[XVII. THE FIRST AND SECOND COMMANDMENTS:
AND HOW THEY WERE BROKEN]
"I am the Lord thy God, Which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
I. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."
II. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God."
THE Children of Israel had left Egypt. God had brought them out with a strong hand. They had left their enemies the Egyptians, some of them dead in their houses, for all the firstborn were dead; and some of them overwhelmed in the Red Sea, where they had attempted to follow the Israelites, for whom God had made a way on dry ground, through the midst of the waters.
And now God had led them about in the wilderness, for they were obstinate and disobedient, and He could not let them go into the Promised Land of Blessing, because their hearts were too hard to learn His great lessons.
In the third month after leaving Egypt, they came into the wilderness of Sinai, and the whole congregation camped before the mount.
Then God called Moses to come to Him to the top of the mountain; and here God spoke to him, and sent him down to repeat to the congregation all the words which He had told him.
And God told Moses that it was a very solemn thing for Him to speak in their hearing, so they were to set bounds round the mount, that no one should come too close.
God said that He would come to Moses in a thick cloud; but that the people should hear His Voice when He spoke, and should believe Moses for ever.