Sin Against “The Lord Thy God”

The first four of the ten commandments given by God to Moses for the Israelites, His chosen people, had to do not only with how they were to relate to God, but just exactly WHO their God was.

"For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." (Deut. 7:6)

He is referred to in countless passages as "the Lord thy God." The first of the ten commandments (Exodus 20:2) begins with the statement "I am the Lord thy God" and contained in each of the first four commandments is that name by which God chose to identify Himself to them.

"I am the Lord" in Hebrew is one word: "Jehovah" meaning "the existing One" denoting that He is self-existent, independent, eternal, One who had no beginning and has no end; the great "I am." In this the Lord established the authority by which He issued these directives. In all that He provided for them along the way, He established His loving care for them.

"and in the wilderness where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place." (Duet. 1:31)

The first use of the words "I am the Lord" were spoken by God to Abraham, the first of those that the Lord would call "His people": "And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it." (Genesis 15:7) The Lord established His goodness toward Abraham by brinding him our of "Ur of the Chaldees", a nation that worshipped fire rather than the true God. The Lord (He who owned the entire world) gave to Abraham a land for an inheritance (as a father would bequeath his estate to a son) and then provided him with an heir to the estate. Three things that greatly blessed Abraham: deliverance, an inheritance, and heirs to the estate….all for Abraham, if Abraham would just follow the Lord.

God proceeded to do the same thing for the Israelites: deliverance, an inheritance, and they themselves being the heirs, and also their children….but only if they would follow Him, faithfully and obediently, to the promised Land.

1. "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:2-3)
   

The Hebrew word for "thy God" is: "Elohiym" translated as "the true God" and interestingly the word is in the plural or plural intensive form, yet it is not to be translated as "the true God-s" but as "the true God" singular, denoting from the very beginning the mystery that is our triune God. " The existing One true God." This is the God of Abraham. This is the God of the Israelites. This is our God – whether we acknowledge Him or not.

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8)

Thus the Lord established who He was and even what He had done and was willing to do even more for them. And thus the ten commandments to His people were to be obeyed with hearts full of gratitude, not obligation; homage and honor given from an overflow of love and appreciation to "the existing One true God" who had done so much for them: delivered them from bondage and slavery, kept them safe from their enemies, blessed them with food, clothing and shelter even in the wilderness on the way to the promised land.

"For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing." (Deut. 2:7)

"And now Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul." (Deut. 10:12)

Some of the Israelites did honor God with loving appreciative hearts, and did keep His commandments to the best of their ability; but most of them did nothing but complain and grumble for their hearts were not appreciative. They were not able to see their blessings and to be thankful to the One who had provided these blessings to them. They had covetous hearts that wanted more than they had; or something other than what they had been given. They were never satisfied. They were never thankful.

And so eventually they began to seek out other gods, forsaking the first commandment; turning away from the liberty the Lord had provided and returning again to bondage….of only a slightly different sort. All of which led them to break the second commandment which we will see tomorrow.

The "existing One true God" of the Israelites, is the "existing One true God" that we honor today as well. He has not changed. The only way to show "the Lord thy God" how much we love Him and how grateful we are to Him for all that He has provided to us in this abundantly wealthy and free land that we live in, is to walk in His ways, in obedience to His will. If we are not doing so, then the sin of the Israelites is our sin as well. And nothing will have changed there, either.