Musar zu Schemot 20:5

There are some [negative commandments] that are dependent upon the tongue, for which we give lashes. For so did our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, say (Makkot 16a), “All the warnings in the Torah - we do not give lashes for a negative commandment that does not [involve] an action, except for one who makes an oath or curses his fellow with [God’s] name.” And even though there is no death penalty from the court with a vain oath, its punishment at the hands of the Heavens is more weighty than many sins that do have a death penalty from the court. For making an oath in vain profanes [God’s] name - as it is stated (Leviticus 19:12), “You shall not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God” - and the punishment for profaning the name is more elevated than [that of] all of the sins. And it is not written like this about any of the sins besides a false oath and idolatry, as it is stated (Leviticus 20:3), “because he gave of his offspring to Molech and so defiled My sanctuary and profaned My holy name.” And it is stated in the warning about idolatry (Exodus 20:5), “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord, your God, am a jealous God.” [This] means to say, that He will not forgive the iniquity of idolatry in the way of forgiveness for other sins - like the matter that is written (Jeremiah 5:7), “Why should I forgive you; your children have forsaken Me and sworn by no-gods!” And likewise is it written in the warning for a false oath (Exodus 20:7), “for the Lord will not clear one who swears falsely by His name.” And the warning for a false oath is written (immediately) after the warning of idolatry, most certainly because the iniquity of profaning God, may He be blessed, is found under the wings of a false oath. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said regarding the matter of the verse (Proverbs 30:8-9), “Give me neither poverty nor riches, etc. Lest, being sated, I renounce, saying, ‘Who is the Lord,’ or, being impoverished (it is written fully with an aleph, but its meaning is, poor), I take to theft, and profane the name of my God,” that the latter is harsher than the former - as it is stated (Ezekiel 20:39), “As for you, O House of Israel, etc., go, every one of you, and worship his idols and continue, if you will not obey Me; but do not profane My holy name any more.” It is meaning to say that the iniquity of the one who swears falsely in a court is more weighty than the punishment of one who worships idolatry in private, due to the profaning of the name [involved in the former]. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Shevuot 39a), “For all of the other transgressions in the Torah, punishment is exacted only from the transgressor and his family; whereas here, punishment is exacted from him and from the entire world,” And if the court obligates a man to make an oath but he knows that his mouth speaks falsely (it would be a false oath), it is forbidden to [even] take the oath upon himself, saying, “I will swear” - in order to frighten his fellow - even though he does not plan to swear. For it is stated, (Exodus 20:7), “You shall not bear” - and included in its meaning is not to accept (agree) to swear falsely. And likewise did they, may their memory be blessed, say in our Mekhilta (Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael, Yitro). And the Targum (translation of Onkelos) of, “Do not bear a vain report“ (Exodus 23:1), is “do not accept.” And it is forbidden to make a needless oath, even if he is swearing about the truth, as it is stated (Exodus 20:7), “Do not bear the name of God in vain” - and its Targum is, “for nothing.” And likewise is the iniquity of one who causes his fellow to swear for nothing, great - for example when his fellow owed him a hundred and he doubled it in his claim, in order that the law would come out that one who admits partially is obligated to make a Torah-based oath; or when he claims against his fellow for nothing and asks him for what he knows nothing about and makes him take a [rabbinic] oath of inducement. And our Rabbis said (Shevuot 39a) that this man is called a thief, as he is stealing his mind (deceiving him); and about him is it stated (Zechariah 5:4), “[But] I have sent it forth - declares the Lord of Hosts - and [the curse] shall enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name, and it shall lodge inside their houses and shall consume them to the last timber and stone.” And one who knows that if he takes an oath, people will suspect him about [the truth of] the oath, should restrain himself from [taking] the oath for the honor of the Heavens - even though the truth is with him.

