The Ten Commandments As Wisdom
Notes
Transcript
The Ten Words
The Ten Words
Do you remember the 10 commandments? How many can you list?
No Other Gods
No Idols
Do Not Carry The Name In Vain
Remember The Sabbath
Honor Your Father and Mother
Do Not Kill
Do Not Commit Adultery
Do Not Steal
Do Not Bear False Witness
Do Not Desire Your Neighbor’s Possessions
Today we are going to start a Bible Project theme study about the Ten Commandments.
What are the Ten Commandments?
What are the Ten Commandments?
For the majority of Jewish & Christian history, they were not called the ten commandments. They were known as the “Decalogue” which is the “Ten Words.” Deca = Ten, Logos = Word.
27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
John Wycliff (14th Century) translated to “Commandments”
“Every mitzvah (command) is a word, but not every word is a command.” - Dr. Tim Mackie
The Ten Commandments are listed two times in the Old Testament: Exodus 20 & Deuteronomy 5.
The numbering isn’t given when they are listed.
There are actually 11 sentences/commands given (covet listed twice on the last command)
Some traditions take “No other Gods” & “No idols” as one command.
“Covet” is listed twice on the last command, so people who combine “No other Gods” and “No Idols” separate the Covet commands into two separate commands.
The Ten Commandments are particularly unique.
The Ten Commandments are particularly unique.
15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.
As a side note, this has created a lot of discussion: How were they distributed front and back on two tablets?
Could be two copies? (God’s and Israel’s)
Next we are told that the tablets were the work of God written by the finger of God…
16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
This shows the uniquely pure expression of the will of God in the ten commands.
This sets the ten apart from the other instructions from God throughout scripture.
There is something special about the ten, so we need to think about what they cover:
First four: How you relate to God
Fifth: How you relate to God by how you relate to humans. (It’s a unique hinge in that it describes how you relate to humans but then says, “so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” As you read on in Torah (the Old Testament) you learn that it is God who will give goodness and life to the people.
Last five: How you relate to humans
In his book, The Ten Commandments, Hebrew Bible Scholar Patrick Miller described the commandments as having both explicit and implicit meaning. In other words, some commands are negative. They are prohibitions like, “Don’t make idols.” Others are positive, like “Do honor your parents.” Some are both, “Do remember the Sabbath. Don’t do any work on the Sabbath.”
So what that does is invite you to think about all of them this way. Every negative implies a positive, every positive implies a negative. So the inverse of “not worshiping any other gods” is giving your total allegiance to the one true God.
This really opens up the commands. Going from a negative to a positive makes a command like not stealing something like, “protect the well-being of your neighbor.” Going from a positive to a negative usually makes it go from a general statement to a specific one. “Honor your parents, do not bad mouth them to your friends”, for example.
Flipping the ten commandments in this way really opens them up to cover almost everything! It is also a great way to meditate on God’s word throughout the day.
The Ten Commandments throughout the Bible
The Ten Commandments throughout the Bible
The Prophets often point back to the Commandments to show how God’s people have abandoned their covenant relationship with Him.
1 Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. 2 There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
9 “ ‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known,
31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
The Ten Commandments in Jesus’ Teaching
The Ten Commandments in Jesus’ Teaching
1 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” 4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. 5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” 31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” 33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods” ’? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
The Ten Commandments in the New Testament Letters
The Ten Commandments in the New Testament Letters
9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
The First Command in the Bible
The First Command in the Bible
It’s interesting that the ten word (commandments) that God gives to people don’t show up until fairly deep into the story. Interestingly, this isn’t the first time that God speaks ten times though.
Does anyone know the first time that God spoke ten words in the Bible?
In the creation story, God spoke ten times (Let there be light, etc...) and the tenth time He spoke He gave the humans the first commands which are actually blessings.
be fruitful
multiply
fill the land
subdue it
rule it
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
The first command is a blessing for humanity to imitate the divine life. The blessing is about God donating His own infinite, auto-generating abundance to another creature. So now that creature gets to experience and generate abundance.
So in other words, God creates order and makes a creation in His own image and the first time He gives them a command it is a blessing. He blesses them to multiply and spread order. Essentially He says, “Enjoy being, and be like Me.”
So, actually, you could say that the ten words in Exodus are actually echoing back to the ten order-bringing, blessing-generating words in the creation story.
Let’s talk about the second part of the first command in the Bible. It begins with some important key words…
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
“Work it and keep it.” These are two important words. The Hebrew word for ‘work’ is ‘avad’ and it means “to serve” or “to give one’s labor and allegiance.” The Hebrew word for ‘to keep’ is ‘shamar’ and it means that I’ve been intrusted with something and now it’s my responsibility to guard it; to keep it.
