Bavinck the master theologian is going to take us on a road map of the 10 commandments. However, what I have learned about the numbering of the 10 commandments is different in Judaism, Catholicism and Lutheranism and then we have the other traditions too. As well as Bavinck over a 150 years ago, this problem has been pointed out also by my former lecturer the Late Richard Coggins (In His commentary on Exodus). The 10 commandments in Hebrew were known as the ’10 words’. Coggins pointed out that in key passages there are situations where the 10 commandments could have been used. Instead in the Old Testament we have ‘silence’. In the Christian traditions however the 10 commandments through the centuries has played a fuller part in the formation of the Christian society.
In the Christian traditions of the 10 commandments, it starts here:
“You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:3
According to Rabbi Ronald H. Isaacs says that in Judaism the first commandment is:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Exodus 20:2 Judaism it starts here:
Why the difference Rabbi Sacks says:
“There was a fundamental disagreement between Maimonides and Nahmanides on the status of the first sentence: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Maimonides, in line with the Talmud, held that this is in itself a command: to believe in God. Nahmanides held that it was not a command at all. It was a prologue or preamble to the commands.[4] Modern research on ancient Near Eastern covenant formulae tends to support Nahmanides.”
(From rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/yitro/structure-good-society/ (I usually do not include the https on the front because I want to keep the structure of my blog. It is enough however if you wish to follow the argument)).
By no means is the 10 Commandments a dead subject. From a Jewish point of view there is a covenant between God and Israel. The first sentence links the identity of God to the redemption of his people from slavery. It is in the context of the relationship that the 10 commandments make sense.
Bavinck and the first commandment (first word)
understanding the grammar (Before me; before my face; in my presence)
“You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:3
Bavinck is going to look at the commandment in closer detail. Below we have the LXX, NASB and the Mosoretic text.
- 3 οὐκ2 ἔσονταί1 σοι (θεοὶ ἕτεροι3) πλὴν4 ἐμοῦ5.
- 3 You shall1 not2 have (any other gods3) before4 me 5
- 3 לֹֽ֣א יִהְיֶֽה־לְךָ֛֩ אֱלֹהִ֥֨ים אֲחֵרִ֖֜ים עַל־פָּנָֽ֗יַ׃ Exodus 20:3
(On the Greek text of the Old Testament with reference to Exodus 203 I have added numbers so that you can follow the word order. You also need to remember that one reads Hebrew from right to left)
“There will not be for you other gods before my face.” Page 122
After the translation of this verse, he quotes Abraham Kuyper:
“This commandment implies: Let God be God; do not assault him in his being, but live only for him, under him, and through him.” (From Page 122)
From my point of view this was a good translation as it takes the preposition ‘al’ which can mean different things in various contexts
Herman Bavinck researched the above text and then he looked at some translations of it.
My own research for fun in Google translate gave us:
As a preposition depending on the sentence, can have a wide range of meanings:
עַל Can mean about; to onto; upon; above; by; towards; toward; unto.
Bavincks final verdict on the translation was influenced by the LXX ‘before me (πλὴν ἐμοῦ)’
The Hebrew using ‘before my face’.
Before this conclusion however he looked at some other translations:
Jacob Alting and Nicolaus Gürtler translate this as “except before my face”—that is, my Shekinah), my Son, whereby the Son is included under the prohibition of Deuteronomy 5:7 along with the Holy Spirit. “
(The wording above gives the impression that the Son and Holy Spirit are part of the ban. This is not the case. The editors notes (John Bolt)clarify that the subject of the discussion is on the grammar and not the trinity, page 122)
Bavinck interprets; “Before my face” is nothing more than “in my presence” (cf. Ps. 27:8; Exod).
The Master |Theologian gets the precious nugget from the Gold Mine, which is ‘in my presence’. Bavinck also pointed out that even some other scholars preferred to use ‘except for, עַל ’. Bavinck however felt that ‘before’ was a better translation and I agree with him on this.
