Ten - Part 1 [Notes]

The Ten Commandments are probably the best-known list of "rules" ever recorded, but there is so much more to these commands than meets the eye; they provide a framework for understanding who God is and what it means to be a holy nation. Join us for "Ten," and together, we will discover just how amazing the gift of the Ten Commandments is!

In the third month, on the same day of the month that the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai. After they departed from Rephidim, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness, and Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob, and explain to the Israelites: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine, and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”  
– Exodus 19:1-6 (HCSB)

On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a loud trumpet sound, so that all the people in the camp shuddered. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.
– Exodus 19:16-19 (HCSB)

Five signs accompanied this manifestation: (1) thunder and lightning; (2) a thick cloud on the mount; (3) an exceedingly loud sound of a trumpet; (4) fire and smoke; and (5) earthquake.
– J.E. Smith

Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. Do not have other gods besides Me. Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands.

Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not give false testimony against your neighbor. Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
– Exodus 20:1-17 (HCSB)

Five Comments about the Ten Commandments:

The Hebrew expression, which occurs three times in the Old Testament literally means “ten words.” This is why Exodus 20 is often referred to as the Decalogue, deka being the Greek word for “ten” and logos meaning “word.” These are the Ten Words that God gave the Israelites at Mount Sinai...
– GC

So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
– Exodus 34:28 (ESV)

I am the Lord is the self-introductory formula first used in [Exodus] 6:2. This is the first “word” of the Ten Commandments, although it is not a commandment itself. It is the necessary basis for the commandments that follow.
– N.D. Osborn

2. The Ten Commandments were addressed to individuals and not just the nation as a whole.

Do not have other gods besides Me.
– Exodus 20:3 (HCSB)

Somewhat surprisingly, He [referring to God] uses the second person singular, thus indicating that he has a personal relationship with each and every one of His people
– P.G. Ryken

Another feature of the Ten Commandments is that they are all given in the second person singular—“You [singular] shall not.” And yet, in their present position, they are presented as God’s demands spoken to all the people. This gives them greater personal impact, even though each individual is simply one member of a community.
– N.D. Osborn

3. The Ten Commandments were presented in the form of a treaty and a wedding ceremony.

Biblically speaking, the Ten Words first and foremost function as covenant, not moral principles. They (as much of the rest of Torah) are full of morality, but primarily they establish the basis and parameters of God’s relationship with ancient Israel.
– Alan Gilman

A vassal is a person who was granted land by a lord in exchange for loyalty and military service. They were a type of feudal tenant in medieval times.
– LS Legal Dictionary

The patriarchs had enjoyed a special relationship with God, but that covenant was analogous to the betrothal between God and his bride Israel. The Sinai covenant is the actual marriage ceremony where the relationship will be consummated.
– J.K. Hoffmeier

4. The Ten Commandments are not the way of salvation, but they are the path of life.

The path of obedience was the path of covenant blessing; the path of disobedience was the path on which blessings would be forfeited. 
– I.D. Campbell

The Law reveals something of the righteousness of God. But Law has never been able to produce righteousness in human beings.
– L.O. Richards

Note that Israel’s salvation and relationship to God were established by God first before He gave them directions to live by. Biblical morality was never intended to be a pathway to God, but rather a response of God’s people to His love and faithfulness.
– Alan Gilman

5. The Ten Commandments are a summary and foundation for the rest of “the Law.”

In Exodus 20 God’s moral Law is crystallized into Ten great Commandments. Nine of these are expressed as life principles in the New Testament. The Ten are followed by several pages of “case law”—illustrations of the principles as they are to be applied in specific cases.
– L.O. Richards

Modern societies generally have opted for exhaustive law codes. That is, every action modern society wishes to regulate or prohibit must be specifically mentioned in a separate law. Under the expectations of this exhaustive law system, state and/or federal law codes run to thousands of pages and address thousands of individual actions by way of requirement or restriction or control or outright banning of those actions. By this approach, all actions are permitted that are not expressly forbidden or regulated. Thus it is not uncommon that criminals in modern Western societies evade prosecution because of a “technicality” or a “loophole” in the law—their undesirable actions are not exactly prohibited or regulated by a written law, so they cannot be convicted even though an objective observer may be convinced that what they did surely deserved punishment.
– D.K. Stuart

Ancient laws did not work this way. Ancient laws gave guiding principles, or samples, rather than complete descriptions of all things regulated. Ancient people were expected to be able to extrapolate from what the sampling of laws did say to the general behavior the laws in their totality pointed toward. Ancient judges were expected to extrapolate from the wording provided in the laws that did exist to all other circumstances and not to be foiled in their jurisprudence by any such concepts as “technicalities” or “loopholes.” In other words, the Israelites had to learn to see the underlying principles in any law and not let the specifics of the individual casuistic citation mislead them into applying the law too narrowly. – L.O. Richards

1. The Ten Commandments should be called “the Ten Words.”
2. The Ten Commandments were addressed to individuals and not just the nation as a whole.
3. The Ten Commandments were presented in the form of a treaty and a wedding ceremony.
4. The Ten Commandments are not the way of salvation, but they are the path of life.
5. The Ten Commandments are a summary and foundation for the rest of “the Law.”

I Believe // Faithful Now // Greater Still // O Praise the Name (Anástasis)

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