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God's Revelation in the Old Testament The 10 Commandments are found in the Bible's Old Testament at Exodus, Chapter 20. They were given directly by God to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai after He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt: "And God spoke all these words, saying:
I am the Lord your God I am the Lord your God (NRSV, NASB; also "I am Yahweh your God"NJB, WEB) is the opening phrase of the Ten Commandments, which are widely understood as moral imperatives by ancient legal historians and Jewish and Christian biblical scholars. The text of the Ten Commandments according to the Book of Exodus begins: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." - Exodus 20:2 (NASB) The conventional "the Lord"in English translations renders YHWH in the Hebrew text, the proper name of the God of Israel, reconstructed as Yahweh. The translation "God"renders Elohim, the normal Biblical Hebrew word for "god, deity". The introduction to the Ten Commandments establishes the identity of God by both his personal name and his historical act of delivering Israel from Egypt. The language and pattern reflects that of ancient royal treaties in which a great king identified himself and his previous gracious acts toward a subject king or people. Establishing his identity through the use of the proper name, Yahweh, and his mighty acts in history distinguishes Yahweh from the gods of Egypt which were judged in the killing of Egypt's firstborn (Exodus 12) and from the gods of Canaan, the gods of the gentile nations, and the gods that are worshipped as idols, starry hosts, or things found in nature, and the gods known by other proper names. So distinguished, Yahweh demands exclusive allegiance from the Israelites. “I am the Lord your God” occurs a number of other times in the Bible also. Hebrew Bible concerning "I am the Lord your God - Exodus 20:2 By saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery,” the God of Israel it introduces, himself by name to establish his authority behind the stipulations that follow. The implicit imperative is to believe that God exists and that his proper name is “Yahweh.” This verse also serves as the motive clause for the following imperatives. The text follows an ancient royal treaty pattern, where the speaking monarch begins by identifying himself by name and notable deeds. Yahweh thus establishes his position relative to the Israelites, who are expected to render complete submission, allegiance, and obedience to him. The covenant logic establishes an exclusive relationship in which the subject population may have only one sovereign, as expressed explicitly in the following you shall have no other gods before me. New Testament view concerning "I am the Lord your God - Exodus 20:2 Since the New Testament is predominantly of Jewish origin, the traditional Jewish view of the need for the individual to adhere to God alone and avoid idolatry is found throughout the New Testament. For example, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy when tempted to worship Satan in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world. Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’” — Matthew 4:10 (NASB) Jesus repeats the Shema as the most important commandment. “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ — Mark 12:29-30 (NASB) Those who eat food sacrificed to idols are rebuked. Just as in the Old Testament, where sacrificing to other gods is portrayed as sacrificing to demons, idolatry is connected with the worship of demons in the New Testament, and God is described as jealous regarding idolatry. Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we? — 1 Corinthians 10:18-22 (NASB) The New Testament asserts that God brings consequences to those who worship other gods. It suggests that during the Old Testament age, God winked at the idolatry of nations other than Israel, but that in the New Testament age, God commands “all people everywhere to repent.” Idols are described as “worthless things” and people are exhorted to turn away from them to the living God. The teaching of Moses and the experience of Israel when they departed from it are used to support the insistence that believers abstain from idolatry and sexual immorality. Interpretation in Roman Catholicism concerning "I am the Lord your God - Exodus 20:2 The Roman Catholic Catechism teaches that “The first commandment summons man to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him above all else.” It cites the requirement of the Shema, that “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength” and Jesus answer when tempted by Satan. "You shall worship the Lord your God"(Matthew 4:10). Adoring God, praying to him, offering him the worship that belongs to him, fulfilling the promises and vows made to him are acts of the virtue of religion which fall under obedience to the first commandment. — Catechism of the Catholic Church In their explanation of the first commandment, the Roman Catholic Catechism quotes Justin Martyr’s dialogue to support their teaching that Christians and Jews have trusted the same God. There will be no other God&ldots;nor was there from eternity any other existing &ldots;but He who made and disposed all this universe. Nor do we think that there is one God for us [Christians], another for you [Jews], but that He alone is God who led your fathers out from Egypt with a strong hand and a high arm. Nor have we trusted in any other (for there is no other), but in Him in whom you also have trusted, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. The Catholic Catechism describes the phrase “I am the Lord” at the beginning of the Ten Commendments as an expression of God’s existence and his authority. The first commandment embraces faith, hope, and charity. When we say “God” we confess a constant, unchangeable being, always the same, faithful and just, without any evil. It follows that we must necessarily accept his words and have complete faith in him and acknowledge his authority. He is almighty, merciful, and infinitely beneficent. Who could not place all hope in him? Who could not love him when contemplating the treasures of goodness and love he has poured out on us? Hence the formula God employs in the Scripture at the beginning and end of his commandments: “I am the LORD.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church It goes on to explain how the Christian virtue of faith is central to obedience to the first commandment. Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals his love to us. St. Paul speaks of the "obedience of faith"(Romans 1:5, Romans 16:26) as our first obligation. He shows that "ignorance of God"is the principle and explanation of all moral deviations. (Romans 1:18-32) Our duty toward God is to believe in him and to bear witness to him. The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it. There are various ways of sinning against faith: ‘’Voluntary doubt’’ about the faith disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes for belief. ‘’Involuntary doubt’’ refers to hesitation in believing, difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated doubt can lead to spiritual blindness. — Catechism of the Catholic Church The first commandment is also concerned with despair and presumption as sins against hope. By ‘’despair,’’ man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God's goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy. There are two kinds of ’’presumption.’’ Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit). — Catechism of the Catholic Church Love and charity are viewed as essential elements of obedience to the first commandment. Faith in God's love encompasses the call and the obligation to respond with sincere love to divine charity. The first commandment enjoins us to love God above everything and all creatures for him and because of him. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) One can sin against God's love in various ways: - ‘’indifference’’ neglects or refuses to reflect on divine charity; it fails to consider its prevenient goodness and denies its power. – ‘’ingratitude’’ fails or refuses to acknowledge divine charity and to return him love for love. ‘’- lukewarmness’’ is hesitation or negligence in responding to divine love; it can imply refusal to give oneself over to the prompting of charity. ‘’acedia’’ or spiritual sloth goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God and to be repelled by divine goodness. ‘’- hatred of God’’ comes from pride. It is contrary to love of God, whose goodness it denies, and whom it presumes to curse as the one who forbids sins and inflicts punishments. — Catechism of the Catholic Church Prayer, sacrifice, promises, and vows are also seen as essential duties required by observance of the first commandment. However, the — Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that individuals maintain a liberty of conscience under the first commandment, not that any kind of worship is morally acceptable, but that each person should follow his convictions with free will without the threat of force from an outside agent. Nobody may be forced to act against his convictions, nor is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience in religious matters in private or in public, alone or in association with others, within due limits. This right is based on the very nature of the human person, whose dignity enables him freely to assent to the divine truth which transcends the temporal order. For this reason it continues to exist even in those who do not live up to their obligation of seeking the truth and adhering to it. — Catechism of the Catholic Church According to Catholic teaching, the first commandment condemns superstition, idolatry, divination, magic, irreligion, atheism and agnosticism. The first commandment forbids honoring gods other than the one Lord who has revealed himself to his people. It proscribes superstition and irreligion. Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion; irreligion is the vice contrary by defect to the virtue of religion. Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition.(Matthew 23:16-22) The first commandment condemns polytheism. It requires man neither to believe in, nor to venerate, other divinities than the one true God. Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of "idols, [of] silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see."These empty idols make their worshippers empty: "Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them."(Psalms 115:4-5, Jeremiah 10:1-16) God, however, is the "living God"(Joshua 3:10, Psalms 42:3) who gives life and intervenes in history. Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, "You cannot serve God and mammon."(Matthew 6:4) — Catechism of the Catholic Church Catholic teaching also asserts that divination (seeking guidance regarding the future through horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, etc.) are prohibited by the first commandment, because these forbidden practices contradict the honor we owe to God. Likewise, magic and sorcery and similar sources of supernatural power over others are prohibited, even if for the sake of restoring health. God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility. All forms of ‘’divination‘’ are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil"the future.(Deuteronomy 18:10, Jeremiah 29:8) Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone. All practices of ‘’magic’’ or ‘’sorcery,’’ by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. — Catechism of the Catholic Church Catholic teaching also regards the first commandment as a prohibition of atheism and agnosticism. Since it rejects or denies the existence of God, atheism is a sin against the first commandment. — Catechism of the Catholic Church Reformation and Post-Reformation Views concerning "I am the Lord your God - Exodus 20:2 John Calvin viewed “I am the Lord thy God” as a preface to the Decalogue and “have no other gods” as the first commandment. However, he also allowed for viewing “I am the Lord thy God” as the first commandment, provided one also allows it to serve as a preface to the whole Decalogue. In his commentary on the first commandment, Calvin describes superstition as akin to a wife committing adultery in front of her husband. &ldots;we must beware of superstition, by which our minds are turned aside from the true God, and carried to and fro after a multiplicity of gods. Therefore, if we are contented with one God, let us call to mind what was formerly observed, that all fictitious gods are to be driven far away, and that the worship which he claims for himself is not to be mutilated. Not a particle of his glory is to be withheld: everything belonging to him must be reserved to him entire. The words, “before me,” go to increase the indignity, God being provoked to jealousy whenever we substitute our fictions in his stead; just as an unfaithful wife stings her husband’s heart more deeply when her adultery is committed openly before his eyes. — John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion Martin Luther describes the first commandment as prohibiting both the literal honoring of other gods as well as trusting in idols of the heart: money, good works, superstition, etc. Thus, for example, the heathen who put their trust in power and dominion elevated Jupiter as the supreme god; the others, who were bent upon riches, happiness, or pleasure, and a life of ease, Hercules, Mercury, Venus or others; women with child, Diana or Lucina, and so on; thus every one made that his god to which his heart was inclined, so that even in the mind of the heathen to have a god means to trust and believe. But their error is this that their trust is false and wrong for it is not placed in the only God, besides whom there is truly no God in heaven or upon earth. Therefore the heathen really make their self-invented notions and dreams of God an idol, and put their trust in that which is altogether nothing. Thus it is with all idolatry; for it consists not merely in erecting an image and worshiping it, but rather in the heart, which stands gaping at something else, and seeks help and consolation from creatures, saints, or devils, and neither cares for God, nor looks to Him for so much good as to believe that He is willing to help, neither believes that whatever good it experiences comes from God. — Martin Luther, Large Catechism, The First Commandment Like Calvin, Matthew Henry considers “I am the Lord thy God” to be a preface. Henry explains the preface and the first commandment from a covenant viewpoint: God delivered Israel from Egypt, and they belong to him by mutual agreement, so they are bound to obey his covenant stipulations. The preface of the Law-maker: ’’I am the Lord thy God,’’ v. 2. Herein, 1. God asserts his own authority to enact this law in general: "I am the Lord who command thee all that follows."2. He proposes himself as the sole object of that religious worship which is enjoined in the first four of the commandments. They are here bound to obedience by a threefold cord, which, one would think, could not easily be broken. (1.) Because God is the Lord—Jehovah, self-existent, independent, eternal, and the fountain of all being and power; therefore he has an incontestable right to command us. He that gives being may give law; and therefore he is able to bear us out in our obedience, to reward it, and to punish our disobedience. (2.) He was their God, a God in covenant with them, their God by their own consent; and, if they would not keep his commandments, who would? He had laid himself under obligations to them by promise, and therefore might justly lay his obligations on them by precept. Though that covenant of peculiarity is now no more, yet there is another, by virtue of which all that are baptized are taken into relation to him as their God, and are therefore unjust, unfaithful, and very ungrateful, if they obey him not. (3.) He had ’’brought them out of the land of Egypt;’’ therefore they were bound in gratitude to obey him, because he had done them so great a kindness, had brought them out of a grievous slavery into a glorious liberty. They themselves had been eye-witnesses of the great things God had done in order to their deliverance, and could not but have observed that every circumstance of it heightened their obligation. — Matthew Henry John Wesley makes the common observation that Israel is obligated to obey God’s commandments because he delivered them from Egypt, and he adds the observation that Christians are likewise obligated to serve Christ, having been rescued out of bondage to sin. Herein, God asserts his own authority to enact this law; and proposeth himself as the sole object of that religious worship which is enjoined in the four first commandments. They are here bound to obedience. 1. Because God is the Lord, Jehovah, self - existent, independent, eternal, and the fountain of all being and power; therefore he has an incontestable right to command us. 2. He was their God; a God in covenant with them; their God by their own consent. He had brought them out of the land of Egypt - Therefore they were bound in gratitude to obey him, because he had brought them out of a grievous slavery into a glorious liberty. By redeeming them, he acquired a farther right to rule them; they owed their service to him, to whom they owed their freedom. And thus, Christ, having rescued us out of the bondage of sin, is entitled to the best service we can do him. The four first commandments, concern our duty to God (commonly called the first - table.) It was fit those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love before he had a neighbour to love, and justice and charity are then only acceptable to God when they flow from the principles of piety. John Wesley uses the first commandment in Deuteronomy 5 as a motivation to pose a list of introspective questions. I think it needful to add a few questions here, which the reader may answer between God and his own soul. Thou shalt have none other gods before me - Hast thou worshipped God in spirit and in truth? Hast thou proposed to thyself no end besides him? Hath he been the end of all thy actions? Hast thou sought for any other happiness, than the knowledge and love of God? Dost thou experimentally know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent? Dost thou love God? Dost thou love him with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength; so as to love nothing else but in that manner and degree which tends to increase thy love of him? Hast thou found happiness in God? Is he the desire of thine eyes, the joy of thy heart? If not, thou hast other gods before him. In his exposition of Exodus 20 on the “Thru The Bible” radio program, J. Vernon McGee, quotes Romans 1:21-25 and Colossians 3:5 to support his assertion that the idolatry forbidden by the first commandment includes not only the worship of idols and foreign gods, but also idols of the heart such as greed, alcohol, and sexual immorality. Anything that you give yourself to, especially in abandonment, becomes your “god.” Many people do not [explicitly] worship Bacchus, the cloven footed Greek and Roman god of wine and revelry of long ago, but they worship the bottle just the same&ldots;Whether or not folks realize it, they worship the god Bacchus. Other people worship Aphrodite, the goddess of sex. Some people worship money. Anything you give your time, heart, and soul to, becomes your god. God says we are not to have any gods before Him. — J. Vernon McGee Jewish interpretation concerning "I am the Lord your God - Exodus 20:2 "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me . . . "Maimonides interpreted this as a command requiring belief in God. Ibn Ezra interpreted this as a command to believe that Yahweh alone is God. This command prohibits belief in or worship of any additional deities: Whoever accepts a false god as true, even when he does not actually worship it, disgraces and blasphemes [God's] glorious and awesome name. — Mishneh Torah, Chapter 2, Halacha 6 The idolater - it doesn't matter whether one commits idolatrous worship or makes a sacrifice or burns incense or pours a libation or prostrates oneself or accepts it as a god or says "you are my god."But whoever embraces it or kisses it or honors it or sprinkles on it or washes it or anoints it or dresses it or puts shoes on it, transgresses a negative commandment. Whoever makes a vow in its name or takes an oath in its name, transgresses a negative commandment. — Mishnah Sanhedrin 7:6 "Do not make an image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above . . . "This prohibits the construction or fashioning of "idols"in the likeness of created things (beasts, fish, birds, people) and worshipping them. The essence of the commandment [forbidding] the worship of false gods is not to serve any of the creations, not an angel, a sphere, or a star, none of the four fundamental elements, nor any entity created from them. — Mishneh Torah, Chapter 2, Halacha 1 Other occurrences concerning "I am the Lord your God - Exodus 20:2 The phrase "I am the Lord your God"appears a number of times in the Hebrew Bible outside of the Decalogue. Thus, Leviticus 18 gives a number of commands prohibiting sexual perversions and the sacrifice of children. It demands that God’s people behave differently from the nations around them, lest they be destroyed in the same manner. I am the Lord your God. You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the Lord your God. So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord. — Leviticus 18:2-5 NASB In a similar manner, Leviticus 19 gives additional commands regarding separation from mediums and spiritists, the honoring of the aged, and kindness to foreigners. Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. You shall rise up before the gray headed and honor the aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the Lord. When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. — Leviticus 19:31-34 NASB The prophet Isaiah asserts that failure to obey the commandments is the reason for Israel’s captivity and had the nation obeyed the commandments, they would have had peace like a river. I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, And your offspring like its grains; Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence. Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this, Send it out to the end of the earth; Say, “The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob."They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts He made the water flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the water gushed forth. “There is no peace for the wicked,"says the Lord. — Isaiah 48:17-22 NASB The prophet Joel looks forward to future blessing through which God’s people will know that Yahweh is their God through his wondrous deeds on their behalf. You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied And praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; Then My people will never be put to shame. Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am the LORD your God, And there is no other; And My people will never be put to shame. — Joel 2:26-27 NASB
