Exposition

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT consists of two parts: a preface and a precept. The words of the preface are: I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. This preface belongs to the whole Decalogue. It describes and distinguishes God, the law-giver from all creatures, human legislators and false deities, and contains three reasons why the obedience of the first and following commandments should be performed to God. The first is, because God declares himself to be Jehovah, by which he distinguishes himself, the true God, from all creatures, that he may show that he has the supreme right and authority to rule. I, said he, whom thou hearest speaking, and announcing the law unto thee, I am Jehovah, the true God, who exists of and by himself, giving life and being to all things, and having, therefore, supreme authority to govern and rule all things the Creator of all things, being eternal and almighty the author and preserver of all good things: Therefore thou shalt obey me. 2. He says that he is the God of his people, that he might thus, by the promise of his bountiful ness, constrain us the more effectually to render obedience to him. God is, indeed, the God of all creatures by creation, preservation and government; but he is the God of his church by the special manifestation and communication which he has made of himself: for he is properly the God of those whom he loves, and delights in above all others. It is for this reason that David calls that nation happy whose God is the Lord, saying, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” (Ps. 33:12.) God is now our God, when we acknowledge him to be such an one as he has revealed himself in his word, viz: as one who directs and devotes his power, justice, wisdom and mercy to our salvation, and who offers, with singular love, to be gracious to us in his Son. 3. He adds, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, that he might, by bringing them to recollect the recent and wonderful deliverance wrought in their behalf, show and admonish them that they were bound to render gratitude and obedience to him. It is as if he would say, I am he who is thy God; I have manifested myself to thee, and drawn thee to myself by such singular benefits. This has respect to us, as well as to the Jews; because by the mention of this one deliverance, so wonderful in its nature, there is figuratively comprehended all the deliverances of the church, and amongst them that which has been accomplished by Christ, of which the deliverance from Egyptian bondage was a type. Hence, when God in this preface declares that he is Jehovah, the deliverer of the church, he opposes himself to all creatures and idols, arid challenges for himself universal obedience, honor and worship.

There have been some who have considered this preface as the first commandment, and have taken the words, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, as the second commandment. But it is plain that the words, I am the Lord thy God, &c., are not the words of one commanding anything, but of one affirming something with reference to himself. As to the words, however, which follow, saying, Thou shalt have, &c., they evidently have the form of a commandment.

The first commandment then is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The end of this commandment is the immediate internal worship of God; which is, that we acknowledge the only true God revealed in the church, and render unto him, with all our heart, soul and mind, such honor as is due him. This commandment moreover, is negative in such a way, that it contains in it an affirmative: Thou shalt have no other gods; but thou shalt regard me, that Jehovah revealed in the church, as thy God alone. To have God, is to know and acknowledge that he is God, that he is one, that he is such an one as he has revealed himself in the church, and that he is also such a God to us: then it is to trust in him alone, with the greatest humility and patience to submit ourselves to him with fear and reverence to love him and to expect all good things from him alone. It is in these things that the obedience of this commandment consists, whose parts are the virtues of which we shall presently speak. Another god is any and everything to which we may attribute the properties, attributes and works of the true God, even though the thing itself does not possess them, and even though they are inconsistent with its nature. To have other gods is not to have the true God; which is, to have no god, or many gods, or another god, beside him that has been revealed unto us, or not to acknowledge God to be unto us such as he has made himself known to be, or not to trust in him not to submit ourselves to him in true humility and patience not to expect all good things from him alone, and riot to love or revere him. The different parts of this impiety constitute those vices which are the opposite of the virtues of which we shall speak in the ex position of this commandment. Before me, or in my sight, as if he would say: Thou shalt have no other gods, not only in thy words and actions in the sight of men; but thou shalt have none beside me in the secret chamber of thy heart, for nothing is concealed from my view; I am the searcher of hearts, and the trier of the reins of the children of men, and all things are naked and open to my view.

The easiest method of explaining each commandment, is to make a division of the obedience which every precept requires, into the virtues that are peculiar to it as parts, and then take up and consider the vices which are opposed to these virtues. According to this method, the parts of the obedience required by the first commandment consist of seven in number: the knowledge of God, faith, hope, the love of God, the fear of God, humility, and patience.