We are moving into chapter twenty of Exodus with our word for today. עַל־פָּנָֽ֗יַ before me, my sight, my face, my presence. It is used 19 times in the Old Testament. We see our phrase used to fall on ones face in the sense of bowing down or falling down in reverence. Ezekiel 1:26, 28 High above on the throne was a figure like that of a man…This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell עַל־פָּנַ֔י facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking. Ezekiel 3:22-23 The glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell עַל־פָּנָֽי facedown. Ezekiel 9:8 While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell עַל־פָּנַ֜י on my face, crying out, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?” We also find our word used in the sense of in front of one’s face. Job 4:15 A spirit glided past עַל־פָּנַ֣י my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. Isaiah 65:2-3 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— a people who continually provoke me to עַל־פָּנַ֖י my face.
This sense of being in front of one’s face is also translated as in one’s sight or presence. Jeremiah 7:15 I will thrust you מֵעַ֣ל פָּנָ֑י from my sight, just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim. Jeremiah 23:39 Therefore, I will surely forget you and מֵעַ֥ל פָּנָֽי cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your ancestors. This sense of being in front of one’s face is also translated as being before or in front of everything else. This is how it is used in our chapter today. Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods עַל־פָּנָֽ֗יַ before me. We see this repeated in Deuteronomy 5:7. When we look at the other ways our phrase is used it helps us better understand the depth of its meaning. So to have other gods before YHWH or the reality God is to have something in front of God himself in that you are looking at, focused on it instead of the true YHWY reality God. What reason does God give for this command? The verse before it tells us. Exodus 20:2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. So notice two things from this. God was the one who actually accomplished this deliverance from slavery it wasn’t any other so called gods who are not real. Also we the word LORD in all capitals which we have looked at several times is YHWH or the reality God because whatever YHWH decides to do it becomes reality. We will see as we go throughout the Bible that every other so called god is just an idol that is not alive and can’t do anything. Psalm 115:3-7 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.
Not only are idols not alive and unable to do anything for us. They also will make us dead in the sense that we won’t be able to connect with the true God anymore because we will become hardened by the sin of worshiping idols. This is why God commands us not to. We will talk more about idols as we get further along in our chapter 20 of Exodus. I’ll close with this reminder from the New Testament to the churches. The Holy Spirit speaking through John contrasts the true God with idols and ends his book this with challenging instruction. 1 John 5:20-21 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
