CHAPTER 5

(1451 B.C.)

ISRAEL AND GODS COVENANT

¹And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear O Israel, the Statutes and Judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and keep, and do them (the necessity of all of Israel learning the Law; likewise, modern Believers must learn the Bible, and do so for themselves).

²The LORD our God made a Covenant with us in Horeb.

³The LORD made not this Covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day (the Covenant made at Sinai, with Israel as a people).

⁴The LORD talked with you face to face in the Mount of the midst of the fire,

⁵(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the Word of the LORD: for you were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the Mount;) saying,

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

⁶I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

⁷You shall have none other gods before Me. (Expositors say, In this, the First Commandment, the great principle and basis of all true spirituality is asserted monotheism [one God], as opposed to polytheism [many gods]. There is but one God, and that God is Jehovah, the self-existent and eternal, Who yet has personal relations with men.)

⁸You shall not make you 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 waters beneath the Earth:

⁹You shall not bow down yourself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them who hate Me (this Passage is often used to buttress the false doctrine of the family curse, so-called; it is true that there is a curse upon succeeding generations, but only those who hate the Lord; the Salvation of one person in such a family breaks such a curse, not only for the person, but greatly ameliorates the effect on the unsaved members of the family also [II Cor. 5:17]),

¹⁰And showing mercy unto thousands of them who love Me and keep My Commandments (this Commandment no doubt accounts for the fact that Israel alone of the civilized nations of antiquity has left no monuments of art for the instruction or admiration of posterity).

¹¹You shall not take the Name of the LORD your God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes His Name in vain (this Commandment addresses all profanity, and false swearing by the Name of God and, as well, all irreverent use of the Name [Lev. 19:12]).

¹²Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD your God has commanded you.

¹³Six days you shall labor, and do all your work:

¹⁴But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your ass, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates; that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you.

¹⁵And remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Williams says, The observance of the Sabbath, which in Exodus 20 is urged because of Gods creation rest, is commanded here in the interest of slaves as well. This shows Gods tender pity for the defenseless. Israel is enjoined here to remember that she herself was a slave in the land of Egypt. Presently, all who accept Christ, Who in effect is the Sabbath, in essence keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath in its entirety speaks of rest, which is a type of the rest which is found only in Christ [Mat. 11:28-30].)

¹⁶Honour your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you; that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which the LORD your God gives you. (Pulpit says, Where parents are not honored, a flaw lies at the basis, and the stability of the entire social fabric is endangered; as well, those who will not honor their parents will not honor God.)

¹⁷You shall not kill (shall not murder).

¹⁸Neither shall you commit adultery (extends to all forms of immorality).

¹⁹Neither shall you steal (the property of another must not be taken by fraud or outright theft).

²⁰Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbour (speaks of gossip, outright lying, and slander of every nature).

²¹Neither shall you desire your neighbours wife, neither shall you covet your neighbours house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is your neighbours (covetousness means that a person must not even desire, at least in a fraudulent manner, that which belongs to another).

GODS PRESENCE

²²These words the LORD spoke unto all your assembly in the Mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great Voice: and He added no more. And He wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me (the Lord spoke the Ten Commandments audibly to Israel, and then wrote them on two tables of stone, and gave them to Moses).

²³And it came to pass, when you heard the Voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that you came near unto me, even all the heads of your Tribes, and your Elders;

²⁴And you said, Behold, the LORD our God has showed us His Glory and His Greatness, and we have heard His Voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God does talk with man, and he lives (they did not die upon hearing the Voice of God).

²⁵Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the Voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die (they were afraid if God continued to talk with them with an audible voice, that ultimately they would die as a result).

²⁶For who is there of all flesh, who has heard the Voice of the Living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

²⁷Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto you; and we will hear it, and do it (they asked that the Lord speak solely with Moses, and He could convey the message to them).

²⁸And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when you spoke unto me; and the LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto you: they have well said all that they have spoken (the Lord approved of what Israel had requested, because they expressed a proper reverence and a due sense on their part of the unworthiness of sinful men to come into the Presence of the Great and Holy God).

²⁹O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My Commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! (God looks upon the heart, and will accept no service or worship that is not rendered from the heart.)

³⁰Go say to them, Get you into your tents again (this was at the time of the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai).

³¹But as for you (Moses), you stand here by Me, and I will speak unto you all the Commandments, and the Statutes, and the Judgments, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.

³²You shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God has commanded you: you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

³³You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess. (All of this is of extreme significance, in that these people were raised up for the purpose of serving, one might say, as the womb of the Messiah, and to whom the Word of God would be given; consequently, all of this pertains to our Salvation. When we read these Old Testament accounts, we should understand that each happening brings us a few steps closer to the Redemption we now possess in Christ. Understanding it in that fashion makes it much more important actually, the single most important thing in the world.)