Whether we number the Ten Words or Ten Commandments as do Jews, Catholics, Protestants or others, do we know them? Do they outline Deuteronomy and all 613 commandments of the law? Let’s look at Deuteronomy 5.
How did Moses reintroduce the words of the covenant, what we also call the Ten Commandments?
Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. (At that time I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said: (Deuteronomy 5:1-5 NIV)
The first sentence is left off most depictions of the Ten Commandments, but was part of what was written by God. Catholics include this sentence with the first commandment. By Jewish reckoning, what is the first of the Ten Words?
I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (Deuteronomy 6:6 NKJV)
What are the first three commandments, according to most Protestants, or the rest of the first two according to Catholics, or the second and third Word according to Jewish counting? Do two carved images of cherubs over the mercy seat contradict some interpretations of this? Were those graven images simply not bowed down to?
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make a carved image for yourself—any likeness of what is in heaven above, or what is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me; and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God; for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name. (Deuteronomy 5:7-11 WEB)
No matter how we number them, which is the longest of the ten words or commandments? Why is this the only commandment not repeated by either Jesus or the apostles in the New Testament?
Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15 NLT)
What is the only rest command given by Jesus in the New Testament?
Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28 HCSB)
Did Sabbath-keeping people under Moses not enter true rest (Hebrews 3:7-19)? Did Sabbath-keeping people under Joshua enter the land, but still not enter true rest (Hebrews 4:1-8)? Is there a land of rest, an eternal Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God?
There remains, therefore, a Sabbath rest for the people of God to keep, because the one who enters God’s rest has himself rested from his own actions, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fail by following their example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:9-11 ISV)
What are the rest of the Ten Words or Ten Commandments? Catholics divide the tenth, in Jewish and Protestant reckoning, into two: don’t desire and don’t covet, making it two commandments.
Honor your father and your mother, exactly as the Lord your God requires, so that your life will be long and so that things will go well for you on the fertile land that the Lord your God is giving you. Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely against your neighbor. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife. Do not crave [covet] your neighbor’s house, field, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor. (Deuteronomy 5:16-21 CEB)
How did the people react to hearing God’s voice at the mountain?
When we were gathered at the mountain, the Lord spoke to us in a loud voice from the dark fiery cloud. The Lord gave us these commands, and only these. Then he wrote them on two flat stones and gave them to me. Moses said to Israel: When fire blazed from the mountain, and you heard the voice coming from the darkness, your tribal leaders came to me and said: Today the Lord our God has shown us how powerful and glorious he is. He spoke to us from the fire, and we learned that people can live, even though God speaks to them. But we don't want to take a chance on being killed by that terrible fire, and if we keep on hearing the Lord's voice, we will die. Has anyone else ever heard the only true God speaking from fire, as we have? And even if they have, would they live to tell about it? Moses, go up close and listen to the Lord. Then come back and tell us, and we will do everything he says. (Deuteronomy 5:22-27 CEV)
What was God’s response to the request of the congregation?
And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever! Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess. (Deuteronomy 5:28-33 ESV)
Whether we number the Ten Words or Ten Commandments as do Jews, Catholics, Protestants or others, do we know them? Do they outline Deuteronomy and all 613 commandments of the law? You decide!
