Moses and the Ten Commandments

People might think that Moses went up onto Mount Sinai, met and talked with God for a while, and He gave him the Ten Commandments. In fact, Moses spent forty days and forty nights fasting on the mountain before receiving the inscribed tablets. It took another forty years for him to receive and complete the Torah, the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exedus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), upon which Jewish law is based.

People who do not spend time with God and haven’t heard or don’t realize they have heard His voice find it strange or unbelievable that others do hear Him. God’s voice is at once a quiet and thunderous noise that there is no mistaking when you hear it, but you have to be focused on Him to really hear Him. Just like with another person; if you are talking to someone and their mind is a million miles away on some other matter, they don’t hear you. There is nothing wrong with their ears, but their mind is somewhere else. It is the same with us and God. He loves us more than we can imagine and is always talking to us; we’re just not listening to Him.

Exodus 31:18

“When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.”

To refresh your memory, this is the short form list of the Ten Commandments. In actuality, the laws were not given for us to struggle to try to live up to, which is impossible, but to show us where we in our humanness miss the mark. Jesus said in Matthew 22:36-40: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, Love others as much as you love yourself. All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.” If we truly lived by them, all the others would be automatic. Unfortunately, we can’t, and that is why Jesus came, not to abolish the law, but to the fufill it on our behalf, so that we might be redeemed. Matthew 5:17: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

1.You shall have no other gods before Me. (In addition to gods or godesses such as Zeus, Jupiter, Venus, Ra, etc., it also refers to worship of living or deceased people, money, possessions, etc. – anything that takes your devotion away from God and places it elsewhere.)
2.You shall not make idols. (An image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed.)
3.You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. (Because of the greatness of the name of God, any use of God’s name that brings dishonor on Him or on His character is taking His name in vain.)
4.Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (One day to rest from work and focus our attention on God.)
5.Honor your father and your mother. (Give respect and place importance on them.)
6.You shall not murder. (Most people think they are good on this one, but many are not. To God, who does not view our actions, but what is in our hearts, many of us have murdered. I know I have killed more than one person in my heart and mind in my lifetime. God defines murder as any thought or feeling of deep-seated hatred or malice against another person. In other words, it is more than just a physical act that constitutes murder to God, who tells us that “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer …” (1 John 3:15). When we harbor hatred in our hearts for another, we have committed the sin of murder in God’s eyes. Disdain towards another person (or people) never has to be demonstrated outwardly because God looks upon the heart for the truth.
7.You shall not commit adultery. (Same as murder, it is what is in the heart, not the action. “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman (or man) with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her (or him) in his (or her) heart.
8.You shall not steal. (This includes the obvious straight out stealing, but also cheating, and things like taking care of personal business on company time.)
9.You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (This includes someone who testifies falsely against another, someone who gossips or causes trouble, and false teachers.)
10.You shall not covet (desire) your neighbor’s wife or husband, his house, land, car, job, boat, money, etc. (updated for today, as most people wouldn’t be coveting someone else’s donkey, ox, man or maid servant in this time, at least not in the US).

E.J. Lefavour