Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
God's first word from Sinai is not a rule about behaviour but a claim on allegiance. It follows straight after He names Himself as the One who brought Israel out of Egypt, and it asks who holds first place in a heart.
The order matters: God announces the rescue before He makes any demand.
Before God gives the ten commandments, He makes it clear that Israel's obedience to law had nothing to do with God's earlier grace toward them in delivering them from the bondage of Egypt. It is the same today: obedience to law has no part in the salvation of souls out from the bondage of sin.
This first word is God asserting what belongs to Him by two titles — He made them, and He rescued them.
In the first three commandments God demanded that His rights as Creator, and their Redeemer from bondage, should be respected. He alone is God, so they were in the first place to recognize no other "god."
One short sentence answers two questions at once.
The first commandment plainly affirms the unity of God: it also affirms His exclusive sovereignty.
People often argue that an image is only a help, a reminder of the true God. One writer refuses that defence.
The first commandment is absolutely basic, "You shall have no other gods before Me." For as soon as another god is introduced, whatever people say about it, it is not merely added as an object alongside of God, but it is always put before God. Some may claim it is only intended as a reminder of God, but this is Satan's deception, for such things will always give a wrong conception of God.
The wording itself leaves no room to negotiate.
The language of these laws is absolute and allows no argument. It is "You shall" or "you shall not." It makes no room for exceptions. First, no other god may take God's place.
Israel had just left a country crowded with gods, and the command struck at the whole system.
The first commandment struck at the root of idolatry… Egypt had many "other gods": likenesses of things in heaven above, in the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth, the Sun and the Moon, Osiris and Isis. People also worshipped animals out of superstition — the ox, the dog, the cat, the hawk, the crocodile and others. They did not stop at animals. They even treated the vegetables in their gardens as gods.
The break came quickly, and one writer sees the same pattern repeating ever since.
The people of Israel, awe-struck by the majesty of God, had heard the solemn words, "You shall have no other gods before Me." They had answered, "All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do." Yet only a few days later they turn aside out of the way and make gods for themselves. Does this surprise us? Is it not too true a picture of those who pass as the people of God in every age?
An idol need not be carved. The test is what occupies the heart's affection.
An idol is not always an actual image worshipped in place of the true God. It is anything we let come between the soul and God as an object of the heart's affections. So even to believers the Apostle can write, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." … It has been said that an innocent man had no object; he simply had to enjoy God's goodness. A fallen man has many objects which separate the heart from God. But the new man has one Object: "For to me to live is Christ."
One writer turns the command on his reader, and names money as the rival.
People have never chased money more widely in the Christian world than now. How is it with your own soul?… A divided heart is a disloyal one. No one can serve two masters.
Israel failed here. One writer sees the command answered in Christ's own life.
"You shall have no other gods before Me." Every act of the lowly Man showed this. He displayed God's thought in that command; God was in all His thoughts.
- Rescue first. God introduces Himself as the Deliverer before He asks anything. The command rests on grace already given, not on obedience that earns it.
- Rights first. As Creator and Redeemer He claims first place. The command affirms that God is one and that His rule is exclusive.
- Place first. A second god is never just added beside Him. Whatever comes in takes the place before Him, and calling it a "reminder" only misrepresents Him.
- Heart first. An idol may have no statue. Anything that comes between the soul and God — money most often — has already taken the place He claims.
- Christ first. Israel broke the command within days. Christ kept it, and God filled all His thoughts.
Thou shalt not make thyself any graven image, or any form of what is in the heavens above, or what is in the earth beneath, or what is in the waters under the earth
The second commandment bans images. It rules out every carved or moulded likeness taken from any part of creation — sky, land or sea. It raises a question every generation has tried to dodge: if an image is only a reminder, is it still forbidden?
The command names heaven, earth and sea. One writer notes how absolute the wording is:
The language of these laws is absolute and firm. "You shall" or "you shall not." God allows no deviation. First, He allowed no other god to take His place. Nothing may be used even to represent God. No image, no likeness of anything in creation may hold any place of spiritual honour in people's minds. This is idolatry. Even pictures of this kind were forbidden (Num. 33:52).
The reach goes beyond images of God Himself to every other power, seen or unseen:
Second, they were not to try to have an image or material representation of any unseen power. God is "in heaven above," and He forbids anything claiming to be an image of Him. Many other powers exist, both invisible and visible, and they were to make no representations of these either.
At Sinai the people heard words. They saw no shape. That silence is itself the argument against images:
They saw nothing. God did not show Himself to them. He did not take any bodily shape from which they might form an image. He gave them His word, His holy commandments, so plain that a child could understand them... They were called to hear God's voice, not to see His shape — to obey His commandments, not to make an image of Him. Superstition vainly tries to honour God by forming and worshipping an image. Faith, on the other hand, lovingly receives and reverently obeys His holy commandments.
