The 10 Commandments - Part 1

Introduction

We have been going through the Exodus journey where the Israelites here hungry and thirsty in the wilderness. God provide for their needs. They also needed guidance on what was expected in their relationship with God, directions on how to worship, what was expected of them. These directions were given on Mt. Sinai. In this encounter at Mt. Sinai, the Israelites received directly God’s instructions for them. We know these as the 10 commandments and they are found in Exodus 20:1-20. Listen to this passage.

Exodus 20:1–20 NRSV

1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. 8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that 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, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. 18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”

In breaking these down the first four were instructions about their relationship with God. The other six were instructions were about their relationship in the covenant community. In other words, this dialogue with the people directly was to speak to God’s expectations of them in their covenant relationship with God in the first four and God’s expectations for them in their covenant community in the remaining six. This week we will divine into the relationship side of things with the first four commandments.

Now lets dive into each one.

The first two are related. You must not worship or have any other gods. God, Yahweh, is the only god in this covenant. You cannot be in covenant with God and worship other gods. This was important, especially in the Israelites journey into the promised land. What is interesting is that bible scholars point out that God is not saying anything about these other gods not existing but says for Israel, there can be no middle ground. You are in covenant with Yahweh exclusively. The nations they would go an conquer had many gods they worshipped and Israel was to have nothing to do with them. God is holy and will not be put on the same level of any other god that these nations worshipped.

The second commandment of no idols is interesting. We often extrapolate from this one the many idols we have in life such as money or power or prestige or popularity which draw us away from God and behavior that is pleasing to God. However, what is being expressed here is very similar to the first commandment. God cannot be attributed to any physical object. In the Israelite context, shrines, totems, things made by human hands, were thought to have the deity actually present in them and so the objects were worshipped. God is the creator and does not exist in some object and in turn no object is to be worshipped in place of worshipping God directly. In other words, God is commanding the Israelites do not be like other nations who worship objects, thinking their god is confined to that object. God is not confined to any created object nor does God want any object to come in between the person and their worship of God.

We often carry crosses and we have bibles that we look to as sacred text. These are good in that they are reminders of God’s work and the testimony of who God is that has been written down for us to read and learn from and experience directly. However, we do not worship the cross in place of God. In other words, we worship God directly, not the cross which serves as a reminder of God’s redemptive work. As for the bible, I might step on some toes here but it is worth noting this. While we believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures, we believe it is the Holy Spirit speaking through these texts, not the text itself, that is the gift. In other words, be careful not to hold the physical text itself as the object of worship. What is sometimes said or done is to place the text itself as the sacred object but I caution you not to do this. If you take the stance that the bible is the direct transcribed by God and is beyond question then you take what is called a biblicist view. This biblicist view means whatever translation you read says, you believe it not to be an inspired writing but the direct writing by God. This is a pitfall where instead of by the text by which the Holy Spirit inspires, it becomes an object of worship, an idol.

The Israelites and us are not not have any other gods that we are in covenant with or participate in worship of. There can be no objects that come or serve as conduits of worship or connection to God. Our covenant with God is directly, no other god can come in between this relationship nor can any object be a conduit or channel of that relationship.

The third and fourth commandment are a continuation of that right relationship with God.

The third commandment focuses on the use of God’s name. Don’t misuse God’s name. God’s name is not some “magic” word to use to get what you want or some way in which you can control or make God act. There are many names of God given in Scripture and you are free to use these in worship, prayer, studying, teaching, and preaching. But do not make up or misuse these as a means by which you take too lightly God’s name. This is not a simple name of another human being or some part of creation. This is the name, or one of the names by which the Creator of all has revealed to us some attribute of God. In other words, don’t mistake that you have control over God by invoking the name of God nor should you treat it so casual as to have it as some casual curse used.

The fourth commandment is has to do with the sabbath. This is interesting because first it serves as a reminder of the freedom gained from God’s rescuing them from Egypt’s slavery. In Egypt there was not a single day by which they had relief from the labor demands. Yet in relationship with God not only have they received their freedom but they also have a constant reminder of this freedom from daily work once a week. So important is this time off daily work that even God took a sabbath after the creation of the world. This was to emphasize that God sanctifies this practice by his own participation in this. Too often we get so caught up in our daily work that we keep ourselves busy and wear ourselves out physically, mentally, and spiritually. Sabbath is meant to restore that balance because in taking a 24 hour break (sunset to sunset), you receive a break from that routine which allows time for worship, time for rest, time for family. There is so much to gain from this practicing this! If you don’t have a sabbath practice now, find a way in which to incorporate one. Whether that is sundown to sundown or one day of the week or some other time in which all of your daily activities are put aside, remember this sabbath command was created to keep your relationship with God intact. This sabbath practice keeps us tethered to God because it means not just regular worship but also spending quiet time with God, quiet time away from all the world’s busyness. Find your sabbath to help improve your relationship with God.