Глава 20

Sinai legislation. Ex.20:1. And God spoke [to Moses] all these words, saying: Judging by Art. 19 of this chapter (Ex. 20:19), equals Deut. 4:36, 5:4, “all these words”, i.e. decalogues (Deut. 4:13, 10:4) were spoken by the Lord directly to the people themselves. In view of this, the testimony of Deut. 5:5 should be understood in the sense that Moses appeared later as a mediator between God and the people in conveying His commands (Ex. 20:19). At this time, having descended from the mountain (Exodus 19:25), he is with all the people at its foot, and does not ascend to the top (Exodus 20:21–22). The ministry of Angels, which Archdeacon Stephen speaks of (Acts 7:53), the proclamation of the word (i.e., the law) through Angels, which is mentioned by the Apostle Paul (Heb. 2:2), and the teaching of the law through Angels (Gal. 3:19) indicate not that God spoke the commandments through Angels, but either that the Lord the Lawgiver descended to Sinai with a host of Angels (Deut. 33:2), who were present when the commandments were spoken, or that the Old Testament law, taken in the totality of its prescriptions, and not in the sense of one decalogue, was given to the Jewish people through many heralds (“Angels”) of divine revelation. Exodus 20:2. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; Exodus 20:3. Let you have no other gods before Me. I am the Lord, the God of revelation, of the covenant, who has shown Himself to be the true God in a number of plagues, and the fact of leading the people out of Egypt (Deut. 4:32–35) should be your “Most High” - the subject of your veneration. “The Lord is God, there is no other besides Him” (Deut. 4:4, 35, 6:4). Therefore, the veneration of other gods is incompatible with faith in Him; it excludes it; “You shall have no other gods before Me,” with Me, together with Me (Deut. 5:7, 2 Kings 17:35). Exodus 20:4. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any image of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; Exodus 20:5. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, Exodus 20:6. and showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. Prohibiting the service of pagan gods, the first commandment also prohibits the worship of their images, from which they are inseparable. Pagan gods have a sensual character - without external forms, idols, they are unthinkable. In view of this, a special prohibition of images of pagan gods seems unnecessary. Therefore, in the second commandment, the subject of the prohibition is not the making of images of other gods, but the creation of images of the God of revelation, Jehovah. The motivation for such a prohibition could be the fact that the human need for a visual representation of the invisible God (Deut. 4:15) could lead to the depiction of Him in sensual, visible forms and to the deification of these latter - idolatry. The Almighty should not be represented in the form of an idol, a statue (Hebrew “songs” (Deut. 4:16)) and under other forms, images 14. The prohibition to make images of the Lord is based on the fact that He is invisible (Deut. 4:15), the prohibition to worship and serve them (Ex. 20:5) is motivated by the fact that Jehovah is a jealous God (Deut. 4:24, 6:15, Josh. 24:19), i.e. jealously guarding the rights to worship by people that belong to Him alone and not allowing His inherent glory and glorification to be given to idols (Isa. 42:8, 48:11). The motivation for Jews to avoid worshiping idols is the inevitability of punishment for those who disobey His will and mercy for His faithful, arising from the properties of God the “zealot” (Ex. 34:7, Num. 14:18, Is. 14:21). Jehovah punishes children for the guilt of their fathers, not innocent children for the crimes of their ancestors, which does not agree with Deut. 24:16, Jer. 31:30, Ezek. 18:1–32, but those children whose own crime (“those who hate Me”) is rooted in the guilt of their fathers. Exodus 20:7. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain. Faith in the Lord, a nature that evokes a feeling of reverence and awe (Gen. 31:42), presupposes reverence and reverence for His name. This latter is what the third commandment requires, prohibiting profanation - the aimless, vain use of the divine name (“in vain” - Hebrew “shave” - see Jer. 2:30, 4:30, 6:29). Exodus 20:8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; Exodus 20:9. work for six days and do all your work, Ex.20:10. and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: on it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor the stranger who is within your gates; Ex.20:11. For in six days the Lord created heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them, and rested on the seventh day; Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it. The commandment about the Sabbath was already known to the Jewish people (Genesis 2:3, Exodus 16:23, etc.), so it is only reminded: “remember the Sabbath day,” and is not announced