Matthew Henry on Exodus 20:22–end
Moses having gone into the thick darkness, where God was, God there spoke in his hearing only, privately and without terror, all that follows hence to the end of ch. 23, which is mostly an exposition of the ten commandments; and he was to transmit it by word of mouth first, and afterwards in writing, to the people. The laws in these verses related to God's worship.
I. They are here forbidden to make images for worship (Exo 20:22, Exo 20:23): You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven (such was his wonderful condescension, much more than for some mighty prince to talk familiarly with a company of poor beggars); now you shall not make gods of silver.
1. This repetition of the second…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 20:22
the Lord said unto Moses--It appears from Deu 4:14-16, that this injunction was a conclusion drawn from the scene on Sinai--that as no similitude of God was displayed then, they should not attempt to make any visible figure or form of Him.
Adam Clarke on Exodus 20:23
Ye shall not make with me gods of silver - The expressions here are very remarkable. Before it was said, Ye shall have no other gods Before me, אל פני al panai, Exo 20:3. Here they are commanded, ye shall not make gods of silver or gold אתי itti With me, as emblems or representatives of God, in order, as might be pretended, to keep these displays of his magnificence in memory; on the contrary, he would have only an altar of earth - of plain turf, on which they should offer those sacrifices by which they should commemorate their own guilt and the necessity of an atonement to reconcile themselves to God. See Clarke's note on Exo 20:4.
John Gill on Exodus 20:23
Ye shall not make with me,.... This is a proposition of itself, as appears by the accent Athnach placed at the end of it, which divides it from the following, and therefore "gods of silver" belong to the next clause or proposition; something seems to be wanting to complete the sense, which the Talmudists (s) and Jarchi after them supply thus,"ye shall not make with me as the likeness of my ministers which minister before me on high;''as the seraphim, ministering angels, &c. as the sun, moon, and stars; and so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases the words,"ye shall not make, to worship, the likeness of the sun, and of the moon, and of the stars, and of the planets, and of the angels that minis…
