Ye shall be holy; for I, the Lord, your God, am holy. Lev. 19,2.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matt. 5,48.
QUESTIONS.
1. What does God forbid in the last two commandments? 2. What does it mean to covet? 3. Why should we not covet our neighbor's property? 4. How should we not seek to get our neighbor's inheritance and house? 5. What does it mean to obtain our neighbor's property by a show of right? 6. Whom should we not force and entice away from our neighbor? 7. What should we do concerning our neighbor's inheritance and house? 8. What does our Lord tell us Gal. 5,13? 9. What should we do concerning our neighbor's wife and servants? 10. What important lesson do these commandments teach us? 11. What does every impure desire in our heart prove? 12. How should our hearts be? 13. What does our Lord command Lev. 19,2? 14. With what ought our hearts to be filled? 15. What does our Savior say Matt. 5,48? 16. What must we confess when we consider the commandments of God? 17. What should therefore be our daily prayer?
LESSON 11.
The Close of the Commandments.
What does God say of all these Commandments?
He says thus: I, the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them, that love Me and keep My commandments.
What does this mean?
God threatens to punish all that transgress these commandments. Therefore we should fear His wrath, and not act contrary to them. But He promises grace and every blessing to all that keep these commandments. Therefore we should also love and trust in Him, and willingly do according to His commandments.
1. Thus says the Lord of all His commandments: "I, the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God." God reminds us that He who has given us His commandments is the Lord. He is our Lord, we are His servants. He, as our Lord, has the right to give us His commandments, and we are in duty bound to obey them.—He furthermore reminds us that He is our God. Through Christ, our Savior, God has become our God, our Father. A father will give only good gifts to His children. Our heavenly Father means well in giving His commandments. They are to be a blessing to us and will be a blessing, if we rightly use them. We should thank Him for His commandments.—God tells us that He is a jealous God. God is not like a weak father who gives his children commands, but does not see to it that his children obey. God is a strict, a very strict father. He watches over His children whether they fulfil His commandments or break them.—And do not forget: Our God is the almighty God. He has the power to do what He says, to carry out His threats and to fulfil His promises. "There is one Lawgiver [this lawgiver is God, who has given us His commandments], who is able to save and to destroy." Jas. 4,12.