Review of the Ten Commandments

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Deuteronomy 5:1) And Moses called all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and keep, and do them."

In the last chapter and post, Moses had ended his long speech to the children of Israel with an exhortation to obedience to the law.  Now he called all the people to him, in order to review with them the statutes and judgments of the Lord that they might learn them and be careful to observe them.

(2) “The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb."

Moses reminded the people of the covenant God Himself had made with the people at Horeb, that is, Mt. Sinai.  Aben Ezra, distinguished Jewish biblical commentator and philosopher of the Middle Ages, observed that Horeb and Sinai were of the same mountain which had two tops, which bore the two different names.

(3) “The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are all of us here alive this day."

Moses reminded the people that this particular covenant of the Ten Commandments that God Himself wrote and delivered to them, was given to them, the children of Israel in the wilderness, not to their patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

(4) “The LORD talked with you face to face on the mountain out of the midst of the fire."

Moses reminded the people that the Lord had spoken directly to them themselves out of the midst of fire that had burned on the mountain, audibly and distinctly, directly to them without going through their usual middle man, Moses.

(5) “I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said, (6) ‘I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.'"

Although the people heard the words of the Lord Himself, they had stood back because they were afraid of the fire and thunderings coming from the mountain, and Moses went near to the Lord (Exodus 20:21).  The Lord began at that time reminding the people that He was their Lord God who had brought them out of bondage in the land of Egypt.

(7) "‘You shall have no other gods before Me.'"

Moses began a review of the Ten Commandments as given by the Lord at that time.  First was that they should have no other gods or idols or any superstitious worship other than their worship of their one true God.

(8) "‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth.'"

They were not to make any carved or engraved image or any likeness of anything in heaven, earth, or the deep sea, to represent their God.  Moses had already reminded them of this in Deuteronomy 4:15-19, that they had never seen the form of God, so they must not fall into a temptation of carving an image of their own imagination of Him to worship.

(9) "'You shall not bow down to them nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, (10) And shewing mercy to thousands of them who love Me and keep My commandments.'"

In reference to the carved or engraved images the people might make for themselves, they were not to worship these false idols they had created in their own minds, because the Lord was a jealous God, meaning He was zealous and vigilant in guarding them from faithlessness and ultimate death that would result from their falling away from their only source of salvation and life.  It's not that the Lord would necessarily punish a son for his father's sins, but there are consequences to a person's actions that may follow through generations after him.  A father who hated the Lord would thus teach his son the same.  In like manner, and in this case certainly by the Lord's direct actions, as He had frequently done for this particular people, He showed mercy to the generations of them that had come after their patriarchs and loved their Lord and followed His commandments.

(11) "‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.'"

The people were never to use the name of their Lord in vain.  His name was only to be used with the highest reverence and awe, and not in worthless, empty, or wrong purposes.  The Lord would not hold him guiltless who took His name in vain, even if the person meant no disrespect to His Lord.  One should not use the name of the most high God in flippant ways.

(12) "'Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD your God has commanded you.'"

The people were to observe the Sabbath, setting it apart as a time of rest and for the performance of holy and religious exercises, as their Lord had commanded they do.

(13) "'Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (14) But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall do no work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.'"

The people were given six days to do all their work, but the seventh day was the Lord's Sabbath, and they were to do no work on that day.  This was not for themselves alone, but to give rest to all their family, servants, animals, etc.

(15) "'And remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.'"

The people were exhorted to remember that they themselves had once been servants in Egypt, that they might be mindful of their servants, and because their God had rescued them and commanded them to observe this day of rest, they ought to do it for Him, themselves, and those in their care and service.

(16) "‘Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.'"

Moses repeated to the people the commandment of God that each should honor his father and mother.  The apostle Paul pointed out in Ephesians 6:2 that this was the first commandment with promise, with a promise of long life and happiness in the land of Canaan if they so honored their parents.

(17) "'You shall not kill.'"

