Ten Commandments

[skburton]

The Ten Commandments

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Background
  • Christians and the Ten Commandments
  • Orientation of the Heart
  • If Only We Understood God
  • Words, Instructions, or Commandments
  • A Covenant
  • Numbering the Ten Commandments
  • Structure
• 1^st Principle
• How Deep Does it Go
• 2^nd Principle
• 3^rd Principle
• 4^th Principle
• 5^th Principle
• Summary

Introduction

If you are thinking you already know everything there is to know about the Ten Commandments, you are probably wrong. There is great depth in the commandments. Likely more than any man has known.

This study takes a different approach to understanding the Ten Commandments; one that digs deeper than others. In the process we'll understand other verses in the Bible that weren't clear before. We'll see explanations for some things that Jesus and the Apostles said about the Ten Commandments.

For example, Jesus says that hatred and arrogance are the same as murder. How can that be? Murder is the physically violent, irreversible ending of a person's life. How can arrogance be the same as that? We accept it because Jesus said it but, in this study, we will see why that makes sense.

Even as the author, preparing this study has provided me with many insights and challenged me to live a life closer to God's pattern.

Background

Christians and the Ten Commandments

Why would we think that the Ten Commandments apply to Christians? They are part of the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. We don't believe we should obey most of the Old Testament laws, for example the food laws. So why should the Ten Commandments apply to us?

The quick and easy answer is that the Apostles apply the Ten Commandments to the people in the churches they wrote to. That alone doesn't really tell us enough about what relationship a Christian should have with the Ten Commandments and all of the Old Testament law.

The Apostle Paul said many things about the law and its place in the Christian's life. It sometimes seems though that he is contradicting himself. For example, he speaks of the law being a killer and then he calls it holy. He says we are not under the control of the law but then he says we obey it.

He who made us worthy to be ministers of the new covenant, not in the scripture, but in the Spirit, for the scripture kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6)

What therefore shall we say? Is the Law (Torah) sin? God forbid! But I would not have learned sin except by the Law (Torah), for I would not have known lust, if the Law had not said, "Do not lust." ⁸ In this commandment sin found for itself an occasion and developed in me every lust, for without the Law (Torah), sin was dead. ⁹ But I was alive without the Law at first, but when the commandment came, sin lived, and I died. ¹⁰ And I found that commandment of life to be for death. ¹¹ For sin, in the occasion that it found for itself, seduced me by the commandment, and killed me with it. ¹² the Law therefore is holy and the commandment is holy, just and good. (Romans 7:7-12)

But now we have been exempted from the Law (Torah), and we are dead to that which had controlled us, so that we shall serve from now on in the newness of the Spirit and not in the Old Order Scriptures. (Romans 7:6)

For because the Law (Torah) was weak through the sickliness of the flesh, God sent his Son in the form of sinful flesh, because of sin, to condemn sin in his flesh, ⁴ That the righteousness of the Law would be fulfilled in us, that we would not walk in the flesh but in the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)

For the Law (Torah) perfects nothing, but hope, which is greater than it, entered in its place, by which we approach God. (Hebrews 7:19)

Because Paul seems to sometimes contradict himself, some people have said that his view of the law was evolving over time. The answer to them is that the Bible was written by the Holy Spirit, not by man. The Holy Spirit, being God, does not evolve.

The reason for the seeming contradiction is that Paul is describing different aspects of the law for different groups. The law is not just a bunch of rules. It has various purposes and roles in the lives of people. It's like the story of the three blind men describing an elephant. They haven't been told it is an elephant. The first man finds the elephant's trunk and describes it as a thick hose. The second man finds a leg and describes it being like a tree. The third man finds the tail and describes it as tassels that whip back and forth and don't smell very good.

As it was for these men so it is for Paul's discussions of the law. Until we get all the information together it can seem like he is describing the law in different ways.

I think Paul's message about the law and Christians can be summarized this way. The power of the law is in the sting of death it wields. Looked at one way, the law can only declare a man to be sinful and thus pronounce death upon him. It cannot declare him to be holy. Looked at another way, though, the law is good, if its laws are used as a guide to living a righteous life.

The law says what is wrong without really saying what is right. But if we look deeply into the law and those things the law is not against, we have a guide to living a righteous life.

