Exodus chapter 20 The Ethical Decalogue
The event: The Hebrews / Israelites, are at Mt Sinai, God speaks from the mountain to the nation of Israel. After the first ten Laws the people freaked. Then after they calm down and step back a distance God continues with four more Laws, and then continues on with some ordinances. So during this event there are fourteen Laws, not ten. From there the confusion starts. This event had more than one purpose and we will get to that later, but note God’s primary concern during this event, which was that the Israelites would break through to get to Him, this concern pretty much dominates the preceding chapter…19. Another thing to consider, is at no point does God or the Bible directly call these Laws “The Ten Commandments” but if it was that simple, scholars would not be debating this to this today.
Exodus 20:3-17 The first ten ethical codes spoken by God. Deuteronomy 5:7-21
1. “You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
4 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
5. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
6. “You shall not murder.
7. “You shall not commit adultery.
8. “You shall not steal.
9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
This list of ethical codes are also listed in Deuteronomy 5:7-21. But neither are directly referenced as the Ten Commandments. After speaking the first 14 Laws, God continues to speak and goes into other sections of the Laws, Laws concerning slaves, (which included concubinage) Laws concerning personal injury, Laws concerning theft, Laws concerning property—physical and living, Laws concerning morality, Laws concerning civil and religious obligations, and Laws concerning conquests and wars. Moses than spoke these Laws to the people and then he wrote them down. He refers to this as the book of the covenant.
Exodus 24:4-12
Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank. Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and the remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.”
Now everyone knows, the first set of tablets did not end well. In the first instance, God made the tablets and wrote the Laws on them. That did not occur with the second trip that Moses made to Mt Sinai.
In Exodus 34:11-28, here are the only Laws that God calls the Ten Commandments and He refers to the tablets as the Two Tablets of the Testimony. So in verse 34:11 God says, “Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Then He goes on to state ten Laws.
1. Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim.
2. for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods.
3. You shall make for yourself no molten gods.
4. You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.
5. The first offspring from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the first offspring from cattle and sheep. You shall redeem with a lamb the first offspring from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. None shall appear before Me empty-handed.
6. You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest.
7. You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
8. Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.
9. You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning.
10. You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
Then in verse 27 God said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
The event: The Hebrews / Israelites, are at Mt Sinai, God speaks from the mountain to the nation of Israel. After the first ten Laws the people freaked. Then after they calm down and step back a distance God continues with four more Laws, and then continues on with some ordinances. So during this event there are fourteen Laws, not ten. From there the confusion starts. This event had more than one purpose and we will get to that later, but note God’s primary concern during this event, which was that the Israelites would break through to get to Him, this concern pretty much dominates the preceding chapter…19. Another thing to consider, is at no point does God or the Bible directly call these Laws “The Ten Commandments” but if it was that simple, scholars would not be debating this to this today.
Exodus 20:3-17 The first ten ethical codes spoken by God. Deuteronomy 5:7-21
1. “You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
4 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
5. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
6. “You shall not murder.
7. “You shall not commit adultery.
8. “You shall not steal.
9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
This list of ethical codes are also listed in Deuteronomy 5:7-21. But neither are directly referenced as the Ten Commandments. After speaking the first 14 Laws, God continues to speak and goes into other sections of the Laws, Laws concerning slaves, (which included concubinage) Laws concerning personal injury, Laws concerning theft, Laws concerning property—physical and living, Laws concerning morality, Laws concerning civil and religious obligations, and Laws concerning conquests and wars. Moses than spoke these Laws to the people and then he wrote them down. He refers to this as the book of the covenant.
Exodus 24:4-12
Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank. Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and the remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.”
Now everyone knows, the first set of tablets did not end well. In the first instance, God made the tablets and wrote the Laws on them. That did not occur with the second trip that Moses made to Mt Sinai.
In Exodus 34:11-28, here are the only Laws that God calls the Ten Commandments and He refers to the tablets as the Two Tablets of the Testimony. So in verse 34:11 God says, “Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Then He goes on to state ten Laws.
1. Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim.
2. for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods.
3. You shall make for yourself no molten gods.
4. You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.
5. The first offspring from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the first offspring from cattle and sheep. You shall redeem with a lamb the first offspring from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. None shall appear before Me empty-handed.
6. You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest.
7. You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
8. Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.
9. You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning.
10. You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
Then in verse 27 God said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.