Post by Admin on Apr 3, 2014 14:28:31 GMT -5
I will sing unto Yahweh as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have any being
Millions believe the Ten Commandments are abolished, done away in this “age of grace.” But what is supposedly wrong with them? Why do so many HATE God’s Law, and detest His Commandments? Just what are the Ten Commandments, and do they have any relevance to your life? How do they affect your marriage, your family, your children? Believe it or not, there is far more to the Ten Commandments than just a motion picture, sound effects, and human mythology! On Mount Sinai some 3,500 years ago, the Great God of Creation spoke amidst thunder and lightning to three million awe-struck people at one signal moment in human history. What He had to say directly impacts your life and future and well being. The Ten Commandments are not merely an archaic, old law of men, but the very Laws of GOD Himself to guarantee your eternal success and blessing and life forevermore! It is high time we study them intensely, probing their real significance, and understand their deep and wonderful meaning for us, today, in this final hell-bent generation!
William F. Dankenbring
Before the Common Era, on the annual Sabbath of Shavuot, commonly known as Pentecost God gave the Torah to Israel, the Ten Commandments.
The account of the giving of the Ten Commandments by God to the children of Israel is found in Exodus 20 and also recounted in Deuteronomy 5.
The Greatest Law
According to God’s Word, therefore, the Ten Commandments, given at Mount Sinai, in the presence of the whole nation of Israel, some three million, and spoken by the very mouth of God, are singularly important. They were so important and vital that GOD HIMSELF came down to Mount Sinai, and spoke – indeed, thundered – them aloud to all the people, and engraved them in stone by His own Hand!
Let us examine these commandments carefully. Let us go through the TEN COMMANDMENTS one by one and analyze them, and see how they add up and what they mean and how they compare with each other internally.
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If we fail to keep one of them, we break them all. The apostle James says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:10-11).
The commandments of God are like the links of a chain linked together with God holding the chain. If we fall into the ditch, He is able to bring us out of that ditch into safety. What happens if you break one of the links of the ten links of the chain? It has to be repaired before it can be used to pull you out of the ditch.
False Teachers and the Law
These Ten Commandments were given on the day of Pentecost, the Day of the Covenant. Satan has deceived the world so completely that the world thinks that these commandments have been abolished. The apostle Paul says of such ministers, “for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed AS the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (deeds)” (II Cor.11:13-15). They are not keeping the commandments, but breaking the commandments and teaching contrary to God’s law.
Such impostors claim Christ came to do away with the commandments. But Christ Himself said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matt.5:17).
Why, then, do so many say that Christ “did away” with the Law – destroyed the “Law” – and abolished the Ten Commandments, when He Himself said, “Do NOT think I came to destroy (or do away with) the Law’? Does it make any sense people would directly contradict Christ Himself?
Isaiah, in chapter 42, prophesied of the Christ, whom God called “my servant, whom I uphold, my elect in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Thus says God the Lord, he that created the heavens, gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to them that walk therein. I am the Lord: that is my name, the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.”
Christ Himself came to give us the understanding of the spiritual intent of each commandment. In Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount He also says in verses 18-21—“Till heaven and earth pass, not one jot or one tittle shall fall from the law, till all be fulfilled. Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not even enter the kingdom of heaven.”
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His commands stand firm and are eternal. The jot and tittle are like the dotting of an “i” and the crossing of a “t”, minor scribal matters. Therefore, we need to learn what the Law is and what the commandments are and how to obey them.
The Mount ‘Sinai Experience
Israel stood at a far distance from the foot of the smoking, and quaking Mt. Sinai and they trembled in fear. They trusted Moses and asked him to tell them what God said, instead of God himself, “lest they die”. There was something wrong with their heart and they were afraid. They didn’t love God. They were not converted yet, and kept their distance from God.
Many people today have the same problem of standing a far distance off from God and His commandments. Motivation to study and know His will and commands is beyond them, or too much trouble, or maybe they are afraid of God. Some don’t want to part with their idols. God does not lie and he says that if we return to Him and will SEEK Him in prayer and repentance, he will return and be found by us. By accepting his word and becoming willing to do his commands, we draw closer to him, and we will not remain at a far distance away.
Exodus 21 lists the judgments/rulings of God set before Israel. Exodus 22 covers responsibility for property with justice for all. Exodus 23 instructs in maintaining just judgment; to do no evil, take no bribes; keep the land Sabbath; three times to keep a feast unto God in the year as designated—these are allied pilgrimage festivals of the Lord: Passover/Unleavened Bread, Feast of Harvest-Shavuot/Pentecost, and Feast of Ingathering/Tabernacles at the end of the year. The males are not to appear before the Lord God empty. Israel warned not to make any covenant with the inhabitants of the land, but to drive them out of the land boundaries given Israel.
What is evil? Evil is sin; and what is sin? God defines it in His Word: “Sin IS the transgression of the LAW” (I John 3:4). In other words, “sin” is breaking the commandments of God. These are summed up in the Ten Commandments! It behooves us, therefore, to study and understand these laws!
They Saw God
We read in Exodus 24, God commands Moses “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord: but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”
Moses built an altar at the foot of the hill, and burnt offerings and peace offerings were offered to God. Moses then wrote all the words of the covenant and read it in the presence of the people who affirmed the covenant. Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient” (Exo.24:7).
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Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up and “they saw the God of Israel.. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity” (v.9-10). The account continues, “Now the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel” (v.16-17). Moses remained on the mountain top forty days, as God gave them the law with the statutes and judgments.
The elders tarried in waiting for Moses who was on the mount forty days and forty nights. God did not lay a hand on the nobles (did not strike them dead) even though they looked upon God and ate and drank in His presence. “But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God and they ate and drank” (v.11).
A Marriage Covenant
The covenant that God made with Israel was a marriage covenant and this was the wedding feast after Israel agreed to the covenant. A similar wedding feast will be held when the Messiah returns to earth for His bride, the church of God! We read in Revelation 19:7-9, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.” The covenant that we are making with Christ when he returns is a marriage covenant, and we will be his bride and he will be our husband and we will serve and follow Him wherever he goes. We will obey Him, and teach His commandments to the nations of the world and to our children and children’s children.
The heart of God’s Commands are summed up in the first ten, spoken by God to the whole assembly of Israel. They are known as the Ten Commandments. “Ten” is the number of ordinal perfection.
