Pentecost Week 9 - The First Commandment

Scripture Reading

*Explain the context: “This week, we will continue to read about God giving Israel his instructions at Mt. Sinai after God had freed them from Egypt.”

Exodus 20:2-3

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Big Idea (For Parents)

Our ultimate trust and obedience must be  in the one God who already accomplished our salvation and therefore is trustworthy to fully apply it.

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Family Reflection

(Read aloud or summarize)

Here, God gives his first commandment to Israel. It is important to see that when God says Israel “shall have no other gods before me,” the “me” refers back to everything God said about himself in the previous sentence. There, he said he was “the LORD your God.” The Hebrew name translated “the LORD” here is sometimes pronounced “Yahweh” and refers to God as the one who does everything necessary to fulfill his promises to his people despite theirs and others’ sin (see Exodus 6:2-8). God also reminds them that he is the one “who brought you out of the land of Egypt”— that one-time Eden-like paradise under Joseph which was now filled with sin and suffering—and by mentioning bringing them out, God implicitly reminded them of his purpose to now bring them into an even better, Promised Land of Canaan flowing with even greater Eden-like blessings. Finally, God’s statement that he brought them out of cruel Pharaoh’s “house of slavery” impliedly also points forward to God’s purpose that they now begin to enjoy life-giving service in Yahweh’s house, which will soon be symbolically manifested before them in the Mosaic Tabernacle.

Thus, God commanded that his people’s ultimate trust and obedience must be in the one God who already accomplished their salvation and therefore is trustworthy to fully apply it. So also for us, God has already accomplished our salvation in Christ and has shown himself entirely trustworthy to fully apply it by his Spirit. We break this first commandment, and therefore commit covenantal idolatry, if we direct our highest trust and obedience to anyone or anything other than our triune God.

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Discussion Questions

(Choose 1-2. Adjust for age.)

1- God’s instructions to Israel began with him reminding them of what he already did. When is a time in the last week or two when you forgot something and needed to be reminded? Why do you think we so often forget things?

2- Israel’s slavery in Egypt initially occurred because of Israel’s sinful idolatry there (Joshua 24:14), but God chose and saved them anyway. How would that encourage Israel now to keep returning to their God Yahweh even if they again break his commandments about idolatry? 

3- When Israel was tempted to distrust and disobey Yahweh in the wilderness, they began to re-imagine their Egyptian slavery as better than life with Yahweh (Numbers 11:4-6; 14:3-4). They thought, “At least Pharaoh gave us more varieties of food and some protection, maybe we should just go back and be his slaves again!” Why are people so quick to trust and obey created things more than the Creator God himself?

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Practice—Remember!

A key practice to help us trust and obey God is to remember how he already accomplished our salvation. This week we can strengthen our memory muscles by memorizing Exodus 20:2-3:

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”

Depending on age, work together or independently to memorize the text and then recite it to each other once each day this week during a family meal or other set time. For littles, it may be helpful to memorize the text section by section, adding one additional phrase each day:

Day 1: I am the LORD your God,

Day 2: who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

Day 3: out of the house of slavery.

Day 4: You shall have no other gods before me.