The First Commandent Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before me"is the first of one of the Ten Commandments found in the Hebrew Bible Exodus 20:3 = Deuteronomy 5:7). This commandment is to be aware that the God of Israel exists absolutely and influences all events in the world and that the goal of the redemption from Egypt was to become His servants (Rashi). It requires the acknowledgment of the single God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the denial of the existence of false gods (Rashi). This commandment establishes the exclusive nature of the relationship between the nation of Israel and its national god, Yahweh the God of Israel, a covenant initiated by Yahweh after delivering the Israelites from slavery through the plagues of Egypt and the Exodus. It was not enough that Yahweh be worshiped along with other deities, nor even to be preeminent among lesser deities. In a general sense, idolatry is the paying of divine honor to any created thing. In ancient times, opportunities to participate in the honor or worship of other deities abounded. However, according to the Book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites were strictly warned to neither adopt nor adapt any of the religious practices of the peoples around them. Nevertheless, the story of the people of Israel until the Babylonian Captivity is the story of the violation of the first commandment by the worship of “foreign gods” and its consequences. Much of biblical preaching from the time of Moses to the exile is predicated on the either-or choice between exclusive worship of God and false gods. The Babylonian exile seems to have been a turning point after which the Jewish people as a whole were strongly monotheistic and willing to fight battles (such as the Maccabean Revolt) and face martyrdom before paying homage to any other god. The Shema and its accompanying blessing/curse reveals the intent of the commandment to include love for the one, true God and not only recognition or outward observance. In the gospels, Jesus quotes the Shema as the first and greatest commandment, and the apostles after him preached that those who would follow Christ must turn from idols. The Catholic Catechism as well as Reformation and post-Reformation theologians teach that the commandment applies in modern times and prohibits the worship of physical idols, the seeking of spiritual activity or guidance from any other source (e.g. magical, astrological, etc.), and the focus on temporal priorities such as self (food, physical pleasures), work, and money, for examples. The Catholic Catechism commends those who refuse even to simulate such worship in a cultural context, since “the duty to offer God authentic worship concerns man both as an individual and as a social being.” Ancient understanding of "You shall have no other gods before me" - Exodus 20:3 The Hebrew text uses Elohim for "gods", a noun that is notably used both as a plural, when referring to foreign gods, and as a singular when referring to the God of Israel. It is part of the narrative developed in the texts that would later be collected in the Hebrew Bible during the 7th century BC, establishing a long history of national identity, originating with the remote founding-father Abraham, to whom the God that would later identify himself as Yahweh first revealed himself. The name Yahweh comes up in the narrative of the Book of Exodus, where Moses encounters God at the burning bush. At this point, God reveals his proper name Yahweh for the first time, identifying himself as identical with the God already encountered by Moses' ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel): Thus you will say to Israel’s sons: “Yahweh your fathers’ deity, Abraham’s deity, Isaac’s deity, and Jacob’s deity – he has sent me to you;” this is my name to eternity, and this is my designation age (by) age. — Exodus 3:15 (Anchor Bible) In the Exodus narrative, after about 400 years of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites are delivered through the plagues of Egypt. After Moses leads them out in the Exodus, Yahweh makes an exclusive covenant with the Israelites on the basis of this deliverance. The Ten Commandments summarize the terms of this covenant, beginning with the commandment to have no other gods. Later passages expand upon the succinct command to prohibit copying local worship customs and occult practices. Seemingly unrelated prohibitions, such as not to sow mixed seed, wear clothing of mixed fibers, or mark one’s body (i.e., tattoo), were apparently intended to keep the Israelites separate from practices associated with magical benefits or the honor of other deities. The individual who violated this commandment was subject to destruction on the testimony of two witnesses, and should the worship of other gods pervade the nation, it was subject to destruction as a whole A person who attempted to involve others in worship of a false god was similarly subject to capital punishment and was not to be spared even by a close relative. God’s interest in exclusive worship is portrayed as a strong jealousy, like that of a husband for his wife. “Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for Yahweh your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.” Despite this personal relationship and its exclusive conditions, the story of the people of Israel until the Babylonian Captivity is the story of the violation of the first commandment by the worship of “foreign gods” and its consequences. Not only did the common people substitute Canaanite gods and worship for the one true God, polytheism and worship of foreign gods became virtually official in both the northern and southern kingdoms despite repeated warnings from the prophets of God. Much of the power of biblical preaching from Moses to the time of the Exile comes from its stark either-or choice between Yahweh and the ‘other gods.” The great ninth-century B.C. contest at Carmel in 1 Kings 18 between Yahweh and Baal regarding control of the rain, hence of deity, contains the challenge of Elijah: “If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him.” — Idolatry, HarperCollins Bible Dictionary Despite the clear victory and winning of the people’s allegiance that day, the official, polytheistic policy propelled by King Ahab’s wife Jezebel was unchanged. Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Hosea referred to Israel’s worship of other gods as spiritual adultery: “How I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols.” This led to a broken covenant between Yahweh and Israel and “divorce,” manifested as defeat by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon followed by exile, from which the northern kingdom never recovered. The Bible presents Daniel and his companions as distinct, positive examples of individuals refusing to pay homage to another god, even at the price of their lives. During the time of the exile, Nebuchadnezzar erects a gold statue of himself and commands all subjects to worship it. Three Jewish officials – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – who had been taken to Babylon as youths along with Daniel, refuse to bow to the statue. As they face being burned alive in a furnace, they communicate their faith as well as their resolve: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."In the later reign of Darius, Daniel’s refusal to give up private prayer to God and pray to the king instead results in him receiving a death sentence: being thrown into the lions’ den. According to the Book of Daniel, an angel comes and shuts the mouths of the lions so that Daniel is spared and rescued by the king himself the following morning. In Judaism - the Lords' command "You shall have no other gods before me" - Exodus 20:3 The central prayer of Judaism is the Shema: Hear you, Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one. — The Shema Together with “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” it is found in printed form in the Mezuzah, the small, tubed case on the doorposts of homes of observant Jews. This form was chosen to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to inscribe the words of the Shema "on the doorposts of your house.” “Thousands of martyrs did not go to their deaths muttering a numerical truism. When they said that God is one, they meant that &ldots; nothing in the universe is comparable to this God or can take the place of this God &ldots; that is why they are willing to die rather than abandon [these values].” The national resolve toward monotheism solidified during the experience of the Babylonian Captivity. The sorrow and difficulty experienced by the Israelites as a whole during the exile is poignantly expressed in Psalm 137. The hard times experienced during the exile are remembered annually on the ninth of Av, when Jews fast and read aloud the scroll of Lamentations of Jeremiah regarding the destruction of Judah and the First Temple. In the centuries that followed, Jews were willing to suffer death rather than pay the honor due God to any other man or god. During the early days of the Maccabean revolt, for example, many Jews were martyred because they refused to acknowledge the claims of Seleucid deities. After Antiochus IV Epiphanes defeated Jerusalem in 167 B.C., he forbade Torah and introduced worship of foreign gods into the Second Temple, prompting a revolt by many of the Jewish people. Their success in reclaiming the Temple and the miraculous provision of oil for the celebratory services are remembered on the Jewish holiday Hannukah.
Such practices, though forbidden, were not surprising since “the ancient Israelites were not immune to the desire to control God.” However, Maimonedes warned that special objects (e.g. a mezuzah) and prayers (e.g. the Shema) in Judaism are meant to remind people of love for God and his precepts and do not in themselves guarantee good fortune. In the New Testament - the Lords' command "You shall have no other gods before me" - Exodus 20:3 According to the gospels, Jesus said the greatest commandment was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” The scripture in Deuteronomy to which he referred is known in modern times as the Shema, a declaration emphasizing the oneness of God and the sole worship of God by Israel. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus contrasted worship of God and running after material possessions and warned, “You cannot serve both God and money.” According to Acts, Stephen summarizes the spiritual history of Israel and quotes the prophet Amos, who identified the worship of foreign gods as a reason for Israel’s defeat by the Babylonians and subsequent exile. Later in Acts, the apostles discussed the issue of what immediate behavioral changes would be required of gentiles who became followers of Jesus Christ. They decided to instruct new converts: “You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.” In Athens, Paul was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols, and in the Areopagus, he presented the God of Israel as the creator of everything, as unique and not represented by any idol. He taught: Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him [Jesus] from the dead. — Acts 17:29-3 (NIV) According to Ephesians, Paul incurred the wrath of silversmiths (worried about losing income from decreased sales of idols) when people responded to his preaching and turned away from idol worship. Paul taught that Christians should actively avoid participating in the worship of anything other than God. He considered it common sense that the worship of God and the worship of any other spiritual being are incompatible: Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say &ldots; Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he? — 1 Corinthians 10:14, 19-22 (NIV) Paul warned the Galatians that those who live in idolatry “will not inherit the kingdom of God,” and in the same passage associates witchcraft with idolatry. In his letter to the Philippians, he refers to those whose “god is their stomach.” In several New Testament scriptures, including the Sermon on the Mount, the term idolatry is applied to the love of money. The apostle James rebukes those who focus on material things, using language similar to that of Old Testament prophets: “When you ask [in prayer], you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” Paul commended the church in Thessalonica saying, “Your faith in God has become known everywhere &ldots; They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” Paul identifies the worship of created things (rather than the Creator) as the cause of the disintegration of sexual and social morality in his letter to the Romans. The apostle Peter and the Book of Revelation also refer to the connection between the worship of other gods and sexual sins, whether metaphorically or literally. The apostle John wrote simply, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” In the Catholic Church - the Lords' command "You shall have no other gods before me" - Exodus 20:3 God revealed himself to his people Israel by making his name known to them &ldots; God has a name; he is not an anonymous force. — Catechism of the Catholic Church 203 The Catholic Church teaches that the first commandment forbids honoring gods other than the one Lord who has revealed himself, for example, in the introduction to the Ten Commandments: “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of Egypt, where you lived as slaves.” Through the prophets, God calls Israel and all nations to turn to him, the one and only God: "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. . . . To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. ‘Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength.' (Isaiah 45:22-24, see also Philippians 2:10-11)” Because God’s identity and transcendent character are described in Scripture as unique, the teaching of the Catholic Church proscribes superstition as well as irreligion and explains the commandment is broken by having images to which divine power is ascribed as well as in divinizing anything that is not God. “Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons &ldots; power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc.” The Catechism commends those who refuse even to simulate such worship in a cultural context and states that “the duty to offer God authentic worship concerns man both as an individual and as a social being.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that this commandment is recalled many times throughout the Bible and quotes passages describing temporal consequences for those who place trust elsewhere than in God: Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of "idols, [of] silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see."These empty idols make their worshippers empty: "Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them."(Psalm 115:4-5, 8; see also Isaiah 44:9-20; Jeremiah 10:1-16; Daniel 14:1-30). God, however, is the "living God"(Joshua 3:10; Psalm 42:3; etc.) who gives life and intervenes in history. — Catechism of the Catholic Church 2112 While recognizing that God communicates with people, including prophets, the Catholic Catechism teaches that the first commandment forbids the practice of all attempts to tame occult powers as contradictory to the honor, respect and loving fear that is owed to God alone. Such practices are forbidden even if one has “good” motives, such as seeking to restore someone’s health, and “recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity.” All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil"the future (see for example, Deuteronomy 18:10; Jeremiah 29:8). Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. — Catechism of the Catholic Church 2116 Irreligion, in the specific forms of tempting God, sacrilege, and simony, is also considered a violation of the first commandment. The Catechism states that atheism is often based on a “false conception of human autonomy” and all forms of atheism are viewed as violating the first commandment in their common denial of the existence of God. Agnosticism as a way of life is portrayed as a lazy flight from the ultimate question of existence and as “all too often equivalent of practical atheism.” Reformation and Post-Reformation commentary - the Lords' command "You shall have no other gods before me" - Exodus 20:3 Rev. G. Campbell Morgan emphasized the importance of the first commandment being given after Yahweh introduces himself by name, saying, “There is deep significance in the name by which God here declares himself &ldots; to take [the commandment] without the definition of the Person of God is to rob it of its great force.” Morgan argues that everyone has “a center, a motive, a reason, a shrine, a deity somewhere” to which his or her energy and loyalty is directed. “In every case man demands a god, a king, a lawgiver – one who arranges the programme, utters the commandments and demands obedience. This incontrovertible fact reveals the genesis of idolatry.” Morgan goes on to argue that thus “idolatry” is not defined by geography or culture but by the object(s) of worship that are not God, which may be spiritual or physical. Martin Luther, Matthew Henry, John Calvin, and John Wesley write in their respective commentaries that in the commandment to have no other gods, God is referring to the heart’s allegiance. In Luther’s exposition of this commandment, he explains: [Idolatry] consists not merely in erecting an image and worshiping it, but rather in the heart, which stands gaping at something else, and seeks help and consolation from creatures, saints, or devils, and neither cares for God, nor looks to Him for so much good as to believe that He is willing to help, neither believes that whatever good it experiences comes from God. — Martin Luther Like the ancient writers and Jewish theologians (see above), Luther considered occult or magic practices to be in violation of this commandment, explaining that those who seek benefit in such ways “make a covenant with the devil, in order that he may give them plenty of money or help them in love-affairs, preserve their cattle, restore to them lost possessions, etc. For all these place their heart and trust elsewhere than in the true God, look for nothing good to Him nor seek it from Him.” Like the New Testament writers, Morgan recognized that departing from the worship of God alone is frequently associated with sexual immorality: “’Tis the homage of the man who, losing his God, worships at the shrine of a fallen Venus.” He references Philippians 3:18-19 to support that gluttony and the pursuit of physical pleasure are also widespread, but not new, examples of idolatry. Calvin recalls Moses’ warning to the people of Israel, “Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you,” and notes that this commandment was given despite the abundant temptation to superstitions in the cultures all around them and the lack of good examples. Also, he explains that it is not enough that followers of Yahweh put him first, while giving lesser respect to other superstitions or objects of worship. We know that when the Israelites worshipped their Baalim, they did not so substitute them in the place of God as to put Him altogether aside, and assign to them the supreme power; nevertheless, this was an intolerable profanation of God’s worship. — John Calvin In the first and second of his Quatre Sermons, Calvin also discouraged believers in Christ from simulating religious acts that are not worship of the true God in order to avoid persecution. He argued that the growth of the Christian church was based on the “seeds sown” by those who were willing to die, if necessary, rather than worship or appear to worship false gods and that without such people there would never have been a Christian church. He said that if one makes choices to suffer nothing for God’s word, one changes Jesus Christ to his own image: “Is that not to want to transform Jesus Christ to have him just as our flesh would like him to be?” Pierre Viret, a Swiss Reformed theologian and contemporary of John Calvin, made similar arguments. Reformers such as Viret and Calvin imbued these decisions with social consciousness: choice of behavior had communal repercussions ranging from providing bad examples and leading others to the same sin, to bringing about God’s ire upon them all, bringing physical harm upon others, and finally to undermining the efforts of the martyrs. — Shepardson Neither Calvin nor Viret advocated reckless martyrdom or purposeful public disturbance, but to the extent possible, to make public choices with “Christian modesty,” even recommending that leaving an area (self-imposed exile) is sometimes the most realistic response to persecution when resources permit.