as a new law. Israel must remember to sanctify the Sabbath (Ex. 31:13–14, Lev. 19:3, 30, 26:2, Deut. 5:12), i.e. about separating it from a number of other weekly days. This selection is expressed in the fact that six of them are dedicated to work of various kinds (Ex. 31:15, 34:21, Lev. 19:3), and the seventh to the Lord. The first six days are a time of caring for earthly needs, but on the seventh the Jew must free himself from immersion in worldly interests and renounce attachment to the earth. The means to this is the cessation of all work (Lev. 23:3), - collecting manna (Exodus 16:26), cooking boiled and baked food (Exodus 16:23), sowing and harvesting (Exodus 34:21), lighting fire (Exodus 35:3), gathering wood (Num. 15:32), carrying heavy loads (Jer. 17:21), trade (Am. 8:5), working in winepresses, transporting sheaves and goods (Neh. 13:15). Work is prohibited not only for the Jew himself and his family, but even for slaves, strangers and livestock. Otherwise, i.e. When a slave worked, the Jewish owner would involuntarily be transported in thought to his work, and would not, therefore, abandon concerns about earthly things. The basis for Sabbath rest is the sanctification of the Sabbath by God himself (Exodus 20:11): the sacred cannot be included by man in the circle of phenomena of everyday life (Exodus 31:16–17). According to the instructions of Deut. 5:15, the Sabbath is also celebrated in remembrance of the exodus from Egypt. Liberation from slavery was at the same time the election of Jews into the theocratic people of God, which marked the beginning of it. According to the idea of ​​theocracy, Israel must serve the Almighty. The celebration of the Sabbath is a dedication to God and served as a direct expression of this basic idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe Old Testament theocracy, the idea of ​​​​electing Jews to be the people of God and the resulting service to the Lord. Exodus 20:12. Honor your father and your mother, so that it may go well with you and that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Honoring father and mother and children’s obedience to them is the source of prosperity and longevity for individuals (Prov. 20:20), entire generations (Jer. 35:18–19, Proverbs 1:8, Sir. 3:6–9) and the entire people. Strong in their moral connection and loyalty to the covenants of their fathers, individual families will not fall apart themselves (Eccl. 4:9–12) and will create a strong, durable society; disorder, family breakdown is a sign of the imminent death of an entire nation (Mic. 7:6, etc.). In view of this importance of the family as the basis of all civil life, Moses begins to define and regulate mutual social relations with the fifth commandment: a strong family is the key to a strong society. The expression: “may it be good for you,” absent in the Jewish reading of Ex. 20:12, but found when repeating this commandment in Deuteronomy (Deut. 5:16), is present in both places in the text of LXX. The sixth commandment protects the human right to life. The culprit of every person’s life is God (Job 10:10–12), and therefore only He can take it away. Exodus 20:14. Don't commit adultery. Adultery refers to the relationship of a married man with another man's wife, a married woman, as well as a married woman with another man (Lev. 20:10, Proverbs 6:32, Jer. 29:23), and even a bride with a stranger (Hos. 4:13). It is seen as a violation of the marriage union, which is why the idolatry of the Jewish people, betrayal of the covenant with God, which is represented by the union of husband and wife (Jer. 3:1, Hos. 2:4, 13), is called adultery. And since the marriage union is a divine institution, already in the patriarchal period adultery is considered a great evil, a sin before the Lord. The Eighth Commandment protects one's neighbor's property. Property is obtained through labor, hard labor (Gen. 3:19), which is therefore valued and respected by the workers themselves. But everyone who values his own work must also value the work of his neighbor (see interpretation of Chapter 22. Ex.20:16. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. The requirement of the eighth commandment is expanded in the ninth. While the first prohibits causing harm only to the property of a neighbor, the second refers to harm caused to life, honor, etc. neighbor, both by false testimony before a judge (Deut. 19:18) and slander (Ps. 14:2–3, 49:20, Sir. 7:12–13). Ex.20:17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, [nor any of his livestock,] anything that is thy neighbor's. From the prohibition of evil deeds and words, the law moves in the tenth commandment to the prohibition of evil desires and thoughts, which constitute the source of evil deeds. In the order of listing the objects to which it is forbidden to direct evil desires and thoughts, there is a difference between the Hebrew text of the book. Exodus and Deuteronomy (Deut. 5:21). In the first