Exodus 20
SIBExodus 20:1-17
Concerning this law it is evident, (1) That it was immediately published by God himself, in the hearing of all Israel. (2) That every command is delivered in the singular number, that every one may take it home to himself: (3) and to mark that God’s grant of himself to men, as their God and Redeemer, is the foundation of all gospel-obedience: it is frequently repeated, ver. 25, 7, 10, 12: and in Lev. xviii. xix. it is connected with almost every particular command. The rules for the right understanding of these commandments, and the particular duties required, and sins forbidden in each, being so fully exhibited in the Assembly’s Larger and Shorter Catechisms, with the various expositions thereof, it is sufficient to refer to these
Exodus 20:20
Let not slavish fear make you to neglect your duty, for God is come to prove whether you be sincere or hypocritical. Ver. 24, 25. These altars of turf and stone were only to be used for the present, before that of brass was made, or on extraordinary occasions; and were always to be most simple and unlike to those of the heathens
REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XX.—Now, my soul let my religious principles, and my whole practice, follow the order of this divine sermon. Let the leading articles of my knowledge and belief be, that God, as in Christ, giveth himself to me, in the gospel-promise, for my God, my Redeemer, and my ALL IN ALL: and let my leading exercise be to receive him as such. Let his being JEHOVAH, my God and Redeemer, be the foundation, the great reason and motive of all that I do. Influenced by this, let me renounce and detest every idol which robs him of his honour, or me of my enjoyment of him. Let me embrace every instituted ordinance as coming from my God, and observe it in the nearest fellowship with him. Having received JEHOVAH as my God, let me have grace from him to serve him with reverence and godly fear. Copying after his pattern, and desiring the enjoyment of him as my chief good, let me observe the appointed seasons of intercourse with him. Let me regard relations and property among men as the constitutions of my God: and, in all my dealings with them, let me act as a possessor of God, that needs nothing in an unlawful manner, and as a cordial imitator of God, who is gracious and merciful, long-suffering, and abundant in holiness, righteousness, goodness, and truth. But, having tasted the terrors of a broken law, and an angry God, let me rejoice that, without my request, I have one Mediator between God and me, the Man Christ Jesus. Detesting every species of false worship let me rejoice that Jesus, the fruit of the earth, Jesus, the chosen stone, is my all sanctifying altar, on which I must present all my services before God; and my unfailing security for the presence of God in ordinances: and God forbid that I should disgrace him with any light, licentious, or injurious behaviour!