Bible ClinicJ One
A journey into the life, times, and
teachings of the Bible.
by Gary D. Strunk
Lesson 6 - The Ten Commandments
This lesson is about a very
important event in the history of God=s people, the giving of the TEN COMMANDMENTS from Mt. Sinai. But first the people must make preparation.
READ Exodus 19.
The Covenant or Agreement between
God and Israel.
1. God reminded the people of what
three things? Ex. 19:4 (cf. Dt. 32:11,12)
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2. What three things were the
Israelites to be to all the earth? vs. 5,6 __________________________________
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3. In the words of the text, what
did the people answer? v. 8 A________________________________________
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4. When Moses sanctified
(consecrated, set apart) the people, what two things were they to do? vs. 10,
15 ____
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Note: Sexual relations are not
sinful. God told Adam and Eve to be
fruitful and multiply before sin entered. But sexual activity draws tremendous
nerve energy from the brain leaving some people exhausted just like eating a
big meal makes some people sleepy.
People are often advised to eat sparingly or to fast from food entirely
for a short period in order to free more brain-nerve energy to Ahear@ God=s voice in prayer. At Mt. Sinai
they were told to fast from sexual activity in order to clear their minds and
hearts for the solemn event of meeting God and receiving His law.
5. List at least 6 ways God
manifested His presence on Mt. Sinai? vs. 16-19 ___________________________
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The Code of Hammurabi: In the winter of 1901-1902 French
excavators in Susa of Iran discovered a stone, a stele of black diorite some 7
feet high, bearing at the top a sculpture showing a Mesopotamian king
(Hammurabi) receiving the insignia of his office from the sun-god Shamash. Hammurabi was a king of Babylon from
1728-1686 B.C., about 200 years before Moses.
The stele had 282 sections of laws which were all civil in nature.
This discovery caused an immediate
sensation because the inscription contained the first collection of laws known
to antedate those of the Bible. Prior
to this find Ahigher critical@ scholars of the Bible claimed that
law codes didn=t exist before the first millennium
B.C., therefore Moses could not be the author of the Ten Commandment Laws. After this find the scholars then accused
Moses of having borrowed Ahis@ laws from Hammurabi.
However, it is now known that this ACode of Hammurabi@ is not the earliest such document. At least three collections of legal
prescriptions in the Sumerian language preceding Hammurabi=s are known: (1) a narrative account
of reforms undertaken by Urukagina, ruler of Lagash in Sumer about 2400 B.C.;
(2) a collection of laws of Ur-Nammu founder of the third dynasty of Ur, about
2100 B.C.; and (3) a Acode@ of Lipit-Ishtar, King of Isin, about 1800 B.C. The only Akkadian Acode@ antedating Hammurabi=s is that of an unknown king of Eshnunna, northeast
of Babylon, and it probably was not much earlier.
Richard Ellis of Yale University
concludes, ?Now that other sources are known, it
seems more accurate to say that there existed a body of traditional Acommon law= in ancient western Asia, from which
were drawn the written laws of Babylonia and of Israel, with variations due to
different circumstances.@
The accusations that Moses copied
from someone else because similar laws existed before should raise two red
flags. First they are accusing Moses of
lying, for Moses claims to have received the Law directly from God, not from
someone else, especially the Ten Commandments. If Moses were lying then we need
no longer search for truth from the Bible because it would be a hoax since the
whole thing claims to come from the God of truth. Second, those who make these accusations show that they don=t understand how inspiration
works. Writings inspired by God need
not be the first to unveil knowledge about a subject. It was a sin for Cain to kill Able long before the Ten
Commandments said, AThou Shalt not kill@ A.V. Murder, and theft, and adultery, were crimes in other nations
long before the Ten Commandments were codified. But the laws of other nations contained serious flaws of justice
and social relations, and dangerous
health practices, and loyalties to false gods.
The genius of writings inspired by God is not that they are the first to
be uttered, but that they are good laws free from errors commonly held by
non-Biblical philosophies and religions.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS; Exodus 20.
The first Commandment: READ verses 2
& 3.