The Ten Commandments Revisited
Notice what Jewish rabbis and commentators say about the Ten Commandments. In The Essence of the Holy Days by Avraham Finkel, page 188 we read: “If we consider the order in which the Ten Commandments were given, an important fact emerges that sheds new light on this divine set of laws. The first group, five commandments, begins with Anochi, ‘I am the Lord your God,’ and ends with Kabeid, ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ The second half begins with Lo tirtzach, ‘Do not commit murder’, and ends with Lo tachmod, ‘Do not be envious.’ In Deuteronomy 5 and Exodus 20, one place says in Hebrew don’t covet and the other place says don’t be envious. Both are part of that same commandment. So what does this mean? Notice when God began speaking the Ten Commandments to us individually, He demands that we acknowledge Him first of all with our intellect: ‘I am the Lord your God’ and ‘You shall have no other gods.’ This is a pretty explicit commandment. It is not enough to recognize God in theory; we must acknowledge Him also in practice by exercising control over our words. (‘Do not take
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the name of God in vain’), our deeds (‘Remember the Shabbat to keep it holy’), and our family lives (‘Honor your father and your mother’).”
We are to watch our words and not to use bad language, curse or swear. Especially don’t take God’s name in vain and empty pursuit.
Continuing: “The social legislation contained in the second half of the Ten Commandments begins with demands on both our actions and words. But controlling our words and deeds is not enough; the Law demands that we also exercise control over our thoughts and feelings (‘Do not be envious’).”
These regulate how we are to get along with others. The first half deals with how we worship and love God. The second half is how we get along with and love our neighbor. Christ said that these were the two great points of the Law: 1) Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. 2) Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
How do we love our neighbor? 1) Do not commit murder; 2) do not commit adultery; 3) do not steal; 4) do not testify as a false witness; and 5) do not be envious.
The Origin of Sin
Sin begins in the mind, our thinking. This means that we have to watch what we think about. Refrain from desiring something that belongs to someone else, and comparing yourself with someone else and wanting what they have regardless of whatever it is—for example: jewelry, job, car, position, education, friends, home, or abilities. The underlying truth is that all so-called religious adoration is worthless if belief in a Supreme Being does not translate into control of words and actions toward our family and our social life. Only our deeds prove that our glorification of God is genuine. All social virtues are trivial if their only aim is to gain acceptance or if they are not rooted in a pure belief in God.
Are you tempted at times to sin, to lose control, to give in to evil passions, lusts, and envy?
The apostle James tells us, “Let no one say when he is tempted to sin and break God’s Law], I am being tempted by God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does he tempt any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death” (James 1:13-15).
Sin starts in the mind and heart first with desire, dwells on it and becomes ensnared. It is be definition breaking or transgressing God’s Law (I John 3:4). Paul then tells us, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Sin leads to the penalty of death.
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How pervasive is sin? Solomon wrote, “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Sometimes sin can just seem so right. A person may think there is nothing wrong with – i.e. a cigarette, or a drink, or trying a drug, or gambling just once – and the next thing they know they are enslaved by a habit that leads them to death.
The Key to Obedience
How can we overcome the temptation to break God’s Laws and give in to human lust, desire, and covetousness? By daily studying God’s commandments, His Word, and praying, and walking in God’s Law – with Him!
Solomon wrote, Take firm hold of instruction; don’t let it go [the teachings of God, the Torah, the Law of God]. Keep her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on” (Prov.4:13-15).
Solomon adds, “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness they do not know what makes them stumble” (verses 18-19).
Solomon continues, “My son, give attention to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart; [internalize them] for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep [preserve, and protect] your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Prov.4:20-23).
In other words, control your heart’s desires.
“Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder (think about) the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn [deviate] to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil’ (Prov.4:24-27).
Keep God’s commandments before you all the time, so you are not distracted and led astray. Let all your ways be established in God’s Word though constant and daily study and meditation. Read our free articles on “How to Walk with God,” “The Secret of Meditation,” and “How to Study God’s Word,” and “the Power of Prayer.”
The First Commandment
“I am the LORD your God . . . You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exo.20:2-3).
God appeared to Israel at the Red Sea as a mighty warrior who saved Israel from destruction and delivered them from slavery (Exo.15:3). At Sinai He was the Great Teacher. He reminds us first of all as to Who He Is. We are to put Him FIRST in our lives, above everything
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else! As Christ said, “Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things [your needs of food, drink, shelter and clothing] shall be added to you” (Matt.6:33).
Idolatry – worship of other so-called “gods” – is expressly forbidden. He is the Only One who can deliver and save us from death, destruction, and the ravages of sin and evil. Therefore we owe Him our undivided worship and adoration and praise.
The Second Commandment
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image . . . You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exo.20:4-5).
Worshipping and praying to images of gods, saints, and carved replicas of created creatures, including men or women, is a violation of this commandment. This is rank idolatry in hideous form. Images made of wood, stone, gold, silver and other metals are an abomination in God’s sight! They are part of Satan the devil’s vast, far-flung deception and worldwide conspiracy against the truth and purity of God.
The Third Commandment
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exo.20:7).
This commandment shows us that we must exercise control over our thoughts, words, and actions, as children and therefore representatives of God as members of His divine family. We must do nothing to contradict or bring dishonor upon the name and attributes of our God and Creator. As His children, we bear His name; it is written on us, and on our hearts. If we do anything contrary to God’s Law, His purpose and will, then we blaspheme His name, and take it in “vain” – to no good purpose and aim. This does not just forbid cursing or swearing or taking God’s name in an oath or using profanity, although that would be one example of taking His name in vain. To claim to be a “Christian,” and to live a life of hypocrisy and disobedience to God, would be taking His name in vain. Mere profession of Christ verbally is not enough; merely saying you worship God is not enough.
The apostle John writes, “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, IS A LIAR, and the truth is not in him” (I John 2:4). “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (v.6).
As Eliyahu Kitov says, “Do not hurry to take a false oath and do not let oaths become a matter of habit. If one makes a habit to swear, there will be times when he will make oaths without even wanting to do so. Therefore, one should refrain from swearing even about things that are true. One should not swear at all, for by making it a habit, the act of taking an oath becomes meaningless to him. And if one desecrates God’s Name and swears falsely – or even if
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he tells the truth but does not recognize the severity of taking an oath – God will reveal the person’s wickedness and punishment to all” (p.805).
The Fourth Commandment.
“Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work . . .” (Deut.5:12-14). “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exo.20:8).
The commandment to observe Shabbat begins with the letter zayin of zachor, “remember’”, and zayin is the seventh letter of the alef-bet. The commandment of Shabbat begins with the seventh verse of the Ten Commandments. The words “Do not do any work” are addressed to seven: “you, your son, your daughter, your slave, your maid, your animal, and the stranger in your gates.”
Basically this means everybody including animals. In case of an emergency God would allow “an ox fallen into the ditch”, to be helped out of the ditch.
