And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.
The command is to Israel and to God's people not to forget the covenant He made with them and not to fear, worship or revere other gods, but to remain faithful and to remember the covenant. It was spoken to the people He brought up out of Egypt with great power and a stretched-out arm, requiring them to fear, worship and sacrifice to Him alone and to observe His statutes, ordinances, laws and commandment forevermore, with the promise that He would deliver them out of the hand of their enemies. It means exclusive loyalty to God as deliverer and lawgiver. Israel broke the command by not listening but continuing after their former manner, so these nations feared the Lord while serving their graven images, as did their fathers, their children and their children's children unto that day.
The remnant of the ten tribes left in Samaria and Galilee broke this command when they intermarried with heathen colonists from the provinces of Assyria and became the Samaritans, a mixed race whose ancestors were mixed with idolaters. Their religion mixed Jewish faith and customs and Mosaic ritual with heathen worship, was gradually corrupted and was contaminated by the worship of images and reverence for graven images, without wholly renouncing idolatry. While remaining idolaters in heart and practice, they claimed to worship the true and living God and to be God's people, holding that their idols only reminded them of the living God, the Ruler of the universe. They later sought instruction in the true religion and came to understand God's requirements more clearly, so their worship came closer to the true religion, yet they continued to cling to some idolatry.
Breaking the command shows the danger of disobeying God's statutes, contaminates religion and brings disaster, and the Samaritans' claim to be God's people became a source of division and hostility. That disobedience forged for thousands of years fetters binding them in a bondage no human power could break, and Christ holds up that history to the Jews to present their future as the result of their course of action.
The command is to Israel and to God's people not to forget the covenant He made with them and not to fear, worship or revere other gods, but to remain faithful and to remember the covenant. It was spoken to the people He brought up out of Egypt with great power and a stretched-out arm, requiring them to fear, worship and sacrifice to Him alone and to observe His statutes, ordinances, laws and commandment forevermore, with the promise that He would deliver them out of the hand of their enemies. It means exclusive loyalty to God as deliverer and lawgiver. Israel broke the command by not listening but continuing after their former manner, so these nations feared the Lord while serving their graven images, as did their fathers, their children and their children's children unto that day.
The remnant of the ten tribes left in Samaria and Galilee broke this command when they intermarried with heathen colonists from the provinces of Assyria and became the Samaritans, a mixed race whose ancestors were mixed with idolaters. Their religion mixed Jewish faith and customs and Mosaic ritual with heathen worship, was gradually corrupted and was contaminated by the worship of images and reverence for graven images, without wholly renouncing idolatry. While remaining idolaters in heart and practice, they claimed to worship the true and living God and to be God's people, holding that their idols only reminded them of the living God, the Ruler of the universe. They later sought instruction in the true religion and came to understand God's requirements more clearly, so their worship came closer to the true religion, yet they continued to cling to some idolatry.
Breaking the command shows the danger of disobeying God's statutes, contaminates religion and brings disaster, and the Samaritans' claim to be God's people became a source of division and hostility. That disobedience forged for thousands of years fetters binding them in a bondage no human power could break, and Christ holds up that history to the Jews to present their future as the result of their course of action.