Exodus 20 Footnotes

20:1-17 God and Moses perceived obedience to the laws, not as a way of or precondition to salvation but as the grateful response of those who had already been saved. God did not reveal the law to the Israelites in Egypt and then tell them that as soon as they had measured up to this standard, he would rescue them. On the contrary, by grace alone, through faith they crossed the Red Sea to freedom. All that was required was belief in God’s promise that he would hold up the walls of water on either side and see them safely through to the other shore.

The Decalogue begins not with the first commandment but with a preamble: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery” (v. 2; Dt 5:6). Obedience to the Decalogue or any other law has never been intended as the way of salvation but as the appropriate response to salvation already received.

20:4 This command (Dt 4:23; 27:15) prohibited Israel from shaping images of anything that might become an object of worship. Israel was to make no physical representations of the Lord or of any other being the nations around them might worship. Israel was to destroy any such objects made by others (Ex 23:24; 34:13; Dt 7:5; 12:3). The prohibition of images for worship did not ban artistic expression nor prevent the production of elegant adornments used in the worship of the Lord such as the cherubim (Ex 25:18-20). The Lord created people with artistic skills which he intended them to use in representing the beauty of the world he created (e.g., Bezalel, 31:1-11; 36:1-2). When he gave instructions to Moses for building the tabernacle, he commanded the Israelites to make beautiful objects of gold and silver and ornate clothing using the finest materials available. But God expects people to worship the Creator and not his creation (see Rm 1:18-26).

20:5 Although this verse seems to say that God punishes children for the sins of their parents, that is not the case. God does not condemn children because of their parents’ misbehavior (see Dt 24:16; Ezk 18:20). However, children suffer the consequences of their parents’ sinful choices. A parent’s adultery, substance abuse, manipulation, or other dysfunctional behavior establishes a pattern that children model as they mature. The result can be a repetition of their parents’ emotional brokenness leading to conflict, divorce, poverty, or other conditions that make their children’s, and even their grandchildren’s, lives difficult.

In this verse God suggests that one reason we should obey him is for the sake of our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Like ripples spreading across a pool of calm water, our actions have consequences for generations to come. We can create waves of difficulty or blessing (v. 6) according to the choices we make.

20:8-11 How are Christians obligated to “remember the Sabbath day,” or seventh day of the week? May a Christian work on Saturdays? The fourth commandment is unique among the Ten Commandments in containing both ceremonial and moral elements. It establishes a key element in a religious calendar, designating one day in seven as holy. But it is also moral, directing people to be imitators of God in his rest from the work of creation, and to use his gift of time for sacred purposes. Because it can be taken in both a ceremonial and moral sense, this commandment became a center of controversy in Jesus’s ministry and continued to be so in the history of the church.

20:12 The Bible consistently teaches that we should honor and obey our parents (Lv 19:3; Dt 5:16; Pr 23:22; Mt 15:4; 19:19; Mk 7:10; 10:19; Lk 18:20; Eph 6:1-2; Col 3:20), following the example of Jesus himself (Lk 2:51). At the same time, we are taught to make God our highest authority, esteeming him above any earthly authority, including parents (Mt 10:37). On those rare occasions when one must choose to reject parental authority in order to obey God, family conflicts will be inevitable (see Lk 12:51-53). In spite of the tension and potential consequences, it is necessary to follow God’s way (Ac 5:29). Although Jesus speaks of hating our parents (Lk 14:26), the expression does not mean what we mean by “hate”; it means simply to avoid making them the highest authority in our lives.

20:13 Should we never kill people or simply not commit murder? According to the Bible, death was not part of God’s original plan for humanity but became part of the human experience as a result of humanity’s sin (Gn 2:17; 3:19; Rm 5:12; Heb 9:27). All human beings are made in God’s image (Gn 1:26-27), and therefore all human life is sacred and to be treated with special respect. At the same time, the law of Moses sanctions the taking of human life as a penalty for certain serious crimes committed against persons or God (Gn 9:6; Ex 21:12-17; 31:14-15; 35:2; Lv 20:2,9-16,27; 24:16-17,21; 27:29; Nm 35:33; Dt 13:5-9; 21:21; 22:21). The NT implicitly affirms the right of governmental authorities to impose the death penalty (Rm 13:4). The Bible’s prescription of the death penalty in certain circumstances is aimed at preventing greater evils from occurring and thus preserves the principle of the sacredness of human life. Murder, the unauthorized taking of human life, is clearly what this command prohibits.

20:14 If adultery is always wrong, why did God command a prophet to marry a promiscuous wife (Hs 1:2)? The Prophet Hosea was not given permission to commit adultery; he was told to marry a woman who would be unfaithful after their marriage. The prophet’s experience with his unfaithful wife became an object lesson in Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness toward God. Adultery, or sexual intercourse with another person’s spouse, is always condemned in the Bible (Gn 20:3; Lv 18:20; Dt 5:18; Pr 6:32; Mt 5:27-32; 19:18; Jn 8:3-11; Gl 5:19; 2Pt 2:14). It was considered a crime so serious that it warranted the death penalty (Lv 20:10; Dt 22:22).

20:16 Strictly speaking, this commandment applies to perjury during a legal proceeding and not to speech in general. Nevertheless God, who is himself the Truth and speaks only the truth (Ps 119:160; Jn 1:14; 17:17) expects people to tell the truth (see note on Ex 1:19). Yet the Bible records an instance where the Lord caused, or permitted, false prophets to lie (1Kg 22:23). That passage reflects the OT writers’ tendency to attribute all things to God, recognizing that events could occur only if the Lord permitted them. King Ahab had hired false prophets to spread lies supporting his personal ambitions, and these prophets conveniently proclaimed messages in the Lord’s name that agreed with the king’s desires. The Lord permitted them to do what they were determined to do, to provide Ahab with the lie he wanted to hear—and which led to his death (1Kg 22:34-37). In this way God allowed a disobedient man to bring judgment upon himself.

20:17 If God commanded people not to covet other peoples’ property, why did he have the Israelites take the land of Canaan away from its inhabitants? Israel’s conquest of Canaan was not to be based on the people’s desire to take land owned by other people. The land was given by God as a gift to Abraham’s descendants through Isaac, but it could only become theirs when the time for judgment against its inhabitants had come (Gn 15:16). Israel’s invasion of Canaan and the destruction of its residents were not acts of covetousness but acts of divine judgment against the sinful culture of the inhabitants. Israel’s possession of the land would also be based on their obedience to the Lord, and they would lose the land if they strayed too far from God’s will for them (Dt 28:15-68) as the events of history reveal (2Kg 17:6-23).

20:24 In this verse the Lord asks Israel to make a sacrificial altar of earth, but the instructions of 27:1,6-8 refer to bronze and wood. These passages need not be seen as contradictory. The transportable altar made of bronze and wood was box-shaped and hollow. Possibly a layer of earth was placed in the bottom before sacrifices were offered on it. The surface on which the sacrifice was laid would have been earthen, not bronze or wood. The earth could have been easily removed to lighten the altar for transporting to another location.