“Remember” the Sabbath Day means to keep it constantly in mind. It is the only Day of the week which has a distinct “name,” in God’s calendar week. All the rest are merely designated by numerals. The Sabbath day, as the seventh day, points to the millennial 1,000 year “day of rest” – the Kingdom of God – when Christ will rule upon the earth (Rev.20:4). It is a sacred day to honor and worship God as a living community, a day when no human toil or labor is permitted to earn a living (although doing good and acts of kindness are always permitted).
The Sabbath Is Forever
We read in Isaiah 66:22-24—“As the new heavens and new earth shall remain before me the LORD, so shall your descendents and your name remain. It shall come to pass from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the LORD.”
Does this sound like the Sabbath day has been done away, nailed to the cross, rescinded or abolished? Isaiah continues: “They shall look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me.” The worms will eat their flesh, and the continual fire of Gehenna will burn what is left of their bodies until they become mere smoke and ashes.
God tells us His Sabbath day is HOLY to Him. “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor him, not doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: then shall you delight yourself in the Lord;; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it” (Isaiah 58:13-14).
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So God’s Sabbath continues through eternity!
The Fifth Commandment
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you” (Exo.20:12).
The apostle Paul adds, “Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord” (Col.3:20). Also, “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (v.21). The family is the key-stone of God’s government. He created men and women to marry and have godly children (Gen.2:18, 24, 1:27-28).
One’s human father and mother are a “type” of the heavenly Father, God and the Logos, who became Christ (John l:1-3). “In the beginning GOD [Hebrew elohim, “the mighty ONES” – elohim is a uni-plural word denoting two or more acting in perfect unity, in this case the Father and the Logos, who was the Son of God the Father from Creation] created the heavens and the earth” (Gen.1:1). John writes, “In the beginning was the Word [Logos} and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1-3).
To deeply honor and respect one’s parents, therefore, is akin to honoring and respecting God Himself, and Jesus Christ, Yeshua, the Logos, the second member of the Godhead, who also created us! Read our article, “Who or What Was Jesus Christ Before His Human Birth?”
This commandment immediately follows and is related to the fourth commandment. We read: “Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father and keep My Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God” (Lev.19:3). What links the two commandments? During Creation week, God brought into being the prototype of very species of life, including man. If He had not stopped the process of creation, then the system of procreation would not have been necessary God ceased the process of creation by divine fiat by ceasing to create on the Sabbath day, but ensured the continuation of life on earth by procreation – parents begetting children thus participating in the creation experience. Thus parents are “partners with God.” They beget the body, and God adds the spirit and breathes life into it. “Consequently, that we are born of a father and a mother is a direct result of God’s resting on Shabbat. This is the key to understanding the connection between ‘honor your mother and your father’ and keep the Shabbat’” (The Essence of the Holy Days, Avraham Yaakov Finkel, p.193).
Honoring Parents
We read in Proverbs 3:9, “Honor God with your wealth.” Since we are also commanded to honor our parents, this suggests that one way we do this is to provide for them out of our wealth – to honor one’s parents would be to feed, clothe, provide shelter for, and to accompany one’s parents.
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We also read in Leviticus 19:3 “Fear your father and mother”. The commandment also says honor your father and mother. Asks Eliyahu Kitov, “What constitutes fear and what constitutes honor? Fear – awe – includes not standing or sitting in their place, and not contradicting them or refuting them. Honor includes feeding them, clothing them, giving them shelter, and accompanying them.” (p.809).
Writes Kitov: “ Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught: the honor due one’s father and mother is so great that God compared their honor to His and the fear due them to the fear due Him. . . . One verse (Deut.6:13) states: Fear God, your Lord and another states: One should fear his mother and his father. One verse (Leviticus 24:16) states: One who curses God shall surely be put to death and another states: One who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death (Exo.21:17). And this is logical [that the fear and honor due one’s parents corresponds to that due God], for the three of them – one’s father, his mother, and God – are partners [in bringing a person into this world]” (p.810).
If it wasn’t for your parents, you wouldn’t be. Children are commanded to honor their father and mother with great respect on the physical level as compared to God on a spiritual level.
The Sixth Commandment
“You shall not murder” (Exo.20:13).
In Numbers 35:16 we read, “The murderer shall surely be put to death” Verses 17 and 18 state the same thing. The punishment for murder is death. So says the Word of God. In Genesis, God says, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God He made man” (Gen.9:6). Murder is a terrible crime in God’s sight. When one kills a man or woman, one in essence destroys a whole potential world of posterity, which could have grown into a multitude – a whole world of population. When Cain slew Abel, think of all the potential descendants Abel would have given birth to, if he had not been killed – all the families that could have come into existence, but which did not as a result of the heinous murder of one man.
John goes even further, exclaiming: “He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother IS A MURDERER, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (I John 3:14-15). Hatred itself is equivalent to murder, in God’s sight!
The Seventh Commandment
“You shall not commit adultery” (Exo.20:14).
Christ magnified this Law, when He declared: “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt.5:28). The penalty for adultery, in God’s legislation, is DEATH, because adultery strikes at the very
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foundation of God’s plan and purpose for marriage. God thunders, “The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall be put to death” (Lev.20:10).
Sexual sins of adultery, homosexuality, bestiality [having sex with various animals], are especially heinous in God’s sight (Lev.20:11-22). Solomon wrote of the sanctified love in marriage, declaring, “Drink waters from your own cistern, and running water from your own well. Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets/ Let them be only your own, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and always be enraptured with her love” (Prov.5:15-19).
The apostle Paul warned, “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body” (I Cor.6:18). The penalties for violating God’s laws concerning morality are manifest – including venereal diseases, mental illness, AIDS, blindness, madness, sterility, birth defects in succeeding generations, and social chaos, confusion, unwed mothers, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, and painful suffering and ultimately DEATH!
The world acts oblivious to these things, as the lusts of men and women propel them into confrontation with universal destruction and the judgment of God who will soon pour out His wrath and fury on a rebellious, disobedient world.
The Eighth Commandment
“You shall not steal” (Exo.20:15).
Most people think of stealing as financial, stealing money, fraud, theft, robbery, larceny, etc. However, it can also consist of stealing one’s reputation, one’s identity, stealing another person’s honor, respect, or even words – plagiarism! God declares, “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets [ministers], says the LORD, who steal My words everyone from his neighbor” (Jer.23:30).
God further commands, “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another” (Lev.19:11). “You shall not cheat your neighbor nor rob him” (v.13).
There are seven kinds of thieves. Says Eliyahu Kitov:
“1. One who is deceitful, who ‘steals other people’s minds, that is, deceives others by making pretenses . . . .
“2. One who falsifies his weights and measures . . .
“3. One who kidnaps another person.
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“4. One who associates with a thief and shares his booty.
“5. One who is sold into servitude [because he lacks the means to repay what he has stolen.
“6. One who steals from another thief.
