Dan's Faithweb - The Ten Commandments

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Dans.Faithweb.com The Ten Commandments

Exodus 20:1-17
1 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Exodus 20:3-11
Commonly called the first table, the first four commandments concern our duty towards God. It is appropriate that those should be put first, because man had a Creator to love before he had a neighbour to love. Our duty to God is simply, to worship Him. We are to give to Him the glory due to His name.

1^st Commandment - Exodus 20:3
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2^nd Commandment - Exodus 20:4-6
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

3^rd Commandment - Exodus 20:7
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

4^th Commandment - Exodus 20:8-11
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Exodus 20:12-17
The last six of the ten commandments are commonly called the laws of the second table. They tell us our duty to ourselves and to one another. As religion towards God is an essential branch of universal righteousness, so righteousness towards men is an essential branch of true religion. Godliness and honesty must go together (see I John 4:19-21).

5^th Commandment - Exodus 20:12
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

6^th Commandment - Exodus 20:13
13 Thou shalt not kill.

7^th Commandment - Exodus 20:14
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8^th Commandment - Exodus 20:15
15 Thou shalt not steal.

9^th Commandment - Exodus 20:16
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

10^th Commandment - Exodus 20:17
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

In the book of Matthew, we see where a Pharisee-lawyer confronted Jesus about the greatest commandment of the law. The design was to tempt him, and to try, not so much his knowledge as his judgment.

Matthew 22:36-40
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Jesus tells us that the love of God is the first and great commandment of all. This is also the summary of all the commandments of the first table. God is to be loved in the first place, and nothing loved beside Him, but what is loved for Him. Love is the first and greatest thing that God demands from us, and therefore the first and greatest thing that we should devote to Him. Our love of God must be a sincere love, and not in word and tongue only. It must also be a strong love, we must love Him in the most intense degree, and we must love Him with all that is within us. It must be a singular and superlative love, we must love Him more than anything else.

To love our neighbour as ourselves is the second great commandment, and like unto the first, it is inclusive of all the commandments of the second table. The right love to our brother, whom we have seen, is both an instance and an evidence of our love to God, whom we have not seen. It is also implied that we should love ourselves. We must have a due regard to the dignity of our own natures, and a due concern for the welfare of our own souls and bodies. So, to love our neighbour as ourselves, we must honour and esteem everyone, wrong and injure no one, have a good will and good wishes for everyone, and do only good to all. We must love our neighbour as truly and sincerely as we love ourselves, and in many cases we must deny ourselves for the good of our neighbour. We should make ourselves servants to the true welfare of others, and be willing to spend and be spent for them, to lay down our lives for the brethren.

On these two commandments hang all the law, and is the sum and substance of all those precepts relating to practical religion. All obedience begins in the affections, and nothing in religion is done right, that is not done there first. This all hangs upon the law of love, that we love God in Christ, and our neighbour for His sake, for if you take away love, you have nothing.

I John 4:19-21
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Romans 13:8-10
8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

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