The Ten Commandments: A Deeper Dive – Part 1
Good day to each you reading this column on a deeper dive into the Ten Commandments.
Before we get into the lesson, let’s have some humor from the internet:
Brain cells die, skin cells die, but not fat cells? Why, because they must have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and never die.
If you handcuff a deaf person are you taking away their freedom of speech?
What’s the difference between a golf ball and a Range Rover? Tiger Woods can drive a golf ball 300 yards without hitting a tree.
You know you’re getting old when “Friends with Benefits” means you have someone who can drive at night.
And, the real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments posted in the courthouse is this: You can’t post, “Thou shall not steal,” “Thou shall not commit adultery,” and “Thou shall not lie,”. In a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians… It creates a hostile environment.
The last joke is great and true to the point especially in a society where anything goes, evil is good and good is evil and the when the “perp” is arrested that morning, then he is able to post bail that same afternoon for a misdemeanor as well as a felony.
God knew man so well… He saw right through Adam and had him leave the garden of Eden for the sins that he committed, so we fast forward to the time of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt.
600,000 plus men, women and children left Egypt out of slavery and captivity moaning and groaning. Think about this, over a half a million people to contend with complaining about everything and then wanting to head back into slavery and into Egypt.
If you read your Bible, you will see that we are a stiff-necked people who at the least amount of resistance will throw in the towel not looking at the big picture.
It is quite obvious that Egypt was a foreign country full of idols and false gods who were “dead” and could do nothing, so why worship these idols?
God laid out to Moses a plan to show both the Egyptian and Israelite people that He is real, He is alive and that He is the creator of all, the I AM.
Look no further than in Exodus where Moses through God places curses upon the Egyptians as Pharoah had a hardened heart and would not release the Israelites.
One would think that the Israelites would take faith as each curse unfolded and saw the power and greatness of God. How could one be so blind when the Red Sea was opened for the Israelites to pass thru unblemished and the Egyptians swallowed up.
One would think seeing is believing, but that generation of Israelites were stiff-necked and always trying to put God to the test.
Let me interject that, we in America, are no different for we too have tried to put God to the test of blessings and curses by riding of the Ten Commandments, throwing out prayer and Bible reading in the schools and publicly defaming God.
The Bible has not changed and neither has God for God said in Genesis 1: 27 (KJV) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
God knew in his creation that man was made aware of choices, even though man was created by God, God did not create a robot, but a person who made a choice or a decision based upon right from wrong.
God also knew that man could not work with other people without laws, statutes and ordinances, so these must be put into place and followed.
Let me quote Howard Rand in the Digest of the Divine Law on page 48 under our relationship to God… Protection of the individual in his right to freedom and liberty is the essence of Divine justice. Liberty under the law, however can’t be construed as a license to do as one pleases, disregarding the rights of others. In the exercise of personal freedom the law of the Lord protects the rights of individuals, regarding the relationship between men to insure justice for all. But there can be no true liberty nor real and lasting freedom for man unless men recognize God and him only. God must come first in the thoughts and hearts of His people. Thus it is that His laws embrace, first of all, man’s relationship to Him and afterwards man’s relationship to his neighbor.
As you think about the Ten Commandments and the above paragraph, Jesus quoted the following in Matthew 22:36-39 (NIV) 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a]38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]
Jesus was reaffirming as a dual witness what God said to Moses in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:13.
Fellow Christian, these are not just laws or statutes from the Old Testament, this is a commandment or command directly from God.
We have Ten Commandments directly from God—Ten Laws that were administered to the Israelites as the foundation for this nation to keep and administer.
Let’s review the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:3-17 (KJV) 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven 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.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
The first commandment is the greatest as Jesus emphasizes each person in their daily Christian living to make it a point of having God be the center in both our life and activities.
It is very interesting to note that it was Israel who received the Ten Commandments at the time of the very first Pentecost which included fifty days after the Passover and Exodus from Egypt.
Why is this so important? Centuries later following the Passover crucifixion of Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended and the Church was born in Jerusalem. Thus, the disciples, endued with power to enable them and those who came after following in their footsteps were to keep and observe the requirements of the Ten Commandments. Israel, at Mount Sinai, received the law and the church at Jerusalem the power to keep that law!
Here is the first commandment: 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Self-explanatory and to the point for Israel was previously under the rule of a heathen nation who exposed Israel to other gods but God said the following in Genesis 17:7 (NIV) 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
God promises to Abraham that He would give Abraham many descendants, many nations, maintain his covenant with Abram’s descendants and give Abram’s descendants the land of Canaan.
Here is the groundwork laid for Moses as God promises deliverance as written in Exodus 6:4-8 (NIV) 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”
God did not and never has broken his promise for God says in Ezekiel 34:24, Ezekiel 36:28, Jeremiah 7:23, Jeremiah 30:22 & Jeremiah 31:33 (NIV) which is the definitive verse that says to the Israelite people:
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
As a Christian, let us be re-born where God puts his law in our minds and on our hearts rather than a tablet of stone. The Holy Spirit, when we gave our life over to God, takes hold and delivers into us the desire to obey God and no other gods.
With this First Commandment, we will either obey or disobey by placing material possessions or mammon in the place of God. We have other false religions who utilize idols for man to put their trust in, but the Bible continual talks about why not to put any faith or trust in a metal or wooden image.
Now with the blessing of keeping the commandments, there are also curses when not keeping the commandments as written in Deuteronomy 8:19-20 (NIV) 19If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.
When reading the First Commandment, keep in mind of the intention that this was given to the Israelite people so that God would be worshipped by His people for this was and is the covenant between God and his people today.
God gave each Christian the divine blueprint of the Ten Commandments as the source for Christian living and the law as protection of the individual in his right to freedom and liberty which is the essence of Divine justice.
