Chapter XIV (2)

It should be carefully noted that the visiting of the iniquities of fathers upon sons falls only _upon those who hate him_. If sons in any future generation turn from their sinning to the love of God, his merciful loving-kindness to them is sure. The curse visits only those who persist in the sin of their fathers despite of all the warning judgments that should admonish them to fear God. (See Ezek. 18).――――This injunction against image-making and worship would naturally suggest to the men of Israel the idolatrous Egyptians. Their early fathers received from Noah the knowledge of the one only true God. But they did not love this knowledge, nor the God whom it revealed; therefore, not liking to retain these views of the pure and holy God, they chose to think of him as being like some of his works and began to worship such imaginary gods; or they put in his place some lower beings or powers as objects of worship. Hence the terrible judgments which the children of Israel had seen falling upon Egypt and her idols.

“Upon those that love me” is delightfully suggestive of the great truth that the essence of all acceptable worship is love. God looks complacently on his human children when they delight in his glory, love his character, rejoice in his blessedness, and make it the best joy of their souls to please him by doing all his will. Such love legitimately flows out in reverent worship and adoring homage. Over against this the worship of idols in place of God is congenial only to the souls that hate God. This command assumes that those who worship other gods really hate the one Supreme Jehovah. Therefore it is that his jealousy burns against them. They withhold from him the love and the homage of their hearts.

III. In the third command the exegetical question is whether it refers primarily and properly to perjury, or to profanity, _i. e._ whether the Hebrew word for “_in vain_”[40] is precisely falsehood, or emptiness, a nothing, a thing of no worth. The current of critical opinion (Gesenius, Fuerst, etc.) goes for the former, falsehood; and makes the precept in its strict sense condemn perjury. Thou shalt not take up the name of Jehovah to a falsehood――shalt not use it to affirm the more solemnly what is false. Yet as what is false has no foundation in fact, and in point of truth is nothing――is only an emptiness――it comes to pass that this Hebrew word takes not infrequently this secondary sense; what is _empty_, _vain_. Hence some able critics [_e. g._ Keil] construe this precept to prohibit “all employment of the name of God for vain and unworthy objects so as to include not only false swearing, but trivial swearing in the ordinary intercourse of life and every use of the name of God in the service of untruth and lying――for imprecations, witchcraft, or conjuring.”――――The construction of Keil, being the more broad and comprehensive, and withal being clearly within the established usage of the original word, is to be preferred. The doctrine of inspiration is――“Thy commandment is exceeding broad” (Ps. 119: 96).――――The _name_ of God is associated closely with the idea and thought of God. Hence all irreverent use of this name naturally begets irreverence of spirit toward God, and must be fearfully pernicious. Using God’s sacred name to affirm the more solemnly a falsehood is more than mere irreverence, and must incur his highest displeasure.

The fourth command――the law of the Sabbath――has been already treated somewhat fully in connection with the original institution of the Sabbath in Eden. I must dissent entirely from those critics who deny the existence of any Sabbath law prior to Sinai. To “bless the seventh day and sanctify it” (as said in Gen. 2: 3) has no meaning if it do not mean that God required the day to be one of rest from labor――a day of holy time, devoted to other than ordinary uses.――――Fully in harmony with this construction of these words is the allusion to the Sabbath in the history of the manna (Ex. 16: 22–30), and also the _form_ of the precept here (Ex. 20: 8), which is not precisely――Thou shalt do all thy work during six days, but none on the seventh;――but it is this: “_Remember_ the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.” The implied injunction of the words spoken in Eden was――make it a holy day. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy: now, therefore, _remember_ that original injunction. To remember a previous day made holy, must surely imply a precept setting it apart as holy time.

As given here the law of the Sabbath is expanded into its legitimate details. The prohibition of labor is applied to children, to servants, to cattle and to strangers. Then the reason for the command, essentially as given in Eden, is reiterated; “For in six days the Lord made heaven, earth, sea, and all creatures; but rested on the seventh day; therefore he blessed and hallowed this Sabbath-day.” Noticeably, the statement following “therefore,” uses the same Hebrew verbs――“bless,” and “sanctify” [or “hallow”] which are used Gen. 2: 3.――――It seems plainly implied that God places before men his own example of creative work during six day-periods and of rest from this work on the seventh as a reason or motive for their observance of the Sabbath――one day of rest after six of toil. A secondary consideration is doubtless that by this arrangement the Sabbath would be perpetually suggestive of man’s relation to God as his Infinite Creator and Father. The linking of the Sabbath to God’s creative work and rest would naturally make that work a fact ever present to human thought――blending its influence with the sacredness and with all the employments of this holy day. Man desists from labor. Why? Because God did. After what labor? That of making the heavens and the earth and man. Therefore let man remember God as his Creator and render him the homage of obedience and the homage of adoration, gratitude and praise. Thus the historic origin of the precept became suggestive of the thoughts, the words, and the divine worship appropriate to this holy day.

