Exodus 20:6

Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Ver. 6. Unto thousands.] Of succeeding generations. Personal goodness is profitable to posterity. And this promise, though made to all, yet is more specially annexed to this second commandment; to teach, saith one, that parents should chiefly labour to plant piety in their families, as they would have God’s blessing entailed upon their issue. {See Trapp (for summary of Law) on "Exo 20:17"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So ready is he rather to show mercy than to punish.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 6. And showing mercy unto thousands] Mark; even those who love God and keep his commandments merit nothing from him, and therefore the salvation and blessedness which these enjoy come from the mercy of God: Showing mercy, c. What a disproportion between the works of justice and mercy! Justice works to the third or fourth, mercy to thousands of generations!

The heathen had maxims like these. Theocritus also teaches that the children of the good shall be blessed because of their parents' piety, and that evil shall come upon the offspring of the wicked: -

Ευσεβεων παιδεσσι τα λωΐα, δυσσεβεων δ' ου.

Idyll. 26, v. 32.

Upon the children of the righteous fall

The choicest blessings on the wicked, wo.

That love me, and keep my commandments.] It was this that caused Christ to comprise the fulfilment of the whole law in love to God and man; See Clarke on Ex 20:1. And as love is the grand principle of obedience, and the only incentive to it, so there can be no obedience without it. It would be more easy even in Egyptian bondage to make brick without straw, than to do the will of God unless his love be shed abroad in the heart of the Holy Spirit. Love, says the apostle, is the fulfilling of the law; Ro 13:10.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(6) Shewing mercy unto thousands.—Rather, to the thousandth generation, as is distinctly expressed in Deu_7:9. God’s mercy infinitely transcends His righteous anger. Sin is visited on three, or at most four, generations. Righteousness is remembered, and advantages descendants, for ever.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. unto thousands, of them, &c.] i.e. not thousands consisting of them that love me, but (notice the comma added in RV.) thousands belonging to them that love me (Heb. le, just as in v. 5, properly ‘belonging to them that hate me’). The antithesis is between the narrow limits, the third or fourth generation of descendants, within which the sin is visited, and the thousands belonging to,—i.e. primarily, descended from, though possibly those ‘belonging to’ in a wider sense, as servants or other dependents, may be included,—such as love God, who, in virtue of this relation, and for the sake of those who thus love Him, experience His mercy. The intention of the passage is thus to teach that God’s mercy transcends in its operation His wrath: in His providence the beneficent consequences of a life of goodness extend indefinitely further than the retribution which is the penalty of persistence in sin. Naturally ‘thousands’ is not to be understood literally: it is simply intended to convey an impressive idea of the greatness of God’s mercy. It is not apparent how it can mean (RVm.) ‘a thousand generations’: Deu_7:9 is a rhetorical amplification, not an exact interpretation, of the present passage.

that love me] shew towards Him the pure and intense affection and devotion which we denote by the term ‘love.’ The thought is one strongly characteristic of Deuteronomy. ‘Love to God is in Dt. the essence of religion, and the primary motive for obedience to His commands. In no other stratum of the Hexateuch is this lofty conception of religion to be found’ (Bä.). See Deu_6:5 [Mar_12:30, Luk_10:27], Deu_10:12, Deu_11:1; Deu_11:13; Deu_11:22, Deu_13:3, Deu_19:9, Deu_30:6; Deu_30:16; Deu_30:20, Jos_22:5; Jos_23:11 both Deuteronomic); and cf. the writer’s Deuteronomy, pp. xxi, xxviii, lxxviii, 91. Love to God is not mentioned elsewhere in the Hexateuch, except in the parallel, Deu_5:10 (cf. Exo_7:19 : see, however, Jdg_5:30).

It is, of course, not through extraordinary or miraculous interferences that the sins of parents are visited upon their children, but through the natural providence of God, operating through the normal constitution of society, which in its turn takes its organization and form from the character of human nature, which is His appointment. History and experience alike teach how often, and under what varied conditions, it happens that the misdeeds of a parent result in bitter consequences for the children. The principle here asserted is not in conflict with Deu_24:6 (children not to be put to death for the fathers): the legislator is not there dealing with a principle involved in the constitution of society itself; he is laying down a rule for the administration of justice by the State. See, on the distinction between the two cases, Mozley’s Ruling Ideas in Early Ages, Lect. V.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me,.... And show their love by worshipping God, and him only, by serving him acceptably with reverence and godly fear, by a cheerful obedience to all his commands, by all religious exercises, both internal and external, as follows:

and keep my commandments; not only this, but all others; for keeping these from right principles, and with right views, is an instance and evidence of love to God, see Joh 14:15 and to such persons he shows mercy and kindness, performs acts of grace, and bestows on them blessings of goodness; and indeed it is owing to his own grace, mercy, and kindness to them, that they do love him, and from a principle of love observe his precepts; and this is shown to thousands, to multitudes, who are blessed with such grace as to love the Lord, and keep his commandments: though rather this is to be understood of a thousand generations, and not persons, and should have been supplied, as in the preceding verse, "unto a thousand generations", God being more abundant in showing mercy, and exercising grace and goodness, than he is rigorous in inflicting punishment.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Unto thousands, to wit, of their generations, i.e. for ever; whereas his punishment extended only to three or four of them: so far is God’s mercy exalted above his justice. Compare Psa 103:17.

