Exodus 20 · The Lantern

The Ten Commandments

And God spoke all these words:

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.

Everyone who has learned to despise the present age, which "is figuratively called Egypt", and who through the word of God has—to speak according to the Scriptures—"been translated, and is not found", because he hastens and presses on toward the age to come: concerning a soul of this kind God says, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt".

In the first commandment of the Decalogue, just as the worship and service of the one Lord God is most clearly commanded, so for adoration and service to be shown by the faithful to any creature is most vehemently forbidden.

For knowing the Creator, he says: I am the Lord your God. In that he says Lord, he intimates the power of the Father. In that he says God, he intimates the wisdom of the Son. In that he says your, he intimates the benevolence or goodness of the Holy Spirit.

You shall have no other gods before my face.

The first commandment, then, is: "there shall be for you no other gods besides me". And after this there follows: "you shall not make for yourself an idol nor any likeness, whatever things are in heaven above and whatever are in the earth below and whatever are in the waters under the earth; you shall not adore them nor worship them.

God commands us by His prophet not to esteem any new God to be God, and not to worship any strange God. Now it is clear that that is called new which is not from everlasting, and on the contrary, that is called everlasting which is not new.

The entire law of Christ depends upon charity. And charity depends on two precepts, one of which concerns loving God and the other concerns loving our neighbor. Now God, in delivering the law to Moses, gave him Ten Commandments written upon two tablets of stone.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or what is on the earth beneath, or what is in the waters under the earth.

After these things let us see what the second commandment also seems to contain: "you shall not make for yourself an idol nor any likeness of the things that are in heaven or that are in the earth or that are in the waters under the earth". Idols are one thing, and gods far another, as the Apostle himself likewise teaches us.

IF, WHEN JOHN OR THE SAVIOR WAS PREACHING, THE LAW CEASED, HOW DOES THE SAVIOR SAY, “I HAVE NOT COME TO DESTROY THE LAW OR THE PROPHETS, BUT TO FULFILL” (Matt. 5:17)? FOR IF IT HAS BEEN FORBIDDEN, HOW IS IT NOT ABOLISHED, SINCE IT HAS LOST THE AUTHORITY TO BE CARRIED OUT?

Concerning the command "You shall not make a graven image," the Jews object that we make graven images, because we have many images in our churches. I say that it is impossible for the Divinity to be carved; but we make an effigy of Christ — of Christ, I say, incarnate, and we adore that effigy.

You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,

When men try to seduce us to apostasy, it is useful to reflect upon what God wishes to teach us when he says, "I am the Lord your God, jealous." In my view, just as the bridegroom who wishes to make his bride live chastely so as to give herself entirely to him and beware of any relationship whatever with any man other than her husband, pretends, though he be wise, to be jealous…

WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT GOD, WHO IS PROCLAIMED AS JUST, HAS PROMISED TO REPAY THE SINS OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN TO THE THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATION? — Anyone who doubts that God does nothing and says nothing unjust is out of his mind.

There are certain things which avail for the observance of the commandments, and these must be subjoined. It should be noted here that all commandments are either affirmative or negative. Affirmative ones indeed are that man should do good; negative ones, that man should avoid evil.

but doing loyal love to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not take up the name of the LORD your God for what is empty — for the LORD will not hold guiltless the one who takes up his name for what is empty.

Although making a variety of suppositions about him, we all know something of God but do not all know what he is, for few indeed and fewer (if I may say so) than few are they who grasp his holiness in all things. Thus we are rightly taught to pray that our concept of God may be hallowed among us.

The second commandment: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for whoever takes the name of the Lord his God in vain will not be purified." The name of the Lord our God Jesus Christ is Truth: he himself said, "I am the truth." So truth purifies; futility defiles.

This is the Second Commandment of the law. Just as there is but one God whom we must worship, so there is only one God whom we should reverence in a special manner. This, first of all, has reference to the name of God. "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." "In vain" has a threefold meaning.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

To teach a Christian anything about the observance of the sabbath would seem to be rather superfluous. On the contrary, not only is it not superfluous, but it is in fact basic, bedrock doctrine, because it is a shadow of things to come. The people, you see, are forbidden to perform servile works on the sabbath. Now are we, I ask you, not forbidden to perform servile works?

Under the law the people were ordered to work for six days and to rest on the seventh, [and] to plow and reap for six years and desist during the seventh, because the Lord completed the creation of the world in six days and desisted from his work on the seventh.

This is the Third Commandment of the law, and very suitably is it so. For we are first commanded to adore God in our hearts, and the Commandment is to worship one God: "You shall not have strange gods before Me." In the Second Commandment we are told to reverence God by word: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." The Third commands us to reverence God by a…

Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall not do any work — you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave, or your female slave, or your beast, or your sojourner who is within your gates.

For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long on the ground that the LORD your God is giving you.

And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: [Exodus 20:12] But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall b…

The formation of the children is then the prerogative of the parents. Therefore honor your father, that he may bless you. Let the godly man honor his father out of gratitude and the ingrate do so on account of fear.

