Yahweh's Instruction Concerning Future Worship (Exodus 20:22-26).
In view of their fears, and the commands that He has given in Exodus 20:3-5, Yahweh now makes provision for their worship. They are to recognise what they have seen of His heavenly nature (Exodus 20:23) and, avoiding earthly non-gods, realise that they must not try to climb to heaven by having steps to their altars and thus expose themselves for what they are (Exodus 20:26). Rather they are to use basic natural materials through which to worship Him, whether of earth or unhewn stone. But they are only to do this in the places where He records His name, and there He will come and bless them.
These promises are basic to their future welfare and their special distinction comes out in that Exodus 21:1 makes a slight separation of this ‘law' from the ones that follow. The others deal with behaviour towards men until we come to the Sabbath and the feasts. This deals with behaviour towards God and covers the first two commandments.
We may analyse this as follows:
a Yahweh declares His heavenly nature. They are therefore not to make ‘with Him' (that is in comparison to Him) gods of silver and gods of gold. Such might seem impressive but they would in fact be degrading. They are not compatible with what He is (Exodus 20:23).
b Rather they are to make an altar of earth on which to offer their offerings and sacrifices (Exodus 20:24 a).
c And that only in all the places where He records His name. Then He will come and bless them (Exodus 20:24 b).
b While if they build their altar of stone it must be of unhewn stone, for any tool of theirs could only pollute it (Exodus 20:25).
a They are not to go up steps to His altar lest their nakedness be discovered on them (Exodus 20:26).
Note that in ‘a' it is the false gods who are laid bare for what they are, they are simply an attempt to bring God down from heaven, in the parallel it is the false worshippers who are laid bare and a ban is put on their attempt to go up to the gods. In ‘b' we have the requirement that the true altar be of earth, or in the parallel of unhewn stone, in other words of natural material not shaped by man. Central in ‘c' is that all worship is only to be in the place where He records His name, for it is there that God will bless them. God chooses where men will worship Him, not man. This anticipates the requirements of Deuteronomy 12.
‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “This is what you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I talked with you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, or nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.' ” '
Yahweh wants to remind the people through Moses that, although they had not understood His words, He had spoken to them from heaven. Whether Moses has yet told them of the content of His words we do not know. But Yahweh now gives further instruction to back up the covenant and warns them to take heed to the lesson of Who and What He is. He has spoken to them from heaven. Gods of silver and gods of gold might seem impressive but they must recognise them for what they are, earthly and ineffective. They are made to put on a show but are worthless underneath. Thus they are incompatible with Him. It is quite possible that He knows that what they have seen at the mount has interrupted ideas for false future worship which have been lingering in their minds. So He confirms the position immediately. He is dealing with one of the major problems that would continually face them, and that was rooted in many of their hearts. Many would never feel quite at home without idols to lean on. Idols required no effort, were morally undemanding and helped to satisfy their need to worship without interfering in their lives.
“You shall not make gods of silver to be with me.” Consonant with the words of the covenant about graven images in Exodus 20:4 He commands them not to make gods of silver nor gods of gold to stand alongside Him in the cult (‘to be with me'). Perhaps He saw festering in their mind thoughts which showed they were already planning to do so. They certainly will do so soon (Exodus 32:1-4). But He wants them to be reminded that He brooks no rivals and will not stand for graven images. This repetition was the double confirmation that revealed the seriousness of the ban.
Some think that many Canaanite images at this time were coated with silver or gold, and such images would have been known to them in Egypt for Canaanite worship was conducted there. Thus the special warning against gold and silver idols.
“You will make for me an altar of earth, and will sacrifice on it your whole burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and I will bless you. And if you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you lift your tool on it you have polluted it.”
If they have in mind to worship Him, rather than making silver and gold images they must build an altar made of either earth or unhewn stones, natural materials just as they are, without embellishment or pretence. What they worship through is not to be something made by man's artifice or which man's tools have touched. Nothing that they make can be worthy of Him or rightly depict Him. It must be made of materials in their raw state as God made them. And there they may offer their whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
We must take our warning from this that the more ornate the means by which we approach God, the less likely they are to result in genuine worship. We begin to be more aware of our surroundings than we are of God, and to limit God to physical things.