Jesus was born under the control of the law and therefore it was necessary for him to obey it and he did so without fault. If not, it would have pronounced death against him as well. Instead he lived according to the righteousness that is in the law. Only Jesus was ever able to live without violating that standard.

But all men have sinned and the pronouncement of eternal death and separation from God is on them. This is because our sins incur a debt to God that can only be paid by death. Everything we have was given us by God, therefore we have nothing we can give God to pay the debt. The only hope for mankind is, and has always been, faith that God would redeem us (pay the debt that was owed), not because we deserved it but because he was merciful. In his grace God provided his son Jesus, that in his death, the debt we could not pay ourselves would be paid. If we accept him and trust him, he will redeem us when he returns.

Sidebar:

There is a connection between the Holy Spirit and the Ten Commandments. The Holy Spirit was given on the day we celebrate as Pentecost. In Hebrew that day is called Shavu'ot. The Ten Commandments were also given on Shavu'ot, though more than 1000 years earlier.

Therefore the Holy Spirit is related to the law just as Jeremiah said "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:33 also Hebrews 8:10, Hebrews 10:16)

Faith in Jesus now gives us the Holy Spirit. Of course the spirit of God is holy, but that isn't what is meant by "Holy Spirit". It would be better to say the "Spirit of Holiness" or the "Spirit that leads to Holiness." Because of the sinful nature we inherited from Adam, the law was difficult to use as a guide to living a righteous life. Mostly it was a killer. But if we will follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he will help us to live out the righteousness that is in the law.

Fear of the pronouncement of death that is in the law serves to drive the righteous away from that danger and somewhat toward a righteous life. But it can never help them to move toward perfection. I think of it like an electric fence that keeps farm animals inside the yard. Like them, wise people keep a safe distance from the shock it can give. But the fence cannot get them to go to the house where the comfort and food are. For that a guide from the house is needed to lead them.

We are therefore now not under the law in that its sting has no power over us. Yet we live according to the righteousness of the law with the help of the Holy Spirit. Yet the Holy Spirit does not teach differently than the law. As long as we continue in faith, Jesus is quick to forgive our failures when we repent. His sacrifice covers the debt.

That's my summary of Paul's teachings on the law and the Holy Spirit.

I have an example of how the law and the Holy Spirit work together. When I returned to the faith, the Holy Spirit prodded me to know that something I was doing was wrong. I didn't know why it was wrong but I stopped. Years later, after I understood the Ten Commandments more deeply, I knew why it was wrong.

Therefore we study the Ten Commandments to know both the acceptable standard and to gain some insight into living a righteous life. Yet we should be guided by the Spirit who helps us to apply the fullness of the Ten Commandments to our lives and to be even closer to God.

In summary:

• The law is best at pronouncing a verdict of death
• The law cannot make you acceptable to God, only faith can do that
• The law is a weak guide to a righteous life because of our weaknesses
• The Holy Spirit helps us to be holy, to live holy, which is righteously

Orientation of the Heart

We need to be careful where the law fits into our lives though. As always it's a matter of the heart. Obeying the law needs to be a matter of love for God. We should be obedient because we love God and he wants us to live according to the law and not for some other reason.

Obedience can be perverted into observing the law for the wrong reasons, "because the pastor said we should", "because we know we should", "because everyone else does", "because God will reward us", "because it makes us better than others", or "because we like rules". Obedience can also be perverted in the other direction where we try to find reasons not to obey or we improvise and say that we have done something just as good or better. In all these cases the problem is a misalignment between the heart and God's will.

Our attitude toward the law should be to neither add nor take away, but to obey to the best of our abilities and understanding with the help of the Holy Spirit.

If Only We Understood God

If only we understood God, we would desire to be like him because that is what pleases him. We would understand that God is love, but more importantly we would understand what love is. Then we would not need the Ten Commandments, nor even the Bible. But we are easily confused about love. Some things that are not love we call love and we exclude some things that are love.

For example, love requires justice. If one man kills another, love does not say "Oh that's OK". Killing is a violation of love. A wrong has been done and justice requires that a debt is owed that must be paid and death is the only payment.

