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Exodus

About this book

The Ten Commandments and the Covenant

Chapter 20

1 God spoke all these words: 2 “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt,⁠ from the house of slavery.⁠ 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below.⁠ 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me,⁠ 6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.⁠ 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. 9 For six days you may labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.⁠ 12 “Honor your father and your mother,⁠ that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you.⁠ 13 “You shall not murder.⁠ 14 “You shall not commit adultery.⁠ 15 “You shall not steal.⁠ 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.⁠ 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,⁠ nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”⁠ 18 All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking—and⁠ when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance.⁠ 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin.” 21 The people kept their distance, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. 22 The Lord said to Moses, “Thus you will tell the Israelites: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven.⁠ 23 You must not make gods of silver alongside me,⁠ nor make gods of gold for yourselves. 24 “‘You must make for me an altar made of earth, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be honored I will come to you and I will bless you.⁠ 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it of stones shaped with tools, for if you use your tool on it you have defiled it.⁠ 26 And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.’⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 20:12 and Malachi 1:6

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Exodus commands children to honor their parents, connecting family respect to long life in the land. Malachi uses the same language of honor and applies it to God, arguing that if parents and masters receive respect, God deserves even more.

Passages

Exodus 20:12

Hebrew Bible
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you. 13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Malachi 1:6

Hebrew Bible
4 Edom says, “Though we are devastated, we will once again build the ruined places.” So the Lord of Heaven’s Armies responds, “They indeed may build, but I will overthrow. They will be known as the land of evil, the people with whom the Lord is permanently displeased. 5 Your eyes will see it, and then you will say, ‘May the Lord be magnified even beyond the border of Israel!’” 6 “A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects his master. If I am your father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The Lord of Heaven’s Armies asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply, ‘How have we made light of your name?’ 7 You are offering improper sacrifices on my altar, yet you ask, ‘How have we offended you?’ By treating the table of the Lord as if it is of no importance. 8 For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them to your governor! Will he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Malachi

References

"... There is an expectation that a person who does great deeds, one who has a worthy character or is in a high position, rightfully deserves to be treated accordingly whether in word or deed. Thus, they are called to “honor” or “fear” their superiors. In Isaiah 24:15, the coastlands are called to give glory to YHWH (i.e., praise him) for his majesty. With regard to position, in Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16 children are instructed to “honor your father and mother” (compare Leviticus 19:3 “revere”) Likewise, as Weinfeld notes, honoring one’s father and mother goes beyond reverence and even extends to physical care. The opposite of honoring one’s parents would be too treat them contemptibly, disrespectfully or as unimportant (Leviticus 20:9). Similarly, people in other positions deserved to be treated with esteem by those of lower status. Complaining about how Israel offers inferior gifts to him, YHWH complains in Malachi 1:6: “A son honors his father, a slave his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? If I am a master, where is my fear,’” says YHWH of Hosts to you, ‘O priests who despises my name.’” YHWH continues in verse 14, “... I am a great King, and my name is reverenced among the nations.” YHWH’s of Host’s complaint is that the honor due him is great, and he is given much worse than would be acceptable to a less deserving human ..."
James Nicholas Jumper, Honor and Shame in the Deuteronomic Covenant and the Deuteronomistic Presentation of the Davidic Covenant (Harvard University, 2013), 59–60.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Exodus 20:12 and Malachi 1:6

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