Exodus 20:2 - Forerunner Commentary

Exodus 20:2

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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain The Second Book of Moses Called Exodus 20:2:

Exodus 20:1-3
Excerpted from: The Commandments (Part Two)

I think one of the interesting things to note here is that in the commandment God does not first reveal or identify Himself as Creator, but rather as liberator or deliverer from the foreign god. That is the key. "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt." God liberates first. He gives first. And we have to understand that God chose us. We did not choose Him. And that God gives before He asks. And the first thing that He gives is freedom from a false god. If He does not give us that first, nothing else is going to work. The whole thing collapses from the very beginning.

So God gives us freedom from a false god, from a false system of morality, and then He asks for righteousness and worship. But we can worship Yahweh only. That is the stipulation. Again, nothing else will work. We have to worship Him only because no man can serve two masters. And to worship God is to have one supreme loyalty in a person's life to whom we give all of our instincts, all of our energies, all of our passions, all of our drives in submission and obedience to.

I will give you some alternate translations of verse 3. "Let there not be to you other gods beyond Me." Or in addition to Me, or equivalent to Me, or by the side of Me.

Exodus 20:1-6
Excerpted from: Remaining Free

It is common to skip over the preamble to the Ten Commandments, but notice how God introduces His law. He begins with His authority and the fact that He brought Israel out of the house of bondage. Thus, He brings to mind His deliverance, and then states His commands. The unstated implication is that the commands are critical to remaining free. This is backed up by James, who twice refers to God’s law as “the law of liberty” (James 1:25; 2:12). Contrary to common misunderstanding, God’s law is not what puts us into bondage. We were in bondage, and God delivered us, and He gives His law to help us remain free. God’s law tells us what sin is, which is a blessing because sin is what enslaves. God’s law teaches us how to keep from being brought back into bondage.

Notice that God begins with commands against idolatry. His opening statement to the nation is to forbid worshiping any other god, or else worshiping the true God in a way other than how He commands, and specifically with physical representations. Those two commands are foundational to remaining free.

Exodus 20:1-3
Excerpted from: No Real Love Without God

The first four commandments are how we show direct love toward God. Anything that we hold to be more important than God is an idol and a god to us. The principle is that we commit ourselves to whatever we value. We can turn to Mark 7:7 and Matthew 15:9 where it states, "In vain do they worship Me, teaching the commandments of men." We could go to Romans 6:16 that tells us, "Whosoever we serve, his servants we are, whether of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness." Can we have one foot in the world and one foot in the church? The answer is that we had better not.

What God is saying here is that there are to be no other gods besides Him—period!

Exodus 20:2-3
Excerpted from: Satan's Lies About the Law

Some commentators say that the clause, "who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery," limits the application of the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel, or to ancient Israel in general, because it was they whom He brought out of Egyptian slavery, not others. You guessed it. These interpreters use this argument to teach that we are no longer under the law because it pertains only to Israel.

The Fourth Commandment

Articles
Do We Need the Old Testament?
Prepare to Meet Your God! (Part One)
Unity and Division: The Blessing and the Curse (Part Four)

Bible Questions & Answers
Why Are There Different Forms of the Ten Commandme

Bible Studies
Pagan Holidays

Booklets
Prepare to Meet Your God! (The Book of Amos) (Part One)

Essays
Identifying Our Idols
Politics and Idolatry
Revelations at Mount Sinai
What Does It Say? (2003)

Sermons
Flee From Idolatry (Part Two): Faithfulness
The First Commandment: Idolatry
God's Sea of Glass (Part 1)
The Doctrine of Israel (Part Two): The Old Covenant
Impediments to Sanctification
How God Deals With Conscience (Part Four)
The Book of Joel (Part Two)

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