The original word "ratsach" means more precisely "murder".  Jesus said in Matthew 5:22 that a person could be guilty of murder in his heart.  These powerful words of John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, certainly can prick the conscience:

Have you not tempted any one, to what might shorten his life? Have you tempted none to intemperance? Have you suffered none to be intemperate under your roof, or in your company? Have you done all you could in every place, to prevent intemperance of all kinds! Are you guilty of no degree of self - murder? Do you never eat or drink any thing because you like it, although you have reason to believe, it is prejudicial to your health? Have you constantly done whatever you had reason to believe was conducive to it? Have you not hated your neighbour in your heart? Have you reproved him that committed sin in your sight? If not, you have in God's account hated him, seeing you suffered sin upon him. Have you loved all men as your own soul? As Christ loved us? Have you done unto all men, as in like circumstances, you would they should do to you? Have you done all in your power to help your neighbours, enemies as well as friends? Have you laboured to deliver every soul you could from sin and misery? Have you shewed that you loved all men as yourself, by a constant, earnest endeavour, to fill all places with holiness and happiness, with the knowledge and love of God?

(18) "'Neither shall you commit adultery.'"

In the literal meaning of the word, this is a commandment to have no sexual relations outside of marriage.  However, again Jesus went to the heart of the matter in Matthew 5:28, saying that one could be guilty if he looked upon a woman with lust in his heart.  John Wesley had some powerful soul-searching words on this, too:

If thou hast not been guilty of any act of uncleanness, hath thy heart conceived no unclean thought? Hast thou not looked on a woman so as to lust after her? Hast thou not betrayed thy own soul to temptation, by eating and drinking to the full, by needless familiarities, by foolish talking, by levity of dress or behaviour? Hast thou used all the means which scripture and reason suggest, to prevent every kind and degree of unchastity? Hast thou laboured, by watching, fasting, and prayer, to possess thy vessel in sanctification and honour?

(19) "'Neither shall you steal.'"

Moses repeated the commandment of the Lord against stealing.  Some Biblical commentators have pointed out that when the commandments were originally given, they were given without the word "neither".  They suggest they were joined together by the adverbial conjunction to make them in a sense one law.  Loving your neighbor as yourself would make it necessary to neither kill, commit adultery, steal, etc.  The apostle said this in Romans 13:9:

For this, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

(20) "'Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.'"

Moses repeated the commandment of the Lord to not make a false report against one's neighbor.

(21) "'Neither shall you covet your neighbor’s wife, neither shall you covet your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.'"

Biblical commentators point out that "his field" was added to the list first given in the commandment in Exodus 20:17.  The meaning of the commandment is the same--one should not lust after anything that belongs to someone else, not his wife, not his house, not his land, not his servants, not his livestock, not his car, not his wealth, etc., etc. 

It occurs to me for the first time that this commandment takes care of the committing adultery in the heart that Jesus referred to in Matthew 5:28.  If you are lusting after something that is not your own, you are guilty of coveting.  If you covet a person not your own spouse, you have already broken a commandment, before it is even considered adultery in your heart.  Likewise killing in your heart probably would begin with coveting or bearing false witness.  The commandments are all linked together and can be summed as Jesus summed them in Matthew 22:37-40:

Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

(22) “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a great voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and delivered them to me."

Moses finished his review of the commandments of the Lord by reminding the people that the Lord had given those commandments to all of them from the mountain in the midst of fire, clouds, and thick darkness with a great and powerful audible voice.  The Lord had ceased talking to the people after He gave them the Ten Commandments.  He wrote the commandments on two stone tablets which He gave to Moses.

(23) "And it came to pass, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, for the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders."

Moses recalled and reminded the people that after they had heard God's voice from the midst of fire and clouds and darkness, the heads of the tribes and the elders came up to Moses from where they had been afar off.

(24) “And you said, 'Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire; we have seen this day that God speaks with man, yet he lives.'"

Moses reminded the people that the heads and elders remarked at the time that God had shown His great glory to them; they had heard His voice from the midst of the fire.  They had seen and heard for themselves that God spoke to them, mere men, and yet they lived; they were not consumed by the sheer power of His voice.

(25) "‘Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall die.'"

Moses continued the retelling of the events at the time.  Although the people had miraculously escaped death upon being personally exposed to their awesome God, they did not believe they would be able to bear it any longer.  They were sure that if they heard the voice of God anymore, they would surely be consumed by the fire.  The people had witnessed such a consuming fire before, like the one in Numbers 16:35 that consumed the 250 men who offered strange incense, or the one that consumed those in the uttermost parts of the camp at Taberah (Numbers 11:1) when the people complained.