“7. One who steals but intended to return what he had stolen, or who steals in order to make the victim angry or who takes something that is rightfully his’ (p.812).
One should not steal in an attempt to get ahead, but should support himself by his honest labor and work. God’s Word declares: “When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you” (Psalm 128:2). Isaiah prophecies, “Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings” (Isa.3:10). But, “Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given to him [done to him]” (v.11). Solomon declared, “Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage [lit., portion]” (Eccl.5:18).
The Ninth Commandment
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exo.20:16).
To falsely accuse another person is a terrible crime in itself. False accusations are extremely destructive and generate conflict, hostility, and war. God explains, “You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people . . .” (Lev.19:15-16).
“You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute to turn aside after many to pervert justice. You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute” (Exo.23:1-3).
There is no excuse for following a majority of people, just because they have the numbers or multitude on their side. Numbers don’t make right. Might doesn’t make right. Only God’s commandments make one right. To follow a “majority” in ERROR, is to commit error, sin, and the penalty is DEATH (Rom.6:23). This includes following a “majority” or “church authority” just because they have the numbers, or the power, in their hands. Regardless of what others may do, FOLLOW THE TRUTH, and let the TRUTH ALONE be your guide and standard!
The apostle Paul warned that many in this end-time generation will be deceived and misled “with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the LOVE OF THE TRUTH that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong
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delusion, that they should believe THE LIE, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thess.2:10-12).
The Tenth Commandment
“You shall not covet . . . anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exo.20:17).
Says Eliyahu Kitov, “In the first account of the Ten Commandment, it is written: You shall not covet. In the second account [Deut.5], it is written: You shall not covet, and then You shall not desire. Thus coveting and desiring are forbidden separately. How do we know that one who desires will eventually covet as well? One verse states: You shall not desire and another verse states: You shall not covet. And how do we know that one who covets will eventually steal? The verse (Michah 2:2) states: And they coveted fields and stole. One violates the prohibition of desire through thought, as the verse (Deut.12:20) states: If your soul should desire, whereas coveting is an action, as the verse (ibid.7:25) states: Do not covet the gold and silver that is upon them and take it for yourself.
“How is it possible for the Torah to prohibit coveting when it is a spontaneous reaction? The possessions of another person should be so removed from your thoughts that the idea of wanting them does not even enter your mind. . .” (p.814).
In God’s sight, covetousness, and envy, are forms of idolatry. Paul wrote, “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints” (Eph.5:3). He went on, “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (v.5). To the Colossians Paul wrote also: “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col.3:5).
Coveting and Envy
Kitov continues: “Why is the commandment [“do not covet”] placed at the end of the Ten Commandments? Rabbi Yitzchak of Radvil said, because if you have observed this commandment, you surely have observed all those that precede it. But he who does not have sufficient self-control to fulfill the prohibition against being envious must begin again from the first commandment: believe that God rules the world. For if he had sincerely believed in God, he would not be envious of that which God had apportioned to others.”
If God gives something to someone else that is God’s business. It is not up to us, or our business to be jealous or envious with thought of “what about me Lord?” We must learn to be humble and submit to God in gratitude and be thankful for whatever He gives us, because He is a God of love, compassion and generosity who is teaching us lessons of obedience of respect, submission and loving our neighbor.
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Learn to love your rich neighbor as well as your poor neighbor. We are not to love a rich person less because of money and position. Some of us do not have two coppers to rub together, and others may be homeless and living in a tent. We are not to be foolish and let people take advantage of us. However, if we really believe in God who is our Creator who gave us life, then we will not be envious of other people. God is in control and rules. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction (Sir Isaac Newton). If one does good, it invites good back; doing evil, invites evil back.
The following thought on envy came from Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav: “When jealousy ceases, the Redemption will arrive. Often envy is the cause of destruction and murder.” Envy, jealously and covetousness leads to hatred.
We had to evict someone from our rental because they just stopped paying the rent. On one occasion the woman stopped her vehicle at the yard saying to Cappy, what if I gave you $500 for rent right now? My wife said “talk to my husband”. However, she did not contact me, so I went over the next morning to collect the rent. In the meantime she had gone shopping at WalMart and had only hundred dollars left!
The judge ruled they would have to get out within a set number of days agreed upon by both renter and owner, or be evicted. On the morning of the return court date two weeks later, I checked to see if trailer was vacated as directed, and it was not, so the writ of eviction was signed by the judge. They did get out before the sheriff had to get them out. Thank the Lord for quite a lesson in human nature and that we no longer have tenants who masquerade as “professional victims” and do not tell the truth.
The Key to Overcoming Temptation
How can we overcome these tendencies and pulls of the human mind and flesh? James wrote: “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death” (James 1:14-15).
Humanly, we must learn to resist these temptations. It is not an easy battle, and we must constantly be on “guard,” as it were. But God promises to give us all the help we need, through His Holy Spirit if we ask Him for it sincerely, earnestly (Luke 11:10-13). Paul also had to resist the pulls of human nature. He wrote, “For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom.7:22-25). It is the Spirit of God within us, sent to help us by Jesus Christ, that enables us to resist all sin and to overcome it (see John 14:15-17, 26).
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The indwelling Spirit of God gives us POWER to overcome! So Paul was able to write, “There is now therefore no condemnation to those who are IN Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom.8:1-2).
The Spirit of God, dwelling in us, Paul said, in another place, is a spiritual gift which we must constantly “stir up” (II Tim.1:6). Says Paul, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of POWER AND OF LOVE AND OF A SOUND MIND” (II Tim.1:7).
A New Look at the Torah
In Psalm 19:7, we read, “The Torah of God is perfect, it restores the soul.” In Jeremiah 23:29 we read: “The voice and word of the Lord is like a hammer shattering a rock.”
In Deuteronomy 5:22 we read, “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more.”
The Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai are the key principles of the Torah. They are in essence then subdivided into all of the 613 commandments, or mitzvot, found in the Torah, the five books of Moses. These 613 laws are included within the 613 letters of the commandments—the Hebrew letters that spell out the Ten Commandments.
Says Eliyahu Kitov, “The Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai are the principles of the Torah and it is taught that all of the 613 mitzvos are included within the 613 letters of the commandments’
How Wonderful Is the Law of God!
God’s Law is the Authority, the Basis, of His Universe-ruling Kingdom. How blessed are the commandments of God! As David wrote in Psalm 119, “O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me” (Psalm 119:97-99). Do you love God’s commandments?
David wrote, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Psalm 119:18). He declared, “So shall I keep Your law continually, forever and ever” (verse 44), “And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love” (verse 47). “I made haste and did not delay to keep Your commandments” (v.60). “Great peace have those who love Your law, ands nothing causes them to stumble’ (v.165).
God’s Law and the Ten Commandments are the key to everlasting life, through Yeshua our Lord! It is high time we take them very seriously.