But love also includes mercy. Instead of requiring the debt to be paid immediately an opportunity is provided for repentance to which the response is forgiveness. Since we have nothing with which we could repay such a debt, the grace that is part of love provides a way for that debt to be paid and for us to be restored to God.

Love cannot tolerate anything that is not love, anything that is evil. For those who will not repent, justice demands death.

In this short example we have seen that love is not just fluffy sentimental love but it is also justice, mercy, grace, forgiveness, a desire for restoration, a hatred of evil, and … execution.

Because we do not understand love, it was necessary for God to tell us about himself. Part of that message is the Ten Commandments, examples of things that love does and does not do. By studying them we are learning about God. But they are deep, as you would expect from God, and they require study so that they will not only be in our minds but in our hearts. Therefore God said:

These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

And it was so important that he said it again later.

You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. ¹⁹ You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. ²⁰ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deuteronomy 11:18-20)

If only we understood God, we would want to be like him and he would not have to say "Be holy as I am holy." We would want to be holy, just, merciful, forgiving, gracious and all the other things that are characteristic of God.

If only we understood God, we would not need law. But we don't understand God and therefore he gave us his law. From the first, God made man with an understanding of God that was built-in to man's conscience. Later we were given the written law and then later the Holy Spirit.

In summary:

• God is love
• Love is more than feelings
  • Love is justice, mercy, forgiveness, grace, desire for restoration, hatred of evil, and execution of justice on the unrepentant
• We do not understand these so the law was given to us

Words, Instructions, or Commandments

We sometimes think of the Ten Commandments as being like the laws that lawyers like to fight over, precise, detailed, and complete. They aren't though. The Hebrew word that is translated as "Commandments" can also be translated as "Words" (sayings) or "Instructions". In fact the meaning of the English "You shall not" in Hebrew is "You will not"¹ That represents their nature better. The commandments could have been written "If you are mine, you will not … ."

It's also best to think of them as examples of deeper principles, and not as a checklist. Jesus taught that it isn't so much the action that breaks the commandment as the heart. If you treat it as a checklist, you might check off "Murder" because you hadn't killed anyone that day, but you may have murdered someone in your heart.

You have heard that it was said to the ancients, "Do not murder, and whoever murders is condemned to judgment." ²² But I am saying to you, that everyone who will be angry against his brother without cause is condemned before the judge, and everyone who will say to his brother, 'I spit on you', is condemned before the assembly, and whoever will say 'You fool' is condemned to the Gehenna of fire. (Matthew 5:21-22)

Jesus says that the commandment on murder includes more than the act of murder. It includes hatred, despising, and arrogance. When we get to the detailed study of that commandment, we'll see how it makes sense that these are the equivalent of murder.

This equivalence between hatred and murder wasn't something new that was introduced by Jesus. That commandment was always that way. Moses had said the same thing but in a different way.

You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. (Leviticus 19:17)

So, the Ten Commandments should be understood as examples to lead to a deeper understanding, not like the laws of men.

Being examples that were given to Israel, they were written for Israel. Thus we see wording like " brought you out of the land of Egypt" and "in the land which the Lord your God gives you." You might be thinking you don't remember being in Egypt nor being promised any land. To handle these, we translate them into our context. So, for Egypt we think of a spiritual Egypt, full of idolatry, that God took us out from.

Paul does that context translation himself. The commandment from Deuteronomy 5:16 says:

Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you

But Paul says this to the Ephesians:

And this is the first commandment of promise: "Honor your father and your mother, ³ and it shall be well for you and your life shall be long on the Earth." (Ephesians 6:2-3)

Notice how Paul has changed "the land which the Lord your God gives you" to "the Earth" for his Gentile audience in Ephesus. The promise of land was only made to Israel but the commandment applies anyway.

Notice also what was said at the start of this study. Paul here applies the 5^th commandment to the Gentile Christians. Other Apostles also do this and with other commandments. Therefore we know the Ten Commandments do apply to us.

In summary:

• The Ten Commandments are not like the laws of men, exact legal descriptions of offenses or requirements
• The Ten Commandments are examples to lead the seeker to understand deeper principles
• Jesus showed that there was depth to the Ten Commandments
• The Ten Commandments (examples) were written for Israel and sometimes need to be translated into our context

A Covenant

The Ten Commandments are not just ten commandments. They are the center piece of a covenant, a legal agreement or contract, between God and the people of Israel. Under this agreement, God will be their king and will rule them like a king rules his people. He will provide the system of government, the holy days, the legal system, everything they need in their lives.

