Of the Ten Commandments
Exodus 20:2 The Land of Egypt, etc.
The second part of preface. Who have brought you out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Egypt and the house of bondage are the same, only they are represented to us under a different expression or notion. I begin with the first expression, Who have brought you out of the Land of Egypt.
Quest. Why does the Lord mention this deliverance of Israel out of the Land of Egypt?
Resp. 1. Because of the strangeness of the deliverance. God delivered his people Israel by strange signs and wonders, by sending plague after plague upon Pharaoh, blasting the fruits of the earth, killing all the firstborn in Egypt (Exodus 12:29). And when Israel marched out of Egypt, God made the waters of the sea to part, and become a wall to his people, while they went on dry ground; and as he made the sea a causeway to Israel, so a grave to Pharaoh and his chariots. Well might the Lord mention his bringing them out of the Land of Egypt, because of the strangeness of the deliverance; God wrought miracle upon miracle, for their deliverance.
2. God mentions Israel's deliverance out of Egypt, because of the greatness of the deliverance. God delivered Israel from the pollutions of Egypt; Egypt was a bad air to live in, it was infected with idolatry. The Egyptians were gross idolaters, they were guilty of that which the Apostle speaks of (Romans 1:23). They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. The Egyptians worshipped instead of the true God, first, a corruptible man; they deified their king Apis, forbidding all under pain of death to say that he was a man. Secondly, they were worshippers of birds; they worshipped the hawk. Thirdly, they were worshippers of beasts; they worshipped an ox: thus they made the image of a beast to be their god. Fourthly, they were worshippers of creeping things; they worshipped the crocodile, and the Indian mouse. Therefore God mentions this as a memorable and signal favor to Israel, that he brought them out of such an idolatrous country; I brought you out of the Land of Egypt.
The thing I would note is this, that it is no small blessing to be delivered from places of idolatry. God speaks of it no less than ten times in the Old Testament, I brought you out of the Land of Egypt; an idolatrous place. Had there been no iron furnace in Egypt, yet there being so many altars there, and false gods, it was a great privilege to Israel to be delivered out of Egypt. Joshua reckons it among the chief and most memorable mercies of God to Abraham, that he brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, where Abraham's ancestors served strange gods (Joshua 24:2-3). It is well for the plant that is set in a bad soil, to be transplanted into a better, where it may grow and flourish. So when any are planted among idolaters, it is a mercy when they are removed and transplanted into [reconstructed: Zion], where are the silver drops of God's Word to make them grow in holiness.
Quest. Wherein does it appear that it is such a great blessing to be delivered from places of idolatry?
Resp. It is a great mercy, because our nature is so prone to idolatry: Israel began to be defiled with the idols of Egypt (Ezekiel 23:3). Dry wood is not more prone to take fire, than our nature is to idolatry. The Jews made cakes to the Queen of Heaven, that is the moon (Jeremiah 7:18).
Quest. From where is it that we are so prone to idolatry?
Resp. 1. Because we are led much by visible objects, and love to have our senses pleased. Men naturally fancy a God that they may see, though it be such a God as cannot see them, yet they would see it. The true God is invisible; this makes the idolater worship something that he may see.
2. It is a mercy to be delivered from idolatrous places, because of the greatness of the sin of idolatry. It is giving that glory to an image, which is due to God. All [illegible] or divine worship God appropriates to himself; it is a flower of his crown; the fat of the sacrifice God laid claim to (Leviticus 3:3). Divine worship is the fat of the sacrifice which God reserves for himself. The idolater devotes this worship to his idol, which the Lord will by no means endure (Isaiah 42:8). My glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Idolatry is spiritual adultery (Ezekiel 23:37). With their idols have they committed adultery. To worship any other than God, is to break wedlock. This makes the Lord disclaim his interest in a people (Hosea 2:2). Plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife. And (Exodus 32:7) Your people have corrupted themselves; no more my people, but your people. God calls idolatry blasphemy (Ezekiel 20:27, 31). Thus your fathers have blasphemed me. Idolatry is devil-worship (Deuteronomy 32:17). They sacrificed to devils, not to God; to new gods. These new gods were old devils (Leviticus 17:7). And they shall no more offer their sacrifices to devils; the Hebrew word Lashegnirim, is the Hairy Ones, because the devils were hairy, and appeared in the forms of satyrs and goats. How dreadful a sin is idolatry; and what a signal mercy is it to be snatched out of an idolatrous place, as Lot was snatched by the angel out of Sodom?
