| Home | Our Hope | |
| Bible Study |
|
January 15,2017 |
| The Ten Commandments | ||
If you are thinking you already know everything there is to know about the Ten Commandments, you are probably wrong. There is great depth in the commandments. Likely more than any man has known.
This study takes a different approach to understanding the Ten Commandments; one that digs deeper than others. In the process we'll understand other verses in the Bible that weren't clear before. We'll see explanations for some things that Jesus and the Apostles said about the Ten Commandments.
For example, Jesus says that hatred and arrogance are the same as murder. How can that be? Murder is the physically violent, irreversible ending of a person's life. How can arrogance be the same as that? We accept it because Jesus said it but, in this study, we will see why that makes sense.
Even as the author, preparing this study has provided me with many insights and challenged me to live a life closer to God's pattern.
Why would we think that the Ten Commandments apply to Christians? They are part of the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. We don't believe we should obey most of the Old Testament laws, for example the food laws. So why should the Ten Commandments apply to us?
The quick and easy answer is that the Apostles apply the Ten Commandments to the people in the churches they wrote to. That alone doesn't really tell us enough about what relationship a Christian should have with the Ten Commandments and all of the Old Testament law.
The Apostle Paul said many things about the law and its place in the Christian's life. It sometimes seems though that he is contradicting himself. For example, he speaks of the law being a killer and then he calls it holy. He says we are not under the control of the law but then he says we obey it.
He who made us worthy to be ministers of the new covenant, not in the scripture, but in the Spirit, for the scripture kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6)
What therefore shall we say? Is the Law (Torah) sin? God forbid! But I would not have learned sin except by the Law (Torah), for I would not have known lust, if the Law had not said, "Do not lust." 8 In this commandment sin found for itself an occasion and developed in me every lust, for without the Law (Torah), sin was dead. 9 But I was alive without the Law at first, but when the commandment came, sin lived, and I died. 10 And I found that commandment of life to be for death. 11 For sin, in the occasion that it found for itself, seduced me by the commandment, and killed me with it. 12 the Law therefore is holy and the commandment is holy, just and good. (Romans 7:7-12)
But now we have been exempted from the Law (Torah), and we are dead to that which had controlled us, so that we shall serve from now on in the newness of the Spirit and not in the Old Order Scriptures. (Romans 7:6)
For because the Law (Torah) was weak through the sickliness of the flesh, God sent his Son in the form of sinful flesh, because of sin, to condemn sin in his flesh, 4 That the righteousness of the Law would be fulfilled in us, that we would not walk in the flesh but in the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)
For the Law (Torah) perfects nothing, but hope, which is greater than it, entered in its place, by which we approach God. (Hebrews 7:19)
Because Paul seems to sometimes contradict himself, some people have said that his view of the law was evolving over time. The answer to them is that the Bible was written by the Holy Spirit, not by man. The Holy Spirit, being God, does not evolve.
The reason for the seeming contradiction is that Paul is describing different aspects of the law for different groups. The law is not just a bunch of rules. It has various purposes and roles in the lives of people. It's like the story of the three blind men describing an elephant. They haven't been told it is an elephant. The first man finds the elephant's trunk and describes it as a thick hose. The second man finds a leg and describes it being like a tree. The third man finds the tail and describes it as tassels that whip back and forth and don't smell very good.
As it was for these men so it is for Paul's discussions of the law. Until we get all the information together it can seem like he is describing the law in different ways.
I think Paul's message about the law and Christians can be summarized this way. The power of the law is in the sting of death it wields. Looked at one way, the law can only declare a man to be sinful and thus pronounce death upon him. It cannot declare him to be holy. Looked at another way, though, the law is good, if its laws are used as a guide to living a righteous life.
The law says what is wrong without really saying what is right. But if we look deeply into the law and those things the law is not against, we have a guide to living a righteous life.
Jesus was born under the control of the law and therefore it was necessary for him to obey it and he did so without fault. If not, it would have pronounced death against him as well. Instead he lived according to the righteousness that is in the law. Only Jesus was ever able to live without violating that standard.
But all men have sinned and the pronouncement of eternal death and separation from God is on them. This is because our sins incur a debt to God that can only be paid by death. Everything we have was given us by God, therefore we have nothing we can give God to pay the debt. The only hope for mankind is, and has always been, faith that God would redeem us (pay the debt that was owed), not because we deserved it but because he was merciful. In his grace God provided his son Jesus, that in his death, the debt we could not pay ourselves would be paid. If we accept him and trust him, he will redeem us when he returns.
Sidebar:
There is a connection between the Holy Spirit and the Ten Commandments. The Holy Spirit was given on the day we celebrate as Pentecost. In Hebrew that day is called Shavu'ot. The Ten Commandments were also given on Shavu'ot, though more than 1000 years earlier.
Therefore the Holy Spirit is related to the law just as Jeremiah said "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:33 also Hebrews 8:10, Hebrews 10:16)
Faith in Jesus now gives us the Holy Spirit. Of course the spirit of God is holy, but that isn't what is meant by "Holy Spirit". It would be better to say the "Spirit of Holiness" or the "Spirit that leads to Holiness." Because of the sinful nature we inherited from Adam, the law was difficult to use as a guide to living a righteous life. Mostly it was a killer. But if we will follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he will help us to live out the righteousness that is in the law.
Fear of the pronouncement of death that is in the law serves to drive the righteous away from that danger and somewhat toward a righteous life. But it can never help them to move toward perfection. I think of it like an electric fence that keeps farm animals inside the yard. Like them, wise people keep a safe distance from the shock it can give. But the fence cannot get them to go to the house where the comfort and food are. For that a guide from the house is needed to lead them.
We are therefore now not under the law in that its sting has no power over us. Yet we live according to the righteousness of the law with the help of the Holy Spirit. Yet the Holy Spirit does not teach differently than the law. As long as we continue in faith, Jesus is quick to forgive our failures when we repent. His sacrifice covers the debt.
That's my summary of Paul's teachings on the law and the Holy Spirit.
I have an example of how the law and the Holy Spirit work together. When I returned to the faith, the Holy Spirit prodded me to know that something I was doing was wrong. I didn't know why it was wrong but I stopped. Years later, after I understood the Ten Commandments more deeply, I knew why it was wrong.
Therefore we study the Ten Commandments to know both the acceptable standard and to gain some insight into living a righteous life. Yet we should be guided by the Spirit who helps us to apply the fullness of the Ten Commandments to our lives and to be even closer to God.
In summary:
We need to be careful where the law fits into our lives though. As always it's a matter of the heart. Obeying the law needs to be a matter of love for God. We should be obedient because we love God and he wants us to live according to the law and not for some other reason.
Obedience can be perverted into observing the law for the wrong reasons, "because the pastor said we should", "because we know we should", "because everyone else does", "because God will reward us", "because it makes us better than others", or "because we like rules". Obedience can also be perverted in the other direction where we try to find reasons not to obey or we improvise and say that we have done something just as good or better. In all these cases the problem is a misalignment between the heart and God's will.
Our attitude toward the law should be to neither add nor take away, but to obey to the best of our abilities and understanding with the help of the Holy Spirit.
If only we understood God, we would desire to be like him because that is what pleases him. We would understand that God is love, but more importantly we would understand what love is. Then we would not need the Ten Commandments, nor even the Bible. But we are easily confused about love. Some things that are not love we call love and we exclude some things that are love.
For example, love requires justice. If one man kills another, love does not say "Oh that's OK". Killing is a violation of love. A wrong has been done and justice requires that a debt is owed that must be paid and death is the only payment.