It is primarily a contract with the nation as a whole but places requirements on each individual as a result. Under this contract God promises to bless the nation as long as the people continue to love and obey him. They are to be a holy priesthood and a light to the nations and God will give them a land to live in.

Numbering the Ten Commandments

Though the Bible doesn't number the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, it says there are ten. Different groups have numbered them in different ways, however, sometimes very different. The table below shows the changes throughout history.

Talmud - T ²

Septuagint - LXX

Augustine - A

Catholicism - C

Lutheranism - L

Protestantism - P

<ABBR>T</ABBR>	<ABBR>LXX</ABBR>	<ABBR>A</ABBR>	<ABBR>C</ABBR>	<ABBR>L</ABBR>	<ABBR>P</ABBR>	Main article
1	-	-	1	-	(1)	I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
2	1	1	1	1	1	Thou shalt have no other gods before me
2	2	1	1	-	2	Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
3	3	2	2	2	3	Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
4	4	3	3	3	4	Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy
5	5	4	4	4	5	Honor thy father and thy mother
6	6	5	5	5	6	Thou shalt not kill
7	7	6	6	6	7	Thou shalt not commit adultery
8	8	7	7	7	8	Thou shalt not steal
9	9	8	8	8	9	Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
10	10	10	10	9	10	Thou shalt not covet (neighbor's house)
10	10	9	9	10	10	Thou shalt not covet (neighbor's wife)
10	10	10	10	10	10	Thou shalt not covet (neighbor's servants, animals, or anything else)

In summary:

• The Catholic Church made a big change to the numbering in the time of Augustine, around 400 AD
  • Because the Catholic Church was then deciding for the last time to allow statues into churches, some think this was done to hide the second commandment's prohibition
  • Augustine explains his reasoning by saying that "no other gods before me" and "not make unto thee any graven image" are the same commandment, so he split another one (Covet) to keep the 10 count
• The Protestants changed the numbering back to that in the LXX

Structure

Why are the Ten Commandments written on stone, when all the rest of the law was written on Papyrus or something similar?

Why are there two tablets instead of one or even 3, the number of God?

Right away people understood that the Ten Commandments were not a randomly organized set of rules. They have structure to them, organization that contains additional meaning. Being made from stone symbolizes their unchangeable nature, and their foundational nature. It also implies that other parts of the law are not as permanent.

The order of the commandments also contained structure - they were grouped by relationship. The first commandments addressed our relationship with God; the last commandments addressed our relationship with man. There was general agreement that they would have been written on the tablets in the same way.

We also understand that there are two greater commandments that summarize this structure. These summaries come from verses in the Old Testament.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

This verse summarizes the commandments that address our relationship with God.

[…] love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18)

This verse summarizes the commandments that address our relationship with man.

Jesus put the two together in his teachings.

Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; ³⁰ and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' ³¹ The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31)

The two-tablet structure we've seen can be called a vertical structure. The commandments on each tablet can be viewed as a stack of vertically associated commandments, giving two stacks.



³ There is also additional meaning in another structure of the tablets. To find that additional meaning though we need to do some restoration on the tablets. We mentioned earlier that the numbering of the commandments has changed over time. We'll restore that to the Jewish understanding. We'll use that because it treats "no other gods before me" and "not make unto thee any graven image" as one commandment, which is correct. Otherwise God's commandment to create two angels on the Ark of the Covenant would be a violation of his own law.

The number of commandments on each tablet also needs to be restored. The Christian churches have generally come to accept that the first 4 commandments are on one tablet and the remaining 6 are on the other tablet. The Jews have never thought that.





⁴ The problem comes from misunderstanding the 5^th commandment, honor your father and mother. This has come to be seen as a commandment about our relationship with man and therefore it is placed with the later commandments. Paul, however, explains that there is more to that commandment.

Let every soul be subject to the authority of the great, for there is no authority that is not from the same God, and those authorities who are from God are under orders. ² Whoever therefore stands against the authority stands against the decrees of God, and these who stand against them shall receive judgment. (Romans 13:1-2)

We know Paul is using a commandment as the basis for his teaching on obeying those in authority because he finishes off his point by listing other commandments.

