Exodus Chapter 20 Deep-Dive Part 1: The Ten Commandments

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Exodus Ch 20 – the Ten Commandments given by God speaking OUT OF THUNDER directly to the people from Mt Sinai. THERE ARE ACTUALLY ONLY 9 COMMANDMENTS IN THE TEXT, HOWEVER, DIFFERENT GROUPS DIVIDE THEM UP DIFFERENTLY IN ORDER TO MAKE 10. THE ISRAELITES REFERRED TO THEM AS THE 10 “WORDS”

Yahweh is creating a suzerain covenant with Israel … a type of agreement in which a powerful ruler (the suzerain) offers protection and benefits to a lesser party (the vassal) in exchange for loyalty and obedience. This form of covenant often includes a recap of what the suzerain or emperor has done for the vassal along with stipulations, blessings for compliance, and curses for disobedience, reflecting a hierarchical relationship.

1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “(1)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. WHAT YAHWEH DID FOR ISRAEL … GOD’S ABOUT TO LAY DOWN THE LAW … THIS IS A STIFF NECKED AND SPIRITUALLY WEAK PEOPLE THAT HE’S DEALING WITH SO HE ABBREVIATES HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM TO; HEY, REMEMBER JUST A FEW MONTHS AGO … THE STATE OF SLAVERY THAT YOU WERE IN AND ALL THE PLAGUES I PLACED ON EGYPT - I’M THE ONE WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF EGYPT, OUT OF SLAVERY. GOD IS SAYING … LISTEN UP !!

THE ISRAELITES COUNTED THIS AS THE FIRST COMMANDMENT “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

3 “(2)You shall have no other gods before me: OR, IN MY PRESENCE, OR BEFORE MY FACE … THE SECOND COMMANDMENT TO ADDRESS ISRAEL’S PRIMARY SPIRITUAL PROBLEM UNTIL THEY’RE SENT INTO EXILE BY GOD 700-900 YEARS AFTER THIS … NO DIVIDED LOYALTY!

• ARE THERE “OTHER GODS?” ABSOLUTELY THERE ARE! Ex 12:12 12For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord (THE CREATOR/SOVEREIGN GOD OVER ALL CREATION).

• 2 Cor 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

• AT THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS; Lk 4: 5And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” JESUS DID NOT DENY THAT SATAN HAD THIS AUTHORITY!

• Jn 19:10So Pilate said to him (Jesus), “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

• WHO DELIVERED THIS AUTHORITY TO SATAN & PILATE? YAHWEH DID. YAHWEH IS THE CREATOR AND FINAL AUTHORITY IN ALL THINGS, HOWEVER, SATAN AND HIS REBELLIOUS ANGELIC COLLEAGUES DO HAVE AUTHORITY THAT HAS BEEN GRANTED THEM BY GOD … AND GOD ALLOWS THE FORCES OF GOD AND THE FORCES OF EVIL TO BATTLE EACH OTHER IN WAYS WE CAN’T UNDERSTAND – TO YAHWEH’S PURPOSE.

• Dan 10:20 (Gabriel speaking to Daniel about Daniel’s prayer that Israel might return from exile) 20Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. 21But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince. WAR IN HEAVEN, BETWEEN ANGELIC BEINGS (gods), SOME FAITHFUL TO YAHWEH FIGHTING OTHERS IN REBELLION, BUT ALL OF THEM ULTIMATELY SUBJECT TO THE ALL POWERFUL CREATOR GOD, YAHWEH. THIS HAS AN IMPACT ON WHAT HAPPENS IN OUR WORLD … BATTLES BETWEEN THE FORCES OF GOD AND THE FORCES OF SATAN.

