Commandments and Laws

Mount Sinai:

  • Exodus chapters 16-24

  • In these chapters, the nation of Israel encounters God on Mount Sinai and receives the Ten Commandments

  • The Israelites arrive at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. Moses had been there before. God spoke to him from the Burning Bush in Exodus 3.

  • These two events are related. In Exodus 3, God spoke to Moses from the Burning Bush. In Exodus 19, God spoke to the entire nation of Israel and Mount Sinai was burning.

  • Both encountered stress the holiness and power of God.

Commandments Intro:

  • Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5

  • The “Ten Commandments” detail the foundational terms of the new relationship between God and Israel.

  • These commandments serve as the foundation for how Israel should live as the people of God.

  • The first 4 commandments detail how Israel should relate to God. The final 6 detail how Israel should treat one another.

First Commandment:

  • Exodus 20:3, You shall have no other gods before me.”

  • Summary: The LORD alone must be worshiped; don’t have any other gods.

Second Commandment:

  • Exodus 20: 4-6, “You shall not make yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord tour God am a Jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

  • Summary: Don’t make or worship idols.

Third Commandment:

  • Exodus 20:7, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold hum guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

  • Summary: Don’t misuse the name of the LORD.

Fourth Commandment:

  • Exodus 20: 8-11, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, ad do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord you God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord. Made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them and rested on the seventh dat. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and make it holy.”

  • Summary: Keep the Sabbath day holy by ceasing work on that day.

Fifth Commandment:

  • Exodus 20:12, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

  • Summary: Honor your parents.

Sixth Commandment:

  • Exodus 20:13, “ You shall not murder.”

  • Summary: Don’t commit murder.

Seventh Commandment:

  • Exodus 20:14, “ You shall not commit adultery.”

  • Summary: Don’t engage sexually with those you are not married to.

Eighth Commandment:

  • Exodus 20:15, “You shall not steal.”

  • Summary: Don’t steal.

Ninth Commandment:

  • Exodus 20:16, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

  • Summary: Don’t give false testimony.

Tenth Commandment:

  • Exodus 20:17, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

  • Summary: Don’t be jealous of what others have.

Mosaic Covenant:

  • Sometimes called the “Sinai Covenant.”

  • Made between God and the nation of Israel. There is a three-part formula-like statement that God uses to describe the covenant relationship between Him and his people: (1) I will be your God; (2) you will be my people: and (3) I will dwell in your midst

  • God’s promise of giving his powerful presence to Israel — that is, coming down to actually live among them — is one of the most significant promises in the scriptures, and it will echo throughout the rest of the Story.

  • God’s presence among the Israelites will change everything in their lives.

The Golden Calf Incident:

  • Exodus chapter 32

  • As God gives the details for how the Tabernacle is to be built so that He may dwell in the midst of the Israelites, a horrible event interrupts the plans.

  • The Israelites grow impatient waiting for Moses to come down from a meeting with God on Mount Sinai, and they decide to build and worship a golden calf.

  • In short: While God is giving Moses the Ten Commandments up on the mountain, the Israelites down below have already abandoned Him and started to worship a golden calf.

God’s Response to the Golden Calf:

  • God told Moses He was going to destroy the Israelites and started over with Moses and his family.

  • Moses, however, talked God out of it and “reminded” Him of the covenant promise He made to Abraham.

  • This is an ominous and incredibly iconic event. Even as God is instituting one of the greatest blessings ever (His presence), the Israelites are turning to worship an idol.

The Tabernacle:

  • Exodus chapters 25-40

  • If God was coming to actually live right there among the Israelites, he would need an appropriate place to live.

  • The entire second half of Exodus is largely filled with God’s instructions regarding how to construct the tabernacle.

  • The tabernacle was a mobile tenet that acted as a temple in which God’s presence would dwell.

The Book of Leviticus:

  • If the holy, awesome presence of God is actually going to come and reside within the midst of Israel, they will need to know how to deal with this new reality.

  • How will they relate to Him? How can they approach Him? How should they deal with the demands that God’s holiness brings?

  • The book of Leviticus answers these questions.

  • At the end of the book Exodus, God’s presence comes to dwell in the Tabernacle. The book of Leviticus details how the Israelites are supposed to live with the presence of God in their midst.

  • The book of Leviticus informs the Israelites that when the holy, awesome God comes to live in your midst, everything in your life will change.

Important Events In The Book of Leviticus:

  • This book contains the Holiness Code ( “You shall be holy for I am holy”)

  • Some laws in this book are based on the concept Lex Talionis (Law of the talons)

    • “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth”

  • Two major celebrations:

    • Passover: The celebration of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt after the death of the firstborn.

    • Year of Jubilee: Celebrated every 50 years. Property was to be returned to its original owners and slaves set free.

The Book of Numbers:

  • The book of Numbers picks up the Story at this point as God leads Israel on to the Promised Land.

  • Now that God has established a wonderful relationship with His people (the Mosaic covenant), he wants to move them into the Promised Land, where they can truly enjoy the blessings of their relationship with him.

  • In the book of Numbers, however, an unthinkable thing happens: When the Israelites arrive at the Promised Land, they refuse to go in!

  • Upon seeing that it will require faith and hard work to conquer the Promised Land, the Israelites rebel against God and refuses to follow Him into the land.

  • The Israelites rejected the land, whining and exaggerating that it would have been better for them to die in Egypt than to die while trying to conquer the Promised Land.

  • God hears the Israelites’ whining and turns it into judgement against them.

  • He sends then back into the wilderness, where they will wander aimlessly for 40 years.

  • God still watches over Israel as they wander in the wilderness. Eventually the disobedient generation dies off and a new generation arises.

  • God then leads this new generation of Israelites back toward the Promised Land.

The Book of Deuteronomy:

  • God wants his people to understand clearly how they must live in relationship with him into the Promised Land, so right before they go into the land, he presents them with Deuteronomy.

  • Deuteronomy can best be summarized as the terms for a blessed life in the Promised Land with God in the midst of the Israelites.

  • Deuteronomy means “Second Law.”

  • The Israelites are exhorted to remain faithful to God and to worship and serve him alone as they move into the new land. They are cautioned against allowing the pagan inhabitants of the land to corrupt them with their idolatry and immortal practices.

Important Events in The Book of Deuteronomy:

  • Moses’ “Last will and Testament”

  • Made up of farewell speeches from Moses to the Israelites.

  • Contains a very important Jewish prayer

    • Shema: “ Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6).