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Exodus 20:1
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The Ten Commandments

1 And God spoke aall these words, saying: 
2 a“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, bout of the house of bondage. 
3 a“You shall have no other gods before Me. 
4 a“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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 ayou shall not bow down to them nor1 serve them. bFor I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, cvisiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,  
6 but ashowing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 
7 a“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord bwill not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. 
8 a“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  
9 aSix days you shall labor and do all your work,  
10 but the aseventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, bnor your stranger who is within your gates.  
11 For ain six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. 
12 a“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be blong upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 
13 a“You shall not murder. 
14 a“You shall not commit badultery. 
15 a“You shall not steal. 
16 a“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 
17 a“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; byou shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”  

The People Afraid of God’s Presence

18 Now aall the people bwitnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain csmoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.  
19 Then they said to Moses, a“You speak with us, and we will hear; but blet not God speak with us, lest we die.”  
20 And Moses said to the people, a“Do not fear; bfor God has come to test you, and cthat His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”  
21 So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near athe thick darkness where God was.  

The Law of the Altar

22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you afrom heaven.  
23 You shall not make anything to be awith Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.  
24 An altar of aearth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, byour sheep and your oxen. In every cplace where I record My name I will come to you, and I will dbless you.  
25 And aif you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you buse your tool on it, you have profaned it.  
26 Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your anakedness may not be exposed on it.’ 
Commentaries:
Forerunner Commentary
What is the Forerunner Commentary?
<< Exodus 19:25   Exodus 20:2 >>

What Does Exodus 20:1 Mean?



Why Are There Different Forms of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1)?

The answer to this question becomes clear when we allow God's Word to guide us. No one doubts the number of the Commandments, ten (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4). It is their content that has been disputed, and this is of vital—eternal—concern.

It was not until the fourth century AD that this confusion even began to exist. At that time, Augustine (Catholic bishop of Hippo in North Africa, 354-430) devised a new way of presenting the Ten Commandments in order to allow the use of images and statues in religious worship. He dropped the second commandment altogether, divided the tenth into two "commandments," and then renumbered his revised list of ten.

Dropping the second commandment makes it appear that there is only one commandment against idolatry. However, God makes it clear that there are two kinds of idolatry, and thus a need for two distinct commandments to prohibit these two major sins. The first commandment forbids worship of anything in the place of God (Exodus 20:3). The second commandment is altogether different, forbidding making, bowing down to, serving, or otherwise using statues in the worship of God (verses 4-6).

As mentioned above, to retain the correct number of commandments, Augustine made two "commandments" out of the tenth (verse 17). According to Augustine's mistaken idea, the ninth commandment is, "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife," and the tenth is, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house."

Notice how the apostle Paul was inspired to quote five of the Commandments, including the tenth: "For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'You shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Romans 13:9). Unlike Augustine, Paul makes no distinction between coveting a neighbor's wife and his house. Elsewhere, he says, "For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet'" (Romans 7:7). Clearly, only one principle is involved, and only one commandment governs it.

The King James and New King James versions of the Bible contains two complete lists of the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20:1-17 and in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The church of God uses and practices the Ten Commandments in this inspired form.

Additional Reading:
Was God's Law Nailed to the Cross?
The Tenth Commandment (1998)
The Second Commandment (1997)
The First Commandment (1997)
Have the Ten Commandments Passed Away?
The Ten Commandments




Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Exodus 20:1:

Exodus 19:5
Exodus 20:8-11
Amos 4:4-5
Amos 5:5-6
Amos 5:21-24


 
<< Exodus 19:25   Exodus 20:2 >>

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