< Exodus 20 >

These ten commandments were the core of those which the people of Israel were required to keep in the LORD’s land when they constituted the kingdom of God.

These commandments stated an Israelite's duty to God and man. It is instructive to note their order which indicates the priority to be given to different relationships: first to God,vs.3-11Waiting for response for Exodus 20:3-11 second to parents,v.12Waiting for response for Exodus 20:12 and then to others.vs.13-17Waiting for response for Exodus 20:13-17

These laws, as part of the Law of Moses, were appropriate to Israel as a nation in the holy land, and God promised them great blessings if they obeyed these commandments. The law, being the Law of God, was “holy, just and good” but, because no-one could keep every ordinance perfectly, instead of bringing eternal life to the individual, it brought a curse and death (Romans 7:10-12).Waiting for response for Romans 7:10-12 It was to deliver men and women from this curse, as well as from sin and death, that Jesus died, and the New Testament teaches that this law was only to remain in force until the sacrifice of Christ. The disciples of Christ were therefore taught that they were not under the law of Moses but under the law of Christ, and it was a heresy to insist that Gentile believers were required to keep the commandments given to the nation of Israel. However, while the ceremonial elements of the Law of Moses were omitted from the law of Christ, the weightier matters of the Law such as love, mercy, and justice are emphatically required of Christians.

As to the ten commandments, nine of them are incorporated in the law of Christ, the excluded one being the keeping of the Sabbath (which is Saturday), concerning which the apostle wrote: “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” Romans 14:5.Waiting for response for Romans 14:5 The Israelites could delight God by keeping the Sabbath day in the right way; we can delight God by living our whole lives in this way: “If thou... call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth [i.e. reign with Christ when he rules the world in righteousness]; and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it”. Isaiah 58:13-14Waiting for response for Isaiah 58:13-14