Millions believe the Ten Commandments are abolished, done away in this “age of grace.” But what is supposedly wrong with them? Why do so many HATE God’s Law, and detest His Commandments? Just what are the Ten Commandments, and do they have any relevance to your life? How do they affect your marriage, your family, your children? Believe it or not, there is far more to the Ten Commandments than just a motion picture, sound effects, and human mythology! On Mount Sinai some 3,500 years ago, the Great God of Creation spoke amidst thunder and lightning to three million awe-struck people at one signal moment in human history. What He had to say directly impacts your life and future and well being. The Ten Commandments are not merely an archaic, old law of men, but the very Laws of GOD Himself to guarantee your eternal success and blessing and life forevermore! It is high time we study them intensely, probing their real significance, and understand their deep and wonderful meaning for us, today, in this final hell-bent generation!
William F. Dankenbring
Before the Common Era, on the annual Sabbath of Shavuot, commonly known as Pentecost God gave the Torah to Israel, the Ten Commandments.
The account of the giving of the Ten Commandments by God to the children of Israel is found in Exodus 20 and also recounted in Deuteronomy 5.
The Greatest Law
According to God’s Word, therefore, the Ten Commandments, given at Mount Sinai, in the presence of the whole nation of Israel, some three million, and spoken by the very mouth of God, are singularly important. They were so important and vital that GOD HIMSELF came down to Mount Sinai, and spoke – indeed, thundered – them aloud to all the people, and engraved them in stone by His own Hand!
Let us examine these commandments carefully. Let us go through the TEN COMMANDMENTS one by one and analyze them, and see how they add up and what they mean and how they compare with each other internally.
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If we fail to keep one of them, we break them all. The apostle James says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:10-11).
The commandments of God are like the links of a chain linked together with God holding the chain. If we fall into the ditch, He is able to bring us out of that ditch into safety. What happens if you break one of the links of the ten links of the chain? It has to be repaired before it can be used to pull you out of the ditch.
False Teachers and the Law
These Ten Commandments were given on the day of Pentecost, the Day of the Covenant. Satan has deceived the world so completely that the world thinks that these commandments have been abolished. The apostle Paul says of such ministers, “for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed AS the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (deeds)” (II Cor.11:13-15). They are not keeping the commandments, but breaking the commandments and teaching contrary to God’s law.
Such impostors claim Christ came to do away with the commandments. But Christ Himself said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matt.5:17).
Why, then, do so many say that Christ “did away” with the Law – destroyed the “Law” – and abolished the Ten Commandments, when He Himself said, “Do NOT think I came to destroy (or do away with) the Law’? Does it make any sense people would directly contradict Christ Himself?
Isaiah, in chapter 42, prophesied of the Christ, whom God called “my servant, whom I uphold, my elect in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Thus says God the Lord, he that created the heavens, gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to them that walk therein. I am the Lord: that is my name, the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.”
Christ Himself came to give us the understanding of the spiritual intent of each commandment. In Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount He also says in verses 18-21—“Till heaven and earth pass, not one jot or one tittle shall fall from the law, till all be fulfilled. Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not even enter the kingdom of heaven.”
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His commands stand firm and are eternal. The jot and tittle are like the dotting of an “i” and the crossing of a “t”, minor scribal matters. Therefore, we need to learn what the Law is and what the commandments are and how to obey them.
The Mount ‘Sinai Experience
Israel stood at a far distance from the foot of the smoking, and quaking Mt. Sinai and they trembled in fear. They trusted Moses and asked him to tell them what God said, instead of God himself, “lest they die”. There was something wrong with their heart and they were afraid. They didn’t love God. They were not converted yet, and kept their distance from God.
Many people today have the same problem of standing a far distance off from God and His commandments. Motivation to study and know His will and commands is beyond them, or too much trouble, or maybe they are afraid of God. Some don’t want to part with their idols. God does not lie and he says that if we return to Him and will SEEK Him in prayer and repentance, he will return and be found by us. By accepting his word and becoming willing to do his commands, we draw closer to him, and we will not remain at a far distance away.
Exodus 21 lists the judgments/rulings of God set before Israel. Exodus 22 covers responsibility for property with justice for all. Exodus 23 instructs in maintaining just judgment; to do no evil, take no bribes; keep the land Sabbath; three times to keep a feast unto God in the year as designated—these are allied pilgrimage festivals of the Lord: Passover/Unleavened Bread, Feast of Harvest-Shavuot/Pentecost, and Feast of Ingathering/Tabernacles at the end of the year. The males are not to appear before the Lord God empty. Israel warned not to make any covenant with the inhabitants of the land, but to drive them out of the land boundaries given Israel.
What is evil? Evil is sin; and what is sin? God defines it in His Word: “Sin IS the transgression of the LAW” (I John 3:4). In other words, “sin” is breaking the commandments of God. These are summed up in the Ten Commandments! It behooves us, therefore, to study and understand these laws!
They Saw God
We read in Exodus 24, God commands Moses “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord: but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”
Moses built an altar at the foot of the hill, and burnt offerings and peace offerings were offered to God. Moses then wrote all the words of the covenant and read it in the presence of the people who affirmed the covenant. Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments, and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient” (Exo.24:7).
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Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up and “they saw the God of Israel.. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity” (v.9-10). The account continues, “Now the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel” (v.16-17). Moses remained on the mountain top forty days, as God gave them the law with the statutes and judgments.
The elders tarried in waiting for Moses who was on the mount forty days and forty nights. God did not lay a hand on the nobles (did not strike them dead) even though they looked upon God and ate and drank in His presence. “But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God and they ate and drank” (v.11).
A Marriage Covenant
The covenant that God made with Israel was a marriage covenant and this was the wedding feast after Israel agreed to the covenant. A similar wedding feast will be held when the Messiah returns to earth for His bride, the church of God! We read in Revelation 19:7-9, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.” The covenant that we are making with Christ when he returns is a marriage covenant, and we will be his bride and he will be our husband and we will serve and follow Him wherever he goes. We will obey Him, and teach His commandments to the nations of the world and to our children and children’s children.
The heart of God’s Commands are summed up in the first ten, spoken by God to the whole assembly of Israel. They are known as the Ten Commandments. “Ten” is the number of ordinal perfection.
