The lesson for this week covers the first four commandments. Our notes must be merely suggestive, as each one of the commandments furnishes ample material for an entire lesson.
Before entering upon the lesson proper, the student should read carefully the 19th chapter of Exodus, where we have an account of the circumstances attending the giving of the law. These were of the utmost grandeur and impressiveness.
The Lord came down upon Sinai amid fire and smoke, (Exodus 19:18; Deuteronomy 4:11-12) accompanied by His angels, (Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalm 68:17) and not only the mountain but the earth shook when God spoke. (Exodus 19:18; Psalm 68:7-8; Hebrews 12:25-26) The circumstances attending the giving of the law were calculated to impress the people with a sense of the power and majesty of God, and, consequently, of the sacredness of His law.
The Introduction
"And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." (Exodus 20:1-2)
Here God identifies himself. He is the God that brought them forth from bondage. In giving His law, He makes himself known as their Redeemer. When He sent Moses to call them from bondage, He made himself known to them as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;" (Exodus 3:15) and He also declared His name to be, "I Am That I Am." (Exodus 3:14)
This was a declaration that He is the living God, the self-existent One, the Creator of all things. So when from the mount God made himself known to the assembled multitude as the one who had brought them out of Egypt, it would recall the fact that He is the self-existent Creator, who has a right to make and enforce laws. It would also recall His power as manifested in their behalf.
The First Commandment
"You shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3)
This was placed at the head because it is the foundation of everything. We may say that all the rest of the law is summed up in this first commandment. For having no other gods before the true God, means sincere heart worship of Him, and perfect worship of God means obedience to all His requirements.
The first four commandments embody our duty to God, and the last six our duty to man. But the last six are secondary to the first four, since love to God is first. Love to God necessarily presupposes love to man; "For he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" (1 John 4:20) Paul says that "there be gods many and lords many. (1 Corinthians 8:5)
A god is an object of worship. Worship is reverence; one worships whatever his thoughts center upon. As everyone must think, and must have some object toward which his thoughts and efforts are directed, so everyone must have some god. If it is not the living God, it is some god in his stead. Some trust in riches; (1 Timothy 6:17; Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy) such make money their god. "If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, You are my confidence; If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; And my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above." (Job 31:24-28)
In Colossians 3:5, also Ephesians 5:5, covetousness is declared to be idolatry. The covetous man's mind is absorbed in the contemplation of some earthly object, which shuts out thoughts of God. It is not the rich alone who become idolaters by trusting in uncertain riches instead of the living God, for a poor man may make gold his hope, and long for it to the exclusion of every other object of thought, and thus he is an idolater.
Others worship appetite and the baser passions. Paul speaks of some "whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." (Philippians 3:19)
There are thousands in so-called Christian lands whose principal thought is, "What shall we eat?" or, "What shall we drink?"
Thousands have let liquor deprive them of their hope of eternal life. Thousands who use the filthy weed tobacco, when they learn that God requires purity of flesh as well as of spirit, (2 Corinthians 7:1; Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God) have said, "Well, I can't give up my tobacco." Thus they have made a god of a pipe, or a plug of tobacco. Is not such idolatry fully as debasing as the crocodile worship of the Egyptians? But we have not space to pursue this subject further. Suffice it to say that the first commandment forbids anything that is not done to the glory of God.
Second Commandment
"You shall not make unto you any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6)
This commandment does not, as many suppose, forbid the simple making of pictures or statuary. It does not forbid the use of postage-stamps or coins having the mark of some Government. No mechanical art could be carried on without making something that is like something else, and the commandment does not forbid this.
What the commandment does forbid is the making of any image for the object of worship. The Catholic Church has omitted the second commandment from the list, claiming that it is the same as the first. But this is an error and is done simply that they may seem to have Bible authority for image worship. When Catholics are charged with worshiping images, as, for instance, images of Christ, they reply that they do not worship the image, but the One who is represented by it. That is just what is forbidden by the second commandment.
Ancient heathenism originated in the same way,--God was thought to be represented by certain images, while the people knew that the images themselves were not God. This was the case with the Israelites when they made the golden calf. (See also Acts 17:29) But such worship necessarily soon degenerated into the worship of the images. Making a graven or molten image, and putting it in a secret place, was one of the things against which a curse was pronounced. "Cursed be the man that makes any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen." (Deuteronomy 27:15)
The second commandment manifests God's love and mercy. This shows that the law of God is a law of love. God gave His law in love, as we read: "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of His saints; from His right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, He loved the people." (Deuteronomy 33:2-3)
As it is a law of love, so obedience to it is the test of love on our part: "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." (1 John 5:3)
In the second commandment we have a refutation of the charge that the law was designed to be merely temporary. The iniquity of the fathers is, as a natural consequence, visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation, but the mercy of God is to be shown unto thousands of generations of them that love God and keep His commandments. "Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations." (Deuteronomy 7:9)
The world has not yet stood even half of a thousand generations, and so the commandments of God are still the test of loyalty to the Creator.
Third Commandment
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7)
This commandment forbids not only what is called "profane swearing," that is, the use of blasphemous oaths, but all irreverence. Substitutes for oaths which contain the name of God are condemned equally with the oaths themselves. By this commandment all "by-words" and unnecessary expletives, are forbidden.
