Exodus Twenty

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

Exodus 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,

God spake all these words. Not only did God speak these words; He also later wrote them down Himself (the only part of the inspired Scriptures of which this was recorded—note Exodus 31:18; 34:28). Thus, if any part of the Bible should be taken literally, it should be these Ten Commandments, including God's statement that He made all things in heaven and earth in six days, as a pattern for man's six-day work week (Exodus 20:11). Note also that the commandments are grouped into two distinct categories. The first four commandments set forth the relationship of man to God (Exodus 20:3-11), the last six commandments deal with man to man (Exodus 20:6-17). Note also Jesus' statement in Matthew 22:36-40, and Paul's in Romans 13:8-10.

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.

Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:4 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:

make unto thee. This is not a prohibition against pictures or statuary, in general, but only against an attempt to replace worship of the Creator with worship of His creation or some created thing in the creation (note Romans 1:21-25). When people attempt to represent God by a graven image of some demonic spirit (or “god”) or by a pantheistic mental construct of the infinite, any such worship or representation (the key phrase is “unto thee”) is blasphemous and is forever prohibited by this key commandment. “We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device” (Acts 17:29). It also renders the use of statues and paintings of Christ, as well as angels, in churches, schools, and homes as objects of “veneration” to be at least questionable.

any likeness. This commandment surely renders the common use of statues and paintings of angels, and even more so of the Lord Jesus, in churches, schools, and homes to be very questionable, if not clearly forbidden.

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;

third and fourth generation. This apparently severe judgment on innocent children cannot contradict the teaching throughout Scripture (e.g., Ezekiel 18:19-20) that each person is individually responsible before God (e.g., Romans 14:12). Nevertheless, it is true that ungodly parents tend to produce ungodly children and grandchildren. In this way, God's judgment is exercised upon the descendants “that hate me.”

Exodus 20:6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:7 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.

his name in vain. It is significant that pagans never take the names of their “gods” in vain; this is a practice unique to apostate Christians or others whose culture has been nominally committed to belief in a personal transcendent Creator. Our Creator is to be believed, worshiped and obeyed, not trivialized or blasphemed.

Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Remember. The Hebrew word for “remember” actually is in the sense of “mark” or “set aside.” The Israelites didn't need to be told to remember the sabbath, because they, like other nations had been keeping time in weeks ever since the first week (Genesis 2:1-3). Note the references to the sabbath in the giving of the manna, prior to the giving of the Law (Exodus 16:23-29).

Exodus 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

Exodus 20:10 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:

the seventh day. It is important to note the principle of one rest day following six days of work. The Hebrew word for “sabbath” does not mean “Saturday” or “seventh day;” it means “rest” or “intermission.” The institution of the sabbath (one day of rest, worship and remembrance of the Creator) was “made for man,” not as an arbitrary legalistic ritual (Mark 2:27), whether remembered on the first or last or any other day of the locally observed week (even assuming the specific days could actually be traced back to the beginning, an assumption incapable of external proof). In fact, the Christian observance of the first day as the rest day seems most appropriate, signifying now a “marking” not only of God's completed work of creation but also His completed work of redemption of the creation (note His victory cry on the cross—“it is finished!”) affirmed forever by His victory over sin and death on the first day of the Jewish week at the time.

Exodus 20:11 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.

in six days. This verse, written on stone by God's own hand (Exodus 31:18) settles once and for all the question of the meaning of “day” in the creation chapter (Genesis 1). Man was to work six days and rest one day because God did; in fact, God took six days, instead of a single instant, to finish His work of creating and making all things to be a model for humanity (Genesis 2:1-3). God's week was of precisely the same duration and pattern as man's regular week. The Hebrew word for “days” (yamim), furthermore, is used over seven hundred times in the Old Testament, and cannot be shown ever to require any meaning except that of literal days, certainly never to anything comparable to geological ages. Still further, “all that in them is” was made in the six days; nothing had been made previously, as the gap theory of Genesis would require. There seems to be no legitimate exegesis of Genesis that can ever allow for the theoretical ages of evolutionary geology. Further, no such gap is necessary; all the data of rocks and fossils are much better explained in terms of the great Flood. It is also significant that other human measurements of time (day, month, year) are keyed to astronomical processes. The universal week, however, has no astronomical base whatever. We keep time in weeks simply because God does!

Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

kill. The commandment not to kill obviously refers to murder, not to judicial execution. God Himself had ordained the principle of capital punishment for the murderer (Genesis 9:6; see also Romans 13:4), as well as for other crimes (e.g., Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 24:16).

Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.

Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Exodus 20:17 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.

Exodus 20:18 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.

Exodus 20:19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

Exodus 20:20 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.

Exodus 20:21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

Exodus 20:22 And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

Exodus 20:23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.

Exodus 20:24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

Exodus 20:25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

Exodus 20:26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.