But love also includes mercy. Instead of requiring the debt to be paid immediately an opportunity is provided for repentance to which the response is forgiveness. Since we have nothing with which we could repay such a debt, the grace that is part of love provides a way for that debt to be paid and for us to be restored to God.
Love cannot tolerate anything that is not love, anything that is evil. For those who will not repent, justice demands death.
In this short example we have seen that love is not just fluffy sentimental love but it is also justice, mercy, grace, forgiveness, a desire for restoration, a hatred of evil, and … execution.
Because we do not understand love, it was necessary for God to tell us about himself. Part of that message is the Ten Commandments, examples of things that love does and does not do. By studying them we are learning about God. But they are deep, as you would expect from God, and they require study so that they will not only be in our minds but in our hearts. Therefore God said:
These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
And it was so important that he said it again later.
You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 19 You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deuteronomy 11:18-20)
If only we understood God, we would want to be like him and he would not have to say "Be holy as I am holy." We would want to be holy, just, merciful, forgiving, gracious and all the other things that are characteristic of God.
If only we understood God, we would not need law. But we don't understand God and therefore he gave us his law. From the first, God made man with an understanding of God that was built-in to man's conscience. Later we were given the written law and then later the Holy Spirit.
In summary:
We sometimes think of the Ten Commandments as being like the laws that lawyers like to fight over, precise, detailed, and complete. They aren't though. The Hebrew word that is translated as "Commandments" can also be translated as "Words" (sayings) or "Instructions". In fact the meaning of the English "You shall not" in Hebrew is "You will not"1 That represents their nature better. The commandments could have been written "If you are mine, you will not … ."
It's also best to think of them as examples of deeper principles, and not as a checklist. Jesus taught that it isn't so much the action that breaks the commandment as the heart. If you treat it as a checklist, you might check off "Murder" because you hadn't killed anyone that day, but you may have murdered someone in your heart.
You have heard that it was said to the ancients, "Do not murder, and whoever murders is condemned to judgment." 22 But I am saying to you, that everyone who will be angry against his brother without cause is condemned before the judge, and everyone who will say to his brother, 'I spit on you', is condemned before the assembly, and whoever will say 'You fool' is condemned to the Gehenna of fire. (Matthew 5:21-22)
Jesus says that the commandment on murder includes more than the act of murder. It includes hatred, despising, and arrogance. When we get to the detailed study of that commandment, we'll see how it makes sense that these are the equivalent of murder.
This equivalence between hatred and murder wasn't something new that was introduced by Jesus. That commandment was always that way. Moses had said the same thing but in a different way.
You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. (Leviticus 19:17)
So, the Ten Commandments should be understood as examples to lead to a deeper understanding, not like the laws of men.
Being examples that were given to Israel, they were written for Israel. Thus we see wording like "[I] brought you out of the land of Egypt" and "in the land which the Lord your God gives you." You might be thinking you don't remember being in Egypt nor being promised any land. To handle these, we translate them into our context. So, for Egypt we think of a spiritual Egypt, full of idolatry, that God took us out from.
Paul does that context translation himself. The commandment from Deuteronomy 5:16 says:
Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you
But Paul says this to the Ephesians:
And this is the first commandment of promise: "Honor your father and your mother, 3 and it shall be well for you and your life shall be long on the Earth." (Ephesians 6:2-3)
Notice how Paul has changed "the land which the Lord your God gives you" to "the Earth" for his Gentile audience in Ephesus. The promise of land was only made to Israel but the commandment applies anyway.
Notice also what was said at the start of this study. Paul here applies the 5th commandment to the Gentile Christians. Other Apostles also do this and with other commandments. Therefore we know the Ten Commandments do apply to us.
In summary:
The Ten Commandments are not just ten commandments. They are the center piece of a covenant, a legal agreement or contract, between God and the people of Israel. Under this agreement, God will be their king and will rule them like a king rules his people. He will provide the system of government, the holy days, the legal system, everything they need in their lives.
It is primarily a contract with the nation as a whole but places requirements on each individual as a result. Under this contract God promises to bless the nation as long as the people continue to love and obey him. They are to be a holy priesthood and a light to the nations and God will give them a land to live in.
Though the Bible doesn't number the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, it says there are ten. Different groups have numbered them in different ways, however, sometimes very different.
The problem is that the obvious identification and grouping of the Bible's verses for the commandments results in 9 commandments. These different groups have had to find ways to get 10 commandments. One approach is to split a commandment into two. In the table below, you'll see two different ways of doing that. Another approach is to pull the 10th commandment from somewhere else. Below, you'll see one way of doing that.
Septuagint - LXX 2
Philo - P
Reformed / Calvin - R
Talmud - T
Samaritan - S
Augustine - A
Catholicism - C
Lutheranism - L
| LXX | P | R | T | S | A | C | L | Commandment (KJV) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | (1) | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | I am the LORD thy God |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Thou shalt have no other gods before me |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Honor thy father and thy mother |
| 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Thou shalt not kill |
| 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Thou shalt not commit adultery |
| 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | Thou shalt not steal |
| 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | or his slaves, or his animals, or anything of thy neighbor |
| - | - | - | - | 10 | - | - | - | You shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on Aargaareezem. (Tsedaka) |
The LXX, Philo, and Reformed represent the Protestant approach, whereby the "worshiping that which is not God" commandment is split into 2. This is invalid because the topic is worship.
The Augustine, Catholic, and Lutheran represent the Catholic approach, whereby the "covet" commandment is split into 2. This split is invalid because coveting is not about what things, but instead about a heart that is not content. We'll dig into this more later.
The Samaritan approach is to dig a new commandment out of thin air.
Only the Talmud approach is correct. This is because it recognizes "I am the Lord your God" as a commandment. It is such because it requires a response, either "yes, sir" or "no, thanks".
In summary:
Why are the Ten Commandments written on stone, when all the rest of the law was written on Papyrus or something
similar?
Why are there two tablets instead of one or even 3, the number of God?
Right away people understood that the Ten Commandments were not a randomly organized set of rules. They have structure to them, organization that contains additional meaning. Being made from stone symbolizes their unchangeable nature, and their foundational nature. It also implies that other parts of the law are not as permanent.
The order of the commandments also contained structure - they were grouped by relationship. The first commandments addressed our relationship with God; the last commandments addressed our relationship with man. There was general agreement that they would have been written on the tablets in the same way.
We also understand that there are two greater commandments that summarize this structure. These summaries come from verses in the Old Testament.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
This verse summarizes the commandments that address our relationship with God.
[…] love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18)
This verse summarizes the commandments that address our relationship with man.
Jesus put the two together in his teachings.
Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31)
The two-tablet structure we've seen can be called a vertical structure. The commandments on each tablet can be viewed as a stack of vertically associated commandments, giving two stacks.
3
There is also additional meaning in another structure of the tablets. To find that additional meaning though we need to do some restoration on the tablets. We mentioned earlier that the numbering of the commandments has changed over time. We'll restore that to the Jewish understanding. We'll use that because it treats "no other gods before me" and "not make unto thee any graven image" as one commandment, which is correct. Otherwise God's commandment to create two angels on the Ark of the Covenant would be a violation of his own law.
The number of commandments on each tablet also needs to be restored. The Christian churches have generally come to accept that the first 4 commandments are on one tablet and the remaining 6 are on the other tablet. The Jews have never thought that.
4
The problem comes from misunderstanding the 5th commandment, honor your father and mother. This has come to be seen as a commandment about our relationship with man and therefore it is placed with the later commandments. Paul, however, explains that there is more to that commandment.
Let every soul be subject to the authority of the great, for there is no authority that is not from the same God, and those authorities who are from God are under orders. 2 Whoever therefore stands against the authority stands against the decrees of God, and these who stand against them shall receive judgment. (Romans 13:1-2)
We know Paul is using a commandment as the basis for his teaching on obeying those in authority because he finishes off his point by listing other commandments.
