Exodus 20:1-17 - God’s Ten Words of Command

Exodus 20:1-17

The Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:1–22)

1 And God spoke all these words, saying:

2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

8 “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 the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

These ten commandments are God’s words of His moral law given for us to live by in order to be pleasing children who aim our lives of our own words and conduct to align with His holiness of character.  Many of us are familiar with them today, in word of not always in practice, but for the people of God being led by God out of idolatry and bondage by Moses, these were new and challenging if not downright frightening because they are so challenging to keep.  The LORD prefaced them by saying who Jesus is and what He did for them; He is the I AM, the eternally-existing God over all creation, the One who set them free and led them to that mountain to hear His word and will as they were reminded of their deliverance from affliction and bondage symbolic of sin’s grip of immorality and idolatry.  He therefore commanded them and all who follow to have no idols, nothing to worship in place of or above Him.  This then led to commanding them and us not to make any image in place of Him to worship or seek direction for life and living apart from Him and His word.  We are not to serve anyone or anything else.  Period.  He is a jealous God who wants our complete devotion and will share us with no other since we are made in His image and form His glory, honor, and praise alone.  The lasting effects or consequences of sin endure long, but His mercy is eternal for those who set their minds and hearts on keep His words whose basis is given here in these Ten Commandments out of love for Him.  We are then commanded not to take His great name lightly by not honoring it as we must in fearful awe (Philippians 2:12-13) and wonder as He works His word in our obedient hearts and minds to transform us into His original image worked in us at creation once more to restore our relationship with Him.  We are then called to rest in Him and His work in the pattern of His pause when finishing the creation of the world (Genesis 2:2-3) as a shadow of the true rest from our efforts of ineffective works (Hebrews 4:1-2, 3-4, 9-10) thought to earn our standing before the Lord but always coming far short (Romans 3:19-20, 23) of perfection.  Then He instructed us to honor those over us, our parents who were used to bring us into the world and watch over us as stewards of the grace of God who gives us life as we remember He is our Father in heaven.  We should similarly honor and obey them as far as they honor and obey Him.  Continuing the relationships with others made in His image, we are forbidden to take their lives which God gave them at our own hands by murder, forbidden to force intimacy from others which is reserved for the covenant commitment of the marriage union alone, forbidden to take from others what God gave them instead of relying on His individual provision for us, forbidden from lying about others to dishonor them for our own selfish gain, and forbidden from any evil desire that would want what His provision for another has given them or to seek ways to steal those things from them for our own (1 John 2:15-16) misspent (James 4:1-3) desires above their happiness with God’s gifts as we find contentment in what He gives us.  Keeping these words of command does not earn our deliverance from sin, but is a set of guardrails to keep the direction of our lives aimed squarely at pleasing  God in conforming to His design for our lives in honor and praise of His intent for our good (Romans 8:28) and His glory.  We are all given God’s Ten Words of Command to honor Him with in our lives, both in the thoughts and intents of our hearts and of our actions.  May we keep His moral laws then from the heart set on desires for Him over our own unholy fleeting pleasures of temporal satisfaction.  Amen.