The Ten Commandments in Order from 1 to 10
T he ten commandments as written and given by God to Moses on two tablets of stone on Mount Sinai, and as recorded by Moses in Exodus 20:1-17 (and later also in Deuteronomy 5:6-21) in order from 1 to 10 are as follows.
Responsibility towards God:
- You shall have no other gods before me (verse 3).
- You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below (verse 4). You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me (verse 5), but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments (verse 6).
- You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name (verse 7).
- Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (verse 8). Six days you shall labor and do all your work (verse 9), but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it, you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns (verse 10). For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (verse 11).
Responsibility towards man/men:
- Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you (verse 12).
- You shall not murder (verse 13).
- You shall not commit adultery (verse 14).
- You shall not steal (verse 15).
- You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor (verse 16).
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor (verse 17).
Background and Purpose
Background
From as early as Creation, God desired to have a people that He would call His own. So when God created Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:26-27), this was His objective.
However, Adam and Eve disobeyed God when they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree – they rebelled against God and His authority over them. They declared their independence from God (Genesis 3).
Therefore, God had to select another man through whom He would establish His own people. And the onus fell on Abraham, whom He called to His purpose of forming His own unique people (Genesis 12:1-3).
Consequently, Abraham obeyed God’s voice, and through him, God established the nation of Israel in Canaan. But many years later, a famine broke out in Canaan, and it forced the Israelites to migrate to Egypt, where they grew into a strong and populous nation (Exodus 1:1-7).
Slavery in Egypt
Therefore, the Egyptians perceived the Israelites to be too many and too strong for them. And the Egyptians made the Israelites to be their slaves. They used this opportunity to greatly oppress the Israelites (Exodus 1:8-14).
Consequently, the Israelites cried out to God, who remembered His plan and agreement with Abraham. And God then chose and called Moses to deliver His people from the bondage of slavery in Egypt (Exodus 2-3).
The Purpose of the Ten Commandments
Moses, therefore, led the nation of Israel out of Egypt. And when they had camped in the wilderness of Sinai, before Mount Sinai, when Moses had gone up to God, God told Moses to tell the Israelites: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself (4). Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine (5), you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (6a).” (Exodus 19:1-6)