For this also that says, "You shall not commit adultery", "You shall not murder", "You shall not steal", "You shall not covet", or if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in the saying: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Romans 13:9)
With a little thought we see it is the 5th commandment he is using. It certainly touches on our relationship with man (those in authority over us) but it's foundation is our relationship with the one who is in authority over all and who gives authority to others. Therefore, it needs to go with the first 4 commandments.
5
With the 5th commandment on the first tablet, we have five on each tablet and it becomes possible to ask a question. If there is a vertical correlation between the commandments is there also a horizontal correlation between the commandments. Does the first commandment on one tablet relate to the first commandment on the other tablet, and the second to the second, and so on? The answer is yes and this was understood well before Jesus' time. This produces 5 principles that help us to correctly understand the related commandments.
In fact a Jewish sage who died shortly after Jesus was born used these principles to derive an understanding that is not in the Old Testament but that Jesus taught. Hillel said:
That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.
The commandments and the principles apply to individuals, but the principles can also be seen as if-then statements that apply to a cultural group such as a country. If a culture understands and reveres the commandment toward God then it will also fulfil its paired commandment, the commandment toward man6
To get the value from these 5 principles, we are going to study the Ten Commandments in the order of the principles. So we'll do the 1st and 6th commandments together, 2nd and 7th together, and so on. We'll begin each pair by finding the common principle, then we'll apply that back to each commandment, and that help us define the principle even better.
So far we've called "I am the Lord your God" the 1st commandment, moved the 5th commandment to the first tablet, and said that the commandments are linked horizontally between the tablet, which neither Protestants nor Catholics accept. So why should you keep reading? Why should you believe anything that comes from this study?
We'll use the Scientific Method to determine if there is value in this approach and so we'll ask the question, "Does this approach make any testable predictions?". It makes two. First, it will open up a deeper understanding of the Ten Commandments. That's a bit subjective though. How would you know if it wasn't a bad understanding masquerading as a deep understanding. You can judge for yourself. Second, this approach will explain things that you don't understand. We accept the things that Jesus and the apostles said because they said them, but sometimes we don't understand why they are true. This approach will explain some of those.
In summary:
1 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Exodus 20:2)
6 You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13)
What is the relationship between these two? What are they both about at their core? We can even ask, how is the 1st commandment a commandment at all? What would we do to obey this commandment? Accept for the moment that it is a commandment and we'll continue on.
In the 1st commandment God is establishing who he is, that he is. He begins by saying "I AM." There are two ways to say "I am" in Hebrew. It can't be seen in the English translation but the "I am" that is used here is reserved for God or high officials.
There is something else that is lost in translation. As is commonly done in English translations, the words "the Lord" replace the personal name of God, יהוה. His name has meaning and is roughly "I am that I am" or "I am what I am".
We also see God saying "I am the God who brought the plagues on Egypt. I am the God who divided the water so you could cross the Red Sea."
Over and over here we see the concept "I am" which leads us to understand the foundation of this commandment. It is about the existence of God. A clarification could be added to the end of the verse, like "Thou shalt not deny / abuse / trivialize my existence". That would make it look like the other commandments, but it would be redundant; God had already said "I AM".
That's as far as we can go with this commandment. We have the concept of "Existence". Now we'll take that over to the 6th commandment to see if it makes sense there.
Is the 6th commandment say "You shall not murder"? Yes, what is murder about if not existence? But there is more. This commandment is about terminating existence. So now we'll take that back to the 1st commandment and see if it fits there.
Well, we can't kill God. But God created each of us with a desire for Him and that can be killed. The atheist says there is no God. He's wrong but within himself he has killed God. He has chosen a perspective where there is no God. In 1966 the New York Times ran a front-page article titled "God is Dead." So it is possible to kill God, by killing him within ourselves, by denying his existence. so, now we have the concept "Terminating existence within ourselves" which we'll take back to the 6th commandment.
That still fits. It's hard to reject the existence of someone who is standing in front of you, but we can come very close to that. We do that by saying things like "You are dead to me", "I wish you were dead", "I would kill you if not for jail", "I hate everything about you", "you are too stupid to live", "you are nothing compared to me". We can say the words or we can have an attitude that reflects the words. We can diminish people within ourselves.
That takes us to exactly what Jesus said about murder:
You have heard that it was said to the ancients, "Do not murder, and whoever murders is condemned to judgment." 22 But I am saying to you, that everyone who will be angry against his brother without cause is condemned before the judge, and everyone who will say to his brother, 'I spit on you', is condemned before the assembly, and whoever will say 'You fool' is condemned to the Gehenna of fire. (Matthew 5:21-22)
Jesus provides three examples here. I'll refer to them as causeless anger ("angry against his brother without cause"), despising ("I spit on you"), and arrogance ("You fool"). So now we understand why what Jesus said makes sense. Previously it was hard to understand. Murder is the physically violent, irreversible ending of a person's life. How can arrogance be the same as that? The 6th commandment is a worst-case example of a deeper and much broader principle.
So now we have "diminishing existence within yourself" which we'll take back to the 1st commandment for the last time. It also applies to God. We diminish him within ourselves by making less than he is. One common way is this, "Our God is a God of love. He just loves everyone and everything and would never do anything to hurt anyone. He is love, love, love." This diminishes God by making him less than he is. Yes, he is a God of love but he is also a God of justice and vengeance and grace, mercy and so much more.
We now understand the common principle. It could be written in various ways but I've chosen this "Respect the existence of the other." Respect the existence of God; don't reject it or diminish it. Respect the existence of man; don't terminate it, reject it, or diminish it.
We started with "I am" and called that "existence" but we can phrase it in those terms as well. Don't terminate the "I am" of any man. Maybe saying that way helps us focus on the other person better. Just like you they value their existence and want to be treated and thought of that way.
There is something else that is lost in the translation of the 1st commandment. The words "your God" can be misunderstood. In English we use "your" to indicate possession so "your God" could be understood as if you chose God or possess God. A direct translation of Hebrew reads "the God of you"7, which clearly shows the relationship between us and God.
God also reminds them that they have seen him at work before in the plagues he brought on Egypt and how they crossed the Red Sea. By doing this he shows he is a God who is involved in the lives of people. Other religions believe that their god(s) almost never involve themselves in the lives of people.
Out of those words "[I] brought you out of the land of Egypt" come two messages about the relationship, "I care about you" and "you can have faith / trust in me."
There is also a parallel hiding in the verse. God says I am the God of you, then he refers to Egypt, the house of slavery, where they were ruled over by a man who claimed to be a god. The message appears to be that God is a greater king than Pharaoh and that God is now their king. No longer are they slaves to slaves.
There is another insight here. God brought the Israelites out of Egypt but Egypt was still in them. At the first trouble they would terminate God and turn back to the idols of Egypt. The only way for any of us to escape Egypt is to accept God as he is.
God says "I AM" instead of "We are." Therefore we know that there is none but God. God also makes that statement in other verses.
None-the-less "Mormons understand that there are many gods and goddesses in the cosmos."8
A compelling observation comes from applying existence to the abortion debate. The battle grounds of viability and choice are replaced by two tests, does it exist and is it mankind. If so, it is not to be diminished and certainly not murdered.
There are a few special groups that God hates and it's worth knowing who they are and why God hates them. One of them is sorcerers. What exactly is a sorcerer, as God sees it? A sorcerer is a person who believes he has some ability or knowledge that gives him control over nature. Having control over nature would obviously imply that God did not have control, which is the source of the problem. God says he is always in control and we can do nothing without him. Therefore God is diminished within the sorcerer.
