*H And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the ceremonies and judgments, which I speak in your ears this day: learn them, and fulfil them in work.
Ver. 1. All Israel: not one was wanting, C. xxix. 10. God enabled all to hear the words of their lawgiver, (M.) by an evident miracle. Jansen. C.
*H He made not the covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are now present and living.
Ver. 3. Fathers, the ancient patriarchs, who were not favoured in such a signal manner. M. — Though many of those who had heard the words of God at Horeb, were dead, and had not enjoyed the full benefit of the covenant, some still remained, and the children of the deceased were about to enter the land which had been there promised. H. — God did not make a covenant with the Patriarchs only, but also with their posterity at Horeb. D.
*H He spoke to us face to face in the mount out of the midst of fire.
Ver. 4. To us. Heb. and Sept. "to you." — Face to face, in such a manner that no doubt could be entertained of his presence. S. Aug. — God addressed the decalogue to all the people, who saw no similitude. But to Moses he delivered the rest of his ordinances, with as much familiarity and condescension as one friend would use in speaking to another. Ex. xxxiii. 2. C.
*H I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you his words, for you feared the fire, and went not up into the mountain, and he said:
Ver. 5. Mediator. S. Paul acknowledges this title of Moses, (Gal. iii. 9,) who was a figure of Jesus Christ, the mediator of the New Testament. Heb. viii. 6. ix. 15. xii. 24. C. — Let not Protestants, therefore, reject this title with so much indignation, when it is applied in the like limited sense to the saints, to denote that they pray for us, as we pray for one another. Christ is the one mediator (1 Tim. ii.) of redemption. H.
* Footnote * Exodus 20 : 1
And the Lord spoke all these words:* Footnote * Leviticus 26 : 1
I am the Lord your God. You shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing: neither shall you erect pillars, nor set up a remarkable stone in your land, to adore it. For I am the Lord your God.* Footnote * Psalms 80 : 11
For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.*H Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight.
Ver. 7. Sight. Chaldee, "Thou shalt not have any other god but me." Elohim often designates the true God. C. — See the decalogue explained, (Ex. xx.) where we have observed, that pictures are only forbidden when they are the objects of sovereign worship, as the context here plainly shews, v. 9. Other images God himself authorized, (W.) even in the old law, and in the most sacred place, where people were ordered to fall prostrate before the ark, to adore his footstool. Ps. xcviii. 5. If, therefore, a people so prone to idolatry as the Jews were, might have pictures in the temple of God without danger, how can any one suppose that the images of Jesus Christ, and of his saints, are necessary incentive to idolatry among Christians, who all know that God will allow of no rival! H.
* Footnote * Exodus 20 : 3
Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.* Footnote * Psalms 80 : 10
there shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt thou adore a strange god.* Footnote * Exodus 20 : 4
Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth.* Footnote * Leviticus 26 : 1
I am the Lord your God. You shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing: neither shall you erect pillars, nor set up a remarkable stone in your land, to adore it. For I am the Lord your God.* Footnote * Psalms 96 : 7
Let them be all confounded that adore graven things, and that glory in their idols. Adore him, all you his angels:*H Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate me,
Ver. 9. Serve. We must neither treat idols, nor their images, with the honour due to God alone. S. Aug. q. 61. in Gen. — If we do, he will punish our infidelity. — Generation, for a long time, or as long as the remembrance of the parents' wickedness subsists, so as to have an influence upon others. H. — God mercifully defers correction. S. Jer. in Ezec. xviii. He chastises those who imitate their wicked forefathers.
* Footnote * Exodus 34 : 14
Adore not any strange god. The Lord his name is jealous, he is a jealous God.*H Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for he shall not be unpunished that taketh his name upon a vain thing.
Ver. 11. In vain, by perjury. See v. 20, where the same word is used, (D.) or by any irreverent speech. M.
* Footnote * Exodus 20 : 7
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.* Footnote * Leviticus 19 : 12
Thou shalt not swear falsely by my name, nor profane the name of thy God. I am the Lord.* Footnote * Matthew 5 : 33
Again you have heard that it was said to them of old, thou shalt not forswear thyself: but thou shalt perform thy oaths to the Lord.* Footnote * Genesis 2 : 2
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.* Footnote * Exodus 20 : 10
But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates.* Footnote * Hebrews 4 : 4
For in a certain place he spoke of the seventh day thus: And God rested the seventh day from all his works.*H Remember that thou also didst serve in Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm. Therefore hath he commanded thee that thou shouldst observe the sabbath day.
Ver. 15. Therefore. This is another reason why the Jews were to observe the sabbath with particular rigour. The institution of a day of rest every week, (H.) was intended to preserve the memory of the creation. C. — God also requires that his people should be grateful on this day for the rest which he had granted to them, (H.) and preserve carefully all the monuments of the true religion. C.
* Footnote * Exodus 20 : 12
Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayst be longlived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee.* Footnote * Matthew 15 : 4
Honour thy father and mother: And: He that shall curse father or mother, let him die the death.* Footnote * Mark 7 : 10
For Moses said: Honour thy father and thy mother. And He that shall curse father or mother, dying let him die.* Footnote * Ephesians 6 : 2
Honour thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with a promise:*H Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
Ver. 18. Adultery. Under this name God forbids every species of impurity. S. Aug. q. 71. M.
*H Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Ver. 20. False. Heb. shave, "vain," is synonymous with sheker, "false," used Ex. xx. 16.
*H Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife: nor his house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.
Ver. 21. His. Here the Samaritan copy inserts the order for erecting an altar upon Mount Garizim, which we have given, Ex. xx. 27. It occurs below. C. xxviii. 2, &c. C.
* Footnote * Matthew 5 : 28
But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart.* Footnote * Romans 7 : 7
What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? God forbid! But I do not know sin, but by the law. For I had not known concupiscence, if the law did not say: Thou shalt not covet.*H These words the Lord spoke to all the multitude of you in the mountain, out of the midst of the fire and the cloud, and the darkness, with a loud voice, adding nothing more: and he wrote them in two tables of stone, which he delivered unto me.
Ver. 22. More to the people: the other precepts were communicated to Moses. The Chaldee and others give a contrary turn to the Heb. "and he ceased not" ever since to instruct us. C. — Moses gives the sense, not the very words of the decalogue, in which he is not guilty of any lie. S. Aug. q. 8. D.
*H But you, after you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and saw the mountain burn, came to me, all the princes of the tribes and the elders, and you said:
Ver. 23. You said, by the mouths of your princes. Ex. xx. 19.
*H Why shall we die therefore, and why shall this exceeding great fire comsume us: for if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die.
Ver. 25. Die. Past experience did not entirely remove from them the fear which was so generally entertained, that the sight of the heavenly beings would prove destructive. So Daniel (C. x. 17,) said on a similar occasion, my breath is stopped. H.
*H Who shall give them to have such a mind, to fear me, and to keep all my commandments at all times, that it may be well with them and with their children for ever?
Ver. 29. A mind. God speaks like men, and insinuates how agreeable to him is a disposition influenced by a salutary fear. He does not mean that He cannot convert the heart of man. E. — God exerts his power over our will by persuasive invitations. Maimonides.
*H Keep therefore and do the things which the Lord God hath commanded you: you shall not go aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
Ver. 32. Left: a proverbial expression, to signify that no sort of transgression is to be allowed. M. — It is of the same import as, You shall not add, &c. C. iv. 2. C.