeper, more important reality—whether we love God or not. This is the reality that Jesus constantly points to.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
The verbiage of this command is more literally translated “take up in a way that makes God’s name worthless.” Instead of thinking of this only as speaking the name of Yahweh inappropriately, I think it implies more than that. It implies that the people of Israel now bear God’s name as his covenant partners and so they should live in a way that portrays all of his character. They are to do nothing that dishonors the name of Yahweh.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
For former slaves, this command to rest an entire day would come as a great shock. Their former slave owners made them work all day every day. Now God, their loving Father, their suzerain, their gracious Creator, demands that they take one day every week to rest and worship.
These first 4 commandments are describing how God’s people are to relate to him. The next 6 describe how God’s people are to relate to one another. In these we learn a lot about God. We learn that “God is profoundly ethical, and his ethics are grounded in self-giving, other-oriented love…The revolutionary significance of rooting ethics in the covenant context is that the whole “why” of ethics is changed. We are not ethical because a human society coerces us to it, and we are not ethical insofar as we think such behavior will “pay off” for us. We are ethical for the love of God and as a replication of his character.” —Allen Ross and John N. Oswalt, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, vol. 1 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2008)
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
“The theme underlying the 10 commandments can be summarized: because I have entrusted my needs to my covenant Lord I do not have to manipulate others to get my needs supplied; in fact, I can value and honor others.” —Allen Ross and John N. Oswalt, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, vol. 1 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2008)
Similarly Peter writes to those who are suffering in 1 Peter 4:19 (ESV) “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”
Reflection
How does what we talked about today influence your understanding of ethics?
- Ethics are rooted in the character of God.
- We should be ethical because we should be like God.
- We can be ethical and treat others with dignity because we have entrusted ourselves to God.
- Ethics are not a way to earn God’s favor. Ethics are the way we are supposed to live as recipients of God’s favor.