6. Of all the gods people worshiped,
which God proclaimed the 10 Commandments from Mt. Sinai? Ex. 20:2
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Note: This is not an admission that other gods exist except in the
minds of men, as the apostle Paul writes in Galatians 4:8, ?When you did not know God, you
served those which by nature are not gods.@
The first commandment says, AYou shall have no other gods before
Me.@
God is to be first above all other loyalties including family,
governments, clubs, or job.
The Second Commandment: READ verses
4-6.
No images are allowed because no
image is adequate to represent God. God
wanted them to remember Him by what He had done for them in Egypt, the Red Sea
crossing, food and water in the desert, etc., and by His power displayed on Mt.
Sinai.
The second commandment does not
forbid pictures unless they become objects of worship. This command refers to statues and icons
which men and women pray to, bow down before, or cannot pass by without
acknowledging their presence. Our mental picture of God is not to be pulled
down to earthly images. He is the
Creator of heaven and earth.
The Ten Commandments are not
made-up, arbitrary rules. They express
the laws of our moral nature. We are designed to live in harmony with
them. If we break even one, we suffer
in some way. Thus when the second
commandment says, Avisiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,@ it includes the laws of heredity
and environmental influence. When Athose who hate Me,@ that is, people who deliberately
turn away from God, they usually indulge in licentious behavior to express
their defiance. Their children suffer
from their sins by fetal alcohol syndrome, by sexually transmitted diseases, by
under-developed babies in smoking mothers, from abuse or from poor parenting
which drives kids into the streets.
These anomalies are often felt for several generations. Not all genetic accidents are the fault of
the parents of course, nor are parents to blame for all rebellious
children. We=re all suffering the effects of a
wayward race on a dying planet.
While God lets sin takes its
course in Athose who hate me,@ He jumps in quickly to show
mercy to those ?who love Me and keep My
commandments.@
Some churches combine
the second commandment with the first which masks the second commandment. And sure enough, they are the very ones which have images in
their churches and homes. They then
split verse 17 into two commands in order to get ten commandments.
The third commandment READ verse 7.
The third commandment condemns the
sin kids hate most, the sin of hypocrisy; claiming to be true when false;
professing to worship God while deliberately disobeying Him. That=s taking the Lord=s name in vain. This commandment condemns taking oaths in
God=s name and then lying. It also condemns profanity - Ausing the Lord=s name in vain.@
Profanity is vulgar and shows a lack of respect for present company, as
well as for God..
The fourth commandment: READ verses
8-11.
7.
What four reasons are given in the fourth commandment for why the
Sabbath is to be kept holy? v. 11
1)
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2)
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3)
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4)
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It=s easy to see the need of laws against murder and
stealing, but a law against working every day? A law forcing people to take a
day off every week? A law forcing us
to observe 52 holidays a year besides annual vacations? How restrictive! Yes, the Sabbath protects people from overwork and burnout. More importantly the Sabbath properly
observed is essential to developing the kind of religious experience Heaven
awaits to give. Just as husband and wife must find time to be together to make
their relationship flourish, so God insures time for us to be with Him so our
relationship with Him can flourish. Why
would people want to break the Sabbath?
The fifth Commandment: READ v. 12.
8. God was going to give the land He
had promised to Abraham to his descendants, the Israelites. Upon what condition would they remain in the
land?
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Disgracing Godly parents or turning
against them causes a person to lose out on God=s blessings, one of which was to Ainherit the land.@
That phrase is later broadened to Ainherit the earth@ and applies to the New Earth. So there are great consequences, even eternal consequences, for
obeying or disobeying the fifth commandment, as there are for all His
commandments.
Years later Jesus said, ADo not think that I came to bring
peace on earth. I did not come to bring
peace but a sword. For I have come to
set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man=s enemies will be those of his own
household. He who loves father or
mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.@ Mt. 10:34-37. Jesus
was not contradicting the fifth commandment.
When a person becomes a follower of Christ, he becomes a friend to all
and enemy to none, but many persons may become enemy to him because of
his stand for right. Jesus is saying
that when a father accepts Christ, the son may turn against his father
etc.
The sixth commandment: READ v. 13.
Many persons have misunderstood this
command, thinking it forbids killing flies, or spiders, or criminals by capitol
punishment because in the King James Bible, published in 1611, the verse reads,
AThou shalt not kill.@ It is true that the word Akill@ in the Hebrew is the simple verb to Akill.@ However,
even before Mt. Sinai, God promised that He (through Israel) would have war
with Amalek from generation to generation, Ex. 17:16, so God expected them to
kill without breaking His law.