It is scarcely in place here to discuss the Christian change from the seventh to the first day of the week, further than to remark that a similar suggestive influence came in as the purpose and object――_the choice of the day suggesting the resurrection of Christ_. The original reference to God as Creator need not be practically lost: but we may practically gain a second group of suggestive and most vital truths――those which cluster round the resurrection of our Lord.

V. The fifth command consecrates its strength to the family relation. Addressed to children it requires them to honor their father and their mother, and makes obedience the condition of long life and prosperity in the land of their promised inheritance. As read in Ex. 20: 12 the command specifies only long life, but as repeated in Deut. 5: 16, “that it may go well with thee”――is added. General prosperity is however involved and implied in length of days.――――Obviously this honor carries with it obedience as well as due respect. Such honor is vital to the happiness and the value of the family relation. Without it no foundation can ever be laid for a useful and worthy after-life. It should not be overlooked that the earliest training of the infant mind Godward should begin with cultivating the honor and obedience due to father and mother. Through all the earliest developments of the infant and youthful mind, the parent is to the child in the place of God. The same qualities of character, the same obedience, respect, and deference, which God requires toward himself are to be first implanted and developed in the mind toward the human parent. Failing of their due development in this antecedent relation, they are almost certain never to be developed toward God: a fatal defect in character is fastened upon the child; a cast of mind is determined which but too surely ends in hopeless ruin.――――It is noticeable that this very association of ideas, uniting the homage due to parentage and years with the honor due to God appears in the Mosaic law (Lev. 19: 32); “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man; and _fear thy God_: I am the Lord.”

VI. The next four precepts are a series beginning with the most vital, designed to protect the rights of person and life; of chastity; of property; and of reputation. The precepts forbid murder, adultery, theft, false witness, or defamation. The prohibition of murder must be construed broadly enough to forbid personal injuries on the one hand; and on the other all those passions――hate, malice prepense――which naturally lead on toward violence and murder.――――The prohibition of adultery in like manner forbids not only all illicit sexual connection, but even unchaste desire (Matt. 5: 27, 28). So the prohibition of theft devolves the duty of caring for our neighbor’s property so far as the law of loving our neighbor as ourself would require. It is not enough that we do not take his property and appropriate it to our own use. We must protect his right to his property as he should ours. In like manner the law forbidding the bearing of false witness against our neighbor involves the duty of protecting and cherishing his reputation. We may never forget that our neighbor’s good name is a treasure to him which we not only must not steal away, but must so far as in us lies guard and defend as if his good were worth as much as our own. The one comprehensive principle which embraces all these points of law toward our neighbor and determines their true interpretation is given in the law of Moses as well as in the law of Christ――“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Lev. 19: 34 and Matt. 22: 39 and 19: 19). As to this passage from Moses it should be noted that _in terms_ it speaks not precisely of one’s neighbor but of the _stranger_――one toward whom you are wont to think your obligations less than toward any other human being; for he is not a brother born of the same father――not a relative of the same tribe――not a citizen of the same commonwealth or nationality; but an alien, a foreigner, a stranger toward whom you recognize no other relation than that of a fellow-being of human kind. Of such an one the law holds――“The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and _thou shalt love him as thyself_; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God”――and I enjoin upon you this all-embracing love for the lowest of human kind.

It should be carefully noted that although this group of four commands (6–9) in each case specifies the extreme form of the sin, the law by no means limits its prohibition to this extreme form. Killing is the extreme of personal violence; adultery (strictly the crime of the married) is the most aggravated form of unchastity; theft is more than simply being reckless of your neighbor’s property; and false witness naturally contemplates a case in court――public, formal, and of most grave and momentous consequences;――yet in each and every one of these prohibitions it behooves us to remember that God looks at the heart; that the spirit is more than the letter; that the law which specifies the extreme form of a special sin forbids with its full force all the lower grades and all the less flagrant and revolting forms of the same sin. We wrong ourselves most fearfully when we labor to ease our conscience by limiting the prohibitions of God’s law to the extreme forms of sin which may be named in the statute. It is always our highest wisdom to deal very honestly with our own conscience as before God in the construction and application of his law.

