Reflections on Exodus 20

Exodus 20 (Contemporary English Version)

1. God said to the people of Israel:
   
2. I am the LORD your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.
   
3. Do not worship any god except me.
   
4. Do not make idols that look like anything in the sky or on earth or in the ocean under the earth.
   
5. Don't bow down and worship idols. I am the LORD your God, and I demand all your love. If you reject me, I will punish your families for three or four generations.
   
6. But if you love me and obey my laws, I will be kind to your families for thousands of generations.
   
7. Do not misuse my name. I am the LORD your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name.
   
8. Remember that the Sabbath Day belongs to me.
   
9. You have six days when you can do your work,
   
10. but the seventh day of each week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day--not you, your children, your slaves, your animals, or the foreigners who live in your towns.
    
11. In six days I made the sky, the earth, the oceans, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That's why I made the Sabbath a special day that belongs to me.
    
12. Respect your father and your mother, and you will live a long time in the land I am giving you.
    
13. Do not murder.
    
14. Be faithful in marriage.
    
15. Do not steal.
    
16. Do not tell lies about others.
    
17. Do not want anything that belongs to someone else. Don't want anyone's house, wife or husband, slaves, oxen, donkeys or anything else.
    
18. The people trembled with fear when they heard the thunder and the trumpet and saw the lightning and the smoke coming from the mountain. They stood a long way off
    
19. and said to Moses, "If you speak to us, we will listen. But don't let God speak to us, or we will die!"
    
20. "Don't be afraid!" Moses replied. "God has come only to test you, so that by obeying him you won't sin."
    
21. But when Moses went near the thick cloud where God was, the people stayed a long way off.
    
22. The LORD told Moses to say to the people of Israel: With your own eyes, you saw me speak to you from heaven.
    
23. So you must never make idols of silver or gold to worship in place of me.
    
24. Build an altar out of earth, and offer on it your sacrifices of sheep, goats, and cattle. Wherever I choose to be worshiped, I will come down to bless you.
    
25. If you ever build an altar for me out of stones, do not use any tools to chisel the stones, because that would make the altar unfit.
    
26. And don't build an altar that requires steps, you might expose yourself when you climb up.
    
27. 
    

    ---

    
    The scene that was set in chapter 19 continues in chapter 20. The people were gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai while Moses went up and down the mountain going between God and the people. He would go up the mountain for God to speak to him or to relay a message from the people and then down the mountain to relay God's message to the people. At the end of chapter 19 God sent Moses down the mountain to get Aaron and to warn the people not to "break through to come up to the LORD." (19:24) In verse 20:1, the scene is back on the mountain and God was giving Moses the ten commandments. Though Aaron was not mentioned we assume he was with Moses since God had instructed him to return with Aaron. The people were gathered at the foot of the mountain trembling in fear as God spoke to Moses through thunder and lightning and the sound of the trumpet. These terrifying sounds were coming to them out of the smoke that surrounded the mountain.
    
    The people were so terrified by the presence of the Lord on the mountain that they didn't want to hear from Him directly but rather through Moses. They feared they would die if God spoke to them directly. When the people told Moses this, he told them: "Don't be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear Him and will not sin." (20:20) It sounds a little like double talk, "don't be afraid, but do fear the Lord." What he was saying, however, was, "Don't be frightened, but revere the Lord." God was testing them through this awesome scene to see if they would revere Him. If they did not reverence Him, neither would they respect the commandments He was giving them through Moses.
    
    The ten commandments, given to Moses on this occasion, are widely misunderstood. They were not given as a means for the people to attain righteousness but rather for the purpose of showing them their sinfulness. It was a teacher to hold up to them and to us God's standards of holiness in contrast to our own sinfulness. The Christian is no more made righteous by keeping these commandments than were the Israelites to whom they were originally given. However, the true follower of Jesus Christ strives to adhere to a standard that goes beyond these commandments as outlined by Jesus in His sermon on the mount. Jesus summarized these commandments, and indeed all of scripture, in what is often referred to as the great commandment: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)