The Second Commandent Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol” is an abbreviated form of the second of one of the Ten Commandments which, according to the book of Deuteronomy, were spoken by God to Israel and then written on stone tablets by God himself. Thou shalt not make unto thee 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. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy 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; — Exodus 20:4-6 (KJV) This prohibits the construction or fashioning of "idols"in the likeness of created things (beasts, fish, birds, people) and worshipping them (aniconism). It also prohibits making an image of the God of Israel for use in worship (see the incident of the golden calf). Though no single biblical passage contains a complete definition of idolatry, the subject is addressed in numerous passages, so that idolatry may be summarized as the worship of idols (or images); the worship of polytheistic gods by use of idols (or images); the worship of created things (trees, rocks, animals, astronomical bodies, or another human being); and the use of idols in the worship of God (YHWH Elohim), the God of Israel. When the commandment was given, opportunities to participate in the honor or worship of idols abounded, and the religions of Canaanite tribes neighboring the Israelites often centered around a carefully constructed and maintained cult idol. However, according to the Book of Deuteronomy the Israelites were strictly warned to neither adopt nor adapt any of the religious practices of the peoples around them. Nevertheless, the story of the people of Israel until the Babylonian Captivity includes the violation of this commandment as well as the one before it, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Much of biblical preaching from the time of Moses to the exile is predicated on the either-or choice between exclusive worship of God and idols. The Babylonian exile seems to have been a turning point after which the Jewish people as a whole were strongly monotheistic and willing to fight battles (such as the Maccabean Revolt) and face martyrdom before paying homage to any other god. According to the psalmist and the prophet Isaiah, those who worship inanimate idols will be like them, that is, unseeing, unfeeling, unable to hear the truth that God would communicate to them. Paul the Apostle identifies the worship of created things (rather than the Creator) as the cause of the disintegration of sexual and social morality in his letter to the Romans. Though the commandment implies that the worship of God is not compatible with the worship of idols, the status of an individual as an idol worshiper or a God worshiper is not portrayed as predetermined and unchangeable in the Bible. When the covenant is renewed under Joshua, the Israelites are encouraged to throw away their foreign gods and “choose this day whom you will serve.” King Josiah, when he becomes aware of the terms of God's covenant, zealously works to rid his kingdom of idols. According to the book of Acts, Paul tells the Athenians that though their city is full of idols, the true God is represented by none of them and requires them to turn away from idols. A psalm attributed to David describes the help someone may expect from pure devotion to God: Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior. Words translated as “idol” The English word “idol” in translations of the Bible may represent any of several Hebrew words. In the commandment “You shall not make for yourselves an idol,” the word is pesel, indicating something carved or hewn. In subsequent passages, pesel was applied to images of metal and wood, as well as those of stone. Other terms, such as nesek and massekâ, massebâ, oseb, and maskit also indicate a material or manner of manufacture. Some terms represent the consistently negative moral view with which idols are portrayed by the Bible. For example, idols are referred to as "non-God,""things of naught,""vanity,""iniquity,""wind and confusion," "the dead,""carcasses,"and "a lie"Other terms are deliberately contemptuous, such as elilim, “powerless ones,” and gillulim, “pellets of dung.” Ancient understanding - “You shall not make for yourself an idol” - Exodus 20:4 According to the Book of Joshua, Abraham came from a land and a family that worshiped strange gods. However, when the one, true God revealed himself to Abraham and called him to leave his native land for Caanan, he did so. According to the Book of Genesis, image worship existed in the time of Jacob, from the account of Rachel taking images along with her on leaving her father Laban's house. When Yahweh appears to Moses at the burning bush, he identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was some four centuries after these patriarchs lived that the Ten Commandments, including “You shall not make for yourself an idol” were given to Moses and the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. As the leadership of Israel passed from Moses to Joshua, the covenant between Israel and God was renewed and warnings were repeated against adapting or adopting the customs of idol worship among the people the Israelites would encounter, on penalty of corporate destruction and loss of the promised land. Through the centuries, idolatry became pervasive among the Israelites and supported by many of their kings, despite repeated warnings from the prophets and culminating in the Babylonian Exile. Along with the original warnings was a promise of restoration for those who would turn away from idols and back to God. However, after repeated refusals to turn away from idols over time, God announced through the prophet Jeremiah that the covenant was broken beyond repair and the judgment (Babylonian Captivity) was sure to happen. Idolatry is prohibited in many biblical passages, though there is no single section that contains a complete definition. Rather there are a number of commandments on this subject spread through the books of the Tanakh, and taking these passages together, idolatry may be defined as the worship of idols (or images); the worship of polytheistic gods by use of idols (or images); the worship of created things (trees, rocks, animals, astronomical bodies, or another human being); and even the use of idols in the worship of the God of Israel. In a number of places the ancient texts assert that God has no shape or form and is utterly incomparable; thus no idol, image, idea, or anything in creation could ever capture God's essence. The narrative in Deuteronomy 4 recounts that when the Israelites were visited by God at Mt. Sinai at the time the Ten Commandments were given, they saw no shape or form and this is stated as a reason why any physical representation of the divine is prohibited – no idols of humans, animals, or heavenly bodies were to be made. Rather than use an idol, God chose to reveal himself in words, by working through people, and by working in history. The question has been raised whether the ancient view of this command prohibits images of Yahweh or of foreign gods. Some scholars have proposed that the golden calf made under Aaron's leadership (while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments) was supposed to represent Yahweh, or perhaps a throne or steed on which the people were to envision Yahweh. According to Exodus 32:7-8, in a divine speech to Moses, Yahweh reveals the events going on at the base of Mt. Sinai to Moses, judging the golden calf to be a violation of the recently revealed law: “They have turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them.” Others point out that the golden calf episode leads to the breaking of the tablets of the Decalogue, something that implies that the covenant had been violated. This event and the plurality of the language used in the second commandment leads many scholars to conclude that it prohibits the making of any image of Yahweh as well as any image of a created thing to which divinity would be ascribed. The commandments in the Hebrew Bible against idolatry also forbade the adoption of the beliefs and practices of the nations who lived around the Israelites at the time, especially the religions of ancient Akkad, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. In dozens of passages, the Hebrew Bible refers to specific practices used to worship idols, including the offering of incense, prayers, food, drink, and blood offerings, singing and dancing, cutting one’s flesh, bowing down to and kissing the idol, lewd behavior, passing one’s children through the fire, cultic male and female prostitution, and human sacrifice, including child sacrifice. “Images” commanded by God - "You shall not make for yourself an idol” - Exodus 20:4 The ancient understanding apparently did not conflict with the artistic rendering of created things, and the Bible describes the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, as having tapestries and objects incorporating cherubim, flowers, fruits, trees, and animals. However, sometimes objects that God instructed to be made were turned into idols by the Israelites. The Book of Numbers contains a narrative in which God instructed Moses to make a bronze snake as part of addressing a plague of venomous snakes that had broken out among the Israelites as a punishment for sin. The bronze snake is mentioned again in 2 Kings 18; however, rather than remaining a memorial of God's providence, it became an idol that the people named and worshiped. The bronze snake was destroyed in King Hezekiah's reforms. According to Exodus 25 and 37, the Ark of the Covenant was a rectangular container overlaid with pure gold with two gold cherubim on its cover. The Ark contained the Ten Commandments, a jar of manna, and Aaron’s staff. It was considered holy; it was kept in the innermost part of the Tabernacle (and later the Temple), was not to be touched directly, and was only to be transported in a prescribed manner. However, it was not to be an object of worship, and when the Israelites carried it into war like a cult idol, assuming it would guarantee victory, they were defeated, suffering 30,000 casualties, and the Ark was captured and taken to the temple of a foreign god. The Israelites were specifically instructed to not only discuss the covenant with God with their families in everyday life, but also to physically incorporate the words in their homes and attire. The purpose of this was to keep the people from forgetting the miracles they had witnessed, such as the Passover and the Exodus, and to impart the memory and devotion to God to succeeding generations. Cultural context of the commandment - “You shall not make for yourself an idol” - Exodus 20:4 The idols of the Ancient Near East were central figures of the tribal cults around the Isaraelites. They are said to have been placed upon pedestals, clothed and colored, and fastened with chains of silver or nails of iron lest they should fall over or be carried off. To demonstrate victory over an enemy’s idols, it was customary to take away the idols of the vanquished, and a similar custom is frequently mentioned in the cuneiform texts. Scholars have discussed whether idol worshipers made a distinction between a spiritual being that existed independently of idols and the physical idols themselves. Some scholars opine that the pagans in the Hebrew Bible did not literally worship the objects themselves, so that the issue of idolatry is really concerned with whether one is pursuing a "false god"or "the true God.” In addition to the spiritual aspect of their worship, peoples in the Ancient Near East took great care to physically maintain their cult idols and thought that the instructions for their manufacture and maintenance came from the spirit of the god. Magical ceremonies were performed through which the people believed the spirit of the god came to live in the physical idol. When idols were captured or not cared for, the associated religious practices also flagged. So while scholars may debate the relative importance of belief in the physical object or the spirit it represented or housed, in practice the distinction was not easy to discern. Violation of the commandment - “You shall not make for yourself an idol” - Exodus 20:4 A narrative in 1 Kings 12:28-30 describes how Jeroboam had golden calves made for places of worship at Bethel and Dan. This was done for political purposes, to distance the allegiance of the Israelites from loyalty to worship in Jerusalem, which was in Judah and ruled by King Rehoboam. The text says, “This thing became a sin,” and its establishment was accompanied by several related violations of the covenant with God. The language used by Jeroboam to introduce the worship of these idols to Israel was very similar to that used by Aaron with regard to the golden calf at Mount Sinai. The images themselves were reminiscent of Egyptian gods represented by the bull. According to 1 Kings 13, God sends a prophet from Judah to denounce Jeroboam’s actions and predict the coming of King Josiah (290 years later), who would destroy those priests who participated in the idolatrous practices. Not only did the common people substitute Canaanite gods and worship for the worship of the God of Israel, polytheism and worship of foreign gods became virtually official in both the northern and southern kingdoms despite repeated warnings from the prophets of God. The Book of Kings gives an account of the great 9th-century BC contest at Carmel between Yahweh and Baal regarding control of the rain, and hence of deity: Elijah challenges the Israelites “If Yahweh is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him.” The people remain ambivalent until the victory of Yahweh is clear, at which point they execute the 450 prophets of Baal said to be present. Though the official, polytheistic policy propelled by King Ahab’s wife Jezebel was unchanged in the short term, subsequent text indicates that Ahab later turned away from idols back to Yahweh. The prophetic books (Nevi’im) recount a continuing struggle against idolatry. For example, the Biblical prophet Jeremiah complains: "According to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah."Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Hosea referred to Israel’s worship of other gods as spiritual adultery: “How I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols.” This led to a broken covenant between Yahweh and Israel and “divorce,” manifested as defeat by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon followed by exile, from which the northern kingdom never recovered. The psalmist described idols as being made of gold, silver, wood, and stone. They are described as being only the work of men's hands, unable to speak, see, hear, smell, eat, grasp, or feel, and powerless either to injure or to benefit. The psalmist, and also the prophet Isaiah, warn that worship of such powerless objects is not harmless, however: "Those who worship them will be like them,"that is, unseeing, unfeeling, unable to hear the truth that God would communicate to them. The Bible presents Daniel and his companions as distinct, positive examples of individuals refusing to pay homage to another god, even at the price of their lives. During the time of the exile, Nebuchadnezzar erects a gold statue of himself and commands all subjects to worship it. Three Jewish officials – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – who had been taken to Babylon as youths along with Daniel, refuse to bow to the statue. As they face being burned alive in a furnace, they communicate their faith as well as their resolve: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." In Judaism - “You shall not make for yourself an idol” - Exodus 20:4 In the centuries that followed the Babylonian captivity, Jews were willing to suffer death rather than pay the honor due God to any other man or god. During the early days of the Maccabean revolt, for example, many Jews were martyred because they refused to acknowledge the claims of Seleucid deities. After Antiochus IV Epiphanes defeated Jerusalem in 167 B.C., he forbade Torah and introduced worship of foreign gods into the Second Temple, prompting a revolt by many of the Jewish people. Their success in reclaiming the Temple and the miraculous provision of oil for the resulting celebratory services are commemorated on the Jewish holiday Hannukah. In his works, Philo of Alexandria defended the Jewish view of God against both the emperor-worship of the Roman world and the idolatrous worship of animals by the Egyptians. Idolatry is one of three sins (along with adultery and murder) the Mishnah says must be resisted to the point of death. By the time the Talmud was written, the acceptance or rejection of idolatry was a litmus test for Jewish identity: “Whosoever denies idols is called a Jew.""Whosoever recognizes idols has denied the entire Torah; and whosoever denies idols has recognized the entire Torah."The Talmud discusses the subject of idolatry in many passages. An entire tractate, the Avodah Zarah (“strange worship”) details practical guidelines for interacting with surrounding peoples so as to avoid practicing or even indirectly supporting such worship. Although Jews are forbidden in general to mock at anything holy, it is meritorious to deride idols, This apparently originated in ancient times, as some of the several Hebrew words from the Tanakh translated as “idol” are pejorative and even deliberately contemptuous, such as elilim, “powerless ones,” and gillulim, “pellets of dung.” While many verses in the Bible use anthropomorphic terms to describe God, (e.g. God's mighty hand, God's finger, God’s face, God the Father), these verses are understood by Rabbinic scholars as God’s accommodation to the capacities of man’s understanding, not a sufficient description. God chose to reveal his identity, not as an idol or image, but by his words, by his actions in history, and by his working in and through mankind. God is not made in the image of man; rather, Jews believe that man was created in the image of God. This is stated in the creation account and told to Noah when the commandment against murder is given following the flood. Thus, the moral sense is connected with the awareness of being created in the image of God: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in His image has God made man.” Human dignity, the unique value of each individual, is based on this assertion. This text is interpreted in the Talmud to prohibit suicide and abortion. The central prayer of Judaism is the Shema: Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai E?ad "Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One" — The Shema Together with “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” it is found in printed form in the Mezuzah, the small, tubed case on the doorposts of homes of observant Jews. This form was chosen to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to inscribe the words of the Shema "on the doorposts of your house.” Maimonedes warned that special objects (such as the mezuzah) and special prayers (such as the Shema) used to fulfill this commandment are intended to remind people of love for God and his precepts and do not in themselves guarantee good fortune (they are not to become idols). In the New Testament - “You shall not make for yourself an idol” - Exodus 20:4 Although Jesus discussed the Ten Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount, he did not speak directly of issues regarding the meaning of the commandment against idolatry. However, according to the gospels, Jesus did say the greatest commandment was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” The scripture in Deuteronomy to which he referred is known in modern times as the Shema, a declaration emphasizing the oneness of God and the sole worship of God by Israel. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus contrasted worship of God and running after material possessions and warned, “You cannot serve both God and money.” According to Acts, the apostles discussed the issue of what immediate behavioral changes would be required of gentiles who became followers of Jesus Christ. They decided to instruct new converts: “You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.” In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul clarified this instruction to counsel converts, who were concerned about the fact that much of the meat sold in the marketplace may have been ritually slaughtered on an idol’s altar and/or part of it may have been consumed as an offering to an idol. He condemned attendance at idol feasts, where participation was clearly participation with idolatry. However, Paul advised the Corinthians not to be concerned about meat being sold in the general marketplace or served to them at a meal at which they were a guest – as long as it was not advertised as having been sacrificed to an idol and with consideration not to cause offense to another person’s conscience. The language used by Paul in these passages is similar to the first two commandments in regular reference to the jealousy of God, sharp warnings against idolatry and idol images, and the identification of Yahweh as creator and the one who delivered the Israelites from Egypt. In Athens, Paul was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols, and in the Areopagus, he presented the God of Israel as the creator of everything, as unique and not represented by any idol. He taught: Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him [Jesus] from the dead. — Acts 17:29-3 (NIV) According to Ephesians, Paul incurred the wrath of silversmiths (who were worried about losing income from decreased sales of idols) when people responded to his preaching and turned away from idol worship. Paul taught that Christians should actively avoid participating in the worship of anything other than God. He considered it common sense that the worship of God and the worship of any other spiritual being are incompatible: Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say &ldots; Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he? — 1 Corinthians 10:14, 19-22 (NIV) The New Testament also uses the term "idol"in reference to conceptual constructs, as in Paul’s letter to the church in Colosse: "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed which is idolatry."This expands the scope of that which is included in idolatry to certain behaviors and priorities, which capture attention and regard at the expense of that which is owed to God. (See also You shall have no other gods before me.) Paul warned the Galatians that those who live in idolatry “will not inherit the kingdom of God,” and in the same passage associates witchcraft with idolatry. In his letter to the Philippians, he refers to those whose “god is their stomach.” In several New Testament scriptures, including the Sermon on the Mount, the term idolatry is applied to the love of money. The apostle James rebukes those who focus on material things, using language similar to that of Old Testament prophets: “When you ask [in prayer], you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” Paul commended the church in Thessalonica saying, “Your faith in God has become known everywhere &ldots; They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” Paul identifies the worship of created things (rather than the Creator) as the cause of the disintegration of sexual and social morality in his letter to the Romans. The apostle Peter and the book of Revelation also refer to the connection between the worship of other gods and sexual sins, whether metaphorically or literally. The apostle John wrote simply, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” In the Catholic Church - “You shall not make for yourself an idol” - Exodus 20:4 You shall not make for yourself a graven 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; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. (Ex 20:2-5; cf. Deut 5:6-9) — Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part III: Life in Christ, Chapter 1, Article 1 Because God’s identity and transcendent character are described in Scripture as unique, the teaching of the Catholic Church proscribes superstition as well as irreligion and explains the commandment is broken by having images to which divine power is ascribed as well as in divinizing anything that is not God. “Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons &ldots; power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc.” The Catechism commends those who refuse even to simulate such worship in a cultural context and states that “the duty to offer God authentic worship concerns man both as an individual and as a social being.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that this commandment is recalled many times throughout the Bible and quotes passages describing temporal consequences for those who place trust elsewhere than in God: Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of "idols, [of] silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see."These empty idols make their worshippers empty: "Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them."(Psalm 115:4-5, 8; see also Isaiah 44:9-20; Jeremiah 10:1-16; Daniel 14:1-30). God, however, is the "living God"(Joshua 3:10; Psalm 42:3; etc.) who gives life and intervenes in history. — Catechism of the Catholic Church 2112 In his exposition of Psalm 96, St. Augustine agreed with the psalmist’s description of inanimate idols, and he recalled Paul’s words to the Corinthians that sacrifices to such are offered to demons. Rather than alternate deities condemned by monotheism, these demons are portrayed by Augustine as malevolent beings seeking not to rule as much as to seduce people into sharing eternal punishment, much as a twisted criminal might implicate an innocent person to feed his own malevolence. The Catholic Church teaches that idolatry extends beyond the worship of images of other gods. It warns that it remains a constant temptation, even for the Christian, because it consists in divinizing anything that is not God, whether gods or demons, power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. “Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.” St. Anthony, seeking to reform the inordinate desire for money he observed in some priests, compared to idols those priests who bought and sold offices and abandoned their flocks, using the language of the psalmist and Isaiah to describe them as having eyes but not seeing, having feet but not walking. In Protestantism - You shall not make for yourself an idol” - Exodus 20:4 John Calvin, a prolific and influential Reformation scholar, took a straightforward view of idolatry, patterned after the simplicity of the faith of the early apostles: In one word, their theology was in substance this--There is one God who created all the world, and declared His will to us by Moses and the prophets, and finally by Jesus Christ and His apostles; and we have one sole Redeemer, who purchased us by His blood, and by whose grace we hope to be saved: All the idols of the world are curst, and deserve execration. — John Calvin, Enduring Persecution for Christ John Wesley, preached on the text of the Apostle John, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” He thought that John was not referring to idols of the religions around Israel, since through the Babylonian Captivity, a deep abhorrence of such was in the Jewish people and would have been understood by converts. By idols, Wesley interpreted this verse to mean any thing or priority to which one’s heart is given rather than to God. He notes that the Apostle John often encouraged love among Christians and realized that it must first be founded on love of God, which is only possible by being separate from the worship of idols: As there is no firm foundation for the love of our brethren, except the love of God, so there is no possibility of loving God, except we keep ourselves from idols. — John Wesley Like Wesley and the writers of the New Testament, Luther taught that whatever a person places their trust or priorities in, other than God, can become an idol. Rather than scorn the Israelites for falling into the worship of idols, Martin Luther commented that people are spiritual beings, who know there is a divine authority and easily fall into idolatry because of our fallen nature. Knowing truth from idolatry, he explained, depends on the Bible, for without paying attention to the Word of God, people make up God’s characteristics to believe that God is in agreement “with such works and worshippings as your devotion and good intention make choice of.”
The Third Commandent Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain (KJV, also "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God"(NRSV) and variants) is the third of one of the Ten Commandments. It is a prohibition of blasphemy, specifically, the misuse or "taking in vain"of the name of the God of Israel. Exodus 20:7 reads: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain." - The New American Standard Bible (NASB) version Based on this commandment, Second Temple Judaism by the Hellenistic period developed a taboo of pronouncing the name of God at all, resulting in the replacement of the Tetragrammaton by "Adonai"(literally "my lords"see Adonai) in pronunciation. In the Hebrew Bible itself, the commandment is directed against abuse of the name of God, not against any use; there are numerous examples in the Hebrew Bible and a few in the New Testament where God’s name is called upon in oaths to tell the truth or to support the truth of the statement being sworn to, and the books of Daniel and Revelation include instances where an angel sent by God invokes the name of God to support the truth of apocalyptic revelations. God himself is presented as swearing by his own name (“As surely as I live . . . ”) to guarantee the certainty of various events foretold through the prophets. Hebrew Bible (Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain) The Hebrew, translated as "thou shalt not take in vain". The word here translated as "in vain"is shav' "emptiness, vanity; emptiness of speech, lying", while "take"is nasa' "to lift, carry, bear, take, take away"(appearing in the second person as nasa). The expression "to take in vain"is also translated less literally as "to misuse"or variants. Some have interpreted the commandment to be against perjury, since invoking God’s name in an oath was considered a guarantee of the truth of a statement or promise. Other scholars believe the original intent was to prohibit using the name in the magical practice of conjuration. Old Testament passages also refer to God’s name being profaned by hypocritical behavior of people and false representation of God’s words or character. Many scholars also believe the commandment applies to the casual use of God’s name in interjections and curses (blasphemy). The object of the command "thou shalt not take in vain"is at-shem-YHWH elohik "this-same name of YHWH, thy elohim", making explicit that the commandment is against the misuse of the proper name Yahweh specifically. In the Hebrew Bible, as well as in the Ancient Near East and throughout classical antiquity more generally, an oath is a conditional self-curse invoking deities that are asked to inflict punishment on the oath-breaker. There are numerous examples in the Book of Samuel of people strengthening their statements or promises with the phrase, “As surely as Yahweh lives &ldots;” and such statements are referred to in Jeremiah as well. The value of invoking punishment from God was based on the belief that God cannot be deceived or evaded. For example, a narrative in the Book of Numbers describes how such an oath is to be administered by a priest to a woman suspected of adultery, with the expectation that the accompanying curse will have no effect on an innocent person. Such oaths may have been used in civil claims, regarding supposed theft, for example, and the commandment is repeated in the context of honest dealings between people in Leviticus 19:12. At one point of the account of the dedication of the Temple of Solomon, Solomon prays to Yahweh, asking him to hear and act upon curses uttered in a dispute that are then brought before his altar, to distinguish between the person in the right and the one in the wrong.