The tenth and last commandment is peculiar, as compared with all others of the second table, in this point――that it specifies no external act whatever but lays its prohibition directly _upon the heart_. “Thou shalt not covet”――shalt not allow thyself to _desire_ in such a way as might tempt thee to try to obtain――thy neighbor’s house, wife, servants, cattle, or any thing that he has. This law aims to forestall temptation. It strikes at the root of such sins as theft and adultery by forbidding any such desire as might move you toward the sin. It may be regarded as shielding both of the two parties; the one who might commit the sin, and the one against whom the sin might be committed. It throws its shield over him who might otherwise be tempted, and it also becomes in so far a safeguard around him who holds treasures which lustful eyes might covet.

Let us not omit to notice that it was this precept which opened the spiritual eye of Paul and gave him a new view of the breadth and true significance of God’s law. “I had not known sin, (said he) but by the law; for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Rom. 7: 7). His Pharisaic training (we may suppose) had been scrupulous over the tenth part of the mint and anise and cummin――had taken even ostentatious care of the external matters of the law; but, alas! had _left the heart out_. Here at the close of the law of Sinai――last among the precepts that treat of duty to our neighbor――stands one which puts its finger squarely upon the _heart_. It says――“Thou shalt not _covet_.” It not only suggests that God looks within the soul of man for sin, but it demands that every man shall look there too and put his own restraining hand directly upon those rising desires which, indulged, would push him into overt sin. Moreover, this one precept may be supposed to have suggested to the mind of Paul that the whole law of God must be construed on this heart-principle――that every precept it contains goes beyond the letter to the spirit――pushes its demand deeper than the outward act, even to the inner thought, passion, and purpose of the soul. This view put the law of God in a new light――we might even say――revealed a new law to his soul. It gave him a new field for self-examination; brought up new sins never seen or dreamed of before, and at once demolished hopes of favor before God and of salvation on which he had perilously leaned through all his Pharisaic life.――――“Thy commandment” (said one of the Psalmists) “is exceeding broad” (Ps. 119: 96). We are not to think of all the Old Testament saints as Pharisees. Let us rather hope that many of them read in the law of Sinai the law of love, and adjusted to it, not the outward life only but the very heart as well.

_Progress in the Revelation of God to Man._

The first twenty chapters of Exodus cover a period eminently rich in point of _progress_ in revealing God to the race.――――More fully than ever before God manifested those special elements of his character which are unfolded in the new name Jehovah――I am that I Am (Ex. 3: 14). He had given promises before; then he came forth to _fulfill_ them. He had talked with the patriarchs about faith, and had sought to inspire it in their souls. In these great deeds for his people he gave them demonstrations of his eternal faithfulness――a basis on which their faith might rest, and also the faith of every child of his through all the future ages. God came exceedingly near to his afflicted people in Egypt, and never missed any opportunity of suggesting and impressing the idea that these tender testimonies of his love were in proof of his _fidelity to promise_――were the very acts which his covenant with Abraham involved and called for――called for of their covenant God not in vain.

Again, we see here the _possibility of very great intimacy of communion between God and man_. As bearing on this point the reader will review the scene between Moses and the Lord at the burning bush; in his mission to Pharaoh; in the special directions given him in regard to the sending of each several plague, and usually as to its removal as well. Did ever earthly Potentate stand on more intimate terms with his prime minister? Or military chieftain with his subordinate officer? If Moses was at any point reluctant, under a conscious sense of capacities unequal to the work and of difficulties he could not surmount, did he not bring the matter before the Lord with at least as much freedom as the case could justify?――――Especially when we think of Moses coming so near to Jehovah in his majesty wielding the terrific agencies of flood and storm and fire, of darkness and lightning and the voice of trumpet exceeding loud――Mt. Sinai rocking beneath his feet, and Moses alone drawing near the Awful Presence and talking with God face to face there――what shall we say of the possibilities of communion between man and his Maker? Whatever speculations we may have as to the means and methods by which the thought of God was borne to the mind of Moses and the thought of Moses to the mind of God, the great fact of _communion_ of mind with mind――thought meeting thought――of command from the superior party, received and obeyed by the inferior――is on the outer face of the whole history and admits of no question. God can speak to man so that man shall know the voice to be his and comprehend perfectly its significance. Relations of obedience, confidence, and love on the part of man toward his Maker are established, and God meets them with appropriate manifestations of his favor.

This great fact is one of telling significance in the whole province of Christian experience. Its significance can not terminate with the present life but must pass on to be unfolded far more gloriously in the revelations of the eternal world. “It doth not yet appear” [in all points] “what we shall be”――but it does appear that God has made us capable of exceedingly intimate relations to himself――as we shall know more perfectly when we shall see as we are seen and know as also we are known.

