The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 150

VerR. ,, 8.-Tbe fir~t <:ommnmlment deals with the object of worship; the second, "·itb the matrner of wor8hip ; in the third and fourth we have the method of worship, true reverence and genuine devotion. 1. THE THIRD CoMMANDME:S-T. I. Obedience to the letter inn+fficient. None ever obeyed it thus more strictly than the Jews did. The Sacred Name, called the llhucldering name; only pronouuced once e.nnue.lly by the High Priest on the Great Day of Atonement. So strictly W88 the command kept that the true pronunciation of the name i~ lost to us. Even in our own Bibles we have evidence of the ancient practice, "The LoRD" being used as a substitute for Jehovah. Yet, with all this, cf. Ezek. xxxvi. 20. The name, which was never uttered by the lips, WRS yet prufaned by the conduct of the worshippers. We, too, may never perjure ourselves, or speak pro- fanely, yet the tenor of our whole life may bring God's name into contempt. The commonest excuse made by those who never enter a place of worship ls bRSed upon the inconsistent conduct of those who frequent such places regularly. 'l'hey may not go themselves, but they know well enough who do go, and they know also the kind of lives which they who do go are leading. 2. Tile true obedience. They who worshiJ God mu~t worship him in spirit and in truth. True reverence is a thing of the heart, which shines through and illuminates the conduct. 'l'his leads us to:- 11. THE FounTH CoMMANDME:i.."'T. True reverence will best show itself in copying the example of the person reverenced. The fourth commandment shows us God's example made plain for a man to copy. 1. The rest-day to be kept holy. (1) Nature teaches us that a rest-day, a Sabbath, is a necessity. He who works seven days a week is a bad economist of his time. Be simply shortens life. 'fhe body must be laid aside the sooner to keep its disregarded Sabbaths in the grave. (2) The Holy-day is no less necessary the.n the holiday. Man's nature is complex, and his spirit needs rest aud refreshment, quite as surely as his body needs them. f Jllust.: You may shut uF 11 man's piano, but that only rests the instrument, it does not necessarily rest the instrumentalist.] The rest for a man's spirit is only to be obtained by sharing t.he spiritual rest of God ; if the holiday be not a holy-day this spiritual rest will still be lacki11g. 2. TIIR- days of labowr to be modelle,d on Uod's pattern. Labour as much comman<ieci as rest ; but ia.bour, as rest, after the Divine model .All that God does, he does earnestly and thoroughly. To work as God works is to work with the heart as weii as with the hands (Col iii. 23). One cannot wonder that the rest-day is profaned, when the days of toil are profaned no les:., when a man's chief object seems to be not to do bu. work, but to have done with it. lf God had worked as we work, he could scarcely have called bu. work "very good." The world by now would have been a dilapidated chaos, more appalling than the waste from which it sprang. The commandment is not "Six days she.it thou witer," but" Six days shalt thou wbou,r." CoN..:LUDIM& BKFLKCTIONB.-Mere literal keeping of the commandments may bring them and their author into contempt.. We can only" magnify the law and make it honourable" by keeping it from the heart outwards. The Jews kept the third and fourth commandmentt; literally enough. Our own Sunday legislation dates from the lime of Charles 11., when, of all times, God's law was, perhaps, the most fearfully pro- faned. "My son, give me thine heart," that is the invitation which first requires to be e.ccepted. If we would really keep the commandments, let our prayer be: " Lord have mercy upon us, and incline ov.r l,,eartt; to keep thy law."-G. Ver. 12.-Previous commandments have dealt with the object and manner of worship; this deals with the nuri;ery and school of worship. Consider:- I. 'l'HE INJUNCTION IN I'.l'SELF. l . .Absolute; parents to be honoured, whether living or dei,artcd, known or unknown, good or evil 2. Hard t,o obey in some cases; yet always possihlc, for remember tLefatJU?-r and mother may be honoured, even though the individuah1 fall ,;hort of the ideal they should exemplify. Une can honour from the standpoint of the child, even thoi;e who from any other ;;tandpoint may be despicable. [llluat. : Dr Maaiona.ld';; story of " Robert Falconer;" the father is a reprobate scamp, yet the ;;on. J.>ersisteutly hono11ring his fatherhood, at length wins him back to respectability._ 3. Mii;cl,ief of tlwugl.tles6 disrespect. No honourable shame to be ashamed of one'r own pare11ta;(e, especially when, if rightly looked at, there is nothing to be ashamed of iu it,. ]);u auuLL ap1,arcuL d.i,re,;1,ccL umy 0ullleLiwe,; grow uut uf a whule,ome familiarity;  TTIE BOOK OF EXODUS. 157