2. The Ten Commandments 20:1-17

"We now reach the climax of the entire Book, the central and most exalted theme, all that came before being, as it were, a preparation for it, and all that follows, a result of, and supplement to it."³²⁷

There are two types of law in the Old Testament, and these existed commonly in the ancient Near East. Apodictic lawsare commands with the force of categorical imperatives. They are positive or negative. The Ten Commandments are an example of this type of law that occurs almost exclusively in the Old Testament and rarely in other ancient Near Eastern law codes. "Thou shalt . . ."and "Thou shalt not . . ."identify this type of commend. Casuistic lawsare commands that depend on qualifying circumstances. They are also positive or negative, and there are many examples in the Mosaic Law (e.g., 21:2-11, et al.) as well as in other ancient Near Eastern law codes. This type of command is identifiable by the "If . . . then . . ."construction.

Compared with other ancient Near Eastern codes (e.g., the Code of Hammurabi) the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) is positive and concise. God allowed the Israelites much freedom. There were comparatively few restrictions on their personal behavior (cf. Gen. 1:29-30; 2:16-17).

"The Ten Commandments were unique in Old Testament times because they possessed prohibitions in the second person singular and because they stressed both man's exclusive worship of one God and man's honoring the other person's body, rights, and possessions. Breaking these commandments would result in spiritual confusion and in human exploitation."³²⁸

Notice that the Ten Commandments use verbs, not nouns. Nouns leave room for debate, but verbs do not. God gave His people ten commandments, not ten suggestions.

 Preface 20:1-2

These verses form a preamble and historical background to the Decalogue that follows. The Israelites were to obey God on the double basis of who He is and what He had done for them.

Most scholars have divided the Ten Commandments (cf. Deut. 5:6-18) into two groups in two different ways. The older Jewish method, called Philonic after the Jewish scholar Philo, was to divide them in two groups of five commandments each. The Jews believed that this is how God divided them on the two tablets of stone. The newer Christian method, called Augustinian after the church father Augustine, divided them into the first three and the last seven commandments. The basis for this division is subject matter. The first three commands deal with man's relationship with God and the last seven with his relationship with other people (cf. Matt. 22:36-40). Some scholars believe that each tablet contained all ten commandments in keeping with the ancient Near Eastern custom of making duplicate copies of covenant documents.³²⁹

 The first commandment 20:3

This was a call to monotheism and faithfulness to the Lord. Israel was to have no other gods besides Yahweh. He was not just to be the first among several but the only One (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31; 1 Tim. 2:5; Acts 14:15; James 2:19; 1 John 5:20-21).³³⁰

"Yahweh had opened himself to a special relationship with Israel, but that relationship could develop only if Israel committed themselves to Yahweh alone. Yahweh had rescued them and freed them, delivered them and guided them, then come to them. The next step, if there was to be a next step, belonged to them. If they were to remain in his Presence, they were not to have other gods."³³¹

 The second commandment 20:4-6

"As the first commandment forbids any association with other gods to those who would be Yahweh's, the second commandment and the two that follow it set special dimensions of their relationship with him."³³²

This was a prohibition against making images or likenesses of Yahweh. God did not forbid making pictures or images of creatures per se. Any likeness of God demeans Him and retards rather than advances His worship. By making an image of a god people put themselves in a position of sovereignty over the deity. God wanted His people to accept their place as the creatures of the Creator. The Israelite who made an image of Yahweh would put himself or herself in the position of creator and Yahweh in the place of created thing. Furthermore he or she would face temptation to confuse the image with God and worship it rather than Him.

The consequences of disobedience to this command would continue for a few generations, as the later history of Israel proved. However obedience to it would result in blessing for limitless generations (cf. Deut. 7:9-10).

"Yahweh's jealousy is a part of his holiness (Exod 34:14) and is demanded by what he is. It is justified by the fact that it comes only upon those who, having promised to have no God but him, have gone back on that promise. Those who do so show that they hate' him, that they hold him in contempt: upon them in result must come a deserved judgment, across four generations."³³³

"The use of images and the human control of the god that was a part of their use would infringe on the freedom of Yahweh to manifest himself when and how he sovereignly determined. By prohibiting the one means by which the gods of the people around Israel supposedly manifested themselves Israel was protected from the assimilation of foreign religious values, and the prohibition of images played a significant role in the successful survival of Israel's religion. It seems clear that the prohibition of images both in practice and in its theological basis is but another example of the fundamentally different religious value-system that distinguished Israel from her ancient Near Eastern contemporaries."³³⁴