The following verse will help us understand what God calls divination.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination […]. (1 Samuel 15:23)
It doesn't say that rebellion is divination but that it is similar. Rebellion is rejection of what God has said and accepting your own words in place of his. Divination is rejection of God as a source of instruction and going after nature as a source. Therefore God is diminished within the diviner.
Another group God hates are mediums, people who act as intermediaries between the living and the dead. The problem here is people looking to the dead for answers when God is the only one who knows the answers
So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it, 14 and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse. (1 Chronicles 10:13,14)
That makes it very similar to diviners. The difference is really only in the source.
When they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? (Isaiah 8:19)
There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, […], one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, […], or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
The exact understanding of what all of these are is lost in time and therefore we don't know what we would call them in our time. It isn't necessary to know, however, the summary of them all is that God should be everything to us and we should not go seeking elsewhere.
If that list was written in our time, it would include astrologers, horoscopes, tarot cards, palm readers, and others. We should only go after God for instruction. He will teach us and prepare us as we need.
I think everyone understands that murder is wrong, even if they don't obey it. Now we understand the breadth of this commandment and includes anything that diminishes the existence of another person by wanting him not to exist, minimizing his existence, or making his existence less important than your own. We can diminish the exitance of a person without ever saying something that would let the person know - though usually that gets out, by facial expressions or the grapevine if not by words.
Often frustration is the pathway to diminishing a person. Perhaps that person regularly under achieves what should be done. That makes it easy for us to say or think "what is wrong with your brain?", or "how stupid are you?". We solve that by catching that feeling as it whelms up and replacing it with love and a desire to help. That doesn't mean it will be easy. What did Jesus say?
Then Kaypha [Peter] approached him, and he said, "My Lord, if my brother commits an offense against me, how many times shall I forgive him? Seven times?" 22 And Yeshua [Jesus] said to him, "I do not say to you until seven times, but until seventy times 7 7." (Matthew 18:21-22)
There are ways to fail. We can diminish a person within us because of their beliefs, race, skin color, gender, or wealth. We can also play favorites or treat someone unjustly.
For if a man will enter your assembly with a gold ring or fine clothing and a poor man enters in dirty clothing, 3 and you have regard for him wearing fine clothing, and you say to him, "Sit well here", and you say to the poor man, "Stand over there or sit here before our footstool." 4 Behold, are you not divided in your souls and have you not become expositors of wicked reasonings? (James 2:2-4)
Here is another example where we accepted what an apostle said because he was an apostle, though we didn't understand where it came from. Now we know it comes from the murder commandment. This approach to studying the Ten Commandments is proving its value.
This broader understanding of murder makes sense as well because we are created in the image of God. Causeless anger, despising, arrogance, or killing a person is an act against the creator's creation whom he loves.
Keyword: Existence
Add-on: Faith
The same principal can be applied to spiritual life. Jesus does exactly that.
And he took a certain boy and stood him in the midst and took him up on his shoulders and he said to them: 37 Whoever shall receive one boy like this in my name is receiving me, and whoever receives me has not received me, but him who sent me. 41 But everyone who will give you only a cup of water to drink in the name that you are one who belongs to The Messiah, amen, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. 42 And everyone who shall subvert one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better for him if a millstone of a donkey were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea. (Luke 17:36-37,41-42)
When Jesus talks about subverting the little ones, he is talking about causing the spiritual death of spiritual children. We also understand that despising them for their spiritual immaturity would be similar.
13 From now on let us not judge one another, but determine this rather: "You shall not lay a stumbling block for your brother." (Romans 14:13)
If a culture respects the existence of God then it will respect the existence of men.
When you've thought about the Ten Commandments for a while you notice something. As you dig deeper you find that there is some overlap between them, almost as though some of them are connected at the edges. After a while it seems like all of them together are describing one big central … something.
Then you realize that the basic structure of the Ten Commandments has the answer. The two tablets, one relating to God and one relating to man show that this central something is God-man. The Ten Commandments are also prophetic, telling us that the Messiah would observe all the law. In the same way the Ark of the Covenant prophesied about Jesus. It contained the Ten Commandments, the bowl of manna, and the staff of Aaron, the High Priest. These prophesied that the Messiah would be the law, the bread of life, and the Great High Priest.
2 You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Exodus 20:3-6)
7 You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)
The connection between these two is quite obvious. God frequently refers to his covenant with Israel as a marriage covenant and when they go chasing after other gods, he refers to them as adulterers. Therefore the connection between these two commandments is adultery, understanding that idolatry is adultery. But do we fully understand what God means by "adultery"?
We have many kinds of relationships with other people. There are friends, siblings, parents, grandparents, spouses, co-workers, and others. Each of these is different but one of them is different from all the others in a way that is important here. One of them requires a covenant. That's marriage.
Because of that covenant it is the only relationship that has rules attached to it. Those rules were defined by God. The covenant binds one man and one woman for as long as they live. The covenant permits a sexual relationship between the two. It also defines a term called adultery.
Sidebar:
Polyandry, when a woman has more than one husband, is not mentioned in the Bible. It was just never done. The reasons are fairly clear though.
God's plan for marriage and the family, from the time of Adam and Eve, is that the man has the role of head. This makes polygyny acceptable but polyandry would make the woman the head.
There is also a practical concern in the time of Israel. The laws for inheritance depended on knowing the child's father. That couldn't be known under polyandry
We see adultery as "sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not his or her spouse" (Google dictionary). That isn't the way God looks at it though. We also describe adultery using words like "infidelity and unfaithfulness" which hint at the real problem, not being true to the vows of the marital covenant.
Now we'll look at the 2nd commandment from that perspective. When we accept Jesus, we are accepting a marriage covenant where Jesus is the husband. As the wife in the agreement, we cannot accept another husband or chase after other men.
This helps us understand that idolatry is not really about the idol. An idol is nothing to God. Idolatry is about the relationship with God. An idol is something that takes your heart away from God, something that breaks the covenant with God.
Therefore the principle here is "respecting covenants" and, of course, the vows that come with them.
The 2nd commandment is commonly worded as no other gods "before me" as it is here. The Hebrew word, however, has a large number of meanings, including above, according to, after, as against, among, and, as, at (Strongs 5921). The point is that there should be no gods with God. It would not be acceptable to have another god that is second to God. This verse makes that clear when God says "I am a jealous God." He wants all your worship, praise, and love.
I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8)
When we apply the principle to the 2nd commandment, we see that God is also specifying what is acceptable worship under his covenant. First God sets the theme, "no other gods." Then he says not to make any idols but he goes on to say not to make any likeness of anything. The message there seems to be that if you don't make it you won't be tempted to worship it.
This is important to understand. Even if you do not make it for worship as a god and do not literally bow down to it, you can still be worshipping it as something you've created. You could be impressed by the beauty, style, color, or whatever of this thing you have created. You would then be forgetting that God created you and gave you the ability to create it. You would thereby be stealing the glory that should be God's and giving it to yourself.
For every good thing we do, eloquent thing we say, or wise thing we think, we must be careful to thank God for making it possible. We have unduly large opinions of ourselves and what we are capable of both as individuals and as a people. God wants us to understand that we are very small compared to him and everything we have and we are come from him.
The commandment continues on, making it clear that if we make something we must not worship it. God is making it clear to us that mankind has a problem in this area. God knows that he built us to seek him and worship him but that innate desire can be perverted very easily into worshipping physical objects, either other gods or worshipping ourselves through the things we have created.
The 5th commandment has been called the first one with a promise. This commandment is the first with a threat. God says if we worship other gods the consequences of that will fall on our children to the third and fourth generation. He says the worship of other gods is hate toward him. Those who love him and obey him he will treat kindly because of his love for them.
