Exodus 20:2

2 I am God, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery.

Exodus 20:2 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 20:2

I am the Lord thy God
This verse does not contain the first of these commands, but is a preface to them, showing that God had a right to enact and enjoin the people of Israel laws; and that they were under obligation to attend unto them with reverence, and cheerfully obey them, since he was the Lord, the eternal and immutable Jehovah, the Being of beings, who gives being to all creatures, and gave them theirs, and therefore had a right to give them what laws he pleased; and he was their God, their covenant God, in a special and peculiar manner, their King and their God, they being a Theocracy, and so more immediately under his government, and therefore had laws given them preferable to what any other people had:

which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt:
where they had been afflicted many years, and reduced to great distress, but were brought forth with an high hand, and with great riches, and in a very wonderful and miraculous manner; so that they were under great obligations to yield a ready and cheerful obedience to the will of God:

out of the house of bondage:
or "servants" ^F2; that is, where they had been servants and slaves, but now were made free, and were become a body politic, a kingdom of themselves, under their Lord, King, Lawgiver, and Saviour, Jehovah himself, and therefore to be governed by laws of his enacting; and this shows that this body of laws was delivered out to the people of Israel, and primarily belong to them; for of no other can the above things be said.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (Mydbe) "servorum", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Exodus 20:2 In-Context

1 God spoke all these words:

2 I am God, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery.

3 No other gods, only me.

4 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim.

5 Don't bow down to them and don't serve them because I am God, your God, and I'm a most jealous God, punishing the children for any sins their parents pass on to them to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation of those who hate me.