THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Rev. Dr. Michael T. Welhous
The “Ten Commandments,” is more accurately referred to as the “Ten Words,” according to most literal translations of the Hebrew text. I say most literal translations, because the phrase “Ten Commandments” has become so engrained in our thinking and speech, that even translators of some literal translations, will use the word “Commandments” where the term “Words” is more accurate. At any rate, the Ten Commandments designate the ten basic laws of the Mosaic Covenant, i.e. the Law Covenant that was established by God with the Israelites through Moses as the mediator (i.e., the go-between).
All of the following references have been taken from The Literal Translation of the Holy Bible unless otherwise noted:
“And he [Moses] was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread and he did not drink water. And He [God] wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.” (Exodus 34:28)
“And He declared His covenant to you which He has commanded you to do,
the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.”
(Deuteronomy 4:13)
“And He wrote on the tablets according to the writing, the Ten Commandments which Jehovah had spoken to you in the mountain, out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And Jehovah gave them to me [Moses].” (Deuteronomy 10:4)
The very first thing God said before reciting the Ten Commandments was “I
am Jehovah your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house
of bondage.”
(Exodus 20:2)
Exodus 20:2 not only shows who is speaking, but also to whom the Ten Commandments
were given. The Ten Commandments were given from Jehovah to those whom he brought
out of the land of Egypt, i.e. the Israelites in Moses’ day. They were
given specifically to the Jews at that time, and were made incumbent on not
only them, but also on their descendants as long as the Law covenant was in
place.
Although it may surprise many Christians, the Ten Commandments were not given
to Abraham and those living before the Jews of Moses’ time. And they were
not given to Christians, i.e. believers in Jesus as the Messiah (i.e. Anointed
One), raised from the dead by God.
“And Moses called to all Israel and said to them, Hear, Israel, the statutes
and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today. And you shall learn them,
and shall take heed to do them. Jehovah your God cut a covenant with us in Horeb.
Jehovah did not cut this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, these
here today, all of us alive.”
(Deuteronomy 5:1-3)
Jesus was born under the Law, and he kept it “perfectly.” By offering up his “perfect” life, he was able to fulfill the Old Testament sacrifice requirements for the atonement of sin. Old Testament sacrifices needed to be animals “without blemish.”
From Adam (prior to his sin) until Jesus, no human being has been “perfect,” i.e., “without blemish.” By his death on the stake, he freed those under the Law, which included the Ten Commandments, and also enabled anyone outside of the Jews to reap the benefits of his sacrifice, by believing on him as the risen Messiah. Thus God, through Messiah, is creating one new “man” from the two (Jews under the Law, and non-Jews who are not under the Law.)
Speaking to the non-Jewish Christians, Paul wrote, “at that time you were without Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers of the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus you, who then were afar off, came to be near by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, He making us both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, in His flesh causing to cease the enmity, the Law of the commandments in decrees, that He might in Himself create the two into one new man, making peace, and might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, slaying the enmity in Himself. And coming, He proclaimed ‘peace to you, the ones afar off, and to the ones near.’ For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. So, then, you are no longer strangers and tenants, but you are fellow citizens of the saints and of the family of God.” (Ephesians 2:12-19)
Paul brilliantly illustrates how those under the Law were freed from the Law
by
Christ’s death by using the covenant of marriage as a comparison:
“Or are ye ignorant, brothers (for I speak to men who know the Law), that the Law has dominion over the man for as long a time as he lives? For the woman under authority to the living husband has been bound by Law, but if the husband should die, she has been released from the Law of the husband. So then, of the living husband, she will be called an adulteress if she becomes to another man, but if the husband should die, she is free from the Law, for her not to be an adulteress having become to another man. Therefore, my brothers, ye also became dead to the Law through the body of Christ in order for ye to become to another, to him who was raised from the dead, so that we would bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the passions of the sins were working in our body-parts (through the Law) in order to bear fruit to death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to what we were held, so as for us to serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of a document.” (Romans 7:1-6, A Conservative Version)
As far as the Jews violating any of the Ten Commandments with varying degrees of punishment, I have not seen any definitive references that state or even imply that the breaking of one commandment is worse than the breaking of another.
Interestingly, James wrote, “For whoever shall keep all the Law, but stumbles in one, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘You shall not murder.’ But if you do not commit adultery, but commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the Law.” (James 2:10-11, Green’s Literal Translation)
For Christians, the study of the Law with its Ten Commandments is still extremely beneficial because it reveals God’s viewpoint on various matters, it is foundational and crucial for understanding those things written in the New Covenant, and its continued study increases the faith of Christians because it is replete with prophetic statements fulfilled or soon to be fulfilled by Christ. The following is one of the more customary divisions of the Ten Commandments of the Mosaic Law as rendered in the Literal Translation of the Holy Bible.
1. “You shall not have any other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)
2. “You shall not make a graven image for yourself, or any likeness
in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth;
you shall not bow to them, and you shall not serve them; for I am Jehovah your
God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third and
on the fourth generation, to those that hate Me; and doing kindness to thousands,
to those loving Me, and to those keeping My commandments.”
(Exodus 20:4-6)
3. “You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain; for Jehovah will not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7)
4. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy; six days you shall labor and do all your work; and the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah your God; you shall not do any work, you, and your son, and your daughter, your male slave and your slave-girl, and your livestock, and your stranger who is in your gates. For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all which is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; on account of this Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and sanctified it.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
5. “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long on the land which Jehovah your God is giving to you.” (Exodus 20:12)
6. “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13)
7. “You shall not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14)
8. “You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)
9. “You shall not testify a witness of falsehood against your neighbor.”
(Exodus 20:16)
10. “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male slave, or his slave-girl, or his ox, or his ass, or anything which belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:17)