The prophet Isaiah rebuked Israel
as the Babylonian Captivity drew near, pointing out that they bore
the name of God, and swore by him, but their swearing was
hypocritical since they had forsaken the exclusive worship of Yahweh
for the worship of idols. The Israelites had been told in Leviticus
that sacrificing their children to idols and then coming to worship
God caused God’s name to be profaned, thus breaking the
commandment. According to the Book of Jeremiah, Yahweh told him to
look around Jerusalem, asserting that he would not be able to find an
honest man – “Even when they say, ‘As Yahweh
lives,’ they are sure to be swearing falsely.” Jeremiah
refers to a situation in which Israelites repented and took oaths in
God’s name – only to renege by reclaiming as slaves persons
they had freed as part of their repentance. This hypocritical act was
also considered profaning God’s name. In Jeremiah 12, an
opportunity is also described for Israel’s neighbors to avoid
destruction and prosper if they stop swearing by their idol and swear
only by the name of Yahweh. In Judaism (Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain) To avoid coming under guilt by accidentally misusing God’s name, Jewish scholars do not write or pronounce the proper name in most circumstances, but use substitutes such as “Adonai (the Lord),” or “HaShem (the Name).” In English translations of the Bible, the name Adonai is often translated “Lord,” while the proper name Yahweh represented by the tetragrammaton is often indicated by the use of capital and small capital letters, Lord. Joseph Telushkin, a Modern Orthodox rabbi, wrote that the commandment is much more than a prohibition against casual interjections using God’s name. He pointed out that the more literal translation of Lo tissa is “you shall not carry” rather than “you shall not take”, and that understanding this helps one understand why the commandment ranks with such as “You shall not murder” and “You shall not commit adultery”. One of the first commandments listed by Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah is the responsibility to sanctify God’s name. Maimonides thought the commandment should be taken as generally as possible, and therefore he considered it forbidden to mention God’s name unnecessarily at any time. Jewish scholars referred to this as "motzi shem shamayim lavatalah", “uttering the Name of Heaven uselessly.” To avoid guilt associated with accidentally breaking the commandment, Jewish scholars applied the prohibition to all seven biblical titles of God in addition to the proper name, and established the safeguard of circumlocution when referring to the Name of God. In writing names of God, a common practice includes substituting letters or syllables so that the written word is not exactly the name, or writing the name in an abbreviated manner. Orthodox Jews will not even pronounce a name of God unless it is said in prayer or religious study. The Sacred Name (Tetragrammaton), is never pronounced by these Jews but always read as “Adonai (the Lord),” “HaShem (the Name),” or sometimes “AdoShem”. May His great Name be blessed forever and ever. — from the Kaddish The Kaddish is an important prayer in a Jewish prayer service whose central theme is the magnification and sanctification of God’s name. Along with the Shema and Amidah, it is one of the most important and central prayers of Jewish liturgy. In the New Testament (Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain) In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that a person’s word should be reliable and one should not swear by God or his creation. In his letter, the Apostle James reiterates the instruction to just say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and keep your word, "so that you may not fall into condemnation." According to David Cook, appeals to authorities to validate the truth of a promise had expanded in Jesus’ day, which was not in line with the original commandment. Jesus is quoted as warning that they were blind and foolish who gave credibility to such arguments. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus made appeals to the power of the name of God and also claimed the name of God as his own, which constituted blasphemy if it were not true. The Gospel of John relates an incident where a group attempts to stone Jesus after he speaks God's name. Jesus says that he is the Messiah, and makes parallels between himself and the “Son of Man” referred to by the prophet Daniel, which evokes an emphatic response that he has blasphemed (broken the commandment) and deserves death. Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." — Matthew 28:18-19 (NIV) The Apostle Paul occasionally invokes God’s name in his letters, calling God as witness to the purity of his motives and honesty of his dealings with the churches to whom he ministered. The author of Hebrews reviewed God’s promise to Abraham as assurance that outstanding promises will yet be fulfilled. “Human beings, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute.” In the case of the promise of God to Abraham, God swore by his own name to guarantee the promise, since there was nothing greater for him to swear by. Philo pointed out that it is natural that God would swear by himself, even though this is “a thing impossible for anyone else.” Similar to the events described in the Book of Daniel, the Book of Revelation includes a description of an angel who swears by God to the truth of the end-time events being revealed to John. In the Catholic Church (Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain) Yahweh our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the world! — Psalm 8:1 (NJB), Catechism of the Catholic Church 2160 The Catholic Church teaches that the Lord’s name is holy and should be introduced into one’s speech only to bless, praise or glorify that name. The name should be used respectfully, with an awareness of the presence of God. It must not be abused by careless speech, false oaths, or words of hatred, reproach or defiance toward God, or used in magic. Since Jesus Christ is believed to be the Messiah, and “the image of the invisible God,” this commandment is applied to the name of Jesus Christ as well. The sentiment behind this commandment is expressed in the Lord's Prayer, which begins, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name."According to Pope Benedict XVI, when God revealed his name to Moses he established a relationship with mankind; Benedict stated that the Incarnation was the culmination of a process that "had begun with the giving of the divine name."Benedict elaborated that this means the divine name could be misused and that Jesus' inclusion of "hallowed be thy name"is a plea for the sanctification of God's name, to "protect the wonderful mystery of his accessibility to us, and constantly assert his true identity as opposed to our distortion of it." Taking an oath or swearing is to take God as witness to what one affirms. It is to invoke the divine truthfulness as a pledge of one’s own truthfulness. Promises made to others in God's name engage the divine honor, fidelity, truthfulness, and authority. They must be respected in justice. To be unfaithful to them is to misuse God's name and in some way to make God out to be a liar. (1 John 1:10) — Catechism of the Catholic Church 2147 For the same reason, the Catholic Catechism teaches that it is a duty to reject false oaths that others might try to impose; an oath may be made false because it attests to a lie, because an illegitimate authority is requiring it, or because the purpose of the oath is contrary to God’s law or human dignity. Reformation and Post-Reformation views (Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain)
Matthew Henry described five
categories of actions that constitute taking God’s name in vain:
1) hypocrisy – making a profession of God’s name, but not
living up to that profession; He pointed out that though a person may hold himself guiltless in one of these matters, the commandment specifically states that God will not. The Lutheran Witness, a doctrinal document representing the Lutheran faith, supports the view that oaths should not generally be taken at all, except “for the glory of God and the welfare of our neighbor.” Specifically, it states that proper use of God’s name includes administration of oaths in court, and in swearing-in a spiritual or political leader to their respective offices, which include responsibilities toward God and fellow human beings. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin sets the stage for discussing this commandment by noting that an oath is calling God to witness that what we say is true, and that an appropriate oath is a kind of worship of God in that it implies a profession of faith. When human testimony fails, people appeal to God as witness, as the only one able to bring hidden things to light and know what is in the heart. False swearing robs God of his truth (to the observer), and therefore it is a serious matter. With regard to the casual use of God’s name, Calvin summarized, “remember that an oath is not appointed or allowed for passion or pleasure, but for necessity.” He wrote that the frequency of casual use of the name of God has dulled the public conscience but that the commandment, with its penalty, still stands.
The Fourth Commandent Exodus 20:8 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy is the fourth of one of the Ten Commandments, which are widely understood as moral imperatives by Jewish, Catholic, Reformation and legal scholars. The book of Exodus describes the Ten Commandments as being spoken by God, inscribed on two stone tablets by the finger of God, broken by Moses, and rewritten on replacements stones by the Lord. The full text of the commandment reads: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 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. 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. — Exodus 20:8-11 (ESV) "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy"(the version in Deuteronomy reads shamor, "observe") The seventh day of the week is termed Shabbat and is holy, just as God ceased creative activity during Creation. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. - Genesis 2:3 (NASB) The aspect of zachor is performed by declaring the greatness of the day (kiddush), by having three festive meals, and by engaging in Torah study and pleasurable activities. The aspect of shamor is performed by abstaining from productive activity (39 melachot) on the Shabbath. Sabbath in the Bible is usually a weekly day of rest and time of worship. The Sabbath is first mentioned in the Genesis creation narrative. The seventh day is there set aside as a day of rest—the Sabbath. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in several other faiths. It is regarded as having been instituted as a "perpetual covenant [for] the people of Israel"and proselytes (Exodus 31:13-17, Exodus 23:12, Deuteronomy 5:13-14). Background - 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' - Exodus 20:8 According to Genesis, God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and on the seventh day, he rested. This is the Biblical origins of the week. God blessed the seventh day of the week and made it holy. The next mention of the seventh-day Sabbath rest was after the Israelites had left Egypt and were travelling through the desert complaining of hunger. God provided manna for them each morning for the first six days of each week. They were not to save any manna from one day to the next. But on the sixth day, they were to collect enough manna for two days, so that they would not have to go out on the seventh day--the Sabbath. Some disobeyed God's instructions so "The LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” So the people rested on the seventh day." When God later gave them the 10 commandments on stone, Israel was commanded to remember the creation Sabbath and keep it holy by not doing any work and allowing the whole household (see also proselytes) to cease from work. This was in recognition of God’s act of creation and the special status that God had conferred to the seventh day during the creation week. Ancient understanding - 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' - Exodus 20:8 The Torah portrays the Sabbath concept both in terms of resting on the seventh day and allowing land to lie fallow during each seventh year. The motivation is described as going beyond a sign and remembrance of God’s original rest during the creation week and extends to a concern that one’s servants, family, and livestock be able to rest and be refreshed from their work. In addition to the instruction to rest on each seventh day and seventh year, periods of seven days are often relevant aspects of Biblical instructions. For example, the quarantine period for suspected skin diseases after initial examination by a priest was seven days, after which the priest would re-examine the skin and pronounce the person clean or unclean. Other special days included the day after the seventh Sabbath, the first day of the seventh month, the day of ritual cleansing after being healed from an unclean disease or other event bringing uncleanness. In addition, in the battle of Jericho, Joshua commanded the army to march around Jericho each day for seven consecutive days and to march around Jericho seven times on the seventh day. The Torah describes disobedience to the command to keep the Sabbath day holy as punishable by death and failing to observe Sabbath years would be made up for during the captivity that would result from breaking covenant. The Torah also describes how special bread was to be set out before Yahweh Sabbath by Sabbath and describes Sabbath day offerings. The Day of Atonement was regarded as a “Sabbath of Sabbaths” It was on this day alone that the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) entered the Kodesh Hakodashim (Most Holy Place) inside the Tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant contained the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were engraved. The presence of YHWH in Kodesh Hakodashim required that the Kohen Gadol be first purified by the sacrifice of a bull in a prescribed manner. Entering the Most Holy Place on other days or without fulfilling the ritual requirements wound subject the priest to death. In the same way that observing the Sabbath did not prevent Joshua from marching around Jericho for seven consecutive days, Sabbath observance did not prevent the chief priest Jehoiada from organizing a palace coup on the Sabbath in order to remove queen Ataliah from the throne and replace her with Joash, a rightful heir to the throne. Ataliah had murdered all the other heirs to the throne upon the death of Ahaziah and usurped the throne of Judah for herself. Jehoiada’s wife had rescued young Joash, and Jehoiada had kept him hidden for six years while Ataliah reigned as queen over Judah. The priest Jehoiada used the occasion of the transfer of the guard on the Sabbath to proclaim Joash as king because at that time, he could arrange twice the normal guard on duty at the temple of Yahweh. On that day, a covenant was made, Joash was proclaimed king, Ataliah was put to death, the temple of Baal was torn down, idols were smashed, and Mattan, the priest of Baal, was killed. A number of the prophets condemn desecration of the Sabbath with various forms of work, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Amos. According to Nehemiah, after the captives return to Jerusalem from Exile, they make a covenant which includes a promise to refrain from desecrating the Sabbath, yet some give in to the ongoing temptation to buy and sell on the Sabbath. As a result, Nehemiah has to rebuke them and station guards to prevent commerce in Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Jewish view - 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' - Exodus 20:8 See Shabbat Ibn Ezra taught that the Exodus account of the Ten Commandments contains the text exactly as written on the stone tablets and that the different version in Deuteronomy contains Moses words which remind Israel to obey the commandments, “as the Lord your God has commanded you.” Ibn Ezra explains that Moses did not need to re-iterate the reference to six days of creation at the beginning of the commandment in Deuteronomy, because the command in Deuteronomy itself refers back to the command from Exodus with the words “as the Lord your God has commanded you.” Instead, Moses revealed in Deuteronomy the motive for the command that slaves rest on the Sabbath day in order that Israel remember that they were slaves in Egypt and that God redeemed them. Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (the Ramban) also views the Exodus version of the Sabbath day commandment as a direct recitation by God, and the version in Deutronomy as Moses’ personal reconstruction and exposition. The Ramban explains that Moses wishes to emphasize that the prohibition of work extends even to agricultural work aimed at food production. He further explains the difference in the stated rationals (creation in Exodus, exodus in Deuteronomy). The exodus from Egypt serves as further evidence of God’s creation of the world. God’s awesome display of power during the exodus annuls any doubts regarding God as creator, because only the creator can possess such total control over the elements. ’’Thus the Sabbath is a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt, and the exodus is a remembrance of the Sabbath, for on it [the Sabbath] they remember and say that it is God who . . . created everything at the beginning of creation . . . Now he did not explain here [in Deuteronomy] that the reason for the rest [on the Sabbath] is that in six days the Eternal made heaven since this has already been mentioned many times in the Torah. Instead . . . he explained to them that from the Exodus from Egypt they will know that it was He who spoke and the world came into existence, and He ceased from work thereon.’’ Maimonides (the Rambam) gives equal footing to both rationals for the Sabbath command: ’’God commanded us to abstain from work on the Sabbath, and to rest, for two purposes; namely, (1) That we might confirm the true theory, that of the Creation, which at once and clearly leads to the theory of the existence of God. (2) That we might remember how kind God had been in freeing us from the burden of the Egyptians - The Sabbath is therefore a double blessing: it gives us correct notions, and also promotes the well-being of our bodies.’’ New Testament view - 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' - Exodus 20:8 See also Sabbath Moral imperatives mirroring nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament, but the commandment regarding the Sabbath is notably absent. However, the background and Jewish understanding of the Sabbath commandment underscore much of the New Testament narratives and discussion. For example, Jesus is described as pointing out to the Jews their misunderstanding of the Mosaic Law by making observance of the Sabbath more rigorous than God had commanded. It was not unlawful to eat on the Sabbath, even if food must be obtained by plucking grain from the ears. It was not unlawful to do good on the Sabbath day. Healing was a work of mercy, and Jesus, portrayed as Lord of the Sabbath, was merciful. Consequently, criticisms of healing on the Sabbath were unjustified. At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. — Matthew 12:1-14 NIV Teaching of the Roman Catholic Church - 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' - Exodus 20:8 The Catholic Church views the commandment to “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8-10) as an essential part of observing the command to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.”(Mark 2:27-28) Catholic teaching emphasizes the holiness of the Sabbath day (Exodus 31:15), connects the Sabbath with God’s rest after the six days of creation (Exodus 20:11), views the Sabbath as a reminder of Israel’s liberation from bondage (Deuteronomy 5:15), and views God’s example of resting on the seventh day as an example for human resting and protesting the servitude of work and the worship of money.(Exodus 31:17, 23:12) The Catholic Catechism discusses many incidents when Jesus was accused of violating the Sabbath law, and points out that Jesus never fails to respect the holiness of this day.(Mark 1:21, John 9:16) Jesus is described as giving the Sabbath law its authentic and authoritative interpretation: "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath."(Mark 2:27) With compassion, Christ declares the Sabbath for doing good rather than harm, for saving life rather than killing.(Mark 3:4) Sunday is distinguished from the Sabbath, which it follows. According to Catholic teaching, ceremonial observance of Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week replaces that of the Sabbath. Sunday is described as a fulfillment of the spiritual truth of the Jewish Sabbath and an announcement of man's eternal rest in God. The Catholic Catechism describes Sunday celebration as observing the “moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart to render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship.” Thus, Sunday worship fulfills the “moral command of the Old Covenant, taking up its rhythm and spirit in the weekly celebration of the Creator and Redeemer of his people.” The Catholic Church teaches that the Lord’s day should be “a day of grace and rest from work” to cultivate their “familial, cultural, social, and religious lives.” On Sundays and other holy days, faithful Christians are to refrain from work and activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, works of mercy, and the “appropriate relaxation of mind and body.” Christians also sanctify Sunday by giving time and care to their families and relatives, often difficult to do on other days of the week. “Sunday is a time for reflection, silence, cultivation of the mind, and meditation which furthers the growth of the Christian interior life.” In addition to one’s own rest, Christians should avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hinder them from observing the Lord's Day. Reformation and Post-Reformation views - 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' - Exodus 20:8 Martin Luther taught that with regard to external observance, the Sabbath commandment was given to Jews alone and not strictly applicable to Christians. Luther did see wisdom in voluntary observance of a day to rest from labor and pay particular attention to Christian duties of reading the Scriptures, worshiping God, and prayer. He thought that this need not occur on any particular day, but should continue on Sunday (the Lord’s day), since this was the long established practice, and there was no reason to create disorder by unnecessary innovation. Luther emphasized that no day is made holy by rest alone, but rather by the individual seeking to be holy though washing himself in God’s word. For the Word of God is the sanctuary above all sanctuaries, yea, the only one which we Christians know and have&ldots;God's Word is the treasure which sanctifies everything, and by which even all the saints themselves were sanctified. At whatever hour then, God's Word is taught, preached, heard, read or meditated upon, there the person, day, and work are sanctified thereby, not because of the external work, but because of the Word which makes saints of us all. Therefore I constantly say that all our life and work must be ordered according to God's Word, if it is to be God-pleasing or holy. Where this is done, this commandment is in force and being fulfilled. — Martin Luther, The Large Catechism John Calvin taught that since Jesus Christ fulfilled the Sabbath, binding observance to the Sabbath was abrogated for Christians. However, he emphasized that because Christians are buried with Christ in baptism and raised from the dead to the glory of God the Father (Romans 6:4), that what Christ fulfilled in the Sabbath requires not one day each week, but rather “requires the whole course of our lives, until being completely dead to ourselves, we are filled with the life of God.” Calvin taught that spiritual wisdom deserves to have some part of every day devoted to it, but owing to the weakness of many daily meetings cannot be held. Consequently, the pattern of weekly observance established by God is useful for the church to emulate. This church practice is not to be in the manner of Jewish observance of minute formalities, but rather one of ordering church life in a useful and predictable manner to serve the body with opportunity to hear the word, receive the sacraments, and participate in public prayer. The Westminster Confession of Faith describes the Sabbath day as being the seventh day of the week from the creation until the resurrection of Christ, and as being changed to the first day of the week with Christ’s resurrection. VI. Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now, under the Gospel, either tied unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is directed: [John 4:21] but God is to be worshipped everywhere,[Malachi 1:11, 1 Timothy 2:8] in spirit and truth;[John 4:23] as, in private families[Jeremiah 10:25, Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 1 Peter 3:7, Acts 10:2] daily,[Matthew 6:11] and in secret, each one by himself;[Matthew 6:6, Ephesians 6:18] so, more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly or wilfully to be neglected, or forsaken, when God, by His Word or providence, calls thereunto.[Isaiah 56:6-7, Hebrews 10:25, Acts 13:42, Luke 4:16, Acts 2:42] VII. As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He has particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him:[Exodus 20:8-11, Isaiah 56:2-11] which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week: and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week,[Genesis 2:2, 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, Acts 20:7] which, in Scripture, is called the Lord's Day,[Revelation 1:10] and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.[Exodus 20:8,10, Matthew 5:17-18] VIII. This Sabbath is to be kept holy unto the Lord when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations,[Exodus 20:8, Exodus 16:23-30, Exodus 31:15-17, Isaiah 58:13, Nehemiah 13:15-22] but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.[Isaiah 58:13
