Hello and welcome to today’s exciting Bible study on Exodus 20. This is undoubtedly one of the well-known chapters in the Old Testament. In this chapter, we will read and study about the Ten Commandments given by God Almighty to the Israelites. According to biblical scholars, the events of Exodus 20 occurred around 1446 B.C.
As usual, I encourage you to turn to Exodus 20 in your Bible. Kindly invite the Holy Spirit to guide you as you read and study Exodus 20. I mention this in all the Bible Studies because it is only through the Holy Spirit that we get fresh revelation and knowledge to understand the word of God. No one else can teach you better than the Holy Spirit Himself. I am using the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, just in case you want to know.
In the Bible Study on Exodus 19, we read and learned about the people of Israel preparing to meet the Lord at Mount Sinai. The Lord descended on the mountain in fire.
Backstory on Exodus 19
In Exodus 19, the Israelites camped in the wilderness before Mount Sinai. Moses then went to meet God and He said that if the people would keep His covenant and obey Him, they would be a special treasure to Him above all the people of the earth to which the people agreed. God then instructed them through Moses to consecrate and sanctify themselves for three days because on the third day God would descend on the Mount Sinai. They were not supposed to come near the mountain or touch its base or gaze at the Lord because they would be put to death.
Therefore, Moses set up bounds all around the mountain. The Lord descended on the mountain in fire and the smoke went up from the mountain as from a furnace and the entire mountain quaked greatly and the people trembled because of thunders and lightnings. Moses then went to God and He said that neither the people nor the priests should come near the mountain and He commanded Moses to go down the mountain and return with Aaron, his brother.
Now, without any further delay, let us study together and learn what is Exodus 20 about, shall we?
Exodus 20 Summary
God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites. He emphasized that He is the Lord the God who brought them out of Egypt and bondage. He commanded that His people shall have no other gods (false gods) before Him. They shall not make for themselves a carved image in the likeness of anything that is in the heaven, earth, or water and they shall not bow down to these carved images nor serve them. They shall not use the Lord’s name in vain because He is holy.
His people are to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. He commanded them to honour their father and mother so that their days shall be long in the land that the Lord their God is giving them. They shall not murder nor commit adultery. They shall not steal nor bear a false witness against their neighbour. They shall not covet anything that belongs to their neighbour.
When the Israelites witnessed the thunder, lightning flashes, the sound of trumpet and the mountain smoking, they were afraid. They trembled in fear and stood at a safe distance. They were so afraid of God that they told Moses that they preferred him to speak with them rather than God because they thought that they would die.
Moses assured the people that God had come to test them so that tthe fear of the Lord would not cause them to sin. And Moses went to meet God where the thick darkness was.
The Lord instructed Moses on what to tell the Israelites. He was to tell that they had seen that God had talked with them from Heaven. They shall not make any carved image on par with Him made out of gold and silver.
They are to make an altar of earth and sacrifice on it their burnt offerings and their peace offerings, sheep and oxen. He assured that in every place that they recorded His name, He would come to them and bless them. And if they made Him an altar of stone, they shall not use a chisel on it because it would be profanity and unholy to the Lord. Moreover, they shall not go up the steps to His altar because their nakedness may be exposed on it.
Exodus 20 Commentary
1. Exodus 20:1-17
The Lord gave the ten commandments to show His people what sin is and to test whether they would be willing to obey Him. The ten commandments are not suggestions but commandments. They are a direct order and command from the Master.
The first three commandments are about the Lord. People are commanded not to have idols or worship other gods or take His name in vain. However, many people in the present world use His name as a curse word or even as an exclamation as if His name is a common word. But it is not; His name is Holy, because He is Holy. There must be a holy reverence for the Lord. His name is power, His name is life and light, His name is love. He is The Creator!
The commandments
The rest of the commandments are about the Sabbath, honouring parents, and being righteous by not stealing, or lying, or murdering, or bearing a false witness against the neighbour, or committing adultery. God wants us to rest at least once a week, just as He rested from creating on the seventh day. We are to honour our parents if we want to live a long life on Earth. Adultery is a sin, which means living together before marriage as husband and wife is a sin. Having intimacy with multiple partners and living a promiscuous life is a sin. Homosexuality is also a sin. Cheating on your partner while being married is also a sin. All these fall under the category of adultery. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we must treat it as such.