The Ten Commandments Revisited
Notice what Jewish rabbis and commentators say about the Ten Commandments. In The Essence of the Holy Days by Avraham Finkel, page 188 we read: “If we consider the order in which the Ten Commandments were given, an important fact emerges that sheds new light on this divine set of laws. The first group, five commandments, begins with Anochi, ‘I am the Lord your God,’ and ends with Kabeid, ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ The second half begins with Lo tirtzach, ‘Do not commit murder’, and ends with Lo tachmod, ‘Do not be envious.’ In Deuteronomy 5 and Exodus 20, one place says in Hebrew don’t covet and the other place says don’t be envious. Both are part of that same commandment. So what does this mean? Notice when God began speaking the Ten Commandments to us individually, He demands that we acknowledge Him first of all with our intellect: ‘I am the Lord your God’ and ‘You shall have no other gods.’ This is a pretty explicit commandment. It is not enough to recognize God in theory; we must acknowledge Him also in practice by exercising control over our words. (‘Do not take
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the name of God in vain’), our deeds (‘Remember the Shabbat to keep it holy’), and our family lives (‘Honor your father and your mother’).”
We are to watch our words and not to use bad language, curse or swear. Especially don’t take God’s name in vain and empty pursuit.
Continuing: “The social legislation contained in the second half of the Ten Commandments begins with demands on both our actions and words. But controlling our words and deeds is not enough; the Law demands that we also exercise control over our thoughts and feelings (‘Do not be envious’).”
These regulate how we are to get along with others. The first half deals with how we worship and love God. The second half is how we get along with and love our neighbor. Christ said that these were the two great points of the Law: 1) Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. 2) Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
How do we love our neighbor? 1) Do not commit murder; 2) do not commit adultery; 3) do not steal; 4) do not testify as a false witness; and 5) do not be envious.
The Origin of Sin
Sin begins in the mind, our thinking. This means that we have to watch what we think about. Refrain from desiring something that belongs to someone else, and comparing yourself with someone else and wanting what they have regardless of whatever it is—for example: jewelry, job, car, position, education, friends, home, or abilities. The underlying truth is that all so-called religious adoration is worthless if belief in a Supreme Being does not translate into control of words and actions toward our family and our social life. Only our deeds prove that our glorification of God is genuine. All social virtues are trivial if their only aim is to gain acceptance or if they are not rooted in a pure belief in God.
Are you tempted at times to sin, to lose control, to give in to evil passions, lusts, and envy?
The apostle James tells us, “Let no one say when he is tempted to sin and break God’s Law], I am being tempted by God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does he tempt any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death” (James 1:13-15).
Sin starts in the mind and heart first with desire, dwells on it and becomes ensnared. It is be definition breaking or transgressing God’s Law (I John 3:4). Paul then tells us, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Sin leads to the penalty of death.
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How pervasive is sin? Solomon wrote, “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Sometimes sin can just seem so right. A person may think there is nothing wrong with – i.e. a cigarette, or a drink, or trying a drug, or gambling just once – and the next thing they know they are enslaved by a habit that leads them to death.
The Key to Obedience
How can we overcome the temptation to break God’s Laws and give in to human lust, desire, and covetousness? By daily studying God’s commandments, His Word, and praying, and walking in God’s Law – with Him!
Solomon wrote, Take firm hold of instruction; don’t let it go [the teachings of God, the Torah, the Law of God]. Keep her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on” (Prov.4:13-15).
Solomon adds, “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness they do not know what makes them stumble” (verses 18-19).
Solomon continues, “My son, give attention to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart; [internalize them] for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep [preserve, and protect] your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Prov.4:20-23).
In other words, control your heart’s desires.
“Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder (think about) the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn [deviate] to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil’ (Prov.4:24-27).
Keep God’s commandments before you all the time, so you are not distracted and led astray. Let all your ways be established in God’s Word though constant and daily study and meditation. Read our free articles on “How to Walk with God,” “The Secret of Meditation,” and “How to Study God’s Word,” and “the Power of Prayer.”
The First Commandment
“I am the LORD your God . . . You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exo.20:2-3).
God appeared to Israel at the Red Sea as a mighty warrior who saved Israel from destruction and delivered them from slavery (Exo.15:3). At Sinai He was the Great Teacher. He reminds us first of all as to Who He Is. We are to put Him FIRST in our lives, above everything
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else! As Christ said, “Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things [your needs of food, drink, shelter and clothing] shall be added to you” (Matt.6:33).
Idolatry – worship of other so-called “gods” – is expressly forbidden. He is the Only One who can deliver and save us from death, destruction, and the ravages of sin and evil. Therefore we owe Him our undivided worship and adoration and praise.
The Second Commandment
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image . . . You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exo.20:4-5).
Worshipping and praying to images of gods, saints, and carved replicas of created creatures, including men or women, is a violation of this commandment. This is rank idolatry in hideous form. Images made of wood, stone, gold, silver and other metals are an abomination in God’s sight! They are part of Satan the devil’s vast, far-flung deception and worldwide conspiracy against the truth and purity of God.
The Third Commandment
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exo.20:7).
This commandment shows us that we must exercise control over our thoughts, words, and actions, as children and therefore representatives of God as members of His divine family. We must do nothing to contradict or bring dishonor upon the name and attributes of our God and Creator. As His children, we bear His name; it is written on us, and on our hearts. If we do anything contrary to God’s Law, His purpose and will, then we blaspheme His name, and take it in “vain” – to no good purpose and aim. This does not just forbid cursing or swearing or taking God’s name in an oath or using profanity, although that would be one example of taking His name in vain. To claim to be a “Christian,” and to live a life of hypocrisy and disobedience to God, would be taking His name in vain. Mere profession of Christ verbally is not enough; merely saying you worship God is not enough.
The apostle John writes, “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, IS A LIAR, and the truth is not in him” (I John 2:4). “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (v.6).
As Eliyahu Kitov says, “Do not hurry to take a false oath and do not let oaths become a matter of habit. If one makes a habit to swear, there will be times when he will make oaths without even wanting to do so. Therefore, one should refrain from swearing even about things that are true. One should not swear at all, for by making it a habit, the act of taking an oath becomes meaningless to him. And if one desecrates God’s Name and swears falsely – or even if
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he tells the truth but does not recognize the severity of taking an oath – God will reveal the person’s wickedness and punishment to all” (p.805).
The Fourth Commandment.
“Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work . . .” (Deut.5:12-14). “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exo.20:8).
The commandment to observe Shabbat begins with the letter zayin of zachor, “remember’”, and zayin is the seventh letter of the alef-bet. The commandment of Shabbat begins with the seventh verse of the Ten Commandments. The words “Do not do any work” are addressed to seven: “you, your son, your daughter, your slave, your maid, your animal, and the stranger in your gates.”
Basically this means everybody including animals. In case of an emergency God would allow “an ox fallen into the ditch”, to be helped out of the ditch.
“Remember” the Sabbath Day means to keep it constantly in mind. It is the only Day of the week which has a distinct “name,” in God’s calendar week. All the rest are merely designated by numerals. The Sabbath day, as the seventh day, points to the millennial 1,000 year “day of rest” – the Kingdom of God – when Christ will rule upon the earth (Rev.20:4). It is a sacred day to honor and worship God as a living community, a day when no human toil or labor is permitted to earn a living (although doing good and acts of kindness are always permitted).