The Fifth Commandent Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you." The commandment Honor your father and your mother is the fifth of the Ten Commandments in the Hebrew Bible. The commandment is generally regarded in Protestant and Jewish sources as the fifth in both the list in Exodus 20:1-21, and in Deuteronomy 5:1-23, though in Catholic counting this is the fourth commandment. These commandments are widely understood as moral imperatives by legal scholars, Jewish scholars, Catholic scholars, and Post-Reformation scholars. The book of Exodus describes the Ten Commandments as being spoken by God, inscribed on two stone tablets by the finger of God, broken by Moses, and rewritten on replacements stones by the Lord. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you." - Exodus 20:12 (NASB) Hebrew Bible - "Honor your father and your mother . . . - Exodus 20:12 In the Torah, keeping this commandment was associated with individual benefit and with the ability of the nation of Israel to remain in the land to which God was leading them. Dishonoring parents by striking or cursing them was punishable by death. In the Talmud, the commandment to honor one's human parents is compared to honoring God. According to the prophet Malachi, God makes the analogy himself: "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?"says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. "But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?'" — Malachi 1:6 (NIV) In the gospels, Jesus affirmed the importance of honoring one's father and mother. Paul quotes the commandment in his letter to the church in Ephesus. In his letters to the Romans and Timothy, Paul describes disobedience to parents as a serious sin. According to the Catholic Catechism, the import of honoring father and mother is based on the divine origin of the parental role: The divine fatherhood is the source of human fatherhood. (Ephesians 3:14) This is the foundation of the honor owed to parents. &ldots; It is required by God's commandment. (Exodus 20:12) — Catechism of the Catholic Church 2214 The Post-Reformation theologian John Calvin also refers to the sacred origin of the role of human father, and comments that the commandment does not therefore depend on the particular worthiness of the parent. Judaism - "Honor your father and your mother . . . - Exodus 20:12 What constitutes "honor?"One must provide them with food and drink and clothing. One should bring them home and take them out, and provide them with all their needs cheerfully. — Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 143:7 The commandment to honor one's human parents is compared to honoring God. The Talmud says that since there are three partners in the creation of a person (God and two parents), honor showed to parents is the same as honor shown to God. It also compares a number of similarly constructed passages from the Torah and concludes that honor toward parents and honor toward God are intentionally equated: Our Rabbis taught: It says, 'Honor your father and your mother' (Exodus 20:12), and it says, 'Honor God with your wealth' (Proverbs 3:9). By using the same terminology, the Torah compares the honor you owe your father and mother to the honor you have to give to the Almighty. It also says, 'Every person must respect his mother and his father' (Leviticus 19:3), and it says, 'God your Lord you shall respect, Him you shall serve' (Deuteronomy 10:20). (Here the same word, -respect- is used.) The Torah equates the respect you owe your parents with the respect you must show God. Furthermore it says, 'Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death' (Exodus 21:17). And furthermore it says, 'Anyone that curses God shall bear his sin' (Leviticus 24.-15). By using the same terms the Torah compares cursing of parents with cursing the Almighty. — Talmud Kiddushin 31 Because honoring parents is part of honoring God, the mitzvah does not depend on the worthiness of the parent:"Even if his father is wicked and a sinner, he must fear and revere him . . . A convert to Judaism must not curse or despise his non-Jewish father."(Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 143:13,25) It also requires honor to one's stepparents or an older sibling who is raising one, and one's teachers, though one has a greater obligation to honor a parent than a grandparent. The commandment is repeated eight times throughout the bible. Historical beliefs - "Honor your father and your mother . . . - Exodus 20:12 Keeping this commandment was associated by the Israelites with individual benefit and with the ability of the nation of Israel to remain in the land to which God was leading them. Dishonoring parents in specific ways was associated with severe punishment. According to the Torah, striking or cursing one’s father or mother was punishable by immediate death. In Deuteronomy, a procedure is described for parents to bring a persistently disobedient son to the city elders for death by stoning. Honoring one's parents is also described in the Torah as an analogue to honoring God. According to the prophet Jeremiah, God refers to himself as Father to Israel, and according to the prophet Isaiah, God refers to Israel as his sons and daughters. According to the prophet Malachi, God calls for similar honor: "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? . . . says the LORD Almighty. — Malachi 1:6 (NIV) According to Jeremiah, God blessed the descendants of Rechab for obeying their forefather’s command to not drink wine and uses the family as a counterexample to Israel’s failure to obey his command to not worship other gods: "Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?"declares the LORD. "Jonadab son of Recab ordered his sons not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather's command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me. Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, 'Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your fathers.' But you have not paid attention or listened to me. The descendants of Jonadab son of Recab have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed me." — Jeremiah 35:12-16 (NIV) Precedence - "Honor your father and your mother . . . - Exodus 20:12 According to the Mishneh Torah this commandment requires one to honor both of one's parents equally; there is no greater weight given to either the father or the mother. While in some parts of scripture, father is stated first, in others, mother comes first. This shows that the honor due to each is equal. While Jewish teaching holds that a married woman must honor her husband, there are also guidelines for how she may continue to honor her parents: It is the duty of both men and women to honor their parents. However, a married woman, who owes devotion to her husband, is exempt from the precept of honoring her parents. Yet, she is obliged to do for the parents, all she can, if her husband does not object. — Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 143:17 Requirements - "Honor your father and your mother . . . - Exodus 20:12 Obedience: The commandment requires one to obey one's parents when the command given by a parent is reasonable and permissible under Jewish law. For example, if a parent asks a child to bring him/her water, s/he must obey. Because honoring God is above all mitzvah, if a parent asks a child to break a law of the Torah, s/he must refuse to obey. Everything that your father says to you, you are obliged to obey. But if he says to you: “Let us bow down to idols,” you must not obey him, lest you become an apostate. — Midrash, Yalkut Shimoni, Proverbs 960 I am the Lord your God, and both you and your parents are equally bound to honor Me, therefore, you must not hearken to them to disregard My word. — Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 143:15 A child is not required to obey if a parent says that s/he must marry a particular person, or must not marry a person s/he wishes to marry, provided the marriage is permissible by Jewish law. Letting parents know s/he is safe: A child who is traveling has an obligation to communicate with his/her parents to let them know s/he is safe in order to prevent them from worrying. After the parent's death: A child must continue to honor his/her parent after their deaths. This can be done by reciting kaddish for 11 months and on the yarzeit (anniversary of the parent's death), and by donating charity in the memory of the parent. The study of Torah is also considered to be reverence toward a parent, for it shows that a parent raised a worthy child. Other requirements: A child must never put a parent to shame, or speak arrogantly toward one's parent. A person who is told to do something by his/her mother for which his father does not like the result is not permitted to tell his/her father that his/her mother said to do that. This is because this could lead to his/her father cursing his/her mother. A child is not permitted to interrupt or contradict a parent, or to disturb a parent's sleep. Parents' obligations - "Honor your father and your mother . . . - Exodus 20:12 As a child must respect his/her parents, a parent must respect his/her children in return. This gives him/her the ability to respect his/her parents. A father has the following obligations toward his children: To teach his children To rebuke his children. A parent who fails to do so will lead his children into delinquency. To refrain from showing favoritism toward his children. But a parent must never terrorize a child. To train a child according to his/her interests To teach a child a trade To teach a child how to swim Rewards - "Honor your father and your mother . . . - Exodus 20:12 The rewards for honoring one's parents are as follows: Long life (Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:16) One's children will honor the follower of this commandment Consequences - "Honor your father and your mother . . . - Exodus 20:12 As with most terms of the covenant between God and Israel, there are consequences for disobedience as well as rewards for obedience: Just as the reward for honoring father and mother is very great, the punishment for transgressing it is very great. And the one who afflicts his parents causes the shechinah [presence of God] to separate from him and harsh decrees fall upon him and he is given many sufferings. And even if life smiles on him in this life, he will surely be punished in the World to Come. — Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 143:4 New Testament - "Honor your father and your mother . . . - Exodus 20:12 In the gospels, Jesus affirmed the importance of honoring one's father and mother (Matthew 19:17-19, Mark 10:17-19, Luke 8:18-21) Paul quotes the commandment in his letter to the church in Ephesus: Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” (Ephesians 6:1-2, ESV. See also Colossians 3:20) — Ephesians 6:1-2 (ESV) Ruth honored her widowed mother-in-law Naomi. Simeon Solomon, 1860. In his letters to the Romans and Timothy, Paul describes disobedience to parents as a serious sin (Romans 1:29-31, 2 Timothy 3:2). The words of Jesus and the teaching of Paul indicate that adult children remain obligated to honor their parents by providing for material needs. In the gospels, Jesus is portrayed as angry with some people who avoided materially providing for their parents by claiming the money they would have used was given to God (Matthew 15:3-8, Mark 7:9-12. In these passages, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13) According to the Gospel of John, when Jesus was on the cross, he provided for his natural mother by giving the Apostle John the charge to care for her, which John accepted (John 19:26-27). According to the gospel of Matthew, the obligation to honor one’s parents is bounded by one’s obligation to God: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37 ESV) Such boundaries, and the primacy of the first commandment itself, lead scholars to conclude that honoring one's parents does not include breaking God’s law (i.e., committing a sin) at the behest of a parent. Paul’s instructions to Timothy regarding the physical care of widows include the following: But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. — 1 Timothy 5:4 (NIV) Catholicism - "Honor your father and your mother . . . - Exodus 20:12 According to the teachings of the Catholic Church, the commandment to honor father and mother reveals God’s desired order of charity – first God, then parents, then others. The Catholic Catechism states that keeping the commandment to honor father and mother brings both spiritual and temporal rewards of peace and prosperity, while failure to honor parents harms the individual as well as society. The pervasive societal effect of obedience or disobedience to this command is attributed to the status of the family as the fundamental building block of society: The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society. — Catechism of the Catholic Church 2207 The Catholic Church views the family as a miniature church within itself, which is intended to have positive, profound effect. The import of honoring father and mother is based on the divine origin of the parental role: The divine fatherhood is the source of human fatherhood. (Ephesians 3:14) This is the foundation of the honor owed to parents. &ldots; It is required by God's commandment. (Exodus 20:12) Respect for parents (filial piety) derives from gratitude toward those who, by the gift of life, their love and their work, have brought their children into the world and enabled them to grow in stature, wisdom, and grace. — Catechism of the Catholic Church 2214-2215 For a child in the home, the commandment to honor parents is comprehensive, excluding immoral actions. The Catechism quotes from the Gospel of Luke that, as a child, Jesus was obedient to his earthly parents. Grown children, while not obligated to obedience in the same way, should continue to afford respect for parental wishes, advice and teaching. Filial respect is shown by true docility and obedience. "My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching. . . . When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you."(Proverbs 6:20-22) "A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.”(Proverbs 13:1) — Catechism of the Catholic Church 2216 David’s Charge to Solomon, stained glass, Burne-Jones and Morris, Trinity Church, Boston, Massachusetts The Catholic Church teaches that adult children have a duty to honor their parents by providing “material and moral support in old age and in times of illness, loneliness, or distress.” This honor should be based on the son or daughter’s gratitude for the life, love and effort given by the parents and motivated by the desire to pay them back in some measure. The principle of the commandment is extended to the duty to honor others in direct authority, such as teachers, employers, and especially persons in addition to parents who may have contributed to one’s coming to and living a life of faith in Jesus. The teachings of the Catholic Church explain that the commandment to honor father and mother also forms a basis for charity to others when each person is seen, ultimately, as “a son or daughter of the One who wants to be called ‘our Father.’ In this way our relationships with our neighbors are recognized as personal in character. The neighbor is not a ‘unit’ in the human collective; he is ‘someone’ who by his known origins deserves particular attention and respect.” Thus, charitable actions are viewed as extensions of the honor owed to the heavenly Father. To clarify both the importance of and priorities for charity to others, the Catechism quotes these words of James: Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27) — Catechism of the Catholic Church 2208 Post-Reformation commentary - "Honor your father and your mother . . . - Exodus 20:12 The commentary of John Wesley on the commandment to honor father and mother is consistent with the interpretation in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He summarizes the actions that express honor as follows: 1. An inward esteem of them, outwardly expressed, 2. Obedience to their lawful commands (Ephesians 6:1-3), 3. Submission to their rebukes, instructions and corrections, 4. Acting with consideration of parental advice, direction and constant, 5. Giving comfort and providing for physical needs of aged parents. Like the Catechism, Wesley also teaches that the commandment includes honoring others in legitimate secular authority. He also encourages people toward honor of those in spiritual leadership with the question, “Have ye all obeyed them that watch over your souls, and esteemed them highly in love for their work's sake?” This question is reminiscent of Paul’s statements to the church in Galatia and to Timothy. Matthew Henry explains that the commandment to honor father and mother applies not only to biological parents but also to those who fulfill the role of mother or father. He uses the example of Esther honoring her guardian and cousin Mordecai: Mordecai being Esther's guardian or pro-parent, we are told &ldots; How respectful she was to him. Though in relation she was his equal, yet, being in age and dependence his inferior, she honoured him as her father—did his commandment, v. 20. This is an example to orphans; if they fall into the hands of those who love them and take care of them, let them make suitable returns of duty and affection. The less obliged their guardians were in duty to provide for them the more obliged they are in gratitude to honour and obey their guardians. — Matthew Henry, commentary on Esther 2
Esther and Mordecai writing the second letter of Purim. Arent de Gelder, ca. 1685. Oil on canvas, RISD Museum of Art, Providence RI In addition to supporting the preceding applications of the commandment to honor parents, John Calvin describes the sacred origin of the role of human father (which thus demands honor). The analogy between the honor of parents and the honor of God himself is further strengthened by this understanding that earthly fatherhood is derived from God’s Fatherhood. Thus the duty to honor does not depend on whether the parent is particularly worthy. However, Calvin acknowledges that some fathers are outright wicked and emphasizes there is no excuse for sin in the name of honoring a parent, calling the notion “absurd.” Since, therefore, the name of Father is a sacred one, and is transferred to men by the peculiar goodness of God, the dishonoring of parents redounds to the dishonor of God Himself, nor can any one despise his father without being guilty of an offense against God, (sacrilegium.) If any should object that there are many ungodly and wicked fathers whom their children cannot regard with honor without destroying the distinction between good and evil, the reply is easy, that the perpetual law of nature is not subverted by the sins of men; and therefore, however unworthy of honor a father may be, that he still retains, inasmuch as he is a father, his right over his children, provided it does not in anywise derogate from the judgment of God; for it is too absurd to think of absolving under any pretext the sins which are condemned by His Law; nay, it would be a base profanation to misuse the name of father for the covering of sins. — John Calvin, commentary on Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16 The commandment itself encourages obedience “so that you may enjoy long life and that it may go well with you.” Henry, Wesley and Calvin affirm the applicability of this promise for all who keep the commandment, though each notes that for the New Testament Christian, the promise may be fulfilled as earthly rewards and/or heavenly rewards, as God sees fit in his wisdom and love for the individual. In his commentary, Calvin notes the harsh consequences required in Exodus and Leviticus for specific failures to keep the commandment. Those who struck or cursed a parent were to be sentenced to death. Persistently disobedient sons were to be brought before the city elders and stoned by the whole community if the parents’ testimony was judged to be accurate. Calvin writes that God knew capital punishment for these offenses would seem harsh and be difficult to pronounce, even for those responsible for adjudicating the situation. This is why, he argues, the text specifically places responsibility for the consequences on the offender. The severity of the sentence emphasized the importance of removing such behavior from the community and deterring others who might imitate it. Though Calvin refers mostly to fathers in his commentary on the commandment to honor father and mother, he writes near the beginning that the commandment mentions both parents on purpose. As described above, Proverbs supports the value of guidance from both father and mother, and Paul specified that children should provide for their own widowed mothers and grandmothers, “which is pleasing to God.”
