THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

The Israelites, in their adoration of the golden calf, professed to be worshiping God. Thus Aaron, when inaugurating the worship of the idol, proclaimed, “Tomorrow is a feast unto Jehovah.” They proposed to worship God, as the Egyptians worshiped Osiris, under the semblance of the image. But God could not accept the service. Though offered in His name, the sun god, and not Jehovah, was the real object of their adoration. PP 760.1 The worship of Apis was accompanied with the grossest licentiousness, and the Scripture record indicates that the calf worship by the Israelites was attended with all the license usual in heathen worship. We read: “They rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” Exodus 32:6. The Hebrew word rendered “to play” signifies playing with leaping, singing, and dancing. This dancing, especially among the Egyptians, was sensual and indecent. The word rendered “corrupted” in the next verse, where it is said, “thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves,” is the same that is used in Genesis 6:11, 12, where we read that the earth was corrupt, “for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” This explains the terrible anger of the Lord, and why He desired to consume the people at once. PP 760.2 Note 5. Page 329. The Ten Commandments were the “covenant” to which the Lord referred when, in proposing a covenant with Israel, He said, “If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant,” etc. Exodus 19:5. The ten commandments were termed God’s “covenant” before the covenant was made with Israel. They were not an agreement made, but something which God commanded them to perform. Thus the Ten Commandments—God’s covenant—became the basis of the covenant made between Him and Israel. The Ten Commandments in all their details are “all these words,” concerning which the covenant was made. See Exodus 24:8. PP 760.3