Deuteronomy 5:1-22
The Ten Commandments Reviewed (Exodus 20:1–17)
1 And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. 2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. 4 The LORD talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. 5 I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said:
6 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
FIRST: 7 You shall have no other gods before Me.
SECOND: 8 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; 9 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, 10 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
THIRD: 11 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.
FOURTH: 12 ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 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 ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
FIFTH: 16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
SIXTH: 17 You shall not murder.
SEVENTH: 18 You shall not commit adultery.
EIGHTH: 19 You shall not steal.
NINTH: 20 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
TENTH: 21 You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’
22 “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
These ten words are commandments of the moral law of the LORD to be followed by all God’s people. Even the often disputed fourth commandment concerning keeping the sabbath day finds adherence commanded to we who are in Christ as we rest in the work of Christ Jesus who is our (Mark 2:27-28, Hebrews 4:3-4, 5-6, 9-10) Sabbath rest. We are to learn and do all of God’s word in Christ, including these moral laws fulfilled in God’s Son (Matthew 5:17) for us to (1 Corinthians 11:1) imitate. The ceremonial laws are no longer in our purview (Ephesians 2:15) as they were meant to teach Israel good from evil, right from wrong, as we now are taught by God’s Spirit and word (Hebrews 5:14) while we grow in sanctifying conformity (2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 12:1-2) to His image recreated in us at our new birth. These commandments hold us with awestruck wonder to faithful and willing obedience when we consider our own liberation from sin’s bondage which once held us (Galatians 4:3-5) from knowing and pleasing our great God and Savior, even though we did not stand before the mountain shaken and quaking in God’s presence when the Law of commandments was handed to Moses for the people to read and heed. These still apply in that we are to have no other god but God who lives and breathes from heaven above over all His sovereign creation. Therefore, we cannot even begin to worship any other false idol of our own creation, in carved or imagined form. We are not to use His name to cover evil or dishonor His holiness and righteousness as Lord over us all, but honor and revere that name in word and deed. We are also to rest in His work that saves us and not continue to expend useless effort to win His favor to gain or maintain our salvation from judgment due to us all (Romans 3:23, 6:23) from birth as inherited. As children, we are to remember to honor our own parents in similar manner because they have been placed over us as we have been created by God through them that our lives may find good as promised by living in such submission. Of course the heaviest ones to us in moral society hold as well, such as not intentionally taking the lives of others outside of war in personal hatred or vengeance. We are not to defame the marriage covenant between a man and wife in which we enter into before the Lord by becoming one flesh (Genesis 2:24, 1 Corinthians 6:15-17) with another and defiling these temples (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) in which He now lives for our wholehearted worship in body and soul. Yes, we are still to not steal material possessions from another or take their good character by slanderous words in or out of court, taking what is precious to them with greedy and malicious intent. Likewise, even if we do not commit adultery, we still cannot desire another person’s spouse for ourselves nor anything else that is theirs, learning contentment with godliness (1 Timothy 6:6) is the most true and great possession that we already have in Christ. When we realize that these words of command once written on hard, cold stone tablets are now rewritten on our very hearts (Jeremiah 31:33, 2 Corinthians 3:3), we will be moved to willingly follow them to please God and not to earn rewards or escape punishment in judgment for we are kept by grace to escape judgment but are still accountable (1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 14-15) for how we live towards God and man. We (1 John 5:3-5) therefore keep these good commandments as our Lord did for us (John 15:10) in honor to Him and His word that works all for our good and His glory because they are not burdensome (Matthew 11:28-30, 1 John 5:3) as some believe; we rest in Christ in us and His work as we are led by His Spirit (Romans 8:14, 16) as His beloved children to honor Him and reap the promised rewards of obedience to our Father in eternity.
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