CRITICAL NOTES.—
Exodus 20:23. Ye shall not make with Me gods of silver, neither, &c.] We prefer the Massoretic punctuation of this verse, which reveals a delicate appreciation of the meaning, although it entails on us an ellipsis which makes the text appear stiff, and tasks the reader a little to supply the unexpressed idea. “Ye shall not make … with Me: gods of silver and gods of gold ye shall not make for your selves.” “With Me:” i.e., “to associate with Me.” Supply “anything”—which in fact has not unfrequently to be understood. Then read: “Ye shall not make [anything] to associate with Me:” as much as to say “to put in My place,” “to represent Me.” Without the vowel points, ’itti = “with me,” and ’othi = “ME” are indistinguishable: “Ye shall not make ME, i.e., “anything to stand for Me,” “be called by My name;” which brings us to the same thing again. The division of the verse made in the authorised version is unhappy. It leaves an utterly unintelligible antithesis between “with Me” and “unto you;” as though the “gods of silver” were the more likely to be associated with God, and those of “gold” to be appropriated to man. Understood as above suggested, there is something majestic and impressive in the very vagueness of the earlier half of the verse. Not merely are the Israelites forbidden to make IMAGES of God: they are told not to make anything to be in any way put in the place of God, as even remotely representing HIM.
MAIN HOMILETICS ON THE PARAGRAPH.— Exodus 20:22-26
GOD’S VOICE BUT NOT A FORM
Moses went into the thick darkness, and held converse with God, and then came forth to declare the Divine regulations unto the people. And thus he was unto the people as a mediator. The ministration of the Gospel is more glorious than the ministration of the law. Moses was the law’s mediator; but Christ Jesus is the mediator in the Gospel covenant. The one the servant; the other the Son in the Divine house, which house is constituted by believing people.
I. God’s voice. How wonderful that God should speak with men! We know not what manner of a voice it was. We cannot tell how the people were made to understand that God talked from heaven. But this we are told that He did speak from heaven. The voice of God is indicative of the Divine personality. Some men’s ears are too dull to hear the Divine voice, so they give themselves up to Pantheism in some cases, and in others to Polytheism. God’s voice may truly be heard in the myriad voices of earth; but there is still a separate voice. He talks from heaven. The Infinite speaks, but reveals no form.
II. God’s abhorrence of idolatry. The command is again repeated, and after a very short interval; and thus the people must have been impressed with the sinfulness of idolatry. We can suppose that the Infinite even might have come forth from the thick darkness and revealed Himself in some wonderful form; but the fact that God refrains makes impressive the lesson—Ye shall not make unto you gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. Our loftiest conceptions, embodied in the most costly and precious material forms, must fall short of Infinite perfectness.
III. God’s love of simplicity. Altars of earth, and altars of unhewn stone. The simplest is often the purest and the divinest. If we are to have our altars, let them be of such a character that they shall be helps and not hindrances to a true comprehension of the spirituality of the Divine nature. Man’s superb altars lead to degrading conceptions of the Infinite.
IV. God’s respect to appearances. “Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.” Let all things be done decently and in order, is the injunction of two economies. There is a reverence for places and for structures which is idolatrous superstition; and there is an irreverence which betokens a low state of the emotional nature, and which even God does not approve. There may be excessive and soul-destroying ritualism; and there may be excessive and God-dishonouring baldness
V. God’s superiority to splendid structures. In all places where God’s name is recorded there He will come, and there He will bless. It was by Divine appointment that the Temple was built; and yet, before the erection of that superb structure, God teaches that wherever He is devoutly and sincerely worshipped there will His Divine blessing descend. And better than curiously wrought marble, or precious stones; better than telling and striking architectural designs; better than golden adornments, is the Divine blessing. God is not confined to any particular buildings. Wherever His people meet, there they behold His mercy seat.—W. Burrows, B.A.
PUBLIC WORSHIP.—Exodus 20:22-26
The Book of the Covenant (cf. Chron. Exodus 24:4; Exodus 24:7), extending from Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33, appropriately follows God’s revelation of Himself, and appropriately opens with regulations for public worship. Upon which, by way of introduction, we remark—
1. That the end for which God reveals Himself is, that we should worship Him. “Ye have seen” (Exodus 20:22-24, cf. Chron. Exodus 20:1-4).
2. That God’s revelation of Himself should be kept in perpetual memory by acts of public worship (Exodus 20:24-25). So the revelation of Jesus Christ (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24).
3. That God having made a spiritual revelation of Himself, He should not be worshipped under any symbolic form. This text further teaches us—
I. That public worship involves cost. Exodus 20:24. Let the Christian who complains of the expense of his religion, the collections, the pew rents, &c., remember
(1) what it cost the Jew to be religious;
(2) what it cost God to make him a Christian (John 3:16; Romans 8:32).
II. That public worship can dispense with elaborate ritual. The altars were to be of earth or of unhewn stone, the simplest and plainest possible.
III. That public worship carefully excludes all idea of merit on the part of the worshipper. Here all art and ability of man was to be carefully dispensed with, lest the worshipper should arrogate any virtue to himself. In after years, when the Israelites were indoctrinated into this spirit, this literal command was repealed.
IV. That public worship is not confined to set places. Altars of this description could be set up anywhere and everywhere. Public worship should be celebrated in every place that God appoints for the purpose. God now guides His Church by His providence. That providence points to our neglected populations. What an argument for Home and Foreign Missions! “In every place where I record My name.”
V. That public worship does not depend on the material or intellectual qualification of the worshipper. If altars required wealth to erect them or art to adorn them, then only the wealthy or the intelligent could worship. What a plea for common worship! Not the minister alone, or the choir, but all should engage in the worship of God’s house.
VI. That public worship must be conducted with proper decency. Exodus 20:26.
1. It is a sin to serve God with less attention and decorum than man.
2. It is a folly to encourage it in others. To invite men “to come in their working clothes” is an affront to the intelligent artizan.
VII. That public worship, when properly conducted, is uniformly attended with a blessing.
1. The Divine presence;
2. The Divine benediction (Exodus 20:24). In conclusion, John 4:20-24; Matthew 18:20.—J. W. Burn.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
THE REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON
Moral Restraints! Exodus 20:22-26. No doubt, says Guthrie, the Law restrains us. But all chains are not fetters, nor are all walls the gloomy precincts of a prison. It is a blessed chain by which the ship, now buried in the trough, and now rising on the top of the sea, rides at anchor and outlives the storm. The condemned criminal in Newgate would give worlds to break his chain, but the sailor trembles lest his should snap. And when the grey morning breaks on the wild lee-shore, all strewn with wrecks and corpses, he blesses God for the good iron that stood the strain.
“Laws do not put the least restraint
Upon our freedom, but maintain it;
Or, if it does, ’tis for our good,
To give us freer latitude.”
—Butler.