There are many kinds of idols that can take our hearts away into spiritual adultery. We've talked about false gods so far and about worshipping ourselves through the things we have created. There is another god that God names as prostitution. It is very similar to human prostitution, exchanging the things of God for the things of the world. Every enjoyable thing in the world can become a god to us.
Even the Ten Commandments can become an idol. It's possible to focus on obeying them instead of obeying God. We obey them because we are obeying God. It may seem like a small difference but it is very important. We need to avoid making them the god of our life.
Even a picture of Jesus can become an idol. First, the Bible does not describe any aspect of what Jesus looked like so we
can be sure that any picture is not him. Second, other people have brought pictures of "Jesus" into their offices or
work places and found that they start thinking of them as Jesus. It was meant to remind them of Jesus but eventually they
start to bow to it or pray to it. It has then become an idol. God is spirit and not to be worshipped through physical
objects.
Idols can even be very abstract things like beauty, comfort, peace, patriotism, and wisdom.
{…] insubordination is as […] idolatry. (1 Samuel 15:23)
These words were spoken by Samuel to Saul after Saul had done what he thought was good instead of doing what God said. Samuel's point is that ignoring what God said, to do what you want is putting yourself above God. It makes you an idol that you worship above God.
Yes, it seems odd to worship yourself. We would stop doing it if we realized we were doing it because it makes no sense. We are limited, mortal people like all other people and nothing like God.
This is a very large problem in the church. Sometimes we feel that God's instructions are too confining. Instead of accepting that God is king, we sometimes look for an escape clause. We do not want to admit that we are rejecting God's word so we find ways to deceive ourselves into thinking that we are actually doing something good, just as Saul did. Anytime we ignore what the Bible says and say "I think it's OK because …" we are doing the same thing as Saul.
Self-as-an-idol pops up in other ways
You have known this, that no person who is a fornicator or impure or a greedy person (who is an idol worshipper) has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God. (Ephesians 5:5)
Kill therefore your members that are in Earth: fornication, impurity, diseases, wicked desires, greed (which is idol worship), (Colossians 3:5)
Greed is a self-centered desire that puts you above everyone else and makes you a worshipper of yourself.
Syncretism is very similar to idolatry. It is bringing outside beliefs and practices into the covenant. Historically these have come from other religions when people convert to Christianity from other religions. More commonly now we see ideas from the world being brought into Christianity.
When this happens, usually there isn't an intention to do wrong. Instead a person brings the foreign beliefs and practices into the relationship without thinking about it. Very often the person bringing these in means well and even believes it is good.
This has been the case with ideas like seeker-sensitive messages, practical positivity messages, and messages that avoid unwanted truths. The result though can be an over-shadowed gospel or an incomplete gospel.
The commandment talks about making things that look like anything in the sea, on the earth, or in the air, and worshipping them. There are other things that we can make with our hands and then worship. God says something interesting about that to Moses.
If you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it. 26 And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it. (Exodus 20:25)
The general message here is about things that interfere with the worship of God. First, God doesn't want his worshippers to be distracted by a glorious beautiful altar carved by men. God will not share his glory with another. I think the modern church needs to think about some of the things they do in their services that show the glory of men and distract from the glory of God.
Second, God does not want any sexual display to be part of his worship. This was a very common practice in many religions of that time.
As we see so often in the Bible, it isn't so much the act that is the problem, but the heart. The sin of idolatry is not about the idols, whatever they may be. It is about where God fits into your priority list. There are many things that are part of our lives and must be. When these things begin to take away from God's place in your life (and thus your heart) then there is a problem. Nothing should even come close to that.
We talked about the terms of the marriage covenant, one man, one woman, for as long as they both shall live. We also said this covenant, and only this covenant, permits a sexual relationship. Adultery therefore is either covenant breaking or sexual love without a covenant. As you can see, God's definition of adultery is much broader than our legal definition. It includes shacking-up, hooking-up, homo-sexuality, and even masturbation.
Without understanding God's definition, we don't understand how it was possible in the Old Testament for a man to have more than one wife. It leaves us wondering how he could have a second wife without cheating on the first wife. The answer is the covenant.
Knowing God's definition, we can understand better where Jesus gets the broad definition of adultery that he uses and how that definition makes sense.
You have heard that it was spoken, "You shall not commit adultery." 28 But I am saying to you, everyone who looks at a woman so as to lust for her, immediately commits adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28)
Notice where the adultery occurs - "in his heart." All love comes from the heart. The problem here is that kind of love requires a covenant.
Notice also that the text doesn't say "who looks at another woman." So we see here that adultery doesn't require an existing marriage and doesn't even require a sexual act.
It has been said, "Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce." 32 But I am saying to you that everyone who divorces his wife, apart from the report of fornication, he causes her to commit adultery, and whoever takes her who is divorced is committing adultery. (Matthew 5:31-32)
Jesus is talking about an Old Testament law that allowed for a divorce decree. God hates divorce but the Israelites were so hard-hearted and unloving that a civil divorce was allowed, yet God still considered them married and if they took advantage of it they would be sinning.
In Jesus' example the man sins for breaking the covenant by issuing the divorce decree. It was not reversible so the woman would have to reject the covenant making her an adulterer. The divorce would cause her to re-marry because it was important for her to have a husband in that society. The new husband would become an adulterer for marrying an adulterer.
Your praise, worship, and love are God's right under your covenant with him. In the same way, the spouses in a marriage have a right to each other's love. Just as God tried everything to get Israel to turn back to him after she chased after idols, we should do everything possible to get an adulterous spouse back into the relationship.
Because adultery is not so much a sinful act but a covenant breach and covenants have a lifetime of their own, it is possible to get into sinful situations that persist until corrected. For example, civil law can allow a marriage when God considers the previous marriage covenant still in effect. According to God, the new marriage is not valid and must be changed or terminated.
Keyword: Relationship
Add-on: Worship
If a people respect their covenant with God, then they will respect their covenants with men.
3 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. (Exodus 20:7)
8 You shall not steal. (Exodus 20:15)
The 8th commandment is probably the easiest for us to understand, so we'll start there. While we might not have understood all the depth and types of adultery in the previous commandment, we are pretty clear on stealing, or so we think.
Stealing isn't only about taking stuff but about getting some advantage from the stuff that was taken. If you stole something only to throw it away, that wouldn't make much sense. We steal because we want to benefit.
Thieves usually steal physical things like money, cars, and jewelry but it's possible to steal non-physical things as well. For example, writers can steal the words of other writers. They do this by using the words as though they were their own words. It's called plagiarism. It's even possible to steal ideas and present them as your own by not giving credit to the person who had the idea.
That takes us to the core of what stealing is. Now we need to understand some things about the 3rd commandment before we can find the common principle.
What does "in vain" mean? In this context it refers to empty, useless, or purposeless. From God's point of view that would be anything that was not a Godly purpose. If it is wrong to use God's name pointlessly it would be even worse to use God's name for your own purposes.
But what is God's name? As we saw above, God's personal name here יהוה has also been replaced by "the Lord." That isn't the kind of name this verse is referring to though. This verse refers to the kind of name that means something closer to "reputation" or "character". In that sense then, God's name is love, truth, keeps his word, just, forgiving, and on and on.
There is one last thing we need to notice in the 3rd commandment, the word "take." In English we use that word in many ways. The Hebrew word that is translated as "take" only has the meanings of holding, lifting, and carrying. The central idea is of putting something under your control and doing what you want with it.
Therefore the 3rd commandment is about taking God's character / reputation to use as we want.
This leads us to the general principle which is something like "don't take / use the other's stuff" or "respect the other's possessions."
