Exodus — Chapter 20

And God spoke all these words, saying... Lapide opens his commentary on the Decalogue by noting that it was proclaimed by an angel speaking in God's person, with a voice articulate enough to be heard by three million people. He distinguishes the Decalogue from all other Mosaic legislation: the Ten Commandments are natural law made explicit, binding all mankind in all ages, while the ceremonial and judicial precepts were proper to Israel and abrogated by Christ. He cites Aquinas (I-II, q. 100): the Decalogue contains the whole of the natural law, known in principle by all rational creatures through their native light of reason.

I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Lapide notes that God precedes His commands with a declaration of His identity and His benefits: this is not a mere preface but the foundation of the whole moral law. The motive for obedience is not fear alone but gratitude—we owe obedience to God because He is our Creator and Redeemer. He cites Augustine (De Spir. et Lit.): \"The Law was written on stone tablets to strike fear; grace writes it on the heart to kindle love.\"

Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. This is the First Commandment, and Lapide treats it as the root and summary of all religion. He notes that \"before me\" (coram me) means: in my presence, in my sight—God sees everything, and to place any created thing in the position of supreme love is to commit this sin even when no outward idol is present. He follows Augustine and Aquinas in distinguishing the objects of latria (worship due to God alone), dulia (veneration of saints), and hyperdulia (special veneration of the Mother of God): the First Commandment forbids only latria to any but God.

Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Lapide refutes the Protestant misuse of this verse against sacred images. This commandment, he explains with Aquinas (I-II, q. 102, a. 4 ad 7) and Bellarmine (De Imag. II), prohibits the making of images for the purpose of adoration as gods—not the making of images as such. The Tabernacle and Temple were filled with images of cherubim, flowers, and beasts by God's own command; Solomon's throne had twelve carved lions. He cites Prudentius who attests images above altars in early Christian churches, and the Second Council of Nicaea (787).

God declares He \"visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shews mercy unto thousands of them that love me.\" Lapide reconciles divine justice with divine mercy: punishment extends to three or four generations, mercy to thousands—the asymmetry reveals that God's mercy far exceeds His punitive justice. He cites Aquinas (I, q. 21): mercy is God's most proper attribute in His works toward creatures; justice serves mercy's larger ends. The transmission of punishment to descendants signifies the social consequences of sin, not individual guilt for another's act.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Lapide interprets this as forbidding: (1) blasphemy, the gravest sin against the commandment; (2) perjury, swearing falsely by God's name; (3) frivolous oaths, swearing by God's name in trivial matters; (4) magical use of God's name in charms and incantations, which is a combination of blasphemy and superstition. He cites Chrysostom (Hom. in Mt.): \"The name of God is holy; to use it without reverence is to throw a sacred thing to dogs.\"

Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Lapide distinguishes the ceremonial element (Saturday rest, abrogated by Christ and transferred to Sunday) from the moral element (one day in seven dedicated to divine worship, binding on all men in all ages). He defends Sunday observance as an apostolic institution replacing the Sabbath, citing the practice from the Resurrection onward (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Apoc. 1:10). He notes that the manna did not fall on the Sabbath—nor does God's special presence fail to mark the Lord's Day in the Church.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. The Sabbath rest is grounded in the pattern of creation. Lapide follows Aquinas (I-II, q. 100, a. 3 ad 2): the moral obligation to rest on a fixed day is natural, but the specific day (seventh/first) is positive and changeable. The Christian Sunday is the fulfillment and transformation of the Sabbath, resting not on the completion of creation but on the inauguration of the new creation in Christ's Resurrection.

Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayst be longlived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee. Lapide treats this as the first commandment with a promise, and notes that it is the hinge between the two tables: it faces toward both God (who is our supreme Father) and neighbor (parents being the proximate cause of our existence). He cites Aquinas (II-II, q. 101): the debt owed to parents is after God the greatest natural debt, and parents in some respect represent God's creative authority. He extends the commandment to include reverence toward civil authorities, bishops, and temporal lords—all who stand in loco parentis.

Thou shalt not kill. Lapide distinguishes lawful from unlawful killing: lawful are (1) public execution by legitimate authority of the guilty; (2) just war; (3) legitimate self-defense. Unlawful is any private killing, whether by hand or by tongue (detraction, calumny) or by scandal. He cites Augustine (De Civ. Dei I, 21) that this commandment does not forbid the civil sword: the magistrate who executes a criminal does not violate the commandment but executes the divine law, which commands death for certain crimes.

Thou shalt not commit adultery. Lapide follows Aquinas (II-II, q. 154) in treating this as the chief precept of the Sixth Commandment, extending to all sins against chastity. He insists that the commandment binds not only in external act but in internal consent: Christ in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5:28) merely made explicit what was always implicit in the natural law. He cites Augustine (Conf. II, VI): the unbridled passions of youth are not excused by youth—God demands purity of heart and body in every state of life.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house: neither shalt thou desire his wife. The Ninth and Tenth Commandments forbid internal desires, not merely external acts. Lapide notes that this demonstrates the moral law's direct governance of the interior life—not merely the forum externum. He cites Chrysostom: \"Many think they are not adulterers because they have not touched a woman; but Christ says that whoever looks with lust has already committed adultery in his heart.\" The commandments against concupiscence are the summary of Christian asceticism.