There are other groups that do not have a share in the world to come: And they are the group of the enemies of the Lord, may He be blessed; the group of the destroyers of the vineyard of the Lord; and the group of the ones inflicting fear in the land of the living. Behold we will present their content and the proof of their punishment explicit in the Torah:
For the group of the enemies of Lord will be lost from the world to come, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 7:10), “But who requites with destruction those who hate Him to his face - never slow with those who hate Him, but requiting them to his face.” Its explanation is that he repays the reward of the commandments fulfilled by those that hate Him, in this world - in order to destroy them from [getting to] the world to come. And its Targum (translation by Onkelos) is, “And He repays those that hate Him the good that they do in front of Him, in their lives, to destroy them. And David said (Psalms 37:20), “But the evildoers shall be lost, and the enemies of the Lord shall be like heavy sheep, completely consumed in smoke.” And he mentioned the expression, “loss,” with the evildoers, as it is [used] for distress and exile - as the matter that is stated (Isaiah 27:13), “the lost who are in the land of Assyria and the expelled, etc.”; (Jeremiah 50:6), “My people were lost sheep”; [and] (Psalms 119:176), “I have strayed like a lost sheep” - and it is also [used] for death, as the matter that is stated (Psalms 119:92), “I would have been lost in my affliction”; (Esther 8:6) “at the loss of my kindred”; [and] (Leviticus 23:30) “and I will cause that soul to be lost” - meaning excision from this world. For evildoers are punished with difficulties and afflictions or with death, and they are also punished with the judgement for their deeds in the world to come. But [David] compared the enemies of the Lord to the meat of sheep, as it will become coals. Therefore, it will be “completely consumed in smoke.” Just like the fat of sheep is consumed in smoke, so too will the enemies of the Lord be consumed. For their souls will be consumed and lost from the world to come. And it is stated (Exodus 20:5), “visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who hate Me.”

And if you wish to have mercy on your children and kin and to honor them with a great honor, then you must occupy yourself with Torah and good deeds and kindly acts of charity and this will be the best for them — that they should be honored through you and not bear reproach because of you. For there is no greater shame than that one should have parents and relatives who are wicked people. And he whose father is a thief or robber or had done other notorious deeds that are ugly in the eyes of the world, all his descendants are made ugly after him for many generations, for people say of them, "These are the descendants of that wicked one." And for the sins of parents children die, as it is written: "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me" (Exod. 20:5). See and understand this — is there a more cruel man than one whose children die because of his sin? And there is none who shows greater mercy to his children than the righteous man, for his merit continues for a thousand generations (and his descendants are blessed and honored because of him.)

לא תשתחוה להם. This means that when one prostrates oneself before a graven image or idol, though this may not be the normal way in which such an idol is worshipped, one is guilty of idol-worship, because prostrating oneself before G–d is the way of service in the Holy Temple before the Almighty. The act of השתחויה is a definite form of worship. We are told in Exodus 22,19: "Whoever sacrifices to a god other than the Lord alone shall be proscribed" [is subject to the death penalty by stoning. Ed]. While it is true that we learn from Exodus 22,19 that any acts that constitute normal worship such as slaughtering the animal, burning its flesh on the altar, pouring libations of wine on the altar, etc., are all actions punishable by death when performed in honour of other deities (regardless of whether such acts are part of the system in which that particular deity is worshipped), the question is why the Talmud did not derive the prohibition of prostrating oneself from this verse in Exodus. Prostrating oneself, which does not involve a sacrificial act, could not be derived from the words זובח in Exodus 22,19. Hence a special verse was needed for this prohibition. The act of prostrating oneself symbolises that one humbles oneself utterly and thus becomes culpable.

ולא תעבדם. This is a warning not to serve idols in the manner in which they are usually being served, even though such ways revolt us. The classic example is the idol בעל פעור, which was worshipped by means of humans excreting before it. The culpability for such an act stems from one's having demonstrated that one is on the theological wavelength of the adherents of such a cult, something abhorrent in the eyes of G–d. One tried to please such a deity.

לא תשתחוה להם. Prostrating oneself is an allusion to drawing Celestial influences earthwards. This is the bending of one's head downwards. Though the Gentile nations attract to themselves or draw down such influences, the fact remains that they prostrate themselves to non existent influences. On the other hand, when we do so -such as during the Temple service- we prostrate ourselves before the King of Kings the Holy One blessed be His name. We do not relate to G–d "back to back" as explained earlier, but פנים אל פנים, "face to face."