The Sixth Commandent Exodus 20:13 You shall not murder
You shall not murder or You shall not kill, KJV Thou shalt not kill (LXX), is a moral imperative included as the sixth one of the Ten Commandments in the Torah, specifically Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17. The imperative is against unlawful killing resulting in bloodguilt. The Hebrew Bible contains numerous prohibitions against unlawful killing of Hasidic Jews, but also allows for justified or unjustified killing of all others in the context of warfare, capital punishment, self-defense, for any other reason, and for no reason. Hebrew Bible - You shall not murder Exodus 20:13
Jewish interpretation - You shall not murder Exodus 20:13 Jewish law views the shedding of innocent blood very seriously, and lists murder as one of three sins (along with idolatry and sexual immorality) fall under the category of yehareg ve'al ya'avor, meaning "One should let himself be killed rather than violate it." Jewish law enumerates 613 Mitzvot, or commandments, including prohibition of murder and a number of other commandments related to the preserving of human life and administration of justice in cases of shedding of innocent blood. 482. Don't commit murder (Exodus 20:13) 483. Don't accept ransom for life of the murderer (Numbers 35:31) 484. Exile an accidental murderer (Numbers 35:25) 485. Don't accept ransom from him (Numbers 35:32) 486. Don't kill the murderer before trying him (Numbers 35:12) 487. Save the pursued at the cost of the life of the pursuer (Deuteronomy 25:12) 488. Don't show pity for the pursuer (Numbers 35:12) 489. Don't stand idly by when you can save a life (Leviticus 19:16) 490. Set aside cities of refuge for those who commit accidental homicide (Deuteronomy 19:3) 491. Break the neck of the calf by the river (in ritual following unsolved murder) (Deuteronomy 21:4) 492. Don't till by that river or sow there (Deuteronomy 21:4) 493. Don't cause loss of human life (through negligence) (Deuteronomy 22:8) 494. Build a parapet (in roof of house) (Deuteronomy 22:8) 495. Don't mislead with advice which is a stumbling block (Leviticus 19:14) 496. Help a man remove the load from his beast which can no longer carry it (Exodus 23:5) 497. Help him load his beast (Deuteronomy 22:4) 498. Don't leave him in a state of confusion and go on your way (Deuteronomy 22:4) — Sefer Hamitzvot by Maimonides Life is considered very precious, even sacred by Jewish teaching. The Talmud cites the prohibition of shedding innocent blood in Genesis 9:6 as the reason why the death penalty should be carried out against non-Jews as well as Jews, and while faithful Jews are required to obey 613 Mitzvot, gentiles are only obliged to obey the seven Noahide laws, which include the prohibition of murder and establishment of a justice system to administer law honestly. Rabbi Dr. Azriel Rosenfeld offers a representative modern summary of Jewish teaching regarding the command not to murder. Chapter 68. Murderer and Protection of Life - Rotze'ach u-Shemiras Nefesh It is forbidden to murder, as it says "You shall not murder". (Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17) A murderer must be put to death, as it says "He shall be avenged"; (Exodus 21:20, see Leviticus 24:17,21) it is forbidden to accept compensation from him instead, as it says "You shall not take redemption for the life of a murderer . . . ; and there shall be no atonement for the blood that was spilled . . . except the blood of him that spilled it". (Numbers 35:31-33) It is forbidden to execute a murderer before he has stood trial, as it says "And the murderer shall not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment". (Numbers 35:12) However, we are commanded to prevent an attempted murder by killing the would-be murderer if necessary, and it is forbidden to refrain from doing so, as it says "And you shall cut off her hand; you shall not be merciful"(Deuteronomy 25:12); and similarly for attempted fornication, as it says "[If the man seizes her and lies with her . . . ] just as a man rises up against his friend and murders him, so is this thing."(Deuteronomy 22:26) It is forbidden to refrain from saving life when it is in one's power to do so, as it says "You shall not stand on your friend's blood."(Leviticus 19:16) — Rabbi Dr. Azriel Rosenfeld In the Talmud, Genesis 9:5 is interpreted as a prohibition against killing oneself, and Genesis 9:6 is “cited in support for the prohibition of abortion.” New Testament view - You shall not murder Exodus 20:13 The New Testament is in agreement that murder is a grave moral evil, and maintains the Old Testament view of bloodguilt. Jesus himself repeats and expands upon the commandment, “Do not murder.” Jesus also tells a parable in which a king justifiably destroys a group of murderers. The New Testament depicts Jesus as explaining that murder, as well as other sins, comes from the heart. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. — Matthew 15:19 (NIV) The New Testament acknowledges the just and proper role of civil government in maintaining justice and punishing evildoers, even to the point of “bearing the sword.” One criminal on the cross contrasts his death as due punishment with Jesus’ death as an innocent man. When Jesus appeared before Pilate, both Pilate and the crowd recognize the principles of bloodguilt. There is no indication in the New Testament that it is unjust, immoral, or inappropriate for secular civil governments to execute those guilty of shedding innocent blood. Like the Old Testament, the New Testament seems to depict the lawful use of force by soldiers in legitimate battles as justified. The profession of soldier is used as a metaphor by Paul exhorting the Ephesians to “put on the full armor of God.” Cornelius, the Roman centurion, is portrayed as a righteous and God-fearing man. Jesus praises the faith of a Roman centurion on the occasion of healing the centurion’s servant, and states that he has not found such great faith even in Israel. When John the Baptist was preaching repentance and baptizing penitent sinners in the Jordan river, soldiers came to John and asked for specific instructions regarding their repentance. John the Baptist did not demand that the soldiers renounce their profession, instead he exhorted them to be content with their pay. Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay. — Luke 3:14 (NIV) Jesus, while not explicitly condoning the use of violence in self-defense, implicitly suggests the need to be prepared for it when he tells his disciples to buy a sword if they do not have one, “now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” However, Jesus was also quick to correct his servant for the improper use of the sword in cutting off the ear of the high-priest’s servant. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? — Matthew 26:52-53 (KJV) Roman Catholic Church - You shall not murder Exodus 20:13
Reformation and Post-Reformation views - You shall not murder Exodus 20:13 Martin Luther summarized the commandment against shedding innocent blood as grounded in the fear and love of God, and as having both positive and negative aspects: negative in that we must neither harm nor hurt our neighbor’s body; positive in that we must help our neighbor and care for him when he is ill. You must not kill.(Exodus 20:13) Q. What does this mean? A. We must fear and love God, so that we will neither harm nor hurt our neighbor’s body, but help him and care for him when he is ill. — Martin Luther, The Small Catechism In a more detailed teaching, Martin Luther explains that God and government are not constrained by the commandment not to kill, but that God has delegated his authority in punishing evildoers to the government. The prohibition of killing is forbidden to the individual in his relation to anyone else, and not to the government. We have now completed both the spiritual and the temporal government, that is, the divine and the paternal authority and obedience. But here now we go forth from our house among our neighbors to learn how we should live with one another, every one himself toward his neighbor. Therefore God and government are not included in this commandment nor is the power to kill, which they have taken away. For God has delegated His authority to punish evil-doers to the government instead of parents, who aforetime (as we read in Moses) were required to bring their own children to judgment and sentence them to death. Therefore, what is here forbidden is forbidden to the individual in his relation to any one else, and not to the government. — Martin Luther, Large Catechism In The Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin viewed the purport of this commandment as the safety of all being entrusted to each person. All violence and injustice, and every kind of harm from which our neighbor’s body suffers is thereby prohibited. Christians are therefore required to faithfully perform that which is within their power to defend the life of their neighbor, be vigilant in warding off harm, and assist in removing danger when it comes. Calvin asserts that the same rule must also be applied in regulating the mind against anger, arguing that since God sees the heart and mind, the commandment against shedding innocent blood also prohibits murder of the heart and requires a sincere desire to preserve our brother’s life. The hand does not commit the murder unless it is conceived by the mind under the influence of wrath and hatred. According to Calvin, where wrath and hatred dwell, there is an inclination to do mischief, quoting the Bible, “whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer”(1 John 3:15) and “whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement” (Gospel of Matthew 5:22). John Calvin also makes a case that the command against shedding blood is founded both in the creation of man in the image of God and in the need for a man to cherish his own flesh. Scripture notes a twofold equity on which this commandment is founded. Man is both the image of God and our flesh. Wherefore, if we would not violate the image of God, we must hold the person of man sacred—if we would not divest ourselves of humanity we must cherish our own flesh. The practical inference to be drawn from the redemption and gift of Christ will be elsewhere considered. The Lord has been pleased to direct our attention to these two natural considerations as inducements to watch over our neighbour's preservation, viz., to revere the divine image impressed upon him, and embrace our own flesh. To be clear of the crime of murder, it is not enough to refrain from shedding man's blood. If in act you perpetrate, if in endeavour you plot, if in wish and design you conceive what is adverse to another's safety, you have the guilt of murder. On the other hand, if you do not according to your means and opportunity study to defend his safety, by that inhumanity you violate the law. But if the safety of the body is so carefully provided for, we may hence infer how much care and exertion is due to the safety of the soul, which is of immeasurably higher value in the sight of God. — John Calvin Matthew Henry considered the commandment against killing to apply to both one’s own life as well as the life of one’s neighbor and considered it to apply not only to causing of death but also to prohibit any thing unjustly hurtful to or injurious to the health, ease, and life of one’s own body or the body of any other person. He also ties the commandment against bloodshed back to the command to Noah, and he sees it as a command applying to the individual against his neighbor, but not against killing in lawful war, for one’s own necessary defense, or against the government instituting due punishments for criminal offenses. He portrays laying in wait for the blood of the innocent as a grave offense against human dignity as one of the fundamental laws of nature. This is one of the laws of nature, and was strongly enforced by the precepts given to Noah and his sons, Gen. 9:5, 6. It does not forbid killing in lawful war, or in our own necessary defence, nor the magistrate’s putting offenders to death, for those things tend to the preserving of life; but it forbids all malice and hatred to the person of any (for he that hateth his brother is a murderer), and all personal revenge arising therefrom; also all rash anger upon sudden provocations, and hurt said or done, or aimed to be done, in passion: of this our Saviour expounds this commandment, Mt. 5:22. And, as that which is worst of all, it forbids persecution, laying wait for the blood of the innocent and excellent ones of the earth. — Matthew Henry
See also Seven Laws of Noah
The Seventh Commandent Exodus 20:14 You shall not commit adultery
"You shall not commit adultery"is the seventh of the Ten Commandments. Adultery is sexual relations in which at least one participant is married to someone else. According to the Genesis narrative, marriage is a union established by God himself. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. — Genesis 2:24 (NASB) Within marriage, sexual relations are designed to result in children, to unify husband and wife, and in Judaism and some Christian traditions, to be a source of carnal enjoyment, although some traditions look down on any minimal physical pleasure evoked by intercourse as leading to concupiscence, or tendency toward or lowered ability to resist sin, in this case, sexual sin. and Before the account of the Ten Commandments, there are biblical examples that adultery was understood to be a serious offense. According to Exodus, the law forbidding adultery was codified at Mount Sinai as one of the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God on stone tablets. Details regarding the administration of this law and additional boundaries on sexual behavior followed. According to Deuteronomy, the commandment was reaffirmed as the leadership of Israel passed from Moses to Joshua. In the book of Proverbs, the temptation to adultery is described, and advice for avoiding it is offered. Proverbs likens a man entering an adulterous encounter "as an ox goes to the slaughter."Adultery may be the first specific activity referred to as a ‘highway to hell,’ and temporal consequences are starkly stated. For example: He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away. For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge. He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts. — Proverbs 6:32-35 (English Standard Version) Adultery is one of three sins (along with idolatry and murder) the Mishnah says must be resisted to the point of death. New Testament scriptures support the sanctity of marriage and affirm the gravity of the commandment: Let marriage be honored among all and the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. — Hebrews 13:4 (New American Bible Revised Edition) Other New Testament passages describe the positive expectation of sexual relations within marriage, and the sinfulness of adultery and of sexual relations outside of marriage.
