5:7
This is almost word for word the same as Ex 20:3. They are commanded to have no other gods before the Lord, or besides the Lord. A constant failure of Israel was to do the precise opposite, and they had lots of gods besides the Lord. Indeed, we can see that Israel, along with the whole of humanity, specialised in breaking each of the ten commandments.
5:8-10
This is closely related to the previous commandment. Indeed breaking this commandment is often a precursor to breaking the first one. It can seem like a good idea to make an image, persuading ourselves that it will help us to worship the Lord. In fact it will do the exact opposite. We then get the promise of God that He punishes the sins down to the third and fourth generation. We may think this rather unfair, but there are two key things to note. The sins of one generation have an effect that does not die with that generation, they have a longer term effect. The second is that this is followed by God declaring that He shows His love to a thousand generations who love and obey Him.
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