God's Exclusive Claim - Daily Sunday School Reading - Exodus 20:1-12

God spoke all these words: I am God your God. Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery. No other gods, only Him.

No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don't bow down to them and don't serve them because I am your God and a most jealous God, punishing the children for any sins their parents passed on to them to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation of those who hate God. But I'm unswervingly loyal to to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments. No using the name of God, your God in curses or silly bantor; God won't put up with the irreverent use of his name.

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. Don't do any work - not you, nor your sons nor your daughter, nor your servant nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your own town. For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and Sea, and everything in them; He rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; He set it apart as a holy day. Honor your father and mother so that you'll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.

The Israelites had just come to Egypt, a land of many. Since each god represented a different aspect of life, it presented a different aspect of life, it was common to worship many gods in order to get the maximum number of blessings. When God told His people to worship and believe in Him, that wasn't so hard for them - He was just one more god to add to the list. But when He said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," that was hard for the people to accept. However, if they didn't learn that the God who led them out of Egypt was the only true God, they could not be His people - no matter how faithfully they kept the other nine commandments. Thus God made this His first commandment and emphasized it more than the others. Today we can allow certain values to become gods to us. Money, fame, work, pleasure can become gods when we concentrate too much on them for meaning and security. No one sets out with the intention of worshiping these things. But with the amount of time they occupy in our lives, they can grow into gods that ultimately control our thought and energies. Letting God hold the central place in our lives keeps these things from turning into gods.

God's name is special, for it carries His personal identity. Using it frivolously or in a curse is so common today that we may fail to realize how serious it is. The way we use God's name conveys how we really feel about Him. We should respect His name and use it with great respect, speaking it in Praise or Worship rather than in curse. We will be found guilty if we dishonor His name.

The Sabbath was a day set aside for rest and worship. God commanded a Sabbath because we need to spend unhurried time in worship and rest each week. A God who is concerned enough to provide a day each week for us to rest is indeed wonderful. To observe a regular time of rest and worship in our hurried world demonstrates the importance of God in our lives while having the extra benefit of refreshing our Spirits.

This is the first commandment with a promise attached, to live in peace for generations in the Promised Land, the Israelites would need to respect authority and build strong families. But what does it mean to "honor" Parents? Partly it means speaking well of them and politely to them. It also means acting in a way that shows them courtesy and respect (but not to obey them if this means disobedience to God). Parents have a special place in God's sight. Even those who find it difficult to get along with their parents are still commanded to honor them.

Reference Scripture used from The Life Application Bible and The Message Bible