Have you thought of the 10 Commandments in this light?

I am sure most of you all are familiar with the “10 Commandments.”  No, I’m not talking about the movie, silly.  Rather, the commandments that God engraved with his finger on Mount Sinai and Moses brought down to share with the Israelites.

Let’s take the first commandment “You shall have no other gods before Me.‘ ”

When looking at this command, do you ever question how do I go about not having any other gods?  What about the teachings from ministers of God that teach us that, for example, to put TV or computer in front of our worship of God makes that into a god.  By doing so we are violating the first commandment, we are taught.  But the verse doesn’t even say that!  How can they know that?

How about the third: ‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.‘

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have always been told to say words such as “Oh my G…” was to take his name in vain.  But is there more to it?  How do we know what it means to take his name in vain?

The tenth commandment reads: ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.‘

To covet…. I had always been taught it means that you want specifically what someone else wants.  That item, that object, that person that your neighbor owns.  So much so that you would do anything to have it.  But isn’t there more to it that I’m missing in that teaching?

Did you know that we can answer those questions about the 10 Commandments?  Did you know that our loving Father gave us detailed instructions on how to follow him?  Follow me here.  Please don’t stop reading.

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:36-40).

The above were the words of our Messiah, Jesus.  He was asked what the greatest commandment of the Law was.  What law did he have to go by?  The only Scripture they had – the Hebrew Scriptures.  Is “Love the Lord your God…” a commandment in the 10 Commandments?  I ask because many say we only have to follow the 10 Commandments and whatever else Jesus spoke in the Newer Testament.  Yet, Jesus is saying that *all* the Law hangs on this and the second greatest command.

So, if all the law hangs on these two, then doesn’t this mean that all of those laws apply?  Because in order to follow these two greatest commandments you have to know all the Law and the Prophets.

Back to the 10 Commandments.  Let’s break them up.  I am going to break them up into two categories.  You tell me if they do not fit:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

Exodus 20:3,4,7,8 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image–any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth…

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

 

“Love your neighbor as yourself”

 

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which 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, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Do you see how all of the 10 Commandments are broken down into the two greatest commandments?  So awesome when it’s lain out and made obvious!

So: “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”   But I have only quoted only the 10 Commandments given at Sinai.

Could it be said, then, that the rest of the Law given to mankind can also be divided up into these two categories?  Let’s take it a step further now:

If all of the commands can be divided up into the two main categories, is it not possible for all the commandments to be summed up in the 10 Commands that God gave on the Mount?

Let’s look at this truth in the reverse also:  The commands throughout the Law and the Prophets show us HOW to observe the 10 Commandments, and thus, HOW to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.  AND how to love your neighbor as yourself.

So, what does it mean to covet your neighbors wife?  How do you know everything that entails?  Are we supposed to guess? How does one go about remembering the Sabbath day and keeping it holy?  The answer lies throughout the Law and the Prophets. 

Think a little deeper with me now.  What has the abandonment of the Law and the Prophets done to our society and world around us?  Take for example “Do not commit adultery.”

At face value, God is telling us to not have affairs outside of marriage.  But our loving Father knows that we need more instruction on what it all entails.  So he told us about not sleeping with our kin, or not committing fornication.  Or, hey, not engaging in homosexual activities!  Look what it has done to the church – accepting homosexuality as not a sin.  Accepting the creed that homosexuals are born that way so it’s okay for them.  By abandoning the fullness of the 10 Commandments, which the Church professes to believe are still applicable, the door has been opened for false teachers and interpretations. 

The interpretations of what God would require of us to live holy and acceptable lives, pleasing to our Father in Heaven, are lain out for us already.  There is no interpretation needed to interpret what is in the Newer Testament.  The foundation has been laid. Even Jesus, our Messiah and high Priest, Master, and Teacher, confirms this with his words that were quoted in the Gospel of Matthew.

Please, take out your bibles and read through His commandments.  Are you able to break them down into the categories?   Most of the commands are written to teach us how to deal with others.  Why would we abandon those?  Then the commands that are for the Levites and Priests ministering in the Temple – do they even apply to you?  Probably not. 

Our God shows us how to be holy.  We are made righteous through the Blood of Jesus, but he also tells us to be holy because he is holy.  His commands are not a burden but a joy!  When you start walking in his commands and seeing people around you saved and healed because of your walking in truth, you will discover the fullness of his joy.  He brought his people out of bondage in Egypt.  Why would he take them out only to put them in more bondage if the law was such a burden and bondage?  It was instruction on how to live holy so that we can reflect his holiness!

BE HOLY BECAUSE HE IS HOLY!