Both of these words are relevant to the ten commandments because they are both used. “Do not serve any other god’s before me” and “Keep the Sabbath.” Adam and Eve are to serve and keep the garden. Then they are given the commandment. The second command begins by reminding us of the blessing…
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
This command is in multiple parts, and it starts with a blessing. Enjoy all of the trees. Enjoy God’s good world and what it provides for you. The next part sets some restrictions. Enjoy the trees, but thou shalt not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Let’s back up a few verses to see something else interesting about enjoying the trees, but not eating from the one…
9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Hebrew word used to describe the trees as pleasing to the eye is ‘hamad’ and it is the same word used in the ten commandments that warns not to desire or covet our neighbors stuff. So in this verse we have a parallel of “desirable for seeing” and “good for eating.”
Desirable and good are interconnected. When you desire something it’s because you want it. You want it because it’s good, or at least you think it’s good. We could have a whole conversation about that, but let’s look at the next part.
Seeing and eating. Their relationship is a little more specific. You can see and appreciate that something is good without taking it into yourself. That’s what God is asking Adam and Eve to do with this one particular tree. We know that all of the trees are desirable, but one of those trees was not good to eat.
Good is something that humans first perceive with their eyes, which creates desire. That desire leads to an impulse to take and become one with it. There is nothing visible to indicate that it is not good for you, so how can you know? The only way to know is because Yahweh said so. It’s by God’s command that we know that it is not actually good as it appears to be.
So God’s command is two-fold. It’s that same positive/negative dynamic. I like the way Tim Mackie summarizes it. He says, “so God's command is twofold. One: 'live; have life, enjoy good.' The second part of the command is: ‘don't die.’”
The Second Command in the Bible
The Second Command in the Bible
This was the first command. The next time God gives a command in the Bible is for Noah to build an ark. Adam and Eve fail with the first command, but with the second command, Noah succeeds.
The first command was to be fruitful and multiply, and the humans do exactly that. However, instead of multiplying life and goodness, they multiply violence.
Now here is Noah. He is spending time walking with God and doing all of the things that Adam and Eve were intended to do. He becomes an image of the righteous intercessor. He is part of a series of characters that lead up to the suffering servant. So God gives him a commandment…
11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. 13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
Most English translations translate this to say that God has decided to put an end to all flesh, but what God actually tells Noah is that the humans have become so evil that they are destroying themselves, so He is going to speed up the process and destroy them with the earth. Then God gives him the command…
14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
The Hebrew word that is translated as “ark” is “Tevah.” This word is actually a loan word from the ancient Egyptian language that means “box” and is most often used for a coffin. God told Noah, “I am going to destroy all flesh, so make yourself a coffin!” But what is used for death will actually be used to preserve life by going through the chaotic waters that bring death.
So build an ark. Why?
18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.
Then again in verse 20…
20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
You will be kept alive. Also, take the good food that is to be eaten. This is the same word we saw earlier that was used to say the tree was good for eating. The ark is presented as a little Eden refuge. A refuge from the chaotic waters among the trees preserving and spreading life.
Then in verse 22 we see this is when it is finally called a command…
22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Adam and Eve didn’t do the command, and it lead them to death. This command is to build this little sanctuary that is made of trees and shaped like a coffin, then stuff it full of life.
So we have two commands, and they are both about spreading life.
Abraham’s command
Abraham’s command
The next command we have is to Abraham. Abraham’s story is a little more complicated, but it shares many of the same themes. In a broad sense, Adam and Eve were given a command, they disobeyed and it lead to death. Noah was given a command and he did as he was commanded and it lead to life. Abraham somewhat did what he was commanded and the mistakes lead to much heartache and pain.
For example, God told Abraham to leave his country, people, and extended family to go to a new place…
1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
So Abraham went, but he took some of his father’s family with him. He did what God called him to do… sorta. He did what God told him, but not completely. Adam and eve did NOT do what God commanded them and it lead to death and violence. Noah DID do what God commanded and it lead to life and preserving life. Abraham sort of did what God commanded, but not completely, and it lead to heartbreak and trouble.
This is what God said to Isaac after Abraham died…
3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”
Abraham “kept” God’s commands. Just like Adam and Eve were intended to do and just like the ten commandments expect.
The Hebrew words used here are ‘mismeret’, ‘misva’, ‘huqqa’, and ‘tora’, which are the same words that will be used in the ten commandments as well.
Also, the Hebrew word huqqa means keeping commands as in something that is inscribed, like on stone.
There is much more to Abraham’s story, but it is more complex. I just wanted to make note of these main thoughts.