Them that love me, and keep my commandments: this conjunction is very observable, both against those that falsely and foolishly pretend or insinuate that the inward affection of love to God is not absolutely and always necessary to salvation; and also against them who, pretending inward love to God, live in the customary breach of God’s known commands.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Showing mercy — Or, doing kindness. His lovingkindness and favour are never withheld from the good and obedient.

Unto thousands — Some would understand generations here, as after third and fourth in the previous verse. So superabundant is Jehovah’s kindness that he gladly will extend it to the thousandth generation of them that love him and keep his commandments. The expression, however, is best understood as general in its fulness of meaning. His kindness toward the loving and obedient is for all and for ever. Comp. Exo_34:6-7.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shewing mercy unto thousands. Or, to the thousandth generation." (Compare Deu_7:9) In neither case are the numbers to be taken as exact and definite. The object of them is to contrast the long duration of the Divine love and favour towards the descendants of those who love him, with the comparatively short duration of his chastening wrath in the case of those who are his adversaries. And keep my commandments. Thus only is love shown. Compare Joh_14:15; 1Jn_2:5; 2Jn_1:6.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

and He keeps (stores up) the mercy which a person does to give a reward for it to the thousand generations of that person’s descendants. It follows, therefore, that the measure of good (reward) is greater than the measure of punishment in the proportion of one to five hundred, for the former is threatened only to four generations whilst the latter is bestowed upon thousands (two thousands at least) (Tosefta Sotah 4:1; see Rashi on Exodus 34:7).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND HE SHOWETH MERCY UNTO THE THOUSANDTH GENERATION OF THEM THAT LOVE ME AND KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS. It appears from the sense of the verse that this Divine assurance is with respect to the subject-matter of the commandments that He mentioned. He is thus saying that to those that love Him, He will show mercy to their thousandth generation. These are the ones who sacrifice their lives for Him, for they are the ones who acknowledge only the Glorious Name and His G-dship and deny all strange gods, refusing to worship them even if they are in mortal danger. They are called “the lovers [of G-d],” for this is the kind of love that we have been obligated to observe even at the sacrifice of life, just as He has said, And thou shalt love the Eternal thy G-d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, meaning that you should give your very life because of your love of Him, that you should not alter Him for another god, nor join Him together with a strange god. It is for this reason that [the prophet] said of Abraham, the seed of Abraham my friend, since he risked his life in order not to worship the idols in Ur of the Chaldees. The rest of the righteous are called those that keep My commandments.Now many scholars have explained that “His lovers” are those who worship Him without the intention of receiving a reward, just as our Sages have mentioned. But I have found in the Mechilta that it is said: “Of them that love Me. This refers to Abraham and those like him. And those that keep My commandments. This refers to the prophets and the elders. Rabbi Nathan says that the verse, of them that love Me and keep My commandments, refers to those who dwell in the Land of Israel and give their lives for the commandments. ‘Why are you being led out to be executed?’ ‘Because I have circumcised my son.’ ‘Why are you being led out to be burned?’ ‘Because I read the Torah.’ ‘Why are you being led out to be hanged?’ ‘Because I ate the unleavened bread.’ ‘Why are you being lashed with the whip?’ ‘Because I took the lulav.’ And it says, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. These are the wounds which have caused me to become beloved of My Father in heaven.” Thus Rabbi Nathan explained that the love [of G-d, which is referred to in the verse before us], meant the sacrifice of life for the sake of the commandments. Now the verse here certainly refers to idolatry, for it is with reference to it that we are obligated at all times forever to suffer death rather than transgress [the law]. But [Rabbi Nathan] broadened the matter to include all the commandments, [such as circumcision, the study of Torah, the eating of unleavened bread on Passover, the taking of the lulav on Succoth — as mentioned above] — because in the time of religious persecutions, we are obligated to suffer death for any of the commandments [rather than transgress them], as derived from the other verse, And ye shall not profane My holy Name. And it would also be incorrect to say of the first Sage [in the above Mechilta] — i.e., who said that [those who love Me] refers to Abraham, while [those who keep My commandments] refers to the prophets — that he is of the opinion that the prophets kept the commandments with the intention that they receive a reward! [Thus the explanation of “the many scholars” mentioned above is refuted by the Mechilta.] However, there is a secret in this [Mechilta]: Abraham risked his life in love — something like it is written, mercy to Abraham — and the rest of the prophets in g’vurah (might). Understand this.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

But I do loving kindness for thousands. Sometimes Hashem lovingly grants a reprieve to a sinner in the merit of a pious ancestor.

Sforno on the Tanakh — English translation: “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.