Perfection for man consists in the love of God and of neighbor. Now, the three Commandments which were written on the first tablet pertain to the love of God; for the love of neighbor there were the seven Commandments on the second tablet. But we must "love, not in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth" [1 Jn 3:18].

You shall not murder.

And that you may learn that we know this from the first, the Lawgiver, when He afterwards gave laws, and said, "Thou shalt not kill," did not add, "since murder is an evil thing," but simply said, "Thou shalt not kill;" for He merely prohibited the sin, without teaching.

And God also gave the law by the hand of Moses, which was filled with many and divers commandments, and to all the commandments He linked fear, for without fear the commandments would not be kept. "Thou shalt do no murder", and "whosoever slayeth shall be slain;" for the sickness He ordained the medicine of fear, that it might not increase and grow strong in iniquity.

In the divine law which tells us we must love God and our neighbor, it is commanded that we not only do good but also avoid evil. The greatest evil that can be done to one's neighbor is to take his life. This is prohibited in the Commandment: "You shall not kill." In connection with this Commandment there are three errors.

You shall not commit adultery.

Therefore whatsoever things God commands (and one of these is "You shall not commit adultery") and whatsoever things are not positively ordered but are strongly advised as good spiritual counsel (and one of these is, "It is a good thing for a man to not touch a woman")—all of these imperatives are rightly obeyed only when they are measured by the standard of our love of God and…

The law cuts away sins of the flesh, but our Redeemer condemns even unlawful thoughts. If therefore they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if someone rises from the dead, because when will those who neglect to fulfill the lesser precepts of the law grow strong enough to obey the higher commands of our Savior?

After the prohibition of murder, adultery is forbidden. This is fitting, since husband and wife are as one body. "They shall be," says the Lord, "two in one flesh" [Gen 2:24]. Therefore, after an injury inflicted upon a man in his own person, none is so grave as that which is inflicted upon a person with whom one is joined.

You shall not steal.

"You shall not steal:" [Exodus 20:15] for Achan, when he had stolen in Israel at Jericho, was stoned to death; [Joshua 7:1] and Gehazi, who stole, and told a lie, inherited the leprosy of Naaman; [2 Kings 5:27] and Judas, who stole the poor's money, betrayed the Lord of glory to the Jews, [John 12:6] and repented, and hanged himself, and burst asunder in the midst, and all his…

The seventh plague was the destruction of temporal goods, by which thieves are struck, because he who takes what belongs to others deserves to lose what is his own. This was the plague of hail, which destroyed everything.

The Lord specifically forbids injury to our neighbor in the Commandments. Thus, "You shall not kill" forbids us to injure our neighbor in his own person; "You shall not commit adultery" forbids injury to the person to whom one is bound in marriage; and now the Commandment, "You shall not steal," forbids us to injure our neighbor in his goods.

You shall not answer against your neighbor as a false witness.

The law says to you, for example, "You shall not bear false witness." If you know what the truth of the evidence is, you have light in your mind. But if you are overcome by greed for sordid gain and decide in your heart of hearts to bear false witness for the sake of it, then you are already beginning to be tossed about by the storm in the absence of Christ.

But because the neighbor is an image of the Trinity, and to him, insofar as he bears the image of the Father, piety is owed: insofar as he bears the image of the Son, truthfulness is owed, insofar as he bears the image of the Holy Spirit, benignity is owed: hence it is that there are seven commandments which pertain to the second tablet.

The Lord has forbidden anyone to injure his neighbor by deed; now he forbids us to injure him by word. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." This may occur in two ways, either in a court of justice or in ordinary conversation. In the court of justice it may happen in three ways, according to the three persons who may violate this Commandment in court.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Love of money then is an old, an ancient vice, which showed itself even at the declaration of the divine law; for a law was given to check it.

The Law of the Old Testament certainly forbids coveting another's wife, but it does not punish a king for commanding brave deeds of soldiers, or for desiring water. And we all know that David, pierced by the sword of concupiscence, both coveted and took away another man's wife.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's goods." There is this difference between the divine and the human laws that human law judges only deeds and words, whereas the divine law judges also thoughts. The reason is because human laws are made by men who see things only exteriorly, but the divine law is from God, who sees both external things and the very interior of men.

Moses Comforts the People

And all the people were seeing the thunder and the flashes, and the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking. And the people saw, and they staggered back and stood at a distance.

And they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will listen — but do not let God speak with us, or we will die.”

And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid — for it is in order to test you that God has come, and so that the fear of him may be before your faces, so that you do not sin.”

And the people stood at a distance, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Idolatry Forbidden

And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from the heavens.

You shall not make gods of silver alongside me, and gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.

An altar of earth you shall make for me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

And if you make me an altar of stones, you shall not build it of cut stone — for if you swing your chisel over it, you defile it.

And you shall not go up to my altar by steps, so that your nakedness is not uncovered on it.’”

Exodus20

The Ten Commandments

Moses Comforts the People

Idolatry Forbidden