But this making of an altar must only be done under His instruction at each place (maqom, compare its use in Deuteronomy 12) where He causes His name to be remembered. Then He will come to them and bless them. This follows the principle established by the patriarchs and followed by Moses (Genesis 12:7-8; Genesis 13:18; Genesis 22:9; Genesis 26:25; Genesis 33:20; Genesis 35:1-7; Exodus 17:15). At this stage they are on the move. There is no central sanctuary apart from the camp sanctuary. But note that they may not publicly worship just anywhere, only in ‘the places' that He chooses.
“Whole burnt offerings and peace offerings.” The former were wholly burnt up as a sacrifice to Yahweh (the word means ‘that which goes up'), the latter could be partaken of at a feast after they have offered the blood.
“If you lift your tool on it you have polluted it.” Anything man made or fashioned cannot reflect the ‘wholly other'. He is not of this world and therefore anything used in His worship must be in its raw state as God made it. Compare Joshua 8:31-32 where this is strictly applied.
Thus does He bring home the lesson against idolatry and any man made aid to worship.
“Neither shall you go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not discovered on it.”
Canaanite and other altars were often built on raised platforms (‘high places') and had to be approached via steps. They may well have seen these as representing the mountains of the gods and seen themselves as entering there. But this is not to be so with them. A simple earthen or stone altar on the level ground is all that is required. For they cannot enter into heaven itself to worship God, and therefore such an attempt would be futile. Thus they must not build altars with steps, and ‘go up by steps to My altar'.
“That your nakedness be not discovered on it.” Any such attempt would be the utmost foolishness. It would result in their total nakedness being uncovered. This probably refers back to Adam and Eve who ‘knew that they were naked' before God. In other words in their rebellion their whole lives were revealed to God. The same may happen to the children of Israel if they seek to climb into heaven or enter into the world of man-made images, of false religion and of idolatry. They will become naked before Him.
But the thought includes the fact that climbing the steps to the high place will literally reveal their nakedness before God. It would not be showing respect to God. Thus in Exodus 28:42 the priests are to wear linen breeches to hide their nakedness. But even in this the idea of nakedness before God would include the thought of man's sinfulness being uncovered. That was why man's nakedness was now a shameful thing. The two ideas went together.
Note for Christians.
It is often asked in what relationship the Christian stands to the covenant made at Sinai. The answer lies in considering what kind of covenant this was. For the covenant at Sinai was not a covenant of Law, it was one of grace. God did not approach His people on condition that they would agree to follow Him. He carried out His saving act through love and mercy, and then called them into His covenant as an act of love (Deuteronomy 7:6-8), in the same way as today, having carried out His saving work in Jesus Christ, He calls us into the new covenant through His blood (Mark 14:24). And just as they responded, so must we respond, and will respond if we have been chosen by Him.
The ten words revealed what God was like and what God required. They are just as binding today as they ever were, and Jesus made clear in Matthew 5 that His disciples were expected to fulfil them. But the point that God stresses, and that was equally true for Israel then, is that neither they nor we can be saved by obeying them. Rather we receive them, just as they did, because we have been saved. In their case their salvation was expressed through offerings and sacrifices, and the ministry of their priests, and by a mighty physical deliverance. In ours because we have a better sacrifice and a better High Priest Who has made for us a way back to God, our salvation is revealed by that. But once we are His we are as much bound to do His will as Israel was. What Paul was arguing against in Galatians 3 was not the covenants as God had given them, but the covenants as they had come to be seen by men. So from a heavenly point of view we are bound by all God's covenants, made with man because of His love for His own, but from an earthly point of view we are not bound by man's interpretation of them. Indeed Paul countered them by quoting the words of the covenant (Galatians 3:13).
So yes, we are responsible to keep all God's covenant, except in so far as any of it has been superseded, and then it is not that we do not keep it, but that we keep it in its better fulfilment. We do not see ourselves as requiring to be circumcised, because we have been circumcised in Christ. We do not see ourselves as bound to offer the sacrifices because our great High Priest has offered the greater sacrifice on our behalf. We do not look to earthly priests because we have one great High Priest Who fulfils all necessary priestly functions on our behalf, apart from the functions of prayer and praise which He calls on all who are His to perform (Romans 12:1-2; Hebrews 13:15; 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9). We do not carry out the harshest prescriptions of the Law because they have been tempered with mercy and we have new ways of punishment which were not available then. But we still recognise the guilt of them and that they must be punished at the last.
We do not intend therefore to comment separately on the regulations that follow for the principles that lie behind them, and their applicability to all men, is clear.
End of note.