SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON 6 - Ex. 20:1-17 - COMMANDED
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in Ex. 16:1-5, 11-20, we caught up with Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites a month after they had escaped from Egypt as they arrived in the desolate, the Wilderness of Sin, where there was neither food nor water. Almost as soon as they got there, they began to grumble, saying they had been better off as slaves in Egypt and accused Moses and Aaron of bringing them to this place to die of thirst and hunger. Despite their faithless attitude, God miraculously and graciously provided water, quails, and "bread from heaven" (manna). The two main points of application we learned from that lesson were: (1) When we are faced with a need in life, we can choose to grumble about it or submit to the Lord and wait on Him to meet our need. The truth is that God is faithful and will meet our needs (as opposed to wants) in His way according to His timing. And (2) Grumbling should never be part of our Christian walk. Grumbling only shows a lack of faith and trust in God to meet our needs. When we grumble against the leadership in our church, it has a way of causing trouble rather than meeting our needs.
This week, in Ex. 20:1-17, we'll be covering some familiar ground, where we will hear God issue the Ten Commandments. This event represents a turning point in the history of Israel: Since the call of Moses in Chapter 3, the Book of Exodus has focused primarily on God's actions to bring the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Now, the focus will shift to emphasize the covenant relationship that exists between God and His Chosen People-and the people's responsibilities to God as their part of keeping the Covenant. These Commandments form the opening of God's actions to give the nation of Israel what will become known as the Law of Moses. The full giving of the Law continues from this point through Chapter 31, then resumes with Chapters 35 through 40. Later, God will give these Commandments to Moses on two stone tablets (Ex. 31:18).
NOTE: Christians and Jews agree there are Ten Commandments but differ on how they are numbered, and these differences do not affect the content of what the Commandments demand.
Read Ex. 20:1-13 - I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD
1 Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
v. 1: "Then God spoke all these words, saying" - Two facts suggest that God spoke these words directly to the people rather than through Moses: First, the people are assembled at the foot of the mountain and second, after God spoke the commands, the people reacted with fear. (Ex. 20:19).
v. 2: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" - NT Christians regard this statement as the preface or foundation upon which all the other commandments are grounded and view vv. 3-6 as the First Commandment. In this verse, God establishes His identity-"the Lord your God"-and by the reference-"brought you out"-identifies the Israelites as His chosen people; and the reminder that He brought them out of slavery in Egypt will be a constant theme of His covenant relationship with them (and by extension, with us).
Read Ex. 20:3-6 - YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME
3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
v. 3: ""You shall have no other gods before Me" - In this command, the Lord (= I AM, Yahweh) demands exclusive allegiance as the one true God of heaven and earth, with zero tolerance of the worship of any so-called "other gods." Although this commandment does not actually comment on whether or not other gods exist, Moses' statement later on "He is God; there is no other besides Him" (Deut. 4:35b) effectively rules out the existence of other gods. Therefore, monotheism, the worship of the One True God is the only acceptable belief, the absolute standard.
v. 4: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth - This certainly includes any false deity, but scholars are divided on whether this verse prohibits images of God. In any case, it does not prohibit fabrication of holy symbols. In fact, God Himself gave detailed plans and specifications for the construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. Many Christians display crosses and fish symbols.
v. 5a: "You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God" - This repeats the injunction of vv. 3 and 4, then adds "I...am a jealous God," which can also be translated as "zealous," and tells us that because He's the one True Living God and Creator of all things, He cannot tolerate or accept any rivals. It's not a case of God being selfish or insecure but pertains to His own awareness of His eternal existence and infinite power.
v. 5b: "inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me" - This implies that immoral and ungodly behavior on the part of parents is frequently passed-on to their children and grandchildren, and we should understand that God didn't directly cause this to happen, their parents did because they chose to hate God.
v. 6: "but showing favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments" - Notice the connection between "love Me" and "keep My commandments" which says that obeying God's commandments is seen by Him as an outward sign of love. Notice, too, that those who love and obey God can expect blessings to spread to thousands of descendants, not just four generations.
Read Ex. 20:7 - NO NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD IN VAIN
7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
7a: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain" - The LORD'S character and identity are tied to His name (Yahweh). This not only includes curse words with God's name, but using his name (i.e., "as God is my witness," etc.) in any type of deceit or using His name to manipulate people.
7b: "for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain" - God will punish us for these infractions against His name. We must never be careless or frivolous with His Name. All Christians need to take this serious and give careful thought to how they are using God's name.
Read Ex. 20:8-11 - REMEMBER THE SABBATH AND KEEP IT HOLY
8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 For six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
v. 8: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" - The word for "Sabbath" (Heb. shabat) actually means to cease rather than rest. The Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and runs until an hour after sundown on Saturday. "[T]o keep it holy" (Heb. qadosh) means it's set aside for a holy purpose, which God did to establish a dedicated day for both worship and rest.
v. 9: "For six days you shall labor and do all your work" - God has established six work days as part of the created order of things (i.e., six days to create the world and a seventh day of rest). This verse doesn't mandate six days of work, but restricts people from working more than six.
v. 10: "but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you" - The rest from work extended to children, slaves, guests, and livestock.
v. 11: "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy" - God didn't rest on the seventh day because He was tired, but did it as an example to the Israelites, whom He would require to keep the Sabbath as a holy day. God didn't even need six days to create the world; He could have done it in an instant, but did it that way as a means of establishing the created order reported in Genesis 1.