God's most prized possession is his name and he guards it.
When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord; yet they have come out of His land.' 21 But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. 22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. (Ezekiel 36:20-23)
It's important to understand what Israel has done to profane God's name in this verse. The word profane means to treat it like any other name. God drove Israel out of the land and the nations began to ask "You are God's people but you aren't in the land he promised to you for eternity so maybe God isn't true to his word. Maybe his name is not what we thought." God blames Israel for this because they have not admitted to the nations that they were kicked out of Israel because they killed their own Messiah, among other things. If they had, the nations would have known God's name was good.
This helps us understand both how important God's name is to him and how easily we can misuse it. To emphasize that truth God says "I will not leave him unpunished" when he speaks of those who have used his name uselessly or worse.
We can also misuse God's name by using it to benefit ourselves, for example to sell goods or get "Likes" and "Shares" on Facebook. I got this from a list called "12 things currently being sold on eBay because they kinda look like Jesus"
Tortilla Christ
9
Description: "Miraculous appearance in an average pack of tortillas. Too cool…5-6 Inches across standard tortilla!!
Too Cool!"
Starting Bid: $4.99
Current Bid: $0
Item Location: San Antonio, TX
Jesus Bracelet
10
The ad to the left is obviously wrong but how is it different from the Amazon.com ad below?
11
It's important to understand something about the above items. The items themselves are not evil. It is the heart that can be good or evil. So the person selling it may be doing evil by using God's name to sell it but the person buying it may use it for good.
The bracelets above are a good example. The bracelets above have Jesus' name imprinted on them to help them sell. That's because people care about Jesus' name and not, for example, mine. The other seller goes so far as to use a supposed image of Jesus and claiming Jesus' healing power. But a person may buy the bracelet as something they can use to start conversations about God.
There is another way we can misuse God's name. I saw it on TV. A drug dealer thanked God for the money he made selling drugs. God does not do evil and does not want the credit for the evil we do.
As we saw above understanding stealing isn't as easy as we think. This is often complicated by lies that we tell ourselves. The foundation is "control for your benefit". So whenever we have a situation we aren't sure about, we can start by asking the question "Is it yours to control"? If the answer is no, the next question is "why are you controlling it or about to control it"?
I think it was Ben Franklin who said if you are walking through another man's orchard and see an apple laying on the ground, it isn't yours. Even if you know it will rot, it isn't yours. The problem with justifying taking the apple because it will rot is the slippery slope. Once you've taken that step, how long will it be until you start wiggling a branch so an apple will fall on the ground.
Even so, there are lots of situations in life that test us, like vending machines that give us two instead of one, and lost money in the street. One way to resolve these is to recognize the other part of stealing - benefit. For the vending machine we can give the extra goody to whomever is responsible or leave it on the machine. For lost money, if we are sure it can't be found, we can give it to a good cause.
Probably the most common lie we tell ourselves in these circumstances is "No sense letting it go to waste." It isn't yours.
Keyword: Possessions
Add-on: none
If we respect the possessions of God then we will respect the possessions of others
As we've already seen we can very easily use God's name uselessly or for our own purposes, and without thinking about it. Here are some common ones:
4 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the 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. (Exodus 20:8-11)
9 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16)
The 9th commandment is pretty straight-forward - Don't lie about your neighbor. We even understand the deeper concept that we shouldn't lie at all. We get that but we need to know that lying isn't only done with the mouth or even in words. With a nod of the head we can support a lie. With a gesture we can make a lie. With silence we can allow a lie to continue.
Looking at the 4th commandment now, we see it is the longest of the commandments. At its core are the six days of creation and the seventh day of rest.
At first it isn't clear how these two commandments could have a common principle. To find that principle we need to look more closely at the 9th commandment. Notice how it describes lying in terms of being a witness, as though a court case was in progress.
A lie isn't an abstract concept, something that stands on its own. God sees it in a practical way. A lie is a story, a false story, that tries to substitute for the true story. More than that it is a false story replacing another person's true story. As the commandment says, it is "against" him or opposing him. A lie is always directed at someone else's truth.
A false witness would be lying to the judge or jury about something your neighbor did or said. That's what gives us the connection to the 4th commandment. The days of creation are something that God did and told us about.
Therefore the general principle is "don't lie about what the other has done or said" but I wanted to express it in a positive form as I did with the other principles. It's hard to do that though. I considered "respect the accomplishments of the other" and "respect the truths of the other" but I settled on "respect the facts of the other."
Lying about the days of creation has been the center of the battle between believers and unbelievers from early on. To stop people from believing in God it is necessary to lie about the evidence of God, his creation, to find some way to explain it that doesn't involve God.
We see that when educated people tell us that everything began with the "Big Bang"; therefore no God is required to create everything; therefore there is no God. The lie is an attack on the facts of God and on the very knowledge of his existence.
People as old as me remember when people like this taught the "Steady State" theory; the universe was always this way and always will be this way. That lie ends the same way as the Big Bang lie. Therefore no God is required to create everything; therefore there is no God.
Even many in the church have now accepted these lies or variations of them and found ways to twist the Genesis creation account.
The Deuteronomy 5 list of the Ten Commandments is notably different in a few places from the Exodus 20 list. Some things are added and removed. One thing that is added is a reason why the male and female servants must rest as well. It says:
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
The point here is that God brought the Israelites out of Egypt by his grace and power alone, both slave and free. The free did not bring out their slaves by their own power. They were slaves in Egypt but now have rest. Therefore, they as slave owners, must give rest to their slaves. What they received freely, they must give freely.
The 4th commandment goes a step beyond that principle of not lying. The Hebrew word translated above as "remember" has many meanings including "observe." The Deuteronomy list of the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:12), however, uses a different word that is plainly "observe" and translated that way. Therefore this commandment sets up an observance.
God says the creation and especially the 7th day rest are to be memorialized by observing a rest on the 7th day of the week just as he rested on that day.
The verses don't say why but it seems clear the idea behind this observance is to establish the facts of creation, and God's rest that followed, to ensure the creation isn't forgotten or covered by lies, that we "Remember the Sabbath". This is interesting because we think of the 4th commandment as primarily an observance. But God says it is primarily about respecting the truth of what he has done and the observance is setup to ensure the truth is remembered.
There is support for this in Job, yes Job.
So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor. (Job 37:7)
Just so it's clear that this verse is talking about the Sabbath, it's verse 7 of chapter 30-7
The Sabbath observance has the same purpose as the observance that Jesus setup, which we call Communion - don't lie about what I have done and this observance will help you to remember it.
Another difference in the Deuteronomy 5 account is that the mention of the creation is gone. Instead we find the mention of God bringing the people out of Egypt with his mighty hand and outstretched arm. The intent is to show another great thing God has done that he doesn't want people lying about. Most archaeologists now deny that the Israelites were ever in Egypt, let alone that they escaped after plagues sent by God.
Like the other observances that God sets up, for example the feast days, God expects his people to make their best effort to observe it. Yet, God recognizes there are realities. Jesus says:
But when the Pharisees saw them, they were saying to him, "Behold, your disciples are doing something that is illegal to do on the Sabbath." 3 But he said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him? 4 How he entered the house of God, and he ate the bread of the table of Yahweh, that which was not legal for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but rather for the priests only? 5 Or have you not read in the Law (Torah) that the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? (Matthew 12:2-5)
[…] Who is the man among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, will not take hold and lift it out? (Matthew 12:11)
[…] Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath release his ox or his donkey from the stall and go to water it? (Luke 13:15)
Therefore there are exceptions for emergencies and necessities but generally the Sabbath is to be observed.
