The First Four of the Ten Commandments, a Thanksgiving Present for You! (Exodus 10:1-11)

1 And God spoke all these [ten] words [directly to Israel just as he had to Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, the Patriarchs, and Moses], saying,

2 “I am the Lord your God [the giver of the covenant], who brought you [in the singular, the receiver of the covenant] out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. [Because God rescued them from slavery, he has a claim on his chosen people and expects their loyalty.]

3 “You shall have no other gods [supernatural beings, such as angels] before me. [Only God (Yahweh) is divine and is to be worshiped.]

4 “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. [There are no exceptions as to the type!] 5 You 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 [meaning those who learn this from their parents will also be punished, not that God punishes children for the sins of their parents], 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. [Every sort of idolatry is outlawed. God also explains the corruptive nature of idolatry that can continue to generations. On the other hand, loyalty to God brought blessing, influencing succeeding generations.

Idolatry was not merely the practice of worshiping by means of statues and/or pictures as focal points for worship; it was rather an entire elaborate religious system and lifestyle, all of it running counter to what God desired and desires true worship to be. The attractions of idolatry were powerful and also drew Israelites away from covenant obedience. The attraction of idols in the ancient world are as follows:

[if !supportLists]1. [endif]Guaranteed: Ancients assumed that the presence of a god or goddess was guaranteed by the presence of an idol since the idol partook of the very essence of the divinity it was designed to represent.

[if !supportLists]2. [endif]Selfish: Idolatry was an entire materialistic system of thinking and behavior, sometimes called the “fertility cult,” built on the ideas that the gods could do virtually anything but feed themselves. The one advantage humans had over the gods was the ability to feed them.

[if !supportLists]3. [endif]Easy: Frequency and generosity of worship by offering sacrifices were the sole significant requirements of faithful idolatrous religion. Idolatry minimized the importance of ethical behavior.

[if !supportLists]4. [endif]Convenient: Idol shrines allowed worshipers to take a sacrifice to the god or goddess of their choice virtually any time of day, any day of the week, and at a location nearby and place they happened to be. By contrast, God commanded a single place of worship three times a year, necessitating costly, time-consuming travel.

[if !supportLists]5. [endif]Normal: Idolatry was the common way of religion—without exception outside Israel—in the ancient world.

[if !supportLists]6. [endif]Logical: Idolatry was polytheistic, syncretistic, and pantheistic. The ancients believed in a multiplicity of gods—every one being a specialist in some aspect of the world or nature; and therefore the ancients found it enormously attractive to think they could gain assured access to those gods through idols.

[if !supportLists]7. [endif]Please to the senses: Idolatry provided worshipers with images of divinity pleasing to the eyes, spawned a whole, entrenched industry of image making and appealed to the sensual, even broadly speaking, to the artistic in people. It was hard to appreciate the beauty or attractiveness of someone who refused to be seen, that is God.

[if !supportLists]8. [endif]Indulgent: Ancient gods were thought unable to feed themselves. The usual pagan practice was to bring a sacrifice of meat and to eat meat only as part of idol worship. “Pigging out” thus typified pagan sacrifices, in contrast to the more clearly symbolic value of an orthodox Israelite’s worship. The more one ate the more influence one had on a god, who was more satisfied because of all the food.

[if !supportLists]9. [endif]Erotic: Temple prostitution is described at various points in the Old Testament. Behind it lay the notion that all creation was in fact procreation, so everything that would exist had to be born into existence. Ancient pagan worshipers were taught that if they, taking the symbolic role of a god would have sex with a temple prostitute symbolically portraying another god, this act would stimulate these two gods to have sex in heaven, which in turn would stimulate things to be born on earth, including the young of flocks and herds, as well as seedlings of all desired plants. Sex thus became a regular aspect of idol worship and was so widely practiced even at the Jerusalem temple in Israelite times that Josiah’s reform had to pay special attention to its eradication.]

7 “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. [Speak God’s name respectfully and honestly, not using it mockingly or disrespectfully or in committing perjury. God’s name signifies his essence, which may not be misrepresented to the world by his kingdom of priests.]

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but 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. 11 For 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 functioned as a sign and visible reminder of the Sinai covenant. By stopping their work and devoting themselves to worship on the Sabbath, they demonstrate openly that they are keeping the covenant. The Hebrew root for “Sabbath” is “stopping/stoppage/cessation.” The Sabbath is a holy day because it is set aside and made distinct from every other day of the week. The prohibitions against work are for an agrarian society. It prohibits duplicating on the Sabbath any of the usual labors of the other six days that can possibly be stopped without causing someone or something harm. Cows still needed to be milked, priests still needed to work in the sanctuary, and animals needed to be fed and watered. This command also prohibits shifting work to “sojourners” who may be unbelievers. (Tell elevator story.) God himself is the example of keeping the Sabbath. The first four words/ commandments focus on loving God with all one’s heart. Now they shift to loving one’s neighbor as one’s self.]