• IN THE END – GOD WINS & WE WIN. BUT THERE WILL BE PAIN AND SUFFERING FOR BELIEVERS IN THE PROCESS, JUST AS THERE WAS FOR JESUS. THIS IS A MYSTERY WHICH CAN ONLY BE SEEN WITH GLIMPSES “BEHIND THE CURTAIN” BRIEFLY GIVEN TO US BY GOD THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE. HOWEVER, Paul said to the Corinthians: 1 Cor 6:2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!

WORSHIP NO ONE BUT YAHWEH/JESUS, FEAR AND OBEY NO ONE BUT HIM.

Back to Exodus 20:

4 “(3)You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

• THE TABERNACLE INCLUDED LIKENESSES OR “PICTURES” OF THINGS IN HEAVEN SUCH AS THE CHERUBIM (Exodus 25:20 And the cherubim are to have wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the mercy seat.) THE KEY TO THIS COMMANDMENT ISN’T THE ARTWORK – IT’S WORSHIPING THE ART, OR ANY OTHER OBJECT. 2 Kings 18:4 (King Hezekiah) He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).

• A “JEALOUS” GOD … ?

  • Is 54: 5 For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name. THIS IS AN ANALOGY, OR A METAPHOR.

  • Ez Ch 16 – God describes Israel as His wife who is offering herself to other Gods and nations as a prostitute.

  • The book of Hosea 1:1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 2When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom (prostitution) and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. THE REST OF THE BOOK DESCRIBES HOSEA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOMER, HIS PROSTITUTE WIFE – A PICTURE OF HOW ISRAEL WAS TREATING GOD AND GOD’S JEALOUS REACTION.

  • God divorced Israel (THIS IS A PARABLE, OR AN ANOLOGY):

    • Is 50: 1Thus says the Lord: “Where is your mother’s (Israel’s) certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away?

    • Jer 3:6 The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? 7And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.

• … VISITING THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

  • Deut 24:16 “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.

  • Ez 18:30 (WHOLE CHPT UP TO THIS POINT IS THAT EVERYONE JUDGED FOR THEIR OWN SINS!) “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!

  • SO WHAT DOES “VISITING THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS ON THE CHILDREN” MEAN? IN MOST SOCIETIES THROUGHOUT HISTORY IF YOUR FATHER OR GRANDFATHER WAS A DRUNK, OR A THIEF, OR A CRIMINAL – IT AFFECTED THE FAMILY … THE FAMILY HAS TO BEAR THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCE OF THE SIN.

Back to the commandments in Exodus 20:

7 “(4)You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

• Lee Harvey Oswald reported for duty at the Marine Corps recruit depot in San Diego on October 26, 1956, He was trained in the use of the M-1 rifle. The NCO in charge of the marksmanship training unit, said, “In the Marine Corps he is a good shot, slightly above average … and as compared to the average male … throughout the United States, he is an excellent shot.” On Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time in Dallas, Texas, using the marksmanship skills the Marines taught him he shot and killed the president of the United States, John F Kennedy, he took the name “Marine” in vain.

• Lk 6:12 In these days he (Jesus) went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor … chosen by Jesus, yet, he became a traitor … he took the name of the Lord (follower of Jesus) in vain.

• IMAGINE THAT WE HAD “FOLLOWER OF JESUS” TATTOOED ON OUR FOREHEADS – WOULD WE BE LIVING UP TO “TAKING THE NAME OF THE LORD?” WHEN GOD CHOSE ISRAEL, AND ISRAEL AGREED TO BE GOD’S SPECIAL PEOPLE THE ISRAELITES “TOOK THE NAME OF THE LORD” … JUST A FEW VERSES BEFORE THIS SCENE IN EXODUS; 19:5Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” 7So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”

• Matthew Henry described five categories of actions that constitute taking God's name in vain: 1) hypocrisy – making a profession of God's name – claiming to be a Christian, but not living up to that profession. 2) covenant breaking – if one makes promises to God yet does not carry out the promised actions; 3) rash swearing; 4) false swearing; and 5) using the name of God lightly and carelessly, for charms or spells, jest or sport.