The excuse offered for images is old, and it is still in use:
They likely excused their idolatry, as many do today, by saying this was only an image made to represent God, but God forbade any such images (Ex. 20:4). In fact, though such things are claimed to be only representations, very soon the thing itself becomes the god that people worship.
Another writer answers the same excuse and names what it costs:
It is useless to say that the objects adored are only images for memory, not idols. The old heathen philosophers used exactly this excuse. They tried to excuse their superstition. They claimed that nobody thought the idols were the gods. The idols were only visible tokens that reminded them of beings above and behind them... The truth is that such visible tokens or signs deny faith. They destroy the very principle and power the Christian is told to walk in. He is called to "walk by faith and not by sight."
An idol need not be carved to exist. The shape is not the point:
Idolatry takes various shapes. So it is not a question of the shape of the thing, but of the thing itself; not the outward form, but the root or principle of it. We read that "covetousness is idolatry," and that a covetous man is an idolater. That is, a man wanting to get more than God has given him is an idolater — actually guilty of Israel's sin when they made the golden calf and worshipped it. Whatever commands the heart is the heart's idol, whatever it may be — money, pleasure, power or anything else.
Shutting out every image man makes cleared the ground for the one likeness God would give:
We cannot help seeing what the second commandment does. It clears away everything that would confuse the issue when our blessed Lord Jesus appeared as "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15). In Him, and in Him alone, we find the true and perfect representation of all that God is.
The jealousy attached to this command is therefore read as jealousy for the Son:
God is jealous over His glory and will not give it to another. That only underlines the truth that the Son is one with the Father. All images that man might make can only provoke that jealousy. But here is "the image of the invisible God." He is jealous for His Son, "that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father."
- Likeness forbidden — the command sweeps through heaven, earth and sea. No part of creation may picture God or any unseen power.
- Likeness withheld — Israel heard a voice and saw no shape. God gave His word, not His form, so they were to obey Him, not imagine Him.
- Likeness excused — the plea that an image is "only a reminder" is as old as the heathen philosophers. The reminder soon becomes the god.
- Likeness hidden — an idol needs no carving. Whatever commands the heart is an idol. That is why covetousness is idolatry.
- Likeness given — God shut out every image man makes because He had one of His own to send. Christ is the image of the invisible God, and in Him alone we see God.
thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and to the fourth [generation] of them that hate me,
God forbids bowing to any image, and He gives the reason: who He is. Three hard ideas meet here — a jealous God, iniquity visited on children, and a limit at the third and fourth generation — and each is easy to misread.
The word "jealous" here is not petty resentment. It is the response of love that will not share the heart it has claimed.
He is jealous because He cannot bear any rival to have a place in the hearts of those He loves. He must have the whole heart, because He alone is worthy of it, and He alone can fill and satisfy it forever. And if His people turn away from Him and go after idols of their own making, He must leave them to reap the bitter fruit of what they have done.
The rival need not be a carved statue:
Nothing is so jealous as true love: it cannot bear rivalry. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" is a word that is often forgotten and greatly overlooked. Anything that takes the place of Christ in the heart of a Christian is an idol, and ought to be judged and put far from us.
Verse 4 forbids the images man makes to picture God. God Himself gives one true likeness.
God is jealous about His glory being given to another, but that only underlines that the Son is one with the Father. All images that man might make can only stir up jealousy. But here is "the image of the invisible God." He is jealous for His Son, "that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father."
This is God's government of the world now, and its effects are easy to see.
What we get in Exodus 34 is not sovereign grace bringing a soul to eternal life, but governmental power, and we may see it at work every day around us. For if a man wastes his fortune, or ruins his health by intemperance of any kind, his children suffer for it. This is an invariable principle.
That is a different question from where a child spends eternity:
It is always true that our children will suffer because of our disobedience to God. This does not affect the question of eternal salvation. Any one of the children may still call on the Lord and be saved. But their parents' wrongdoing will still mark their lives on earth.
The threat does not reach every descendant. It reaches those who carry on their fathers' hatred of God.
He has Himself assured us that He "visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation." But then He adds a most necessary guard, without which the words would be misread: "of those who hate Me." Elsewhere the Lord condemns, in the strongest terms, the proverb Israel had taken up from just such a misreading: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge" (Ezekiel 18). He not only says but swears that they will have no reason to use such a proverb. The son will not bear the father's iniquity, and the father will not bear the son's.
