April 18, 2019
God's Ten Commandants for Us
Exodus 20
Ellie Holmes
Central Truth
God gave us the Ten Commandments to reveal His character and His will for our lives.
Key Verse | Exodus 20:3
"You shall have no other gods before me."
Exodus 20
The Ten Commandments
1 And 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.
3 You shall have no other gods before 1 20:3 Or besides me.
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. 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, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands 2 20:6 Or to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
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.
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.
12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
13 You shall not murder. 3 20:13 The Hebrew word also covers causing human death through carelessness or negligence
14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not steal.
16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid 4 20:18 Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Masoretic Text the people saw and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” 21 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
Laws About Altars
22 And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. 26 And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’
Dive Deeper | Exodus 20
The Book of Exodus tells us about Israel's deliverance from Egypt and growth as a nation.
We like to read the first half of Exodus because it is exciting. Egypt held Israel captive for 400 years. That is a long time! Then, God freed Israel from Egypt by sending ten plagues upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. God then opened the Red Sea for Israel to pass through on dry ground, but caused the Egyptians to drown.
The second half of Exodus is harder to read because it talks about the Law. The purpose of the Law was to reveal the character of God and our need for Him.
In chapter 20, we read about the Ten Commandments. Four of the commandments are about God, and the other six commandments are about human relationships. This teaches that God cares about how we treat Him and others.
Exodus 20:3 says, "You shall have no other gods before me." In other words, there is one God, and we are to put Him first. We put God first by obeying Him, but this isn't always easy to do because sometimes we don't want to obey. Instead, we want to do what sounds fun or what other people are doing, even if it's wrong. We must remember that God knows what is best, and He has our best interest in mind.
My family has rules for our dog. One rule is that she cannot go in the street. We don't keep her from going in the street just because we feel like it. We know if she goes in the street, she could be hit by a car and injured or worse. Even though she doesn't realize it, the rule protects her. In the same way, God gives us rules to protect us. We should choose to obey!
Discussion Questions
1. When you think of the word law, what do you think about?
2. What do you think it means to have no other god?
3. When do you find it is hard to follow God's law?
4. What is hard about following God's law?