For this also that says, "You shall not commit adultery", "You shall not murder", "You shall not steal", "You shall not covet", or if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in the saying: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Romans 13:9)

With a little thought we see it is the 5^th commandment he is using. It certainly touches on our relationship with man (those in authority over us) but it's foundation is our relationship with the one who is in authority over all and who gives authority to others. Therefore, it needs to go with the first 4 commandments.





⁵ With the 5^th commandment on the first tablet, we have five on each tablet and it becomes possible to ask a question. If there is a vertical correlation between the commandments is there also a horizontal correlation between the commandments. Does the first commandment on one tablet relate to the first commandment on the other tablet, and the second to the second, and so on? The answer is yes and this was understood well before Jesus' time. This produces 5 principles that help us to correctly understand the related commandments.

In fact a Jewish sage who died shortly after Jesus was born used these principles to derive an understanding that is not in the Old Testament but that Jesus taught. Hillel said:

That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.

The commandments and the principles apply to individuals, but the principles can also be seen as if-then statements that apply to a cultural group such as a country. If a culture understands and reveres the commandment toward God then it will also fulfil its paired commandment, the commandment toward man⁶

To get the value from these 5 principles, we are going to study the Ten Commandments in the order of the principles. So we'll do the 1^st and 6^th commandments together, 2^nd and 7^th together, and so on. We'll begin each pair by finding the common principle, then we'll apply that back to each commandment, and that help us define the principle even better.

So far we've called "I am the Lord your God" the 1^st commandment, moved the 5^th commandment to the first tablet, and said that the commandments are linked horizontally between the tablet, which neither Protestants nor Catholics accept. So why should you keep reading? Why should you believe anything that comes from this study?

We'll use the Scientific Method to determine if there is value in this approach and so we'll ask the question, "Does this approach make any testable predictions?". It makes two. First, it will open up a deeper understanding of the Ten Commandments. That's a bit subjective though. How would you know if it wasn't a bad understanding masquerading as a deep understanding. You can judge for yourself. Second, this approach will explain things that you don't understand. We accept the things that Jesus and the apostles said because they said them, but sometimes we don't understand why they are true. This approach will explain some of those.

In summary:

• The Ten Commandments were delivered on two tablets implying there is a structure to the tablets
• This structure is summarized in two Old Testament verses
• Jesus called these verses "greater commandments"
• When the commandments are grouped with 5 on each tablet a horizontal structure can be discovered
• This structure has been known for thousands of years

1^st Principle

1 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Exodus 20:2)

6 You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13)

What is the relationship between these two? What are they both about at their core? We can even ask, how is the 1^st commandment a commandment at all? What would we do to obey this commandment? Accept for the moment that it is a commandment and we'll continue on.

In the 1^st commandment God is establishing who he is, that he is. He begins by saying "I AM." There are two ways to say "I am" in Hebrew. It can't be seen in the English translation but the "I am" that is used here is reserved for God or high officials.

There is something else that is lost in translation. As is commonly done in English translations, the words "the Lord" replace the personal name of God, יהוה. His name has meaning and is roughly "I am that I am" or "I am what I am".

We also see God saying "I am the God who brought the plagues on Egypt. I am the God who divided the water so you could cross the Red Sea."

Over and over here we see the concept "I am" which leads us to understand the foundation of this commandment. It is about the existence of God. A clarification could be added to the end of the verse, like "Thou shalt not deny / abuse / trivialize my existence". That would make it look like the other commandments, but it would be redundant; God had already said "I AM".

That's as far as we can go with this commandment. We have the concept of "Existence". Now we'll take that over to the 6^th commandment to see if it makes sense there.

Is the 6^th commandment say "You shall not murder"? Yes, what is murder about if not existence? But there is more. This commandment is about terminating existence. So now we'll take that back to the 1^st commandment and see if it fits there.

Well, we can't kill God. But God created each of us with a desire for Him and that can be killed. The atheist says there is no God. He's wrong but within himself he has killed God. He has chosen a perspective where there is no God. In 1966 the New York Times ran a front-page article titled "God is Dead." So it is possible to kill God, by killing him within ourselves, by denying his existence. so, now we have the concept "Terminating existence within ourselves" which we'll take back to the 6^th commandment.