• Ex 23:20 YAHWEH SPEAKING TO MOSES THREE CHAPTERS AFTER SINAI “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression (FORGIVE YOUR SIN), for my name is in him. 22“But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. HE’S TALKING ABOUT JESUS WHO HAS YAHWEH’S NAME IN HIM

• 2 Chronicles 7:16 SOLOMON IS DEDICATING THE TEMPLE AND GOD RESPONDS … For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. YAHWEH’S TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM

Ex 20:8 “(5)Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

• THE SABBATH DAY OF REST WAS SOMETHING UNHEARD OF IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. GOD IS GIVING A GIFT OF A DAY OF REST TO EVERY PERSON NO MATTER WHAT THEIR STATUS, EVEN SLAVES AND SERVANTS, FOREIGNERS, AND DOMESTICATED BEASTS. IN ORDER TO FOLLOW THE SABBATH ONE HAD TO TRUST THAT GOD WOULD MAKE UP THE LABOR THAT WAS LOST DURING THE TIME OF REST … THAT LABOR IS WHAT PROVIDED SUSTENANCE FOR FAMILIES …

• A WEEKLY REMINDER OF THE COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND HIS PEOPLE.

• ORIGINALLY THE SABBATH WAS FRIDAY SUNDOWN – SATURDAY SUNDOWN.

• Mt 12:1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless (THE PHARISEES WERE CONDEMNING THE DISCIPLES FOR PICKING THE GRAIN JUST AS THEY CONDEMNED JESUS FOR HEALING ON THE SABBATH.. 8For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” The verse Jesus quoted Hos 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. JESUS IS CLAIMING TO BE THE LORD OF THE SABBATH, OR, YAHWEH … HERE’S JESUS GUIDANCE FOR THE SABBATH GOING FORWARD … DO GOOD ON THE SABBATH, AND EVERY OTHER DAY, AND MAKE JESUS YOUR SABBATH REST … EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.

• SO, ARE CHRISTIANS “REQUIRED” TO KEEP THE ORIGINAL SABBATH, OR THE SABBATH RESTRICTIONS ON SUNDAYS?

  • The Jerusalem Council Acts 15 (Gotquestions.org) In the early chapters of the book of Acts, the first Christians were predominantly Jews. When Gentiles began to receive the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, the Jewish Christians had a dilemma. What aspects of the Mosaic Law and Jewish tradition should Gentile Christians be instructed to obey? The apostles met and discussed the issue in the Jerusalem council (Acts 15). The decision was, (BY JAMES THE BROTHER OF JESUS AND LEADER OF THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM) “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood” (Acts 15:19-20). Sabbath-keeping was not one of the commands the apostles felt was necessary to force on Gentile believers.

  • A common error in the Sabbath-keeping debate is the concept that the Sabbath was the day of worship. Groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists hold that God requires the church service to be held on Saturday, the Sabbath day. That is not what the Sabbath command was. The Sabbath command was to do no work on the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8-11). Yes, Jews in Old Testament, New Testament, and modern times use Saturday as the day of worship, but that is not the essence of the Sabbath command. In the book of Acts, whenever a meeting is said to be on the Sabbath, it is a meeting of Jews and/or Gentile converts to Judaism, not Christians.

  • When did the early Church/Christians meet? Acts 2:46-47 gives us the answer, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

  • The tradition of most of the followers of Christ for the past 2000 years has been that Christians meet on the first day of the week (our Sunday), not the Sabbath day (our Saturday) (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). In honor of Christ’s resurrection on Sunday, the early Christians observed Sunday not as the “Christian Sabbath” but as a day to especially worship Jesus Christ.

