What are the Ten Commandments?

How and Why God Gave His Law to the Jews

Jul 22, 2009 Ronald G Falconberry

God gave Israel the Ten Commandments to serve as a covenant, a moral guide to lead them to righteous living, an introduction to sin and a promise of something better.

The Old Testament book of Exodus tells how God used the power of the ten plagues to free the nation of Israel from Egyptian slavery. Working through Moses, God led the Jews out of Egypt, through the Red Sea and across the Desert of Sin.

Three months after leaving Egypt, the Israelites arrived at the foot of Mount Sinai, also known as Mount Horeb.

God Gave the Ten Commandments to Israel

Three days after arriving at Mount Sinai, God spoke directly to the people of Israel and delivered to them what is known as the Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue (ten words). According to Exodus 20:1-17, God told them, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." He continued by saying:

“You shall have no other gods before me."
"You shall not make for yourself an idol."
"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God."
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy."
"Honor your father and mother."
"You shall not murder."
"You shall not commit adultery."
"You shall not steal."
"You shall not give false testimony."
”You shall not covet."

God carved the Ten Commandments into stone tablets which he gave to Moses, but Moses broke them in anger when he discovered that the people had built a golden calf as an idol. (Exodus 31:18) God delivered a second set of stone tablets to Moses later to replace the broken set. (Exodus 34:1-28)

The Purpose of the Ten Commandments

Why did God give Israel the Ten Commandments? First, as the New Bible Dictionary points out, it constituted a covenant between God and Israel. According to Exodus 34:28, God "wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant - the Ten Commandments." In Deuteronomy 4:13, Moses told Israel that God "declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets." Additionally, Deuteronomy 9:9-15 refers to them as “the tablets of the covenant” three times.

Second, the Ten Commandments served as a guide for moral living. The Zondervan Life Application Study Bible states that the commandments were designed to help Israel "see the nature of God and his plan for how they should live." The first four commandments were given to help the Jews learn, first of all, to love, honor and obey their God. The last six commandments were guides to help the Israelites build good relationships with each other based on love and mutual respect.

Third, because it served as a moral guide, the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law of Moses, of necessity, also identified what sin was. The apostle Paul wrote that “I would not have known what sin was except for the law” and “when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.” (Romans 7:7-10)

Righteousness Does not Come from the Ten Commandments

As Paul wrote in Romans 3:20: “no one is declared righteous in [God's] sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” Psalms 14:3, written by David, states that “All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt, there is no one who does good, not even one."

The history of Israel found in the pages of the Old Testament supports their statements. The Jews continually angered God as they broke his moral codes time after time, both as individuals and as a nation. As a result of their sinfulness, God brought diseases, famines, war and death upon his people, allowed Israel to be conquered many times, divided into two kingdoms and let his people be taken into captivity.

The Ten Commandments Pointed to Christ

The failure of Israel to achieve righteousness through observing the law introduced a fourth purpose for the Ten Commandments: they pointed forward to the coming of the Christ.

Paul asks: “What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.” (Galatians 3:19) The prophet Jeremiah recorded God’s promise that “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” and “I will put my law in their minds and write it in their hearts.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Some 1400 years after God gave Israel the Ten Commandments, Jesus began his ministry. The article, Jesus on the Ten Commandments, looks at what Jesus had to say about the law and how it should be observed.

Additional Reading:

The Ten Plagues of Egypt tells how God used the plagues to free Israel from Egyptian slavery and demonstrate his power.

Sources:

NIV Life Application Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1985).
"Ten Commandments." New Bible Dictionary. 2nd Edition. Ed. J.D. Douglas et al. (Leicester: Inter Varsity Press, 1982).

The copyright of the article What are the Ten Commandments? in Protestantism is owned by Ronald G Falconberry. Permission to republish What are the Ten Commandments? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Ten Commandments Reveal God's Moral Law