Furthermore, at the very time God gave the Ten Commandments, He also
prescribed animal sacrifices, and capitol punishment. Now the law says, AYou shall not kill,@ and it is a sin to transgression of
God=s law. But God would not tell us not to sin and then make us sin by
telling us to kill animals or criminals.
Jesus quoted the commandment the way the Hebrews understood it and the
way God intended it to be understood when He said, AYou shall not murder,@ Mt. 5:21.
However there is a purpose for using
the simple verb Akill@ in, ?You shall not kill.@ The Ten Commands express God=s universal and eternal moral law
for all beings in the universes. It
expresses the broader application of the law as it is obeyed in heaven and as
it will be obeyed in the New Earth where there will be no death at all. For AGod shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall
be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.
There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.@ Rev. 21:4 AThe wolf and the lamb shall feed
together, the lion shall eat straw (grass, hay) like the ox, and dust shall be
the serpent=s food [like an earthworm]. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My
holy mountain, says the Lord. Isaiah
65:25
The seventh commandment: READ v. 14.
The Ten Commandments express the
bare minimum of moral responsibility.
Jesus shows the far reaching intent of the law when commenting on the
seventh commandment making it obvious that a person=s heart must be in it in order to
fulfill the law=s demands.
9. In what way can a longing look be
guilty of adultery? Matthew 5:27,28 _____________________________
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It is possible to let the mind run
in an adulterous channel. It is also
possible to learn how to change channels.
All persons, not just married persons, are responsible to conduct
themselves with modesty and purity.
The eighth commandment: READ v.15
Stealing is seldom justified, not
even Robin-hood style (steal from the rich to give to the poor). Poverty provides an opportunity to discover
God=s loving care. The poor who walk with God can tell you how
Mt. 6:33 works.
10. What is promised if one truly
seeks FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness?
Mt. 6:33 ________________________________________________________________________________
The ninth commandment: READ v. 16
While this command calls for honesty
in all human relations, it applies especially to a person called as a witness
before the court.
The tenth commandment: READ v.17
Most people do not consider
themselves covetous. But those who
break another command in order to get more and more are covetous. Many people lie, cheat, steal, break the
Sabbath, and sacrifice their health and their families in order to beat the
competition, get a promotion, or get more money or more power,. That=s covetousness. Some
may not wantonly break the law, but they are still covetous in trying to keep
up with the latest fads and fashions, or grieve over what others have and they
don=t.
.
11. READ again Deuteronomy 4:32-35
What was the purpose of that great demonstration?
v. 35
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Note: You will notice that no one
questioned Moses by saying, AWhat are you talking about?@ Moses was not writing fiction. Those in his audience were eye witnesses of what God did in Egypt
or at Mt. Sinai, or they were immediate descendants of those who were. They didn=t have to be convinced of God=s existence.
Over the next many years, these eye witnesses staked their lives on the
promise of God to drive out the Canaanites ahead of them. They were not entertaining a myth, but were
exercising faith in the God who had shown Himself powerful to save. We can trust the historic integrity of
Scriptures.
It was while at Mt. Sinai ca. 1485
B.C. that the command came to begin writing the books that would eventually
become the Bible. That=s the subject of the next lesson.
Answers:
1. What I did to the
Egyptians, How I bore you on eagles wings, brought you to myself
2. A special treasure to me
above all people, kingdom of priests, a holy nation
3. AAll that the Lord has
spoken we will do@
4. Wash you clothes, do not
come at your wives
5. 1. Thunderings 5. Smoke
2. Lightnings 6.
Fire
3. Thick cloud 7.
Mountain quaked
4. Sound of a trumpet 8.
God spoke
6. The One who brought them
out of the land of Egypt . . . .
7. 1) In six days the Lord
made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them
2) Rested the seventh day
3) Blessed the Sabbath day
4) Hallowed it
8. If they honored their
fathers and mothers
9. When one looks at
another with lust in his/her heart
10. All needs supplied
11. That they might know
that the Lord Himself is God, . . . .
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