The First Commandment: Difference between revisions

{{quote5 |내용= “'''You shall have no other gods before me'''.”|출처=[https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Exodus+20%3A3&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 Exodus 20:3] }}

The first commandment has two meanings. They are, “Do not worship any other gods,” and “Serve only Me [God].” God did not make a dictatorial request to “worship no other gods besides Him” for no reason. The reason God gave the first commandment is because He is the Savior who saved Israel from slavery in Egypt.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Exodus+13%3A3&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3|title=Exodus 13:3|quote= }}</ref> So when He gave the first commandment, God said beforehand, “I am God who led you out of Egypt.”

* “I am the LORD '''your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery'''. '''You shall have no other gods before me'''.” ([https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Exodus+20%3A2-3&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 Exodus 20:2–3])

* “I am the LORD '''your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery'''. '''You shall have no other gods before me'''.” ([https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Deuteronomy+5%3A6-7&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 Deuteronomy 5:6–7])

The day God led the Israelites out of Egypt was the Passover.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Exodus+12%3A27-42&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3|title=Exodus 12:27–42|quote= }}</ref> Because He led the Israelites with His mighty hand on the night of the  Passover, He told them to celebrate the Passover, the day of redemption, and not to worship any other gods except God the Redeemer.

{{quote5 |내용=One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘'''Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind'''.’ This is the '''first and greatest commandment'''.”|출처=[https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Matthew+22%3A35-38&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 Matthew 22:35–38] }}

{{quote5 |내용= “[I]t is the LORD’s '''Passover'''. On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and '''I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt'''. I am the LORD.”|출처=[https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Exodus+12%3A11-12&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 Exodus 12:11–12] }}

Until the time of Hezekiah, the thirteenth king of the southern Kingdom of Judah, the Passover had not been celebrated for a long time in Judah. After Hezekiah was enthroned, he repaired the temple<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=2+Chronicles+29%3A2-3&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3|title=2 Chronicles 29:2–3|quote=  }}</ref> and kept the Passover with the people.

{{quote5 |내용=Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel. . . . They decided to send a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem and '''celebrate the Passover''' to the LORD, the God of Israel. It had not been celebrated in large numbers according to what was written.|출처=[https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=2+Chronicles+30%3A1&OLWordSearchRange=beg&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 2 Chronicles 30:1], [https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=2+Chronicles+30%3A5&OLWordSearchRange=beg&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 5] }}

{{quote5 |내용=When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, '''smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh'''. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property.|출처=[https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=2+Chronicles+31%3A1&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 2 Chronicles 31:1] }}

In the eighteenth year of Josiah, the sixteenth king of the southern Kingdom of Judah, the king and the people removed the idols from the temple after they realized a covenant of God recorded in the Book of the Law. This covenant was the Passover.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=2+Kings+23%3A21-24&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3|title=2 Kings 23:21–24|quote= }}</ref>

{{quote5 |내용= The king [Josiah] stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to '''follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant [Passover] written in this book'''. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to '''remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley''' and took the ashes to Bethel.|출처=[https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=2+Kings+23%3A3-4&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 2 Kings 23:3–4] }}

King Josiah believed in God and tried to live according to God’s will, but he had kept idols in the temple of God for eighteen years since he was enthroned.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=2+Kings+22%3A3-11&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3|title=2 Kings 22:3–11|quote= }}</ref> When Josiah realized the Passover, he destroyed all the idols in the whole country and destroyed the golden calves and the high places that Jeroboam, the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel, had made.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=2+Kings+23%3A15&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3|title=2 Kings 23:15|quote= }}</ref>

:Jeroboam, the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel, tried to keep the people from going to Jerusalem to celebrate [[The Feasts of God|God’s feasts]], including the Passover. So he made two golden calves, set up one in Bethel and the other in Dan, and said to the people, “O Israel, here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” He also appointed days of his own choosing as feasts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=1+Kings+12%3A25-33&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3|title=1 Kings 12:25–33|quote= }}</ref> This led the northern Kingdom of Israel to forsake the feasts of God and to worship other gods on the pretext of believing in God. This history also shows that if we do not keep the Passover, we come to worship other gods, not even realizing we are.

