20:3
“You shall have no other gods before me.” This is not saying there are other gods, but is giving a clear warning to Israel. If only Israel had obeyed this commandment they would have saved themselves an awful lot of trouble. God is the only One who created and sustains the whole universe. He is the only One who rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt. He is the only One who saved us from our sins. He is the only One who is the judge of all the earth. We could go on, but the simple truth is that it makes no sense to worship anything or anyone else.
20:4
God then makes the command more specific, or rather He gives specific advice on how to avoid breaking the command. They were not to make for themselves a carved image, nor any likeness of anything that lives upon the earth. Why were they told not to do this? Because the presence of the image would be a temptation for man to worship it. It is in the nature of fallen man to worship something.
No comments:
Post a Comment