Sinning has become so commonplace that many people sin casually and think it is okay just because the majority of those around them do it. However, it is not right because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Whatever was wrong in His eyes during the time of the Exodus is still wrong today in His eyes when someone in our present generation sins intentionally.
2. Exodus 20:22-26
The Lord gave clear instructions about how to set up an altar for Him to sacrifice their offerings. He emphasized again the importance of not having any idols and not serving idols. Idolatry has become so common in this world. People casually say to another that they are their idol. Idols are not only physical objects like statues, but also anything that you exalt above God.
For example, food, sports, relationships, anything can become an idol if we are not careful. We must place importance on God. When we give importance to food or sports or relationships more than God, it becomes an idol. Idolatry of anything is like an addiction. It will make you a slave to it. That is why people often find it hard to give up on idols. Also, we are not to engage in idol worship (statue worship or worship of carved images or even photos) because God said it is a sin.
We cannot bow to a statue because a statue is a carved image either made by man or a man-made machine from the things found on Earth. But the Earth and everything in it and the heavens and the earth were created by God Almighty. Every object on the earth belongs to God, including the materials with which people make these statues and call them as God. We cannot create something with our hands and bow to it and call it God. In short, we cannot create God, and we are not the Creator! Also, people cannot use their chisel on a stone to serve as an altar to the Lord, as the chisel (man-made tool used by man) profanes the stone altar.
Exodus 20 Lessons
What can we learn from Exodus 20?
1. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
When you fear God – when there is a holy fear and reverence of Him, we avoid sin. We don’t intentionally sin because we fear God enough to avoid it. Now, that is wisdom. The people of Israel feared the Lord when He descended on the mountain as we see in this chapter. The fear of the Lord is a holy reverence towards God. This fear comes with a revelation of who He truly is. He is the King of kings and the Lord and lords. We wouldn’t even approach an earthly king casually. We get all dressed up and show up with proper manners if an earthly king ever invited us to his palace. Therefore, how much more should we revere and show respect to the One True Living God, the Creator?
Without any reverence and fear of the Lord, there is no wisdom. True divine wisdom does not consist of rebellion and sin is rebellion against God. Every time we intentionally sin we are rebelling against God and there is no pride in being a rebel. Even though the Lord gave the people the 10 commandments to show them what sin is, they had to fear God enough to not sin.
2. God wants His people to walk in righteousness
The Ten Commandments are the moral law. God wanted His people to be righteous. They were to be a people who kept His commandments and be separate unto Him. He wanted His people (people who know Him) to be distinguished from those who don’t. For those who don’t know God and don’t know His Ten Commandments, sinning was acceptable. If a person does not know what sin is, then anything he does is good. By that logic, stealing, killing, lying, adultery – none of this would be a sin for those without the law. Therefore, God wanted His people to walk in righteousness through these 10 commandments and be set apart from those in the surrounding regions who didn’t know God nor His laws and walked in sin.
How does this apply to us as believers?
Now, scripture says that no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law (The Ten Commandments) commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. There was only one man who was able to fulfill this moral law. That man was God in the flesh – Jesus Christ. He fulfilled the law for us, on our behalf. Therefore, we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. Therefore, through faith in Jesus Christ we are righteous before God. That is why we are saved by grace and not by works because no man can boast of works.
That being said, we are ambassadors for Christ on earth. Even though we were made righteous before God through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that doesn’t mean we have a free license to sin. Having faith does not mean forgetting the law. In fact, only through faith do we fulfill the law (Romans 3:31). When we are born again, our spirit becomes perfect and we are a new creation in Christ. We fulfill the law through our faith in Christ. People who walk in faith are righteous and are set apart from other people on Earth. Sinning is a choice. When the devil tempts people, it is the people who accept the temptation and eventually sin. We are not to give into temptation but resist it by submitting to God.
Conclusion
This concludes the bible study on Exodus 20. I hope you enjoyed this free bible study and found it helpful in your Bible study journey. Feel free to share it with your friends and family. Also, share your thoughts and what the Holy Spirit has revealed to you about Exodus 20. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Until next time!