God’s promise to judge other gods through the Passover did not only apply to the time of the Exodus. In any age, whenever people realized the Passover and kept it, all the other gods were destroyed. On the contrary, whenever they forsook the Passover, they came to worship other gods though claiming to believe in God. This repeated over and over again.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Ecclesiastes+3%3A15&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3|title=Ecclesiastes 3:15|quote=}}</ref><br>Until the Passover was celebrated in the days of Hezekiah and Josiah, the people kept idols and worshiped them. Likewise, even though we believe in God today, if we do not keep the Passover, we come to serve other gods unknowingly. That is why the churches that do not keep the Passover observe Sunday worship, the holy day of the sun god, and Christmas, the birthday of the sun god.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://english.watv.org/truth/qna/content.asp?idx=1524&page=6 |title=Q. The Biblical Sabbath Is Saturday. Then, Why Do Most Churches Worship on Sunday? |website=English.watv.org |publisher=  |date= |quote= }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/sun-worship#:~:text=During%20the%20later,birthday%20of%20Christ.|title= Sun worship|website=Britannica  |publisher=|date= |quote= }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Ezekiel+8%3A16&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3|title=Ezekiel 8:16|quote= }}</ref> However, [[World Mission Society Church of God|the Church of God]], which keeps the Passover by following the example of Christ, does not keep any of the pagan customs such as [[Lord’s Day Worship (Sunday Worship)|Sunday worship]], [[Christmas]], [[Cross|cross-reverence]], or [[Easter eggs]].

{{quote5 |내용=Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. '''Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength'''. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as '''symbols on your hands''' and bind them '''on your foreheads'''.|출처=[https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Deuteronomy+6%3A4-8&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 Deuteronomy 6:4–8] }}

{{quote5 |내용=“On that day tell your son, ‘I do '''this''' because of '''what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt'''.’ This observance will be for you like a '''sign on your hand''' and a '''reminder on your forehead''' that the law of the LORD is to be on your lips.”|출처=[https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Exodus+13%3A8-9&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 Exodus 13:8–9] }}

What God did for the Israelites when they came out of Egypt is that He destroyed the firstborn of Egypt through disaster and protected the Israelites who kept the Passover. On the night of the Passover, the Israelites were delivered from Egypt.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Exodus+12%3A27-42&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3|title=Exodus 12:27–42|quote= }}</ref> Therefore, this ceremony, which is to be the sign on the hand and a reminder on the forehead, refers to the Passover. These words indicate that the first commandment, “Love God with all your heart,” and the Passover are in fact the same.<br>

{{quote5 |내용=Neither before nor after '''Josiah''' was there a king like him who '''turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses'''.|출처=[https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=2+Kings+23%3A25&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 2 Kings 23:25] }}

{{quote5 |내용= The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the '''Passover''' to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” Not since the days of the judges who led Israel, nor throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, had any such Passover been observed.  But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem. |출처=[https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=2+Kings+23%3A21-23&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 2 Kings 23:21–23] }}

{{quote5 |내용=And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this '''Passover''' with you before I suffer.” . . . And he took '''bread''', gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is '''my body''' given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the '''cup [wine]''', saying, “This cup is the '''new covenant''' in '''my blood''', which is poured out for you.”|출처=[https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Luke+22%3A15&OLWordSearchRange=beg&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 Luke 22:15], [https://www.studylight.org/study-desk.html?q1=Luke+22%3A19-20&OLWordSearchRange=beg&q2=&ss=0&t1=eng_n84&t2=eng_kjv&t3=eng_nas&ns=0&sr=1&ot=bhs&nt=wh&hv1=1&b=verse&d=3 19–20] }}