That still fits. It's hard to reject the existence of someone who is standing in front of you, but we can come very close to that. We do that by saying things like "You are dead to me", "I wish you were dead", "I would kill you if not for jail", "I hate everything about you", "you are too stupid to live", "you are nothing compared to me". We can say the words or we can have an attitude that reflects the words. We can diminish people within ourselves.

That takes us to exactly what Jesus said about murder:

You have heard that it was said to the ancients, "Do not murder, and whoever murders is condemned to judgment." ²² But I am saying to you, that everyone who will be angry against his brother without cause is condemned before the judge, and everyone who will say to his brother, 'I spit on you', is condemned before the assembly, and whoever will say 'You fool' is condemned to the Gehenna of fire. (Matthew 5:21-22)

Jesus provides three examples here. I'll refer to them as causeless anger ("angry against his brother without cause"), despising ("I spit on you"), and arrogance ("You fool"). So now we understand why what Jesus said makes sense. Previously it was hard to understand. Murder is the physically violent, irreversible ending of a person's life. How can arrogance be the same as that? The 6^th commandment is a worst-case example of a deeper and much broader principle.

So now we have "diminishing existence within yourself" which we'll take back to the 1^st commandment for the last time. It also applies to God. We diminish him within ourselves by making less than he is. One common way is this, "Our God is a God of love. He just loves everyone and everything and would never do anything to hurt anyone. He is love, love, love." This diminishes God by making him less than he is. Yes, he is a God of love but he is also a God of justice and vengeance and grace, mercy and so much more.

We now understand the common principle. It could be written in various ways but I've chosen this "Respect the existence of the other." Respect the existence of God; don't reject it or diminish it. Respect the existence of man; don't terminate it, reject it, or diminish it.

We started with "I am" and called that "existence" but we can phrase it in those terms as well. Don't terminate the "I am" of any man. Maybe saying that way helps us focus on the other person better. Just like you they value their existence and want to be treated and thought of that way.

1^st Commandment

There is something else that is lost in the translation of the 1^st commandment. The words "your God" can be misunderstood. In English we use "your" to indicate possession so "your God" could be understood as if you chose God or possess God. A direct translation of Hebrew reads "the God of you"⁷, which clearly shows the relationship between us and God.

God also reminds them that they have seen him at work before in the plagues he brought on Egypt and how they crossed the Red Sea. By doing this he shows he is a God who is involved in the lives of people. Other religions believe that their god(s) almost never involve themselves in the lives of people.

Out of those words " brought you out of the land of Egypt" come two messages about the relationship, "I care about you" and "you can have faith / trust in me."

There is also a parallel hiding in the verse. God says I am the God of you, then he refers to Egypt, the house of slavery, where they were ruled over by a man who claimed to be a god. The message appears to be that God is a greater king than Pharaoh and that God is now their king. No longer are they slaves to slaves.

There is another insight here. God brought the Israelites out of Egypt but Egypt was still in them. At the first trouble they would terminate God and turn back to the idols of Egypt. The only way for any of us to escape Egypt is to accept God as he is.

I, Not We

God says "I AM" instead of "We are." Therefore we know that there is none but God. God also makes that statement in other verses.

None-the-less "Mormons understand that there are many gods and goddesses in the cosmos."⁸

The Unborn

A compelling observation comes from applying existence to the abortion debate. The battle grounds of viability and choice are replaced by two tests, does it exist and is it mankind. If so, it is not to be diminished and certainly not murdered.

Sorcerers

There are a few special groups that God hates and it's worth knowing who they are and why God hates them. One of them is sorcerers. What exactly is a sorcerer, as God sees it? A sorcerer is a person who believes he has some ability or knowledge that gives him control over nature. Having control over nature would obviously imply that God did not have control, which is the source of the problem. God says he is always in control and we can do nothing without him. Therefore God is diminished within the sorcerer.

Diviners

The following verse will help us understand what God calls divination.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination […]. (1 Samuel 15:23)

It doesn't say that rebellion is divination but that it is similar. Rebellion is rejection of what God has said and accepting your own words in place of his. Divination is rejection of God as a source of instruction and going after nature as a source. Therefore God is diminished within the diviner.