3. It is a mercy to be delivered from idolatrous places, because idolatry is such a silly irrational religion; I may say as (Jeremiah 8:9) What wisdom is in them? Is it not folly to refuse the best, and choose the worst? The trees of the field in Jotham's parable despised the vine tree which cheers both God and man, and the olive which is full of fatness, and the fig tree which is full of sweetness, and chose the bramble to reign over them; this was a foolish choice (Judges 9). So for us to refuse the Living God, who has power to save us, and to make choice of an idol, that has eyes and sees not, feet but walks not (Psalm 115:6). What a prodigy of madness is this? Therefore to be delivered from committing such folly is a mercy.
4. It is a mercy to be delivered from idolatrous places, because of the sad judgments inflicted upon idolaters. This is a sin that enrages God, and makes the fury come up in his face (Ezekiel 38:18). Search through the whole book of God, and you shall find no sin God has followed with more plagues, than idolatry (Psalm 16:4). Their sorrows shall be multiplied, that hasten after another God. Psalm 78:58-59: They moved him to jealousy with their graven images. When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel (verse 60), so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh. Shiloh was a city belonging to the tribe of Ephraim: there God set his name (Jeremiah 7:12). But for their idolatry God forsook that place; gave his people up to the sword, caused his priests to be slain; his ark to be carried away captive, and it never returned to Shiloh any more. How severe was God against Israel for worshipping the golden calf (Exodus 32:27). The Jews say, that in every misery that befalls them, there is Uncia Aurei Vituli, an ounce of the golden calf in it. Revelation 18:4: Come out of her my people, that you not be partakers of her sins, and that you do not receive of her plagues. Idolatry lived in cuts men off from heaven (1 Corinthians 6:9). So then it is no small mercy to be delivered out of idolatrous places.
Use 1. See the goodness of God to our nation, who has brought us out of mystical Egypt, delivering us from Popery, which is Romish idolatry, and has caused the light of his truth to break forth gloriously among us. In former times, and more lately in the Marian days, England was over-spread with idolatry; we worshipped God after a false manner: that is idolatry, not only to worship a false God, but the true God in a false manner. This was our case formerly, we had Purgatory, Indulgences, the idolatrous Mass, the Scriptures locked up in an unknown tongue, invocation of saints and angels, image-worship: images are teachers of lies (Habakkuk 2:18). Wherein do they teach lies? Because they represent God in a bodily shape, whereas he cannot be seen (Deuteronomy 4:12). You saw no similitude, only you heard a voice. Quod invisibile est, pingi non potest, Ambr. God cannot be pictured out by any figure: you cannot picture the soul, being a spirit, much less God (Isaiah 40:18). To whom then will you liken God? The Papists say, they worship God by the image; which has a great absurdity in it; for if it be absurd to bow down to the picture of the King, when the King himself is present, then much more to bow down to the image of God, when God himself is present (Jeremiah 23:24). What is the Popish religion, but a bundle of ridiculous ceremonies? Their wax, flowers, pixes, Agnus Dei, cream and oil, beads, crucifixes: what are these but Satan's policy, to dress up a carnal worship fitted to carnal minds? Oh what cause have we to bless God for delivering us from Popery! It was a mercy to be delivered from the Spanish Invasion, and the Powder Treason, but a far greater to be delivered from the Popish religion, which would have made God give us a bill of divorce.
