We learned in our study of the "law of Moses" that the purpose of the Ten Commandments is to teach us how to love: first, to love God with all our heart, soul & might (Dt 6:5), and then to love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev 19:18).

Considering these commandments as a whole, we see that the first four focus on loving God, and the final six focus on loving our neighbor. Today, we're going to look more deeply at the first two: 1) You shall have no other gods before Me (v 3); 2) You shall not make for yourself an idol (v 4). In order to understand them better, it's helpful to paraphrase verses 1-11. God's message in these verses is this: "I have already proved My love for you, My power, and My faithfulness by delivering you from Egypt and bringing you safely here. Now I'm asking you to 'marry Me,' that is, to love Me, to be loyal to Me, to treat Me respectfully, and to regularly spend time in personal fellowship with Me. I warn you, if you promise to do so and then don't, I'll react like a wounded spouse, and I'll punish you until you repent. But if you continue to love Me, be loyal to Me, show Me respect and fellowship with Me, I'll pour on you the blessings I promised generation after generation until the end of time." When we realize what God is saying in these verses, it is amazing how tender and vulnerable He was being toward Israel. Really He should never have had to say these things in the first place because if people really love Him, it would be automatic.

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