The Sabbath Is Forever
We read in Isaiah 66:22-24—“As the new heavens and new earth shall remain before me the LORD, so shall your descendents and your name remain. It shall come to pass from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the LORD.”
Does this sound like the Sabbath day has been done away, nailed to the cross, rescinded or abolished? Isaiah continues: “They shall look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me.” The worms will eat their flesh, and the continual fire of Gehenna will burn what is left of their bodies until they become mere smoke and ashes.
God tells us His Sabbath day is HOLY to Him. “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor him, not doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: then shall you delight yourself in the Lord;; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it” (Isaiah 58:13-14).
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So God’s Sabbath continues through eternity!
The Fifth Commandment
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you” (Exo.20:12).
The apostle Paul adds, “Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord” (Col.3:20). Also, “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (v.21). The family is the key-stone of God’s government. He created men and women to marry and have godly children (Gen.2:18, 24, 1:27-28).
One’s human father and mother are a “type” of the heavenly Father, God and the Logos, who became Christ (John l:1-3). “In the beginning GOD [Hebrew elohim, “the mighty ONES” – elohim is a uni-plural word denoting two or more acting in perfect unity, in this case the Father and the Logos, who was the Son of God the Father from Creation] created the heavens and the earth” (Gen.1:1). John writes, “In the beginning was the Word [Logos} and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1-3).
To deeply honor and respect one’s parents, therefore, is akin to honoring and respecting God Himself, and Jesus Christ, Yeshua, the Logos, the second member of the Godhead, who also created us! Read our article, “Who or What Was Jesus Christ Before His Human Birth?”
This commandment immediately follows and is related to the fourth commandment. We read: “Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father and keep My Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God” (Lev.19:3). What links the two commandments? During Creation week, God brought into being the prototype of very species of life, including man. If He had not stopped the process of creation, then the system of procreation would not have been necessary God ceased the process of creation by divine fiat by ceasing to create on the Sabbath day, but ensured the continuation of life on earth by procreation – parents begetting children thus participating in the creation experience. Thus parents are “partners with God.” They beget the body, and God adds the spirit and breathes life into it. “Consequently, that we are born of a father and a mother is a direct result of God’s resting on Shabbat. This is the key to understanding the connection between ‘honor your mother and your father’ and keep the Shabbat’” (The Essence of the Holy Days, Avraham Yaakov Finkel, p.193).
Honoring Parents
We read in Proverbs 3:9, “Honor God with your wealth.” Since we are also commanded to honor our parents, this suggests that one way we do this is to provide for them out of our wealth – to honor one’s parents would be to feed, clothe, provide shelter for, and to accompany one’s parents.
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We also read in Leviticus 19:3 “Fear your father and mother”. The commandment also says honor your father and mother. Asks Eliyahu Kitov, “What constitutes fear and what constitutes honor? Fear – awe – includes not standing or sitting in their place, and not contradicting them or refuting them. Honor includes feeding them, clothing them, giving them shelter, and accompanying them.” (p.809).
Writes Kitov: “ Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught: the honor due one’s father and mother is so great that God compared their honor to His and the fear due them to the fear due Him. . . . One verse (Deut.6:13) states: Fear God, your Lord and another states: One should fear his mother and his father. One verse (Leviticus 24:16) states: One who curses God shall surely be put to death and another states: One who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death (Exo.21:17). And this is logical [that the fear and honor due one’s parents corresponds to that due God], for the three of them – one’s father, his mother, and God – are partners [in bringing a person into this world]” (p.810).
If it wasn’t for your parents, you wouldn’t be. Children are commanded to honor their father and mother with great respect on the physical level as compared to God on a spiritual level.
The Sixth Commandment
“You shall not murder” (Exo.20:13).
In Numbers 35:16 we read, “The murderer shall surely be put to death” Verses 17 and 18 state the same thing. The punishment for murder is death. So says the Word of God. In Genesis, God says, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God He made man” (Gen.9:6). Murder is a terrible crime in God’s sight. When one kills a man or woman, one in essence destroys a whole potential world of posterity, which could have grown into a multitude – a whole world of population. When Cain slew Abel, think of all the potential descendants Abel would have given birth to, if he had not been killed – all the families that could have come into existence, but which did not as a result of the heinous murder of one man.
John goes even further, exclaiming: “He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother IS A MURDERER, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (I John 3:14-15). Hatred itself is equivalent to murder, in God’s sight!
The Seventh Commandment
“You shall not commit adultery” (Exo.20:14).
Christ magnified this Law, when He declared: “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt.5:28). The penalty for adultery, in God’s legislation, is DEATH, because adultery strikes at the very
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foundation of God’s plan and purpose for marriage. God thunders, “The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall be put to death” (Lev.20:10).
Sexual sins of adultery, homosexuality, bestiality [having sex with various animals], are especially heinous in God’s sight (Lev.20:11-22). Solomon wrote of the sanctified love in marriage, declaring, “Drink waters from your own cistern, and running water from your own well. Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets/ Let them be only your own, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and always be enraptured with her love” (Prov.5:15-19).
The apostle Paul warned, “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body” (I Cor.6:18). The penalties for violating God’s laws concerning morality are manifest – including venereal diseases, mental illness, AIDS, blindness, madness, sterility, birth defects in succeeding generations, and social chaos, confusion, unwed mothers, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, and painful suffering and ultimately DEATH!
The world acts oblivious to these things, as the lusts of men and women propel them into confrontation with universal destruction and the judgment of God who will soon pour out His wrath and fury on a rebellious, disobedient world.
The Eighth Commandment
“You shall not steal” (Exo.20:15).
Most people think of stealing as financial, stealing money, fraud, theft, robbery, larceny, etc. However, it can also consist of stealing one’s reputation, one’s identity, stealing another person’s honor, respect, or even words – plagiarism! God declares, “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets [ministers], says the LORD, who steal My words everyone from his neighbor” (Jer.23:30).
God further commands, “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another” (Lev.19:11). “You shall not cheat your neighbor nor rob him” (v.13).
There are seven kinds of thieves. Says Eliyahu Kitov:
“1. One who is deceitful, who ‘steals other people’s minds, that is, deceives others by making pretenses . . . .
“2. One who falsifies his weights and measures . . .
“3. One who kidnaps another person.
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“4. One who associates with a thief and shares his booty.
“5. One who is sold into servitude [because he lacks the means to repay what he has stolen.
“6. One who steals from another thief.
“7. One who steals but intended to return what he had stolen, or who steals in order to make the victim angry or who takes something that is rightfully his’ (p.812).