edition, the commandment begins: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house,” and in the second: “You shall not covet your sincere wife,” and then: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.” It is difficult to say which edition is more correct. Transferring words from one commandment to another is unthinkable, but rearrangement in the same commandment is possible. By “house,” the desire of which is prohibited, it is most natural to understand a house not only in the sense of a home, but in the sense of a family and all the acquisitions of a householder, which are then listed separately, in order to clarify the general concept of “house.” Ex.20:18. All the people saw thunder and flames, and the sound of a trumpet, and a smoking mountain; and when they saw it, [all] the people retreated and stood at a distance. Exodus 20:19. And they said to Moses: Speak to us, and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, lest we die. The fear of being burned by fire (Deut. 5:22, 18:16) forces the Jews to retreat from Sinai. With the resulting impossibility of personally hearing the voice of the Almighty, the people ask Moses to be a mediator between them and God. As the Jews say, no damage will occur from this: having listened to the commands of Jehovah from the lips of Moses, they will fulfill them (Deut. 5:24), as if they had heard directly from God himself. Exodus 20:20. And Moses said to the people, Fear not; God came [to you] to test you and to put the fear of Him before your face, so that you would not sin. The phenomena that evoke a feeling of fear are not aimed at the death of the people, but at imprinting in their memory the legislation that was being carried out, so that the memory of it would subsequently deter Jews from violating the commandments. Fear, caused by the sight of a formidable phenomenon and supported by the memory of it, will penetrate the entire being of the people and protect them from attempts to break the covenant. Exodus 20:21. And [all] the people stood afar off, and Moses entered into the darkness where God is. Since there was no incentive to ease the feeling of fear by commanding them to approach the mountain, the people remained away from it. Exodus 20:22. And the Lord said to Moses: Thus shall you speak [to the house of Jacob and tell it] to the children of Israel: you have seen how I spoke to you from heaven; Exodus 20:23. Do not make gods of silver or gods of gold before Me; do not make for yourselves: Exodus 20:24. Make me an altar of earth, and offer on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I place a memorial of My name, I will come to you and bless you; Exodus 20:25. If you make an altar for Me from stones, then do not build it from hewn stones, for as soon as you lay your adze on them, you will defile them; Exodus 20:26. and do not go up the steps to My altar, lest your nakedness be revealed therein. This verse begins the exposition of the laws proclaimed at Sinai to Moses alone and subsequently transmitted by him to all the people. These laws refer to the words of Deut. 5:5. The first of these regulations is the regulation on the place of worship - the altar. Since the altar is intended for God (Exodus 20:24–25), it must be built in the spirit of true worship of God and should not bear any traces of paganism. And first of all, there cannot be statues on him or with him - gold and silver idols that disagree with the belief in the one true God. In view of this, the second commandment is repeated, indicating the basis for the prohibition of making an idol: the invisibility of God - “he spoke from heaven” (Deut. 4:36, Neh. 9:13). Since the Jews, imitating the pagans, could make images on the stones of the altar and bow to them (Lev. 26:1), then in order to avoid this, the law requires that the altar be made of earth, and if from stones, then certainly from unhewn ones (Deut. 27:5, etc., Josh. 8:31, 1 Mac. 4:47), since it is more difficult to carve one or another image on them. Due to the temporary absence of one specific place for worship (Deut. 12:5, 11, 21, 14:23, 16:6, 11), an altar can be built where “the Lord will lay down a memorial for His name” (Ex. 20:24), i.e. where He will show His presence 15. Only then will the sacrifice offered on the altar be pleasing to God. And, finally, just as a sacrifice covers a person’s sins, so should nakedness, reminiscent of sin, be hidden: there should be no steps at the altar, climbing which would lead to the revelation of nakedness. “Every likeness”: Heb. “vekol temuna”, temuna – image, appearance (Deut. 4.15, Job 4.16), which is a reproduction of the heavenly bodies (“in the sky above”), people, livestock, birds, reptiles (“on the earth below”) and fish (“in the water below the earth”) (Deut. 4.16–19). 1 Kings 9:3, - after the settlement of the Jews in Canaan, the law of Deuteronomy on the unity of the place of worship received full force, op. mm. You might be interested in: