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The two tablets Moses brought down from Mount Sinai are often called the "Ten Commandments," though a better translation of the Hebrew would simply be the "Ten Declarations" (i.e., aseret ha'devarim: עשׂרת הדברים, from davar: דבר, meaning "word" or "matter"). Originally the two tablets were inscribed "by the finger of God" on both sides and were called "tablets of the testimony" (i.e., luchot ha'edut: לחת העדת), but Moses shattered these when he saw the people worshiping the Golden Calf (Exod. 31:18; 32:15-19). Later, after a forty day period of heartfelt teshuvah (repentance), God invited Moses to ascend the mountain again to obtain a second set of the tablets and to learn the inner meaning of the Name of the LORD (Exod. 34:1-8).
Hebrew Lesson
Exodus 34:28b Hebrew reading:
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Now while the Ten Commandments summarize or encapsulate the central principles of the law, their unique status ought not to diminish the need to observe the other commandments, and for that reason the sages referred to them as the ten "words" (i.e., aseret ha'dibrot: עשׂרת הדברות), to indicate that they should not be regarded as the entirety of the words of the covenant (i.e., divrei ha'brit: דברי הברית) but rather as divine "axioms" from which all of the other commandments are derived (see Exod. 34:27).
Now in common Christian theological tradition, the first commandment is often thought to be, "you shall have no other gods before me" (Exod. 20:3), but Jewish tradition regards the opening words, "I am the LORD your God (אנכי יהוה אלהיך) who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Exod. 20:2) to be the first commandment and the foundation upon which all the other commandments are based. Though grammatically the statement "I am the LORD your God..." is not written as an imperative, nevertheless it assumes that you will accept the truth of God's revelation, and therefore it might also be understood as the duty or commandment to accept the truth. "I am the LORD your God who brought you out..." refers to the saving acts of God performed on your behalf, and therefore the proper response is one of heartfelt gratitude. After all, without faith in the truth that the LORD is your Redeemer who loves and chooses you, the subsequent commandments would be devoid of context and significance. Indeed all the subsequent commandments are grounded in the truth of God that is appropriated by faith (Hab. 2:4). Moses ben Nachman interprets the first commandment to know that God exists and to believe in him, which implies studying and exploring the greatness of the Creator and Savior.
The second commandment, "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exod. 20:3), implies individual accountability for your soul before the Creator of all reality. Pagan religions often believe in a supreme being but regard such as unknowable and distant and therefore they commonly appeal to divine "subordinates" (e.g., angels, other beings with godlike powers, etc.) to intervene on their behalf. The second commandment teaches that there are no intermediate or subordinate beings to which we may appeal, since there is only one God who holds all power and authority in heaven and earth and we are each accountable directly to him. When we pray, then, we are not to venerate angels or saints or to appeal to God on behalf of intermediaries. We come boldly before the Throne of Grace to make our appeals personally before the Living God (Heb. 4:16). The second commandment implies monotheism with the implication that appealing to other gods (or god-like powers) is actually worship of demonic entities (see Deut. 32:17; 1 Cor. 10:20). We are to know that the LORD is one LORD, as the opening of the Shema proclaims (Deut. 6:4).
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The third commandment is "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain" (Exod. 20:7). This commandment implies that it is forbidden to invoke God's name for unholy or profane purposes, for example in jest or as a curse, though it further forbids using the truth of God as a means of harming or degrading other people. "Lifting up" God's name for selfish purposes is a violation of this commandment, and the commandment continues by gravely warning that "the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." The sages have said that all the words of Torah together form the name of God, and if a single word or letter is missing from a Torah scroll it becomes unfit for use. This teaches that honoring God's word is therefore connected with honoring his Name, and conversely, dishonoring God's name expresses contempt for his word.
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The fourth commandment is to memorialize or "remember" (i.e., zakhor: זכוֹר) the Sabbath day for holiness (Exod. 20:8). We are to set aside, that is, regard as sacred, the seventh day as an acknowledgment that God is both our Creator (Exod. 20:11) and our Savior (Deut. 5:15). By "remembering" the Sabbath we understand other days of the week in relation to it, the "first day" until the Sabbath, the "second day" until the Sabbath, and so on until we reach the Sabbath itself which marks an appointed time of sanctity and rest (i.e., menuchah: מנוחה). Some of the Jewish mystics came to regard the Sabbath not so much as a "day" in the usual sense but rather a spiritual "atmosphere" to be welcomed and greeted as beloved (לכה דודי). The fourth commandment also includes the restriction from doing profane activities (i.e., melachah: מלאכה): "you shall not do any labor" because Shabbat is time set apart for holy pursuits, for family connections, and for healing rest. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it so that there would special provision from heaven to honor this time (Exod. 16:22). So important is the Sabbath day that God emphatically repeated the commandment just before he gave the tablets to Moses (Exod. 31:13-18).
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The first four commandments focus on our relationship with God, and it is only through obedience to these commandments that we are able to really understand our own identity - as well as the identity of others in our family, our community, and our world. The fifth commandment, to honor your parents, bridges the commandments directed heavenward (bein adam la'makom) with those directed toward one's fellow man (bein adam le'chavero). Honoring our parents teaches us the first principles of honoring God and others; it is the fulcrum by which we learn empathy and "derekh eretz" (דרך ארץ) or the basic respect that underlies courtesy and good manners. The importance of this commandment cannot be overstated, since the word translated "honor" (i.e., kabed: כבד) derives from a root word meaning "weighty" (in terms of impressiveness or importance) and is often used to refer to the glory of God. The meaning of kabed in this context derives from the preceding verses (i.e., the first four commandments) which center on honoring God Himself. When we likewise honor our father and mother, the LORD says, "I reckon it as though I dwelled with them and they honored Me" (Kiddushin 31a).
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The Mechilta (a halakhic midrash on Exodus) teaches that the ten commandments were divided into two groups with the first five on one tablet and the second five on the other, and that these correspond to one another so that, for instance, the sixth commandment (לא תרצח, "you shall not murder"; Exod. 20:13) is linked to the first commandment to believe in God (Exod. 20:2). Since man is made in the image of God, his life is infinitely precious, and only God Himself has the right to give and take life. In the Mishnah it is written, "Why was only one man (i.e., Adam) created by God? - to teach that whoever takes a single life destroys thereby a whole world; and whoever saves one life, the Scripture accounts it as though a whole world had been saved (Sanhedrin 4:5). But murder can be figurative as well as literal. The Talmud notes that shaming another publicly is like murder, since the shame causes the blood to leave the face. Moreover, gossip or slander are considered murderous to the dignity of man. The Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) states, "The evil tongue slays three persons: the utterer of the evil, the listener, and the one spoken about…" Yeshua our LORD also linked the ideas of our words and attitudes with murder (see Matt. 15:19).
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Likewise the seventh commandment prohibition against adultery (לא תנאף, Exod. 20:14) corresponds to the second commandment forbidding idolatry. Adultery refers to sexual union between a married person and someone other than his or her spouse (fornication, on the other hand, is also prohibited in the Scriptures though it is a broader term that refers to any sort of sexual contact outside the covenant of marriage). The penalty for adultery is severe (see Deut. 22:22, Lev. 20:10).
From the verse, "The adulterer waits for twilight saying, No eye shall see me" (Job 24:15), the Talmud infers the adulterer to be a practical atheist, since he does not say, "No man shall see me, but no eye - neither the eye of one below nor the eye of Him above."
Adultery is a grave sacrilege, since it not only violates the sworn promise of parties to a sacred covenant, but perverts the picture of our union with God Himself. As Paul wrote to the believers at Ephesus, "We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Messiah and the church" (Eph. 5:30-32). This is why apostasy is likewise likened to spiritual adultery...
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The eighth commandment against stealing (לא תגנב, Exod. 20:15) corresponds to the third commandment not to profane God's name. Stealing, in the sense of the Hebrew word ganav (גנב), refers to both the act of carrying off by stealth that which is not one's own (i.e., theft), but also to the deceptive inner disposition that accompanies the action. And ultimately that deceptive inner disposition is a form of self-deception. After all, none of us categorically "owns" anything, since God alone is the Creator and Giver of all of life. Stealing arrogantly (and vainly) attempts to seize some "thing" and to claim it for oneself - blindly disregarding the fact that "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).
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The ninth commandment against giving false testimony corresponds with the commandment not to profane the Sabbath. The Torah prohibits swearing falsely against your neighbor in matters of law and civil proceedings, but, on a deeper level, it implicitly indicates the responsibility to be a truthful witness at all times. Note that the Hebrew word for "truth" (i.e., emet: אמת) is composed from the first, the middle, and the last letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, thus indicating that it encompasses the first things, the last things, and everything in between. Thus, in relation to our neighbor (who is really everyone), we are to be truthful and bear witness to the truth in all our moments of life. By lying, by bearing false testimony, we effectively deny the relationship to the One who said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6). In Jewish tradition lying is called "stealing the mind" (גנבת דעת) of another person.
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The last of the ten commandments is the commandment not to covet or to want things that are not yours. The word translated covet (חמד) usually refers to selfish desire or lust (e.g., "Lust not after her beauty in thine heart..." Prov. 6:25), and thus speaks directly to the heart's innermost intention, which, even if unacknowledged by ourselves, is always revealed before God: "Your Father who sees in secret" (Matt. 6:6). On the other hand, selfish desire can - if we are willing to be honest with ourselves - reveal to ourselves the condition of our hearts and thus mark our need for deliverance from the power of sin. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome: "I had not known sin ...except the law had said, 'Thou shalt not covet'" (Rom. 7:7). Inner peace or contentment is the blessing that comes from surrendering your desires to God, letting go of your envy, and receiving your daily bread with humility and gratitude...
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It is interesting to note that nowhere in the Ten Commandments are we explicitly commanded to love God or our neighbor, though of course respect is implied in the commandments to honor God and in the prohibitions not to harm others. Perhaps this is why sages such as Hillel the Elder regarded the so-called "silver rule," namely, "do not do unto others as you would not have them do unto you," as the essential meaning of love, just as the Apostle Paul had said, "love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:10). In this connection further note that Jewish tradition later distilled the heart of the law to center on loving God with all your being (Deut. 6:4-9) and to love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18), perhaps based on Yeshua's teaching's that were widespread at the time. For instance, when Yeshua was asked by a Torah sage: "Which commandment is the most important of all?" He answered: "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:28-31).
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The Talmud (Makkot 23b-24a) says, "Moses gave Israel 613 commandments, David reduced them to eleven (Psalm 15), Isaiah to six (Isaiah 33:15-16), Micah to three (Micah 6:8), Isaiah reduced them again to two (Isaiah 56:1); but it was Habakkuk who gave the one essential commandment: v'tzaddik be'emunato yich'yeh, literally, "the righteous, by his faithfulness - shall live." In the New Testament, the apostle Paul had (earlier) distilled the various commandments of the Torah to this same principle of faith (see Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11, and Heb. 10:38). This small phrase, consisting of only three Hebrew words, sums up and restates the essential meaning of the First Commandment, the pivotal axis upon which our salvation turns, since it distills the requirement that we are justified by our faith in God which is the basis for all the other commandments. The LORD is El Emunah – "the Faithful God," and the righteous person shall live by putting his or her trust in the faithfulness and righteousness of Yeshua the Messiah, "whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30).
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