The Eighth Commandent Exodus 20:15 You shall not steal You shall not steal is the sixth of the Ten Commandments, of the Torah (the Pentateuch), which are widely understood as moral imperatives by legal scholars, Jewish scholars, Catholic scholars, and Post-Reformation scholars. Ancient usage - You shall not steal Exodus 20:15 Significant voices of academic theologians (such as German Old Testament scholar A. Alt: Das Verbot des Diebstahls im Dekalog (1953)) suggest that commandment "you shall not steal"was originally intended against stealing people—against abductions and slavery, in agreement with the Talmudic interpretation of the statement as "you shall not kidnap"(Sanhedrin 86a). The Hebrew word translated “steal” is “ganab” The Hebrew Bible contains a number prohibitions of stealing and descriptions of negative consequences for this sin. The Genesis narrative describes Rachel as having stolen household goods from her father Laban when she fled from Laban’s household with her husband Jacob and their children. Laban hotly pursued Jacob to recover his goods, and intended to do him harm, but Rachel hid the stolen items and avoided detection. Exodus 21:16 and Deuteronomy 24:7 apply the same Hebrew word to kidnapping (stealing a man) and demands the death penalty for such a sin. The Hebrew word translated “steal” is more commonly applied to material possessions. Restitution may be demanded, but there is no judicial penalty of death. However, a thief may be killed if caught in the act of breaking in at night under circumstances where the occupants may reasonably be in fear of greater harm. The ancient Hebrew understanding honored private property rights and demanded restitution even in cases that might have been accidental, such as livestock grazing in another man’s field or vineyard. In the book of Leviticus, the prohibitions of robbing and stealing are repeated in the context of loving one’s neighbor as oneself and the prohibition is expanded to include dealing falsely or fraudulently in matters of trade and negotiations. Wages owed to a hired worker are not to be withheld. Neighbors must not oppress or rob each other. Neighbors are to deal frankly with each other, protect the lives of each other, refrain from vengeance and grudges, and stand up for righteousness and justice in matters that go to court. The law obliged the thief to pay seven times (if the thief steals because he is hungry) -).If the thief wasn’t able to pay compensation for his theft by selling his things, he was sold as a slave. If the thief confessed his sin, he was allowed to return the object, adding a fifth of its price and he brought to the priest as his compensation to the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent, for a guilt offering; and the priest made atonement for him before the Lord, and he was forgiven. Poverty and greed are among the reasons for theft. Besides this, stolen things are sweet and the bread (food) eaten in secret is pleasant. The partner of a thief hates his own life; he hears the curse, but discloses nothing. Sometimes rulers are thieves or accomplices of thieves. The book of Proverbs contrasts the response of a victim to a thief who steals to satisfy his hunger with the response of a jealous husband to adultery. The thief is not despised by his victim, even though the thief must make restitution even if it costs him all the goods of his house. In contrast, the jealous husband will accept no compensation and will repay the adulterer with wounds and dishonor, not sparing when his fury takes revenge. The book of Zechariah describes God as cursing the home of the thief and the home of those who swear falsely and Jeremiah describes thieves as being shamed when they are caught. Jewish interpretation - You shall not steal Exodus 20:15 Jewish law enumerates 613 Mitzvot or commandments, including prohibition of stealing and a number of other commandments related to the protection of private property and administration of justice in related cases. Maimonides (the Rambam) viewed stealing as one step in the progression from covetous desire to murder. When the person who owns a coveted item resists its unjust acquisition, the thief resorts to violence and may become guilty of murder. Maimonides’ admonition to learn from the example of Ahab and Naboth refers to the narrative in 1 Kings 21 in which King Ahab of Israel tried to convince Naboth the Jezreelite to sell him the vineyard Naboth owned adjacent to the king’s palace. Ahab wanted the land to use as a vegetable garden, but Naboth refused to sell or trade the property to Ahab saying, “The Lord forbid that I should give up to you what I have inherited from my fathers!” Ahab’s wife Jezebel then conspired to obtain the vineyard by writing letters in Ahab’s name to the elders and nobles in Naboth’s town instructing them to have two scoundrels bear false witness claiming that Naboth has cursed both God and the king. After Naboth was subsequently stoned to death, Ahab seized possession of Naboth’s vineyard. The text describes the Lord as very angry with Ahab, and the prophet Elijah pronounces judgment on both Ahab and Jezebel. New Testament view - You shall not steal Exodus 20:15 The New Testament repeats the commandment not to steal, contains dire warnings about spiritual consequences of the practice, and upholds the basic ideas of private property rights and the proper role of governmental authorities in punishing thieves. Thieves are exhorted to steal no longer, but to work hard with their own hands so that they might have something to share with people in need. Government officials are commanded to be content with their pay and not to use their positions for unjust gain. Zacchaeus brought salvation upon his house because he was decided to restore fourfold to those whom he had defrauded. The hypocritical thief is personified by Judas, who took secretly his part from the money Jesus and the apostles raised for helping the poor; he objected when Mary ointed Jesus with pure nard, pretending hypocritically it would have been useful if the nard would have been sold and the money given to the poor. There were some Pharisees like Judas: they stole, although preaching not to steal. While private property rights are affirmed, the overriding theme in the New Testament is that one should trust and hope in God rather than in one’s material possessions, and there is an acknowledgement of a struggle in the heart between loving God and loving money. The book of 1 Corinthians asserts that thieves, swindlers, and the greedy will be excluded from the kingdom of God as sure as adulterers, idolators, and the sexual immoral, but that those who leave these sins behind can be sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus: The command against stealing is seen as a natural consequence of the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” The prohibition against desiring forbidden things is also seen as a moral imperative for the individual to exercise control over the thoughts of his mind and the desires of his heart. Teaching of the Roman Catholic Church - You shall not steal Exodus 20:15 Catholic teaching regards the commandment “You shall not steal” as an expression of the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. This commandment is viewed to forbid the taking or keeping of a neighbor’s goods and demanding respect for the right to private property. Catholic teaching states that in economic matters, respect for human dignity requires practicing temperance, a virtue that moderates attachment to worldly goods; justice, a virtue that preserves our neighbors rights and renders what is due; and solidarity, in accordance with the golden rule. Even if it does not contradict explicit provisions of civil law, any form of unjustly taking and keeping the property of others is against the seventh commandment: thus, deliberate retention of goods lent or of objects lost; business fraud; paying unjust wages; forcing up prices by taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another. The following are also considered morally illicit: speculation in which one contrives to manipulate the price of goods artificially in order to gain an advantage to the detriment of others; corruption in which one influences the judgment of those who must make decisions according to law; appropriation and use for private purposes of the common goods of an enterprise; work poorly done; tax evasion; forgery of checks and invoices; excessive expenses and waste. Willfully damaging private or public property is contrary to the moral law and requires reparation. In addition, Catholic teaching demands that contracts and promises be strictly observed. Injustices require restitution to the owner. Catholic teaching reminds that Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone, and bids them "renounce all that [they have]"for his sake and that of the Gospel. Jesus gave his disciples the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who gave out of her poverty all that she had to live on. Detachment from riches is portrayed as obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are the poor in spirit"represents the expectation that those who do not receive all their physical longings are more inclined to seek fulfillment of their spiritual longings through Jesus Christ. “The Lord grieves over the rich, because they find their consolation in the abundance of goods.” "I want to see God"expresses the true desire of man. The water of eternal life quenches the thirst for God. Attachment to the goods of this world are a bondage. The Scriptural remedy is the desire for true happiness that is found in seeking and finding God. Holy people must struggle, with grace from on high, to obtain the good things God promises. Faithful Christians put to death their cravings and, with the grace of God, prevail over the seductions of pleasure and power. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his own soul? Reformation and Post-Reformation views - You shall not steal Exodus 20:15 Martin Luther ascribes this commandment to God’s desire to protect private property rights. He views this commandment as prohibiting not only the taking of another’s property, but all unjust and fraudulent dealing in the marketplace, workplace, or any other place where transactions are conducted. Luther further describes negligence and dereliction of duty as violations of this commandment if such negligence causes one’s employer to suffer loss. Likewise, laziness and unfaithfulness in one’s paid employment are viewed as a fraud that is worse than the petty thefts that can be prevented with locks and bolts. Martin Luther taught that it is each person’s duty, at the risk of God's displeasure, not only to do no injury to his neighbor, nor to deprive him of gain, nor to perpetrate any act of unfaithfulness or malice in any bargain or trade, but faithfully to preserve his property for him, to secure and promote his advantage, especially when one accepts money, wages, and one's livelihood for such service. Those who trespass this commandment may escape the hangman, but he shall not escape the wrath and punishment of God. Luther held that it must be impressed upon the young that they be careful not to follow the old lawless crowd, but keep their eyes fixed upon God's commandment, “lest His wrath and punishment come upon them too.” John Calvin explains that since injustice is an abomination to God, the intent of the commandment against stealing is that one must render to every man his due. This commandment forbids us to long after other men's goods. Calvin holds that each individual’s possessions have not fallen to him by chance, but by the distribution of the sovereign Lord of all. Therefore, no one can pervert his means to bad purposes without committing a fraud on a divine dispensation. Calvin asserts that God sees the long train of deception by which the man of craft begins to lay nets for his more simple neighbor. For Calvin, violations of this commandment are not confined to money, or merchandise, or lands, but extend to every kind of right. We defraud our neighbors to their hurt if we decline any of the duties which we are bound to perform towards them. God’s wrath is incurred if an agent or an indolent steward wastes the substance of his employer, or does not give due heed to the management of his property; if he unjustly squanders or luxuriously wastes the means entrusted to him; if a servant holds his master in derision, divulges his secrets, or in any way is treacherous to his life or his goods. Likewise, a master incurs God’s wrath if he cruelly torments his household, because he is guilty of theft before God; along will all who fail to deliver what he owes to others, keeps back, or makes away with what does not belong to him. Calvin further teaches that obedience requires us to be contented with our own lot. We should desire to acquire nothing but honest and lawful gain. We should not endeavor to grow rich by injustice, nor to plunder our neighbor of his goods, that our own may thereby be increased. We must not heap up wealth cruelly wrung from the blood of others. It should be our constant aim faithfully to lend our counsel and aid to all so as to assist them in retaining their property; or if we have to do with the perfidious or crafty, let us rather be prepared to yield somewhat of our right than to contend with them. Calvin further asserted that the individual Christian should contribute to the relief of those observed under the pressure of difficulties, assisting their want out of one’s own abundance. Calvin describe the commandment against stealing as requiring the unwavering delivery of any and all obligations: Matthew Henry sees the prohibition on stealing as applying to the unjust taking, sinful spending, and sinful sparing. One must not take another’s goods or encroach upon the boundaries of his property. One must restore what is lost. One must pay what is owed: debts, rents, wages, taxes, and tithes.
The Ninth Commandent Exodus 20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor is the ninth of the Ten Commandments, which are widely understood as moral imperatives by legal scholars, Jewish scholars, Catholic scholars, and Post-Reformation scholars. The book of Exodus describes the Ten Commandments as being spoken by God, inscribed on two stone tablets by the finger of God, broken by Moses, and rewritten on replacements stones by the Lord. There are different views on the meaning of this commandment. Some interpret the scope in the narrowest possible sense, as only a prohibition of lying in courtroom testimony. Other interpretations view the commandment as a prohibition on any false statement that degrades our neighbor’s reputation or dignity. Still others interpret the commandment in the broadest possible sense: as a prohibition on all lying. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. —Proverbs 6:16–19 The command against false testimony is seen as a natural consequence of the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” This moral prescription flows from the command for holy people to bear witness to their God who is the truth and wills the truth. Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of covenant with God.
The Tenth Commandent Exodus 20:17 You shall not covet You shall not covet"is the most common translation of one of the Ten Commandments, which are widely understood as moral imperatives by legal scholars, Jewish scholars, Catholic scholars, and Post-Reformation scholars. The book of Exodus describes the Ten Commandments as being spoken by God, inscribed on two stone tablets by the finger of God, broken by Moses, and rewritten on replacements stones by the Lord. The full text of the commandment reads: "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 belongs to your neighbor." - Ex 20:17 (NASB) Unlike the other commandments which focus on outward actions, this commandment focuses on the human heart. (But Bible Scholar Dr. Joel M. Hoffman argues that "covet"is a mistranslation and the original Hebrew means "take.") It is an imperative against setting one’s desire on things that are forbidden. One commandment forbids the act of adultery. This commandment forbids the desire for adultery. One commandment forbids stealing. This commandment forbids the desire for unjust acquisition of another’s goods. The New Testament describes Jesus as interpreting the Ten Commandments as issues of the heart’s desires rather than merely prohibiting certain outward actions. You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “Do not murder,” and “anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment&ldots;You have heard that it was said, “Do not commit adultery.” But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. — Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28 (NIV)
The command against coveting is seen as a natural
consequence of the command to “love your neighbor as
yourself.” The prohibition against desiring forbidden things is
also seen as a moral imperative for the individual to exercise
control over the thoughts of his mind and the desires of his heart.
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