exodus-20:2

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Exodus 20:1-17

The Hebrew name which is rendered in our King James Version as the ten commandments occurs in Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 10:4. It literally means “the Ten Words.” The Ten Commandments are also called the law, even the commandment Exodus 24:12, the words of the covenant Exodus 34:28, the tables of the covenant Deuteronomy 9:9, the covenant Deuteronomy 4:13, the two tables Deuteronomy 9:10, Deuteronomy 9:17, and, most frequently, the testimony (e. g. Exodus 16:34; Exodus 25:16),... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Exodus 20:2

Exodus 20:2. I am the Lord thy God Herein God asserts his own authority to enact this law; and proposeth himself as the sole object of that religious worship which is enjoined in the four first commandments. They are here bound to obedience. 1st, Because God is the Lord, Jehovah, self-existent, independent, eternal, and the fountain of all being and power; therefore he has an incontestible right to command us. 2d, He was their God; a God in covenant with them; their God by their own... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Exodus 20:1-17

Basic principles of the covenant (20:1-17)The form of the covenant God made with Israel followed a pattern that was common in the ancient world when an overlord made a covenant with his subjects. God introduced himself to his people by declaring his name and status as Yahweh the sovereign Lord, and recounting to his people what he had graciously done for them. He reminded them that their God was living and active, and that the words they were about to hear were a revelation direct from him... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Exodus 20:2

I am , &c. = "I, Jehovah [am] thy God (Hebrew. Elohim) . " App-4 . the LORD (Hebrew. Jehovah. thy God. This must go with Com. I, or we should not have the five repetitions of it in the first five. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Exodus 20:2

Exodus 20:2. I am the LORD thy God, &c.— This is supposed, by some, to be the preface of the first commandment; but it appears, rather, to be the general introduction to them all, especially as it is found in Leviticus 19:25; Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 19:34, &c. subjoined to a great variety of commandments. Jehovah, being about to deliver laws to the Hebrews, as their peculiar God and King, in these words recognizes his august titles, and his just authority over them: grounding his... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Exodus 20:2

2. I am the Lord thy God—This is a preface to the ten commandments—the latter clause being specially applicable to the case of the Israelites, while the former brings it home to all mankind; showing that the reasonableness of the law is founded in their eternal relation as creatures to their Creator, and their mutual relations to each other. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Exodus 20:1-2

Preface 20:1-2These verses form a preamble and historical background to the Decalogue that follows. The Israelites were to obey God on the double basis of who He is and what He had done for them.Most scholars have divided the Ten Commandments (cf. Deuteronomy 5:6-18) into two groups but in two different ways. The older Jewish method, called Philonic after the Jewish scholar Philo, was to divide them in two groups of five commandments each. The Jews believed that this is how God divided them on... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Exodus 20:1-17

2. The Ten Commandments 20:1-17"We now reach the climax of the entire Book, the central and most exalted theme, all that came before being, as it were, a preparation for it, and all that follows, a result of, and supplement to it." [Note: Cassuto, p. 235.] There are two types of law in the Old Testament, and these existed commonly in the ancient Near East. Apodictic laws are commands with the force of categorical imperatives. They are positive or negative. The Ten Commandments are an example of... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 20:1-26

The Ten Commandments (vv. 1-21)Exodus 20-23, containing (1) the Decalogue (Gk. = ’Ten Words’ or ’Commandments’) and (2) a code of laws regulating the religious and social life of the people, and called the Book of the Covenant (see Exodus 24:7), form perhaps the most important part of the Pentateuch. It is the nucleus of the entire Mosaic legislation, and in all probability existed for long as a separate document.1-17. The Decalogue. In chapter Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13 this is called the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Exodus 20:2

(2) I am the Lord thy God.—The binding nature of commands upon the conscience depends upon the authority of the person who issues them. That there might be no dispute as to what the authority was in the case of the Decalogue, God prefaced the commands themselves by this distinct statement. By whomsoever they were communicated (see the first Note on Exodus 20:1), they were the commands of Jehovah Himself.Which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt.—Thus exhibiting at once Almighty power and... read more