Bavinck also gives us some references to other parts of the Scriptures for ‘before Me’:
Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. Genesis 11:28 (The word presence is the Hebrew word face)
But Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered strange fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron. Numbers 3:4 (The word ‘before’ in the first sentence is ‘face’ in the Hebrew)
Thus, Bavinck shows that the word ‘face’ can be translated as ‘before’ and ‘presence’ in its customary Old Testament Hebrew usage.
The prohibition on the gods
At the end of page 123 Bavinck moves on from the presence of God to His relationship to the other gods who are not real gods. It is interesting that he says that the people should not have other gods in their hearts or hidden from other people. God is present everywhere.
When commenting on the other gods Bavinck writes:
“Other gods” may mean “others” and also “strange ones” (Ps. 81:9; Isa. 42:8).”
I think this sentence needs unpacking as the Editor John Bolt in the notes certainly has given us some key words.
Let us begin by looking at the above quotations:
9 “Let there be no strange god among you;
Nor shall you worship any foreign god. Psalms 81:9
8 “I am the LORD, that is My name;
I will not give My glory to another,
Nor My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8
Anyway, in this section John Bolt the Editor of the Reformed Ethics gave us three words from the various translations of the Old Testament.
The LXX uses ‘’ theoi heteroi. It means other gods but heteros is very strong. It means completely different other (chalk and cheese different or. St Paul used the word Heteros when he was having a shindig (argument) with the ‘Judaizers’– those people forcing Gentile Christians to be circumcised. Peter got told off as well Galatians 16).
So then, God’s Word is very Strict, and Bavinck brings this out from the translation. Israel has been commanded to worship the one God YHWH. When I use the Tetragrammaton (God’s name) I will refer to him as ‘The Lord’. This is because as well as respecting Jewish believers who use Ha Shem ‘The Name’ for the Tetragrammaton, I feel in today’s Church God the Father is not honoured enough and sacred religious language is being trampled on. As believers let us show respect to our Trinitarian God who is blasphemed in the media on a day-to-day basis. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton
This is a very Holy Command and God’s people are expected to live to this high covenant. Unfortunately, even though the Prophets in the Old Testament warned again and again of following foreign gods. A lot of ordinary Israelites failed this command. In the siege of Lachish for example when Sennacherib attacked the Israelite city one can see some candle sticks that were taken as booty for the king. In other words, some residents of Lachish were worshipping foreign gods.
Idols:
Document 27 for example in ‘The Bible in the British Museum’; pages 60-64; By T C Mitchell. the picture below shows something:
The editor writes:
“To the right the defeated inhabitants are led out by Assyrian troops, some of whom carry braziers or incense stands, perhaps from unorthodox religious rites.”
This is a graphic image of the first of the 10 commandments being broken and the aftermath of God’s judgement on the people of Lachish. Sennacherib made a graphic representation of this victory to milk his pride.
Reflection
From my point of view the Ten Commandments have universal value. It is an important part of Christian teaching. I have to say though that at the time of the Second Temple when Christ walked this earth, the Ten Commandments were more important in Judaism than today. The Lord, our Trinitarian God ought to be respected and we ought to put all of our idols of materialism, selfishness, and pride far away. We also need to remember that these two commandments can be summed up in two.
- Love God
- Lover your neighbour as yourself
God wants us to come into his presence and the language of ‘face’ for ‘presence’ is very intimate and covenantal. However, we need to remember that although there is intimacy there is ‘respect’ and God is Holy and in a sense we need to respect this and perhaps tighten our own language to show this respect. We also need to remember that we stand before The Lord who created the whole universe and humankind. We respect our leaders but how much more should we respect The Holy One, The Lord who gave us life and brought us into a covenant relationship through the Son by way of the Cross, the Resurrection and the Guarantor who takes us into the very presence of God, The Holy Spirit.
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