Some took this verse to mean that all suffering traces back to someone's sin. Jesus answered that when His disciples asked who had sinned to cause a man's blindness.
The question the disciples raised may seem odd to us. But it expressed thoughts that were common among the Jews, based on Exodus 20:5, which speaks of the iniquity of the fathers being visited on the children. The Lord's reply shows that affliction may come with no element of punishment in it. It may come simply so that God's work may be displayed.
Sinai states the terms; it does not supply the remedy.
Least of all should Israel forget that Jehovah is God armed against sin. He is a jealous God, who visits the fathers' iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him. He shows mercy to thousands of those who love Him and keep His commandments. But how could the sinner appear before God armed with such terrors? Not a word to that effect appeared in the ten words God spoke that day. It was meant to fill the heart of man with terror because of his sins. But it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance; it is faith in our Lord Jesus that gives assurance of salvation.
- Jealous — God's jealousy is love refusing a rival; He asks for the whole heart because only He can fill it.
- Image — man's images degrade God; the Son is the one likeness God gives, and God is jealous for His honour.
- Government — "visiting the iniquity" means consequences running down through families on earth. It is not a verdict on a child's soul.
- Limit — the words "of those who hate Me" fence the threat in, and the answering promise of mercy is the way out.
- Gospel — Sinai can terrify a sinner, but it cannot clear him. Assurance comes through faith in the Lord Jesus.
and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
The second commandment does not end with the warning about children suffering for their parents' sin. It ends with a promise: steadfast love, or mercy, "to thousands." How far does that mercy reach? And what does it mean to love God and keep His commandments?
The first half of the commandment is what most readers remember. But it does not stop there. Its last words show another side of God's character.
This is so serious that people's sin would bring suffering on their children. It reaches to the third and fourth generation of those who hate God, those who despise His commandments. On the other hand, His character is such as to show mercy to those who love Him and keep His commandments. So, though God is perfectly holy and righteous, He is not harsh and cruel, but compassionate.
Some later complained that God was making them suffer for their fathers' sins. One writer answers them straight from this half of the commandment.
They admit that their fathers ate the sour grapes, but not themselves. But the commandment says something quite different. Those who love God and keep His commandments have in it the definite assurance that God will show them mercy. So they could not fall under the opposite rule of inheriting their father's sins.
Mercy also runs on into a family's future. One writer finds that same promise elsewhere in Scripture: a man will live to see his grandchildren.
The promised blessing is widened still further: "Yes, you shall see your children's children!" So the favour of God will rest on the descendants of His people. This is just what He promised at the giving of the law — showing mercy to thousands of those who love Him and keep His commandments.
The ten commandments fall into two halves. One writer shows that both halves ask for love.
Looking at the commandments together, we see that the first four relate to God, and the last six to man. That is, they define responsibility towards God and towards man... So God laid two things on Israel: love to God — perfect love to God, perfect according to their capacity — and love to their neighbour, measured by the standard of self-love.
That standard is higher than it first sounds. One writer asks who could ever claim to meet it.
What a law was this! Who could dare to say that the one absorbing object of his heart and soul is God? — and that his entire strength is devoted to God's pleasure? This law is a perfectly righteous one, but man in the flesh is totally incapable of obeying it. The Lord Jesus is the only one who has done so.
The mercy is real. But one writer points to what these words never told a sinner.
Least of all should Israel forget that the LORD is God armed against sin. He is a jealous God. He visits the fathers' iniquity on the children, to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him. And He shows mercy to thousands of those who love Him and keep His commandments. But how could the sinner come before a God surrounded by such terrors? How was he to get rid of his sins to stand before Him? Not a word to this effect appeared in the ten words God spoke that day. He said little then, but every word was beyond doubt overwhelming and fatal to the guilty. It was meant to fill man's heart with terror because of his sins. But it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance; it is faith in our Lord Jesus that gives assurance of salvation.
Commentators differ on how far this mercy reaches. Some read it as mainly a matter of how God governs families here on earth. A child harmed by a parent's sin, one writer notes, "can still be saved eternally by receiving Christ as Saviour" (Leslie M. Grant).
- Character — The clause exists to show what God is like: holy and righteous, yet "not harsh and cruel, but compassionate."
- Contrast — Judgment reaches three or four generations; mercy reaches thousands. The commandment tips the scales toward kindness.
- Certainty — For those who love God, this is a "definite assurance of mercy," not a fear of inheriting a father's sins.
- Cost — The love it asks for is total: heart, soul and strength. "Man in the flesh is totally incapable of obeying" it. Only the Lord Jesus has kept it.
- Completion — Sinai promised mercy, but it never told a sinner how to get rid of his sins. Faith in the Lord Jesus gives that assurance.