  • Is there anything wrong with worshiping on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath? Absolutely not! We should worship God every day, not just on Saturday or Sunday! Many churches today have both Saturday and Sunday services. There is freedom in Christ (Romans 8:21; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 5:1). Should a Christian practice Sabbath-keeping, that is, not working on Saturdays? If a Christian feels led to do so, absolutely, yes (Romans 14:5). However, those who choose to practice Sabbath-keeping should not judge those who do not keep the Sabbath (Colossians 2:16). Further, those who do not keep the Sabbath should avoid being a stumbling block (1 Corinthians 8:9) to those who do keep the Sabbath. Galatians 5:13-15 sums up the whole issue: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”

  • Col 2:16 16Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

  • Heb 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. WE REST FROM OUR “WORKS” BY TRUSTING IN JESUS FOR OUR SALVATION – WE ARE FREE FROM WORKS OF THE LAW.

  • OLD TESTAMENT REFERENCE CLAIMED BY THOSE WHO SAY WE SHOULD KEEP THE SABBATH: Is 66: 22“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. 23 From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord. HOWEVER, THE PEOPLE OF GOD “KEEP THE SABBATH AND WORSHIP” BY RESTING IN JESUS.

Back to Ex 20:12 “(6)Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

• Deut 21:18“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

• From Ellicott’s commentary: Honour, reverence, and obedience are due to parents from the position in which they stand to their children :—(1) As, in a certain sense, the authors of their being; I WATCHED MY 4 CHILDREN EMERGE FROM MY WIFE’S BODY !!! (2) as their shelterers and nourishers; (3) as their protectors and educators, from whom they derive the foundation of their moral training and the first elements of their knowledge. PARENTS ARE EARTHLY REPRESENTATIVES OF GOD TO THEIR CHILDREN IN A UNIQUE WAY. Even among savages the obligations of children towards their parents are felt and acknowledged to a greater or a less extent; and there has never been a civilized community of whose moral code they have not formed an important part. In Egypt the duty of filial piety was strictly inculcated from a very early date and a bad son forfeited the prospect of happiness in another life. Confucianism bases all morality upon the parental and filial relation, and requires the most complete subjection, even of the grown-up son, to his father and mother. Greek ethics taught that the relation of children to their parents was parallel to that of men to God and Rome made the absolute authority of the father the basis of its entire State system. The Divine legislation of Sinai is in full accord, here as elsewhere, with the voice of reason and conscience, affirming broadly the principles of parental authority and filial submission, but leaving the mode in which the principles should be carried out to the discretion of individuals or communities.

• Eph 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

• JESUS’ TAKE ON THIS COMMANDMENT Mt 15:1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6he need not honor his father.’ (This apparently involves pledging to support the religious establishment with resources that otherwise might go to one’s parents. The Pharisees seem to have allowed—or even encouraged—such a trade-off, which Jesus says elevates human tradition above God’s commands) So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

  • Honoring your parents INCLUDES continuing to honor them into adulthood … in this case Jesus is talking about adult children assisting their aged parents.

  • KNOW THE WORD OF GOD … be careful to not teach or follow the commandments of men if they contradict God’s command … KNOW THE WORD OF GOD AND FOLLOW THE LEADING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

• WHAT ELSE DID JESUS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT CHILDREN? Lk 14:25Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. SO, IS THERE ANYTHING IN THE OT THAT JESUS MIGHT HAVE BEEN REFERRING TO … ?

  • Ex 32:25 (GOLDEN CALF) And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), 26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” 28And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. 29And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he (God) might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”

  • Deut 33:8 (MOSES’ FINAL BLESSING ON ISRAEL REFERRING TO EX 32:25 GOLDEN CALF INCIDENT) And of Levi he said, “Give to Levi your Thummim, and your Urim to your godly one, whom you tested at Massah, with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah; 9who (LEVITES) said of his father and mother, ‘I regard them not’; he disowned his brothers and ignored his children. For they (LEVITES) observed your word and kept your covenant. 10 They (LEVITES) shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law; they shall put incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar.

  • Duet 13:6 (WHOLE CHPT IS ABOUT THIS – ANYONE ENTICING ISRAEL TO FOLLOW OTHER GODS) “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people.

  • OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD COMES FIRST AND ABOVE ALL THINGS – WE ARE TO RESIST ANYTHING THAT COMES BETWEEN US AND GOD …

Back to Ex 20:13 “(7)You shall not murder. ANY TIME A HUMAN LIFE IS TAKEN … IT’S A TRAGEDY FROM OUR HUMAN PERSPECTIVE … JUST TOUCHING A DEAD HUMAN BODY MADE ONE UNCLEAN ACCORDING TO THE MOSAIC LAW … DEATH FOR A HUMAN BEING IS A BIG DEAL.

• The death penalty for murder – when was this command was first given by God? Gen 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

• YET, PRIOR TO THE FLOOD THIS DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER WAS NOT IN PLACE. CAIN KILLING HIS BROTHER, ABEL, IS THE FIRST MAJOR SIN RECORDED AFTER THE FALL: Gen 4:8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 11And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” 13Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 15Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.

• AN ARGUMENT CAN BE MADE THAT BY BEING MERCIFUL TO CAIN GOD ALSO ALLOWED EVIL TO DEVELOP MORE RAPIDLY IN THE HUMAN RACE … FROM CAIN TO THE FLOOD THINGS TURNED BAD VERY QUICKLY. Gen 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

• SO, GOD MADE A CHANGE AFTER THE FLOOD … Gen 9:3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

• Back to Ex 20:13 You shall not murder. Does this mean we should not kill? ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTERS IN THE BIBLE !! Ecc 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; … 8a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. KILLING DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN MURDER – THERE IS A “GODLY” TIME FOR KILLING.

• Cities of refuge in cases of manslaughter – accidentally killing someone: (SOME INTERESTING VERSES IN THIS PASSAGE !!!) Deut 19: 1“When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, 2you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 3You shall measure the distances and divide into three parts the area of the land that the Lord your God gives you as a possession, so that any man-slayer can flee to them. 4“This is the provision for the man-slayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past— 5as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live, 6lest the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past. 7Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities. 8 And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers— 9 provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the Lord your God and by walking ever in his ways—then you shall add three other cities to these three, 10 lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you. 11“But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, 12then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. 13Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

Before we go back to Exodus and the law … think about God’s first institution? MARRIAGE !

Back to the giving of the law: Ex 20:14 “(8)You shall not commit adultery.

• Marriage was instituted AS PART OF THE PROCESS OF CREATION !! Gen 2:5When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. (EDEN PLANTED AFTER ADAM WAS CREATED) 9And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” THE COMMANDMENT WAS GIVEN TO ADAM, DIRECTLY FROM GOD, BEFORE EVE WAS CREATED !!! ADAM WAS RESPONSIBLE TO TEACH THAT COMMAND TO EVE … ?? 18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (NOT ADAM AND EVE, NO LONGER INDIVIDUALS … NOW, THE MAN AND HIS WIFE),

• Malachi 2:13And this second thing you do (speaking to the priests). You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he (the LORD) no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 16“For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

• The NT take on this commandment: Eph 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30because we are members of his body. 31“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

• Mt 5:27 JESUS SPEAKING “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

• MARRIAGE AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF CREATION … MARRIAGE AT THE END: Rev 19: 6Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 9And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

• THE LAST WORDS OF JESUS TO HIS CHURCH Rev 22:12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me (REWARDS!), to repay each one for what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (WASH THEIR ROBES?? … Ex 19: 10the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments 11and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.) BACK TO REVELATION 6 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”17 The Spirit and the Bride (the CHURCH) say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

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This is an audio broadcast, designed to encourage you to dive deeper into the most influential and impactful literature of all time: The Bible. This podcasts helps to show the benefits of reading/listening to the Bible, front to back, over and over and over endlessly. And study to fill the gaps for deeper understanding. Join us as we dissect the bones and ligaments of God’s written revelation to mankind through scripture.