"Through sacrifice to the idol, large amounts of material productivity were funneled into the control of the Canaanite priestly and royal classes. The idol was therefore a kind of tax or tribute gathering device. In this context, Israelite hostility to cultic images yields to a possible two-fold interpretation. First, by repudiating the cultic image, Israel rid itself of an important source of wealth for the ruling classes, thereby thwarting possible internal programs seeking to reestablish political hierarchy. Second, frontier Israel was insured that agricultural goods used in cultic sacrifice would be circulated back into the producing community [cf. Deut. 12:5-7; 26:12-15]. An imageless cult was one way of enhancing political and economic self-sufficiency."³³⁵

 The third commandment 20:7

Taking God's name in vain means using the name of God in a common way. The name of God represents the person of God. The Israelites were to show respect for the person of God by their use of His name. They were not to use it simply for emphasis or for any unworthy objective in their speech (cf. Matt. 5:33-37; James 5:12).

"The third commandment is directed not toward Yahweh's protection, but toward Israel's. Yahweh's name, specifically the tetragrammaton but in principle allYahweh's names and titles, must be honored, blessed, praised, celebrated, invoked, pronounced, and so shared. To treat Yahweh's name with disrespect is to treat his gift lightly, to underestimate his power, to scorn his Presence, and to misrepresent to the family of humankind his very nature as The One Who Always Is.'"³³⁶

 The fourth commandment 20:8-11

The Sabbath was the seventh day, Saturday. This day was to be a day of rest for Israel because God ceased from His creation activity on the seventh day (Gen. 2:3). God blessed it and made it holy (v. 11) in that He made it different from the other days for Israel.

This is the only one of the Ten Commandments not reiterated for the church in the New Testament. Traditionally the church has celebrated the first day of the week as a memorial to Jesus Christ's resurrection, which event is the ground of our rest (Rom. 4:25).³³⁷

 The fifth commandment 20:12

"The first four commandments set forth the principles guiding Israel's relationship to Yahweh; and the last six commandments set forth the principles guiding Israel's relationship with the covenant community, and more broadly, with the human family. As the second, third, and fourth commandments are in many ways extensions of the first commandment, the first four commandments are the foundation for the final six commandments. And allof the commandments, as principles governing covenant relationships, are founded on the ultimate OT statement of relationship, which stands as prologue to the ten commandments: I am Yahweh, your God' . . . Because Yahweh is, and is Israel'sGod, Israel both isand must becomea certain and special people."³³⁸

All Israelites were to honor their parents because parents are God's representatives to their children in God's administrative order. Thus the fifth commandment is as foundational to commandments six through ten as the first commandment is to commandments two through four. The Israelites were to honor God because He had given them life, and they were to honor their parents because they were His instruments in giving them life. The promise of long life in the Promised Land is a reminder that God gave the command to Israelites. The Apostle Paul repeated this responsibility as binding on the church in Ephesians 6:1-3 but changed the command to "obey,"as well as the promise (cf. Matt. 15:3-4; Col. 3:20).³³⁹

 The sixth commandment 20:13

God did not forbid killing per se. He commanded capital punishment and some war. The Israelites were to execute murderers and others under the Mosaic Law. However, He prohibited taking a human life without divine authorization. This included suicide (cf. John 3:15).³⁴⁰

 The seventh commandment 20:14

Adultery is sexual intercourse when one or both partners are married (or engaged, under Israelite law; cf. Deut. 22:23-29) to someone else. Adultery destroys marriage and the home, the foundations of society (cf. Matt. 5:27-28; 1 Cor. 6:9-20). Adultery is an act, not a state. People commit adultery; they do not live in adultery, except in the sense that they may continually practice it.

 The eighth commandment 20:15

Since stealing of any kind and under any circumstances was wrong, clearly God approved of private ownership of goods in Israel. Israel was somewhat socialistic economically, but it was not communistic (cf. Eph. 4:28).

 The ninth commandment 20:16

Social order depends on truthful speech (cf. Lev. 19:11; Col. 3:9-10).

 The tenth commandment 20:17

It is specifically what belongs to one's neighbor and is not for sale, contrasted with something for sale, that is the focus of this command. A legitimate desire is not the same as coveting, which is an obsessive desire. Coveting is the root attitude from which every sin in word or deed against a neighbor springs (cf. Eph. 5:3). The five categories of the most valuable possessions the neighbor could have represent all that he has.

". . . none of the Ten Commandments reappear in the New Testament for this age of grace as Mosaic legislation. All of the moral principlesof the ten laws do reappear in the New Testament in a framework of grace."³⁴¹

"The influence of the Ten Words on Western morality and law is beyond calculation. They have come to be recognized as the basis of all public morality."³⁴²

In view of this fact it is especially tragic that it is now illegal to post a copy of the Ten Commandments in any American public school classroom.