The 4th commandment also contains something many don't recognize. Why are there so many examples of who is included under this commandment? It includes "you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servant, your cattle, and your [traveler] who stays with you." Does this mean your brother isn't included because he isn't listed? No, it means we need to think about this. God provides an excess of examples, as he will do again in the 10th commandment, to make a subtle point. The 4th commandment is also about community.
The day of rest also provides an opportunity to build community relationships. This is made possible because everyone ceases from work (rests) on the same day, the Sabbath. This would not be possible if every person could pick whichever day of the week they want.
This common rest also made community worship possible, though worship is not part of the 4th commandment.
Notice that the list includes travelers. Those who housed travelers, even those from foreign lands, were to ensure that they also did no work on the Sabbath.
Lying is a constant difficulty for Christians and all people are far from perfect truth. But why do we lie? Or perhaps, why is it so easy for us to lie? Once we've told one lie why does it seem like another lie isn't far behind it and probably a bigger lie.
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9)
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal faithfully are His delight. (Proverbs 12:22)
Why Do We Lie? We might answer:
- to avoid getting in trouble, maybe even saving your life
- to keep someone else from getting in trouble
- to spare the feelings of others
- to preserve or strengthen alliances
- to impress someone
- to get what we wanted
- to get something to happen quicker (arrogance)
- to cover up an earlier lie
There are three roots of all of these:
- fear
- manipulation
- pride.
Those are certainly factors that cause us to think we must lie, and there are many more. But why do we choose to lie?
The short answer is "because we can." Not only do we have the God given ability to make that choice to lie but we are also able to tell a lie and have a hope that it will be believed. If we were transparent and everyone always knew the truth about everything, there would be no way to lie. No lie could be successful and there would be no reason to lie.
Instead, people can only see the outer self, our body, while inside there is another self. Inside we know the truth but the words and actions of our body attempt to describe something that is not truth.
In fact this is the definition of lying, knowing the truth on the inside but presenting something different on the outside.
Lying often seems to be the easiest way to go, but the truth is that lying is the hardest way. Producing a lie that will stand for any length of time is a difficult thing to do. As other witnesses come forward the lie starts to unravel. That leaves us with the choice of confessing, with all the awkwardness of that, or of improving the lie or replacing the lie.
Lying also results in a duplicitous mind. Lies require keeping track of which story was told to which person. Practicing that and becoming good at it will increase the likelihood of lying.
I think our prides are involved in most lies. If the lie didn't start from pride, it's pride that will step in to help us add more lies when the first one starts to unravel, in the hope that pride won't be damaged.
In most cases the lie eventually collapses into a stinking heap. Even if the liar doesn't confess, other people know about it and the liar's reputation is damaged.
It's odd then that lying would be such a natural choice for us, but it is the instinctive response. Often it is on us before we know it.
Why do we do it? Because, let's face it, we just can't seem to help ourselves. (Psychology Today)
Another reason we choose to lie is because lies are easier to get out of our mouths. A lie can be uttered with just a few words. The truth requires explanations and evidence.
Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it (Jonathan Swift)
The lie is almost certainly juicier and more interesting, so it travels quickly. That's also part of the problem with a lie. Many people hear it before it collapses in on the liar.
Is there ever a time where a lie is justified? If a life may be saved by a lie is it alright to lie?
The Bible never says there is ever a time when it is acceptable to lie. There are cases where someone lies and the Bible does not condemn them. God can work his will through anyone, even the most horrible people. God also knows the future and whether someone will lie and can use that to achieve his will. God could even do this as a test of a person. Thus we can't say lying is approved because of these cases.
No doubt, there is great value in the truth (John 8:32). As fallible, sinful human beings, our imperfect thoughts may not be able to comprehend what God has in mind, and we need to strive to trust God when He speaks on this subject, regardless how hard it may be. We need to place our faith fully in Christ and trust in God in all things - and not lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5) (Bodie Hodge - Answers In Genesis).
If God knows you won't lie, he will not build his plan to be dependent on you lying. Perhaps that will help you avoid being in that situation in the first place.
Not only do we lie to others, we lie to ourselves ... as crazy as that might seem.
A lie can start with something as simple as an accident or mistake. That embarrasses us so we look around to see if anyone was watching, then we cover up the evidence, or at least our association with the evidence.
For example, we might slip and fall, people do that sometimes. Our pride doesn't want us to be seen as foolish or helpless, so we quickly get up so no one will see what happened. Then we look around for a rock, or bump, or greasy spot that we can blame it on. Or perhaps we minimize it for all who did see, "oh, nothing," then we walk on as though our knees aren't screaming in pain.
Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life." By "the truth" he meant that he was perfect truth, without a flaw, and the source of truth. By "the way" he meant that he was the path for us to follow. In other words we should strive to be like him. We should strive towards perfect truth.
At its foundation every sin is a lie, "It's OK". Therefore repentance is a return to the truth.
Keyword: Truth
Add-on: Observe God's Rest
The seventh day rest is not only a rest that God took in the past but it is the future rest that we long for - everlasting life with God.
Let us fear, therefore, lest, while the promise of entering into his rest stands, any of you should be found to come short of entering. (Hebrews 4:1)
The Sabbath is also a day for bringing that future Sabbath into the present, a time we have prepared for and where we have no need to work.
If we respect the truth of what God has done then we will respect the truth in the affairs of men.
It's hard to know how to apply the 4th commandment to our lives because there is no agreement on how or even if
it applies. The Catholics have one point of view, the majority of Protestants have another, and there is a minority within
Protestantism that has a third. Within the majority of Protestants there is no agreement on the reason why they believe what
they do. So, instead of looking how to apply the commandment we'll ask the question, is the Sabbath for Christians?
Go to this study 4th
Commandment and then come back here to finish this one.
5 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. (Exodus 20:12)
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 belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:17)
As was mentioned at the start, the apostle Paul explains that the 5th commandment is about more than parents. It is about honoring all those whom God has placed in authority over you, all the way up to God. Notice what God says through Malachi.
"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?" says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. (Malachi 1:6)
We should not disrespect someone's place in the hierarchy. That's easy to see but it's hard to see how the 10th commandment has a common principle.
We'll start with the question, "what is wrong inside a person that causes him to disrespect those in authority over him." The answer will come later.
To find that principle we need to understand what it means to covet and how that is different from stealing, which is the 8th commandment. Coveting isn't a halfway step to stealing. Coveting isn't the desire to have, but without the action of stealing.
Coveting is also different from greed, which we've learned is idolatry.
The verse hints at the problem with its long list of things, "neighbor's house, neighbor's wife, male servant, female servant, ox, donkey or anything." The commandment could have just said "Do not covet" just as the 6th commandment says "Do not murder." The long list hints that the problem is a desire for many things. The Deuteronomy 5 account of the Ten Commandments adds "his field" to the list. This shows us that the list of things can be changed and therefore that the things themselves aren't the problem
A man who covets wouldn't be satisfied if he got something he coveted. If he coveted his neighbor's TV (among other things) he wouldn't be happy if he bought a TV just like it. It wouldn't fill the need. He would covet other things.
The problem isn't the things or even the coveter's attitude toward them. The problem is him; he wants things only because some other person has them. He really wants someone else's stuff because he isn't content with being himself. He wants someone else's position in life.
These two commandments can now be summarized into one principal. Stated in a negative form it would be, "Don't have within you a disrespect for your relationships or your position within them. Now we can see the principle that ties the two together, "respect your identity." We are to be content with our position within relationships.
A child disrespects a parent because the child isn't content being a child and wants to have the position of a parent.
The 5th commandment is a positive commandment - a "do" commandment as opposed to a "don't" commandment. It calls for us to honor those in authority over us. The commandment also links that honoring to a promise of a long life and a good life (Deuteronomy 5:16).