Yet again; This portion of historic revelation _abounds with testimonies to the power of prayer_ and to its place in the relations of God to man and of man to God. We see these revelations in the history of the plagues on Egypt. So palpably manifest was the power of Moses with God in prayer that even proud Pharaoh saw and recognized it. Over and over again the king besought the prayers of the man of God――apparently with unlimited confidence that God would grant whatever he should ask. Though he never had seen such power in prayer before, the force of the facts was too great to be resisted. For once he became so far a believer in the communion of man with God, and also in the power of God to work wonders which man’s power alone could never reach.

The war scenes with Amalek and the prayer which turned the victory to Israel’s side will be readily recalled. As already suggested, this specimen case, brought out so perfectly in the first national conflict of arms, was well adapted to send down to future ages the great secret of success against their national enemies. How happy for Israel if it had never been forgotten! How well for the Christian world if the lessons of that scene were faithfully transferred and applied in all spiritual conflicts against foes within and foes without which pertain to this ever militant state!

It is scarcely necessary to speak in fuller detail of the revelations of God to man _through miracle_. Every page of this history teems with miracles. Take the miracles away, and truly there would be nothing left. The revelations of God’s will to Moses; the judgments on Egypt; the redemption of his people from bondage there; the scenes at the Red Sea; the bread and the water for his needy people; the pillar of cloud and of fire; the glories of Sinai and the giving of his law in voice of majesty:――what are all these but miracles――the Great God over-stepping the ordinary course of nature to impress himself, the power of his arm, the mandates of his will――upon human minds? No other such chapter on miracles appears in the Old Testament. Nowhere else do they cluster so grandly; not elsewhere do they so much supersede the common laws of nature and give character to the entire course of the divine administration. Most abundantly do they testify that the arm of the Lord is equal to any result which his wisdom may devise. If he has purposes to accomplish he can not lack the means or the power necessary. The age of miracles can be brought round again if so he wills it. But more to our purpose is the inference to the adequacy of his resources in general, whether with or without miracle.――――Yet let us not miss the more vital truth that this cluster of miracles aimed to witness to God’s present hand working with Moses, endorsing his mission and accrediting his words from the most High. God was then specially active in “making history” (shall we say?)――_making history to put into his Bible_. The Bible was growing; the great crisis which developed into the birth of the Hebrew nation was then transpiring; God’s plans for training a people who should be holy to himself――the repository of his truth――the church of the living God――were then rapidly unfolding; and no vital step in this process could spare the agency of miracle.

Yet again; In this portion of sacred history much new light has been thrown upon _God’s management of great sinners_. Pharaoh was a standard case of this sort. As already suggested, there are many aspects of this management. On one side we see the strong arm, putting his hook into the jaws of Leviathan――curbing his spirit, breaking down his power; burying him and his hosts in the sea. On another side are unfolded the nice relations of even this resistless power to the free moral activities of the great sinner; the wonderful blending of mercies with judgments; the patient waiting――if possibly these manifestations of God’s hand may bring the proud king to real submission; and coupled with this, the steady purpose on God’s part to turn all Pharaoh’s pride and guilt and moral obduracy to best possible account――setting forth his mode of dealing with wicked men in making known his power to save his people and to crush their foes, and his unfailing wisdom in making the wrath of the proudest of mortals evolve his own glory and praise.

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_The scenes of Sinai_ were a long and magnificent step of progress in the revelations of God to men. We may think here not so much of the external surroundings――the bringing into service of all the grandest agencies of nature to impress men with reverence and fear and awe, and so to plant the more deeply in their souls the idea of law as emanating unmistakably from the Infinite One; but we may consider the _great fact itself of a revealed law_. It is surely a point in the progress of God’s revelations of himself second to nothing that has gone before――second to nothing in all the ages save the greater mission of his Son for the purposes of redemption. God revealing to man a rule of duty; expressing it in terms at once so simple and so comprehensive; including the duties we owe to God on the one hand and to fellow-beings on the other; putting it on permanent record; accompanying it with demonstrations of majesty and glory, endorsing it so surely and so sublimely; adjusting it so nicely in harmony with the intelligent convictions of rational minds, and so commending it to every man’s conscience as intrinsically and eternally right:――truly the promulgation of such a law through such agencies is surpassingly grand and glorious; and, in the line of our present thought, is one of the great epochs in the march of God’s revelations of himself to mortals. We pause before it to take in the value of this revealed law; the new relations into which the race are brought thereby toward their Great Father; and the bearings of this law upon the whole plan of God’s moral administration toward our fallen race.