EXODUS 20 - THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
God gave 613 laws in the Old Covenant. Of those 613 laws there are ten laws that are foundational moral laws that can be found within the conscience of every human being. These laws were given to Israel at Mount Sinai and were also inscribed on tablets of stone. These primary moral laws are commonly referred to as “The Ten Commandments”.
Here are a few points that we should understand about The Ten Commandments:
God spoke these words. These are not man-made laws, but laws spoken from the very mouth of God (v. 1)
These laws come from a personal God, who personally cares about his people and wants them to be set free from the slavery of sin, which Egypt represented in the Old Covenant (v. 2)
The Ten Commandments
Commandments 1-4 are commandments regarding our relationship with God.
Commandment 1: You shall have no other gods before me (v. 3)
Commandment 2: 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 water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (v. 4-6)
Commandment 3: 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. (v. 7)
Commandment 4: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (v. 8-11)
Commandments 5-10 are commandments regarding our relationship with other people.
Commandment 5: Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. (v. 12)
Commandment 6: You shall not murder. (v. 13)
Commandment 7: You shall not commit adultery. (v. 14)
Commandment 8: You shall not steal. (v. 15)
Commandment 9: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (v. 16)
Commandment 10: You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. (v. 17)
Jesus was asked about the law and told us how it could be summed up. He said the Two Greatest Commandments are to love God and love others.
The Ten Commandments can be clearly dividing up into those two main areas of obedience. Although the Ten Commandments, or even the Two Greatest Commandments, remain as moral directives in the New Covenant. The law is still only a tutor to bring us to Jesus.
The Law, whether 613, 10, or 2 commandments – makes us realize our desperate need for a savior, which can only be Jesus Christ who perfectly obey the law.
Jesus did not abolish the law, but he certainly fulfilled it - Praise God!
We can seek to fulfill the Ten Commandments in our daily walks with God, but our salvation is not based on our perfect execution of the law. Our salvation is received by grace through faith.
When the Ten Commandants were received the mountain shook, and so did the people in fear (v. 18-19). Moses became a bold mediator for the people, and he went up on the mountain with God and received the rest of the law (v. 20-21) When he came down from the mountain, the people had already broken the Ten Commandments by worshipping a golden calf – a foreshadow of the rest of Israel’s history of trying to obey the law. Sacrifice after sacrifice was made to atone for the sins of Israel, but perfect atonement would not be made until Jesus, the Son of God, died a sacrificial death on the cross (v. 22-26).
Jesus has become the mediator of a new and better covenant. The New Covenant is based on the law of the Spirit of life (Romans 8) and not the law of sin and death (Exodus 20). Hebrews 12:18-25 contrast the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. As Christians we have not come to a mountain of trembling and fear, like Mount Sinai. We have come to Jesus, and to mount Zion and the city of the living God. The blood of Jesus speaks a better word to us! It speaks to us about mercy, even in spite of our disobedience to the Ten Commandments. Jesus’ obedience and sacrifice speaks to us about a new power, for we now have the power to obey by the Grace of God and the Spirit of God.