We probably shouldn't think of that promise as a miraculously extended life. Instead the promise is of a life lived to its full length, i.e. not cut short. Jesus indicates this by tying this commandment to an ordinance given shortly after the Ten Commandments are given.
For God has said, "Honor your father and your mother," and "Whoever reviles his father and his mother shall surely die." (Matthew 15:4 quoting Exodus 20:12 and Exodus 21:17)
We've already said this commandment is not only about honoring father and mother but all those in authority over us. Understanding that, we can say that dishonoring those in authority over us will lead to an unhappy and possibly shortened life.
We dishonor someone's position without thinking sometimes. It can be as easy as saying, "I'm going to drive 5 miles per hour over the speed limit." By doing that, we are saying we are not under the law, that we know better than the law makers. Thus we dishonor the law and the government. It isn't possible to honor those in authority over you and also disobey them.
If this sounds like the second commandment where we saw that insubordination was like idolatry, there are similarities. The difference is that you can dishonor those in authority without elevating yourself over them. It's also possible to be in violation of more than one commandment at a time. We also see here that the broad understanding of the commandments shows that there are connections between them.
An even greater understanding of the 5th Commandment comes from understanding an odd commandment that is given 3 times.
You are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother. (Exodus 23:19)
You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. (Exodus 34:26)
You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. (Deuteronomy 14:21)
I've trimmed out the first sentence of each verse. We'll get back to the full verse later.
All of these verses are in the sections of the Bible with other commandments that are application examples of the 10 Commandments. It turns out they are explaining an aspect of the 5th Commandment that might not otherwise be clear.
When we think about it, there is something inside of us that is sad or even creepy about the situation described in the texts above. It seems wrong but it's hard for us to put our finger on exactly what bothers us about it. There is a message for us in it, but the message is hard to find.
The message comes from putting together the ideas "mother", "young", and why you are cooking. In saying "mother" and "young" the text isn't talking about two animals, but a relationship. The reason you are cooking them together is to combine them into a single dish to be eaten. The message is that boiling a young goat in its mother's milk changes a relationship from mother - young to person - person. The point is that the mother - young relationship isn't to be discarded.
How can we know this is the correct message? Nowhere does the Bible explain this and the Jewish understanding of these verses is quite different. Elsewhere, the Bible describes a less obscure example.
If there is a man who marries a woman and her mother, it is an outrageous sin; both he and they shall be burned with fire (Leviticus 20:14)
The point in the "young goat" verses likely extends to fathers and we see this in this chapter of Leviticus, which lists a large number of relationships that God abhors.
The "young goat" verses are an application example of a commandment. We see now it deals with relationships and therefore they are application examples of the 5th Commandment. Therefore the 5th Commandment is about more than parental relationships. It is also the foundation for most of the sexual relationship laws.
This might seem to be stretching the 5th Commandment too far, but think of it this way. From the perspective of your father and mother, if you have a sexual relationship with your sibling, that is dishonoring your father and mother.
We would, therefore, expect the "young goat" verses to also deal with our relationship to God our father, and it does. I had trimmed each verse before. Here is the complete verse for each.
You shall bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God. You are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother. (Exodus 23:19)
You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. (Exodus 34:26)
You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the stranger who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a stranger; for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. (Deuteronomy 14:21)
In each case the "young goat" commandment is attached to a commandment about Israel's relationship with God - giving him their best (servants) and keeping themselves pure. They are to respect this relationship and not change it into another relationship.
Coveting is not about the things. Failure to understand this has caused some people to break up this commandment. Augustine and the Catholic Church decided that coveting your neighbor's wife is the 9th commandment and coveting all the other things are the 10th commandment. Much later Luther decided that coveting your neighbor's house is the 9th and all the other things are the 10th.
Most people classify "sentence enhancers" like "OMG!", "GD!", and "JC!" in the 3rd commandment, not using his name in vain. The thinking is that these are names for God, but they aren't. God's name is not God, that's a title. Jesus' name was not even Jesus. I believe these expressions belong under this commandment because they disrespect the office of someone in authority over you - God.
Keyword: Authority
Add-on: Contentment
Do not covet the spiritual gifts that God has given to others. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 12:7-31. Below are just a few verses from that passage where Paul is comparing the gifts of the Spirit to the parts of a body to show that a complete church body needs all the spiritual parts, so no one should covet the gifts of another.
For also the body is not one member, but many. 15 For if a foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body", is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if an ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body", is it therefore not of the body? (1 Corinthians 12:14-16)
If a society respects the position where God has placed them then they will respect the positions of those that God has placed over them.
In the story of Esther, we find an example of coveting, in Haman.
Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the number of his sons, and every instance where the king had magnified him and how he had promoted him above the princes and servants of the king. 12 Haman also said, "Even Esther the queen let no one but me come with the king to the banquet which she had prepared; and tomorrow also I am invited by her with the king. 13 Yet all of this does not satisfy me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate." (Esther 5:11-13)
It might seem that Haman's problem is that he is an anti-Semite. Yes, he hates Jews but that isn't his only problem. He lists all the great things that he has, but he is not content. He isn't happy being himself and instead he believes he would be happy if he was someone else, and not just anyone.
Remember what Haman says when the king wants to reward Mordecai and Haman thinks the king is suggesting a reward for himself.
The king's servants said to him, "Behold, Haman is standing in the court." And the king said, "Let him come in." 6 So Haman came in and the king said to him, "What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?" And Haman said to himself, "Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?" 7 Then Haman said to the king, "For the man whom the king desires to honor, 8 let them bring a royal robe which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed; 9 and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble princes and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, 'Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.'" (Esther 6:5-9)
Haman is describing the way he would like to be rewarded so that tells us something about him. Notice what he says. He doesn't want just any fancy robe; he wants one the king has worn. He doesn't want just any horse; he wants one the king has ridden while wearing his crown. Haman wants to be king. He isn't happy with everything he has as number 2 in the vast Medo-Persian Empire. He covets the king's position.
Haman has also built a huge device to execute Mordecai and thereby stepped out of line. That is the king's business. People who lust after the king's position are a danger to the king and kings put an end to that. That's how Haman meets his end.
If we aren't happy with the authority God has given us or with the things in our lives, it can cause us to covet. What can we do that will help us to be content with the authority and the stuff that we have?
Being content does not mean you should not seek to do better and be better. Improving yourself should not be driven by unhappiness with being who you are. Self-improvement should be as natural as growth is to trees. In fact, failing to grow is the sign of a problem.
If you are content with your relationship with God, and you should be, you should still continue to read the Bible, pray, spend time with other Christians, and grow.
So far we've only discussed how these commandments describe how we should treat the "other". Now we need to think in terms of the other who thinks of us as the other. When we do that, we notice that all of these principles can be stated in a reciprocal form.
If you haven't noticed it yet, that's the Golden Rule - "Do to others as you want them to do to you". We mentioned the Jewish sage Hillel at the start of this study. This is what he learned from the Ten Commandments.
1 Klinghoffer, David - Shattered Tablets
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments
3 http://www.rwf2000.com/ten.htm
4 http://www.spirit889.com/ten-commandments-third/
5 http://www.spirit889.com/ten-commandments-third/
6 Klinghoffer, David - Shattered Tablets
7 http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/OTpdf/exo20.pdf
8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_cosmology
9 https://theawl.com/12-things-currently-being-sold-on-ebay-because-they-kinda-look-like-jesus-1a90f01c37a0#.ybvutrhyg
10 An ad from an unremembered source
11 Amazon ad https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Magnetic-Bracelet-Christian-Religious/dp/B0093LXJ4Q