Mediums

Another group God hates are mediums, people who act as intermediaries between the living and the dead. The problem here is people looking to the dead for answers when God is the only one who knows the answers

So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it, ¹⁴ and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse. (1 Chronicles 10:13,14)

That makes it very similar to diviners. The difference is really only in the source.

When they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? (Isaiah 8:19)

Others

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, […], one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ¹¹ or one who casts a spell, […], or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. ¹² For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)

The exact understanding of what all of these are is lost in time and therefore we don't know what we would call them in our time. It isn't necessary to know, however, the summary of them all is that God should be everything to us and we should not go seeking elsewhere.

If that list was written in our time, it would include astrologers, horoscopes, tarot cards, palm readers, and others. We should only go after God for instruction. He will teach us and prepare us as we need.

6^th Commandment

I think everyone understands that murder is wrong, even if they don't obey it. Now we understand the breadth of this commandment and includes anything that diminishes the existence of another person by wanting him not to exist, minimizing his existence, or making his existence less important than your own. We can diminish the exitance of a person without ever saying something that would let the person know - though usually that gets out, by facial expressions or the grapevine if not by words.

Often frustration is the pathway to diminishing a person. Perhaps that person regularly under achieves what should be done. That makes it easy for us to say or think "what is wrong with your brain?", or "how stupid are you?". We solve that by catching that feeling as it whelms up and replacing it with love and a desire to help. That doesn't mean it will be easy. What did Jesus say?

Then Kaypha [Peter] approached him, and he said, "My Lord, if my brother commits an offense against me, how many times shall I forgive him? Seven times?" ²² And Yeshua [Jesus] said to him, "I do not say to you until seven times, but until seventy times 7 7." (Matthew 18:21-22)

There are ways to fail. We can diminish a person within us because of their beliefs, race, skin color, gender, or wealth. We can also play favorites or treat someone unjustly.

For if a man will enter your assembly with a gold ring or fine clothing and a poor man enters in dirty clothing, ³ and you have regard for him wearing fine clothing, and you say to him, "Sit well here", and you say to the poor man, "Stand over there or sit here before our footstool." ⁴ Behold, are you not divided in your souls and have you not become expositors of wicked reasonings? (James 2:2-4)

Here is another example where we accepted what an apostle said because he was an apostle, though we didn't understand where it came from. Now we know it comes from the murder commandment. This approach to studying the Ten Commandments is proving its value.

This broader understanding of murder makes sense as well because we are created in the image of God. Causeless anger, despising, arrogance, or killing a person is an act against the creator's creation whom he loves.

Keyword: Existence

Add-on: Faith

Spiritual Dimension

The same principal can be applied to spiritual life. Jesus does exactly that.

And he took a certain boy and stood him in the midst and took him up on his shoulders and he said to them: ³⁷ Whoever shall receive one boy like this in my name is receiving me, and whoever receives me has not received me, but him who sent me. ⁴¹ But everyone who will give you only a cup of water to drink in the name that you are one who belongs to The Messiah, amen, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. ⁴² And everyone who shall subvert one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better for him if a millstone of a donkey were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea. (Luke 17:36-37,41-42)

When Jesus talks about subverting the little ones, he is talking about causing the spiritual death of spiritual children. We also understand that despising them for their spiritual immaturity would be similar.

¹³ From now on let us not judge one another, but determine this rather: "You shall not lay a stumbling block for your brother." (Romans 14:13)

If - Then

If a culture respects the existence of God then it will respect the existence of men.

How Deep Does it Go?

When you've thought about the Ten Commandments for a while you notice something. As you dig deeper you find that there is some overlap between them, almost as though some of them are connected at the edges. After a while it seems like all of them together are describing one big central … something.

Then you realize that the basic structure of the Ten Commandments has the answer. The two tablets, one relating to God and one relating to man show that this central something is God-man. The Ten Commandments are also prophetic, telling us that the Messiah would observe all the law. In the same way the Ark of the Covenant prophesied about Jesus. It contained the Ten Commandments, the bowl of manna, and the staff of Aaron, the High Priest. These prophesied that the Messiah would be the law, the bread of life, and the Great High Priest.

Note: This is the end of the first part.