12 The Ten Commandments [Deuteronomy 5:1–22]
The Bible passage: [Deuteronomy 5:1–22]
The Story:
While the people of Israel were traveling through the wilderness, God met with Moses on Mount Horeb and gave him a list of rules that the people were to follow. God told these rules to Moses and then God carved them into stone tablets.
The ten basic rules are as follows:
- Do not have other gods besides me.
- Do not make any idols and worship them.
- Do not misuse God’s name.
- Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
- Honor your father and mother.
- Do not murder.
- Do not commit adultery.
- Do not steal.
- Do not give dishonest testimony against your neighbor.
- Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.
If you look back through the list, you will notice that the first four rules are about the relationship with God and the last six are about the relationship with other people.
The people were told to always remember and obey these commandments. Over time, their religious leaders wrote a lot of additional rules to clarify these basic commandments.
The stone tablets where God wrote the commandments were kept by the people of Israel as a physical reminder to obey.
The Lessons:
- Now that you have read the basic list, let me expand on them briefly.
- 1. God started the first commandment by reminding the people that it was Him that brought them out of slavery in Egypt. The commandment is to keep God as the top priority in their lives.
- 2. An idol is anything that we worship or put ahead of our relationship with God. It could be an object or a person or something else. [Ezekiel 14:3] says, “these men have set up idols in their hearts,” so we know that idols are not always physical objects. [Isaiah 44:13-17] talks about a man who cuts down a tree and uses part of the wood to warm himself and uses the rest to make a statue that he worships as his god.
- 3. The third commandment is about misusing God’s name. This can be done in a few different ways. It could be speaking His name lightly or irreverently or in a way that would be against His will or nature.
- 4. God created the world in six days and then he rested on the seventh day (Sabbath). God didn’t rest because He was tired, but as an example to us to be sure and give our bodies/minds the rest that we need to function properly.
- 5. We are told to honor our father and mother. This doesn’t only apply to children. It applies to us as we continue into adulthood, as well. Let me add that not all parents are “honorable.” God wants us to treat our parents with respect and honor, not because they deserve it, but because it is the right thing to do.
- 6. The sixth commandment is sometimes translated as, “Do not kill.” The Bible wasn’t originally written in English and some words don’t always have a one-to-one translation. The word that was used is a word for killing out of anger or hatred or malice. That’s why I used the translated word “murder”.
- 7. The commandment to not commit adultery is telling us to use sexuality in the way that God intended it from the beginning.
- 8. This may seem obvious, but stealing is taking something that doesn’t belong to you.
- 9. The ninth commandment is really all about being dishonest in our words.
- 10. The tenth commandment is a little difficult in modern English because we don’t often use the word “covet” in our conversation. Coveting is wanting something that belongs to someone else. It’s not talking about, for example, wishing I had a car like my friend’s car. It’s about wanting MY FRIEND’S CAR. Coveting is not stealing, but it can certainly lead to stealing.
- The bottom line lesson is that God made these rules and expects us to obey them.
- God had Moses go up Mount Horeb to receive the stone tablets that contained the Ten Commandments.
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