One should not steal in an attempt to get ahead, but should support himself by his honest labor and work. God’s Word declares: “When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you” (Psalm 128:2). Isaiah prophecies, “Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings” (Isa.3:10). But, “Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given to him [done to him]” (v.11). Solomon declared, “Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage [lit., portion]” (Eccl.5:18).
The Ninth Commandment
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exo.20:16).
To falsely accuse another person is a terrible crime in itself. False accusations are extremely destructive and generate conflict, hostility, and war. God explains, “You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people . . .” (Lev.19:15-16).
“You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute to turn aside after many to pervert justice. You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute” (Exo.23:1-3).
There is no excuse for following a majority of people, just because they have the numbers or multitude on their side. Numbers don’t make right. Might doesn’t make right. Only God’s commandments make one right. To follow a “majority” in ERROR, is to commit error, sin, and the penalty is DEATH (Rom.6:23). This includes following a “majority” or “church authority” just because they have the numbers, or the power, in their hands. Regardless of what others may do, FOLLOW THE TRUTH, and let the TRUTH ALONE be your guide and standard!
The apostle Paul warned that many in this end-time generation will be deceived and misled “with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the LOVE OF THE TRUTH that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong
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delusion, that they should believe THE LIE, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thess.2:10-12).
The Tenth Commandment
“You shall not covet . . . anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exo.20:17).
Says Eliyahu Kitov, “In the first account of the Ten Commandment, it is written: You shall not covet. In the second account [Deut.5], it is written: You shall not covet, and then You shall not desire. Thus coveting and desiring are forbidden separately. How do we know that one who desires will eventually covet as well? One verse states: You shall not desire and another verse states: You shall not covet. And how do we know that one who covets will eventually steal? The verse (Michah 2:2) states: And they coveted fields and stole. One violates the prohibition of desire through thought, as the verse (Deut.12:20) states: If your soul should desire, whereas coveting is an action, as the verse (ibid.7:25) states: Do not covet the gold and silver that is upon them and take it for yourself.
“How is it possible for the Torah to prohibit coveting when it is a spontaneous reaction? The possessions of another person should be so removed from your thoughts that the idea of wanting them does not even enter your mind. . .” (p.814).
In God’s sight, covetousness, and envy, are forms of idolatry. Paul wrote, “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints” (Eph.5:3). He went on, “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (v.5). To the Colossians Paul wrote also: “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col.3:5).
Coveting and Envy
Kitov continues: “Why is the commandment [“do not covet”] placed at the end of the Ten Commandments? Rabbi Yitzchak of Radvil said, because if you have observed this commandment, you surely have observed all those that precede it. But he who does not have sufficient self-control to fulfill the prohibition against being envious must begin again from the first commandment: believe that God rules the world. For if he had sincerely believed in God, he would not be envious of that which God had apportioned to others.”
If God gives something to someone else that is God’s business. It is not up to us, or our business to be jealous or envious with thought of “what about me Lord?” We must learn to be humble and submit to God in gratitude and be thankful for whatever He gives us, because He is a God of love, compassion and generosity who is teaching us lessons of obedience of respect, submission and loving our neighbor.
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Learn to love your rich neighbor as well as your poor neighbor. We are not to love a rich person less because of money and position. Some of us do not have two coppers to rub together, and others may be homeless and living in a tent. We are not to be foolish and let people take advantage of us. However, if we really believe in God who is our Creator who gave us life, then we will not be envious of other people. God is in control and rules. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction (Sir Isaac Newton). If one does good, it invites good back; doing evil, invites evil back.
The following thought on envy came from Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav: “When jealousy ceases, the Redemption will arrive. Often envy is the cause of destruction and murder.” Envy, jealously and covetousness leads to hatred.
We had to evict someone from our rental because they just stopped paying the rent. On one occasion the woman stopped her vehicle at the yard saying to Cappy, what if I gave you $500 for rent right now? My wife said “talk to my husband”. However, she did not contact me, so I went over the next morning to collect the rent. In the meantime she had gone shopping at WalMart and had only hundred dollars left!
The judge ruled they would have to get out within a set number of days agreed upon by both renter and owner, or be evicted. On the morning of the return court date two weeks later, I checked to see if trailer was vacated as directed, and it was not, so the writ of eviction was signed by the judge. They did get out before the sheriff had to get them out. Thank the Lord for quite a lesson in human nature and that we no longer have tenants who masquerade as “professional victims” and do not tell the truth.
The Key to Overcoming Temptation
How can we overcome these tendencies and pulls of the human mind and flesh? James wrote: “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death” (James 1:14-15).
Humanly, we must learn to resist these temptations. It is not an easy battle, and we must constantly be on “guard,” as it were. But God promises to give us all the help we need, through His Holy Spirit if we ask Him for it sincerely, earnestly (Luke 11:10-13). Paul also had to resist the pulls of human nature. He wrote, “For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom.7:22-25). It is the Spirit of God within us, sent to help us by Jesus Christ, that enables us to resist all sin and to overcome it (see John 14:15-17, 26).
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The indwelling Spirit of God gives us POWER to overcome! So Paul was able to write, “There is now therefore no condemnation to those who are IN Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom.8:1-2).
The Spirit of God, dwelling in us, Paul said, in another place, is a spiritual gift which we must constantly “stir up” (II Tim.1:6). Says Paul, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of POWER AND OF LOVE AND OF A SOUND MIND” (II Tim.1:7).
A New Look at the Torah
In Psalm 19:7, we read, “The Torah of God is perfect, it restores the soul.” In Jeremiah 23:29 we read: “The voice and word of the Lord is like a hammer shattering a rock.”
In Deuteronomy 5:22 we read, “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more.”
The Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai are the key principles of the Torah. They are in essence then subdivided into all of the 613 commandments, or mitzvot, found in the Torah, the five books of Moses. These 613 laws are included within the 613 letters of the commandments—the Hebrew letters that spell out the Ten Commandments.
Says Eliyahu Kitov, “The Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai are the principles of the Torah and it is taught that all of the 613 mitzvos are included within the 613 letters of the commandments’
How Wonderful Is the Law of God!
God’s Law is the Authority, the Basis, of His Universe-ruling Kingdom. How blessed are the commandments of God! As David wrote in Psalm 119, “O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me” (Psalm 119:97-99). Do you love God’s commandments?
David wrote, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Psalm 119:18). He declared, “So shall I keep Your law continually, forever and ever” (verse 44), “And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love” (verse 47). “I made haste and did not delay to keep Your commandments” (v.60). “Great peace have those who love Your law, ands nothing causes them to stumble’ (v.165).
God’s Law and the Ten Commandments are the key to everlasting life, through Yeshua our Lord! It is high time we take them very seriously.