2. If it be a great blessing to be delivered from Egypt, Popish idolatry, then it shows their sin and folly, who being brought out of Egypt, are willing to return into Egypt again: having put off the yoke of Rome, would fain put it on again. The Apostle says, Fly from idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14). But these rather fly to idolatry: herein we are like the people of Israel, who notwithstanding all the idolatry and tyranny of Egypt, yet longed to go back to Egypt (Numbers 14:4). Let us make a captain and return into Egypt. But how shall they go back into Egypt? How shall they have food in the wilderness? Will God rain down manna any more upon such rebels? How will they get over the Red Sea? Will God divide the water again by miracle, for such as leave his service, and go into idolatrous Egypt? Yet say they, Let us make a captain. And are there not such spirits among us, who say, Let us make a captain, and go back to the Romish Egypt again? And if we do, what shall we get by it? I am afraid the leeks and onions of Egypt will make us sick. Do we ever think, if we drink in the cup of fornication, we shall drink in the cup of salvation? O that any should so forfeit their reason, as to enslave themselves to the See of Rome! That they should be willing to hold a candle to a Mass-Priest, and bow down to a strange God. Let us not say, we will make a captain; but rather say as Ephraim (Hosea 14:8): What have I to do any more with idols?
3. If it be a mercy to be brought out of Egypt, then it is not desirable or safe to plant one's self in an idolatrous place, where it may be a capital crime to be seen with a Bible in one's hand. Some for secular gain thrust themselves among idolaters, and think there is no danger to live where Satan's seat is: but do you pray God would not lead you into temptation, and do you lead your selves? You are in great danger of being polluted: it is hard to be as the fish which keep fresh in salt waters: a man cannot dwell among the Black-a-moors, but he will be discolored: you will sooner be corrupted by idolaters, than they will be converted by you. Joseph got no good by living in an idolatrous court; he did not teach Pharaoh to pray, but Pharaoh taught him to swear (Psalm 106:35). They were mingled among the heathen, and served their idols. I fear this has been the undoing of many; they have seated themselves among idolaters, for the advancing their trade, and at last have not only traded with them in their commodities, but in their religion.
Use 2. Is it a mercy to be brought out of Egypt, places which are defiled, and where sin reigns, then it reproaches such parents as show little love to the souls of their children, whether it be in putting them out to service, or in matching of them. 1. In putting them out to service; their care is chiefly for their bodies that they may be provided for, but care not what becomes of their souls: their souls are in Egypt, in houses where there is drinking, swearing, Sabbath-breaking, and where God's name is every day dishonored. 2. In matching their children, they look only at money (2 Corinthians 6:14): Be you not unequally yoked: if their children be equally yoked for estate, they care not whether they be unequally yoked for religion. Now to such parents, 1. Think how precious the soul of your child is, it is immortal, it is capable of communion with God and angels, and will you let this soul be lost, by placing it in a bad family? If you had a horse you loved, you would not put him into a stable with other horses that were sick and diseased: and do you not love your child better than your horse? 2. God has entrusted you with the souls of your children, you have a charge of souls. God says, as (1 Kings 20:39), Keep this man, if he be missing your life shall go for his life. So says God, If the soul of your child miscarry by your negligence, his blood will I require at your hand: Think of this all you parents, take heed of placing your children in Egypt in a wicked family: Do not put them in the devil's mouth; find out a sober religious family, such a family as Joshua's (Chapter 24:15), I and my house will serve the Lord. Such a family as Cranmer's, which was Palaestra pietatis, a nursery of piety: such a family as is a Bethel, of which it may be said, as (Colossians 4:15), The church which is in his house.
Use 3. Let us pray that God will keep our English nation from the defilements of Egypt; that it may not be again overspread with superstition and idolatry. O sad religion! not only to have our estates, our bodies enslaved, but our consciences: Pray that the true Protestant religion may still flourish among us: That the sun of the gospel may still shine in our horizon. The gospel lifts a people up to heaven; it is Columna & Corona Regni: The crown and glory of the kingdom: If this be removed, then, Ichabod, the glory is departed: The top of the beech tree being cut off, the whole body of the tree withers apace: The gospel is the top of all our blessings, if this top be cut, the whole body politic will soon wither. O pray that the Lord will continue the visible tokens of his presence among us, his ordinances, that England may be called, Jehovah Shammah, The Lord is there (Ezekiel 48:35). Pray that righteousness and peace may kiss each other, that so glory may dwell in our land.