This commandment may be violated even in worship. The unnecessary or vain use of titles belonging to Deity in prayer or exhortation, is taking the name of God in vain. Those who regard this commandment will not use the name of the Creator except when it is absolutely necessary, and then only with great reverence. The repetition of profane expressions which others have used, is also a violation of the commandment. In Psalm 138 we read: "You have magnified your word above all your name." (Psalm 138:2)
Then irreverence for God's word, and disobedience of His commandments, are both violations of the third commandment. Perversion of Scripture, and the quoting of texts in jest or to give point to a joke, are gross violations of this commandment.
Still further, this commandment enjoins reverence for places of worship. The sanctuary of old was a sacred place where God's name was. "But at the place which the Lord your God shall choose to place His name in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came forth out of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 16:6)
To act irreverently in the sanctuary is to dishonor God. When the children of Israel were in captivity, God promised that He would be to them "a little sanctuary." (Ezekiel 11:16)
This was equivalent to the promise recorded in: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20)
Now a place that is sacred because of God's presence, should be regarded with reverence; and irreverent conduct in such a place is showing disrespect to God; and disrespect to God is a violation of the third commandment, and of the first as well.
Fourth Commandment
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work; But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates; For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:8-11)
On this commandment we have space for only a few points, whereas pages might be written. It is not because the commandment is obscure that so much might be written upon it, but because it is so comprehensive, and because so many people, either willfully or through wrong education, misinterpret its plain terms. We ask the student to note these points:
The Sabbath-day is the seventh day. Since the Sabbath is to be remembered, that is, it is of constant recurrence, it follows that "the seventh day" means the seventh day of a period of seven days. Hence it must mean the seventh day of the week. That this is so will be seen by comparing Luke 23:54-56; 24:1, where the Sabbath-day "according to the commandment" is the day before the first day of the week, and is, consequently, the seventh day of the week.
It is contended by some that the commandment does not enjoin rest on a specific seventh day, but on any day that has been preceded by six days of labor. This matter can be readily settled. In Exodus 16 we have the account of the fall of the manna, where the terms "sixth day" and "seventh day" are employed. Now it is very evident that in this place the sixth day means the sixth day of the week, and the seventh day, the seventh day of the week. There is nobody who imagines that the Israelites were left to choose the day of their rest, or that the manna would keep over one day for one family or tribe, and would spoil at the same time for another family or tribe who might not have had the same day of rest. Thus, since the terms "sixth day" and "seventh day" refer to the week in this instance, they certainly must mean the same thing in the fourth commandment.
Further; all admit that it is necessary that there should be uniformity in the observance of the Sabbath. If each one were to choose the day that pleased him, there would be confusion. But how could this uniformity be secured? Not by the dictum of any man, for there is no man whose authority all men would recognize. God alone has authority in matters pertaining to morals, and He alone could direct which day shall be observed as the Sabbath. This He has done. "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God." (Exodus 20:10)
From the part of the commandment just quoted, it appears that the Sabbath--which is the name of the seventh day of the week--is the Lord's day. In Isaiah 58:13 the Lord calls it His "holy day," and in Mark 2:28 Christ declares himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. He was speaking to the Jews of the day which they observed; hence it is the seventh day of the week which is the Lord's day.
This shows us the impropriety of calling the seventh day "the Jewish Sabbath." There is not, and never was, anything Jewish about it; it is the Lord's. But someone may say that it was given to the Jews, and they were required to keep it. So God made himself known to the Jews, (Exodus 3:13-16) and declared himself to be their God; and they were required to worship Him. But we do not therefore call Jehovah the Jewish God. He is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews. "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:20)
And since He is the God of the Gentiles, just the same as He is the God of the Jews, He requires the Gentiles to keep the same commandments that He imposes on the Jews. And He promises rich blessings to the Gentiles who shall keep His Sabbath.
"Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keeps the sabbath from polluting it, and takes hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." (Isaiah 56:6-7)--Signs of the Times, May 26, 1887--Notes on the International Lesson, June 12--Exodus 20:1-11
E.J. Waggoner
The International Sunday-school lesson for June 12 is on the first four commandments, and it is interesting to note the different reasons which different lesson commentators give for keeping the first day of the week instead of the seventh day, as enjoined by the fourth commandment. Dr. Alexander McLaren, of Manchester, England, has an article in the Sunday School Times, in which he says:
We have not the Jewish Sabbath nor is it binding on us. But as men we ought to rest, and resting, to worship on one day of the week. The unwritten law of Christianity molding all outward forms by its own free spirit, gradually, and without premeditation, slid from the seventh to the first day, as it had clear right to do.
This is about the best statement of the case that we have yet seen. It is a truth that "we have not the Jewish Sabbath" and that it is not binding upon us, because the fourth commandment knows nothing of any such Sabbath. The Sabbath which we have, and which the fourth commandment enjoins upon us, is the Sabbath of the Lord, which is the seventh day of the week.
But what we wish to call especial attention to is the aptness with which the writer describes the change from the seventh day to the first. The law of God did not change, but "the unwritten law of Christianity," which is another term for the natural inclinations of professed Christians, "gradually, and without premeditation, slid from the seventh to the first day."
That's just it; that sentence describes the case as well as a whole volume could. There was no commandment for the change, but the people gradually slid over onto the first day of the week. In so doing, they clearly slid away from the commandment, which they had no right to do. If they had heeded the commandment, as they ought to have done, they would not have slid; for Inspiration describes the righteous man thus: "The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." (Psalm 37:31)
When men let go of the commandments of God, they are sure to slide.--A Good Description--Signs of the Times, June 9, 1887
E.J. Waggoner