Exodus 20:3–5

Context

This passage is the opening of the Ten Commandments, which God proclaimed directly from the mountain when the Israelites reached Mount Sinai three months after leaving Egypt. The commandments are preceded by a preface, "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (20:2), which makes clear that they were given to a people already redeemed. Verse 3 forbids having other gods, and verses 4–5 forbid making a graven image or bowing down to one. Because God is "a jealous God," he visits "the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me," and shows mercy "unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments" (vv. 5–6). The same material appears again in Deuteronomy 5:6–10.

Interpretation

• Numbering of the commandments: Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and most Protestants, including the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, treat verse 3 as the First Commandment and verses 4–6 as the Second Commandment (the prohibition of images). The Catholic Church and Lutherans follow the division of Augustine, combining verses 3–6 into a single First Commandment and dividing the final commandment against coveting into two to arrive at ten.
• Scope of the prohibition of images: The Reformed tradition reads the Second Commandment broadly as forbidding any representation of God in any form, and accordingly removed paintings and statues from its places of worship. Lutherans and Anglicans permit educational and decorative images that are not objects of worship. The Catholic and Orthodox churches hold that because God became visible in the Incarnation, venerating his image is distinct from idolatry (Second Council of Nicaea, 787).

Controversies and Issues

• "Unto the third and fourth generation" and the doctrine of generational curses: Proponents of the doctrine of generational curses, which holds that illness or misfortune is passed down to descendants because of their ancestors' sins, have cited this passage to argue that prayers breaking the power of ancestral sin are necessary. Many theologians in the major denominations point out that the passage is conditioned on "them that hate me" and understand it to describe the consequences that follow when descendants repeat their ancestors' sins. They criticize the doctrine of generational curses by appealing to Ezekiel 18:20, Deuteronomy 24:16, and Galatians 3:13, which teaches that believers have been redeemed from the curse in Christ.
• "Unto thousands": Many interpreters hold that the emphasis of the text lies in the contrast showing that the reach of mercy far exceeds that of punishment.

In the Korean Church

During the Japanese colonial period, believers who resisted compulsory Shinto shrine worship appealed to the First Commandment as the basis for their refusal. Today this commandment remains the central text in discussions of ancestral rites, and Korean Protestantism has developed the tradition of holding memorial services in place of ancestral rites. See Ancestral Rites and Memorial Services.

Related Passages

• Deuteronomy 5:6–10
• Deuteronomy 24:16
• Ezekiel 18:19–20
• 1 John 5:21
• 1 Corinthians 8:4–6