(26) "‘For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?'"

The heads of the people had acknowledged that no person ever had heard the voice of the living God out of the midst of fire and had lived.  They realized nothing like this had ever happened before, and recognized the miraculous nature of it, and did not trust their frail, corruptible, mortal selves to be able to endure it again.

(27) "‘You go near and hear all that the LORD our God shall say, and tell us all that the LORD our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’"

The elders had requested that Moses go near to the Lord on the mount and hear all that He had to say while they stood far away.  Moses could then tell them what the Lord had said and they would listen and do it.

(28) "And the LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you; they are right in all that they have spoken.'"

The Lord had heard what the elders had told Moses, and He said that they had spoken rightly.  Their words had shown a reverence and awe of the divine majesty of their Lord God, and a knowledge of their unworthiness to be in His presence.  They also promised to listen and do whatever the Lord told Moses they should do, if he would just be their mediator.

(29) "‘Oh, that there were such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!'"

I believe the sense here is that the Lord desired that the people should forever have the same fearful and reverent heart to keep His commandments as they appeared to have at that moment.  If so, it would always go well for them and their children forever.  It would be well for most all of us if we could always have that same conviction we sometimes have in periods of great brokenness and need for our Savior.  Oh, that we would always have such a heart in us that we would fear the Lord and always keep His commandments!

(30) "'Go say to them, "Get in your tents again." (31) But as for you, stand here by Me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.'"

Therefore the Lord had told Moses at the time to tell the people to return to their tents, and He would commune with just Moses to tell him all the commandments, statutes, and judgments that he would then teach the people, that they would observe and keep them in their promised land the Lord was giving them to possess.

(32) "You shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left."

At that point, Moses exhorted the people to observe what the Lord had commanded them, seeing that He had shown Himself to them and then was so willing to consider their request and grant them what they desired.  Seeing they had desired to have Moses as their mediator and teacher and that they promised so solemnly that they would hear and do what he said, they should take to heart just what the Lord commanded they do, and not veer from it.

(33) “You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess."

Moses continued with his exhortation that the people walk in the ways that the Lord commanded them so that they might live a long and good life in their promised land.  It's not so much that God would punish them if they disobeyed and reward if they obeyed, but His commandments are life and life more abundant.  The ways of the world are death.  Therefore the Lord desires that we follow His commandments so that we will have a long and blessed life; if we veer from them, and choose the ways of the world, we will suffer the consequences.

I find it interesting that the very same language is used in the commandment to honor fathers and mothers, that it might go well with them and that their days be long in their promised land.  Just as we are to honor the One who created us, we are to honor those God chose to bring us into this world.  God created marriage and the family.  Family is important to God, and we are His family.  When we honor our families, we honor Him and what is important to Him.  Even when they are dysfunctional, we should love and honor them.  After all, doesn't our Father love and offer to forgive us no matter how dysfunctional we are?

Love doesn't always mean obedience to and enabling of abuse and unlawful behavior.  That is where obeying God and honoring parents differs.  God is always righteous; our parents are not.  However, learning to love and honor them is what most of us learn first in life and prepares us for learning to respect other authorities such as government, police, and employers, and our ultimate Authority, God.  While He is righteous and should be the easiest to honor and obey, it is often against our sinful human nature to obey His commands.  At least that is what we often think, that the laws of God mean no fun, but the exact opposite is really true.  Perhaps learning to obey those rules of parents we think were designed to deprive us of fun prepares us for learning to respect God's laws.  Even Jesus submitted to His parents!  Luke 2:51 tells us Jesus was obedient to his parents.  God Himself in human flesh at 12 years of age was obviously much more advanced in spirituality, but subjected himself to two average, ordinary, inexperienced parents.  Jesus taught us an important lesson in this--no one is too smart, too advanced, or too spiritual for God-given submission.  And here is an amazing revelation--Jesus learned Godly submission!  In human form, Jesus taught us that Godly submission doesn't just happen without effort, but it is a learned behavior.  Hebrews 5:8 states that Jesus, GOD in human form, learned obedience from what He suffered.  That revelation came to me from a beautiful article by David Mathis, Jesus Obeyed His Parents.  Honoring our parents and submitting to authority teaches us obedience and Godly submission so that we may live long and that it may be well with us.