Read Ex. 20:12 - HONOR YOU FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER
12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the LORD your God gives you.
v. 12a: The earlier commandments were all centered on giving honor to God. This is the first of the commandments that shift the focus to relationships with other humans. Because the family is the building block of society and the bond between children and parents is so fundamental, God chose honoring parents as the first human-directed commandment. Parents are a child's introduction to all types of authority and they help to form their attitudes towards the rule of law. God has charged parents to train up children in the way that helps them to shape correct behaviors and attitudes towards other people and their understanding of God, and His plan of salvation. It's also noteworthy, given the patriarchal bias of society in those days, that God accorded equal status to mothers.
v. 12b: "so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you" -While obedience to parents is not a general guarantee of longer life, it can be probably be said that children who rebel against their parents and go their own way often live shorter, less successful lives.
Read Ex. 20:13-17 - PROTECTING THE COVENANT COMMUNITY
v. 13: "You shall not murder" - This commandment was intended to protect the covenant community, Israel, against wanton killing based on malice or hatred. It was not intended, however, to proscribe capital punishment or killing in war.
v. 14: "You shall not commit adultery" - The common definition of adultery is sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, at least one of whom is married to another person. In the original patriarchal context, it seems to have only pertained to sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who was married to another man. It did not prohibit men from having more than one sexual partner, insofar as the culture was polygamous, so that men could have multiple wives or concubines in an agreed relationships. However, the fact that the sin of adultery was the one sexual sin singled out for inclusion in these commandments points to how seriously it was regarded. Other prohibited sexual relationships were later specified in Leviticus 19, 20, and 22, and Deuteronomy 22.
v. 15: "You shall not steal - There appears to be no distinction here between "theft" (taking by stealth) and "robbery" (taking by violence). This command establishes a fundamental and very important protection of a person's rights to own and possess personal property, which really includes anything other than real estate or a structures permanently attached to real estate. In those days, losing stealing things like foodstuffs or livestock could mean the difference between life and or death for many families.
v. 16: "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor" - We generally think of this in the context of committing the crime of perjury in a legal proceeding, which is making deliberate falsehoods while under oath. However, the meaning under this commandment is broader and extends to more informal settings, such as disagreements between neighbors, people in business relationships, etc. Because of the potentially serious consequences of false witnesses, Jewish law required corroboration of at least two witnesses in criminal cases (Deut. 17:15; 19:15).
v. 17: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor" - The question here is does the commandment proscribe the simple desire or a culpable (i.e., criminal) desire strong enough to tempt someone to steal from his neighbor (i.e., anyone in the community). Well, certainly the latter case, but it probably not the simple, non-culpable desire, which can also be categorized as envy. Notice that it includes an inappropriate desire for a neighbor's wife. In those days, the male and female slaves mentioned were property who functioned primarily as servants of some kind. The issue here, then, is maintaining control over our desires. The fact of the matter is that we have a great deal of control over our desires for all kinds of things. This commandment serves as a warning that we need to be on guard not to allow our desires to grow into dangerous obsessions that can tempt us to violate this commandment and get ourselves in trouble.
APPLICATION-God's Basic Rules for Living:
(1) To love and worship God only;
(2) Not to worship other things, including money, material, and power;
(3) To be very careful in how we use God's name;
(4) To set aside a day to worship Him;
(5) To show love towards our neighbors;
(6) To honor our father and mother;
(7) To never kill another human being out of hatred;
(8) To never cheat or steal from others;
(9) To never tell lies about other people; and
(10) To never develop improper desires for things we don't have.
PRAYER: God, our Father in heaven, we come before your mighty throne this morning thanking and praising You for the love, mercy, and grace You constantly show toward us as individual Christian believers and as a Church. We especially thank You that You loved enough to send You Only Son to die fro us on a cross. We praise You also for giving us the freedom to assemble as a class to study and learn and apply the fundamental truths of Your perfect Word to the way we live. Thank you, God, for the ten simple rules you summarized for us this morning, and I pray that you will imprint then on my heart and the heart of every person here for our good.
Lord, this is a vitally important day in the life of our church. You've presented us with the opportunity to select a man who would become the new shepherd of this good church. This great book of Exodus and the example of Moses tells us time and time again that we, as the people of God, need strong leadership and direction. In terms of a facility and a location, you've graciously given us everything we need to make a difference for the gospel of Jesus Christ in this community. So I ask, Dear God, that You would use Your Spirit to guide the heart and mind of each person here this morning as he or she casts this all-important vote. And ask all these things in the wonderful name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, AMEN.
