This is the second part of a series about The Beauty of the Law.

What is the Law in the Bible? In a general sense, the Hebrew word “Torah” means “teaching” or “instruction”. This word often refers to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. In a stricter sense, the Law is just the roughly 600 commandments in these five books. (In Hebrew these are called the “Mitzwot”.)

In Exodus 20 we read the beginning of these commandments, and it is precisely here that we find the famous Ten Commandments. The previous part of this series showed how everything in the Law is not only a call to action but also a revelation of God’s character. This part of the series will simply elaborate further on that, this time looking into the Ten Commandments.

Quotation blocks in this article with quotes are from the Bible, quotation blocks without quotes are my interpretation.

The Setting

Before we dive into the precise commandments, let’s take a few moments to picture the scene:

Israel has lived many hundreds of years in Egypt, first as free people, then at the end as slaves because they thrived too much. God then calls His servant Moses to liberate His people. He leads the whole nation out among powerful signs, demonstrating His power and love for Israel. The biggest of these signs was when God rescued Israel by parting the Red Sea and leading them through it unscathed while their enemies drowned wholesale.

Having rescued these people, He now calls them into the desert. Moses brings them to Mount Sinai so they can encounter God because He wants to reveal Himself to every single Israelite personally — not just to Moses!

The Israelites prepare for three days, purifying themselves. The encounter at the third day is radical and overwhelming: The mountain is on fire, dark clouds surround it, a trumpet blows ever louder and louder. They cannot see the Holy, Invisible God, but they hear His voice, saying:

I Am The Lord Your God

“I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt. That is the land where you were slaves.”

This is how God addresses His beloved people. This is what He first says to Israel, the nation with whom He wants to enter into a marriage-like covenant. He does not start by commanding anything. His first words answer the questions “Who am I?” and “Who are you in relation to Me?”

I think this is more important than we often recognize. We humans are so often confused about who we are. We need someone outside of ourselves to tell us who we are, to speak identity into our lives so that we can become who we were always meant to be. We see this with Peter where Jesus tells him that he is a rock upon whom He will build His church.

God says that He is “the Lord your God”. “Lord”, in this instance, is the typical rephrasing “Adonai” instead of the “Yahweh” name. And although “Yahweh” means “I am”, I want to talk about lords for a moment:

In the Old Testament language, being a slave to a master or lord did not only mean “working for someone”. It also included “belonging to someone”. If God says that He is the Lord then we are His slaves and we belong to Him. But I think this extends even further: Not only do we belong to Him (because He liberated us from the slavery of sin), but He also belongs to us.

This is not what we necessarily see precisely in this part of scripture, but read the prophets and it’s all over the place: God entered into a marriage covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai. He tied Himself to this group of people, and in a marriage both spouses possess each other. They have committed to each other for a lifetime and everything either does will affect the other, both for good and for bad.

Let this sink in: The Eternal God who made the universe lowers Himself to talk to His creation, those shaky bones and Holy Breath which He formed into humans, and deeply desires to become one with them. He offers up Himself to these small beings He created in His likeness, telling them “You possess Me, and I possess you.”

I Brought You Out Of Slavery

You were not born in freedom. You were living under the slavery of sin — remember this.

You have not liberated yourself from this slavery on your own. It was not your politicians (Moses), your money, your connections that saved you from eternal slavery. It was I who rescued you — so you could become Mine and I could become yours!

Remember Egypt and the signs and miracles with which I lead you out from there. This is how much you are worth to Me!

You Will Have No Other Gods Beside Me

“You shall have no other gods beside Me.”

The Hebrew word for “beside Me” here means “on the same level as Me” or “next to My face”. We hear the same Jealous Husband here that we also encounter in prophetical books like Hosea:

I want to be the highest priority in your life. I am Life, and I want to be your life.

One interesting thing in the whole passage in Exodus 20 is that all the “You shall” phrases in this chapter can also be translated as “You will”. For me this makes the whole section sound not only like commandments but also like a promise of a different kind of life:

When you say “Yes” to Me and enter into this covenant relationship with Me, then this is the kind of life you will lead: You will have no other Gods beside Me, you will not abuse My name, you will rejoice in the Sabbath, you will honor your parents, …

You Will Not Make Yourself Idol Images

“You will not make for yourself a statue or any likeness of anything that is in the sky, on the earth or in the waters. You will not adore them or serve them.

For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, afflicting the guilt of the fathers on the children and grandchildren of those who despise me — but showing steadfast love to thousands of generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

When you enter into this covenant with Me, you will love first of all Me and not the signs of My grace towards you. You were not made to be the bride or the servant of anybody else but Me who made you and who has always loved you.

I desire your love! Your love or disinterest makes a tremendous difference for me. When you love Me, I will love you back ever more lavishly. And I will also pour out my kindness and goodness on thousands of generations after you.

If you run after others, I will be most jealous and relentless in my pursuit to get back your whole attention. When you reject me, then I will shake you so you wake up and recognize that all the good in your life which you rely upon comes only from Me. And you will recognize that My grace is a thousand times greater than the punishment I may enact to bring you back to Me …

You Will Not Exploit My Name

“You will not pronounce the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who pronounces His name in vain.”

Let’s look at the words “pronounce” and “in vain” a bit closer: The Hebrew verb nasa (for “pronounce”) mainly means “carry”, “lift up” or “take”. I guess that to nasa God’s name means to “take His name into our mouths” (i.e. pronounce His name out loud) or “exalt His name”.

The Hebrew adjective shav (for “vain”) is used to describe things that are “vain/futile”, “wrong”, “nothing”, or even “fraud”. On top of that, we know that names in the Jewish culture are not mere words: They always express the character of that person.

Additionally, we see Jesus making an important point in the Sermon on the Mount: We should never manipulate others by overriding their free will, as we would do e.g. by appealing to God or any high authority so we could make the things we say sound better than what they actually are.

In conjunction, for me this “name commandment” unfolds like this:

Do not exploit My name and My character to foster your vain projects or — even worse — your fraud! If you try to simply have your own way by abusing Me and My love, especially by coercing others to trust your shiny words, you are no longer living from the Tree of Life — and you will reap accordingly.

But when you live in My Kingdom, you can completely afford to openly and vulnerably speak the truth, and you have no need to say anything beyond it. For I am The Truth, and under My loving reign you will become more and more like Me.

Keep The Sabbath

“Remember to keep the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest for the Lord your God. You shall not do any work on it, neither you nor your children, neither your male nor your female servant, not even the animals or the foreigners living in your towns.

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Among all the commandments in Exodus 20, this is the one that makes it the most obvious that we should act in certain ways because God does so — and not primarily because He says so. Children will always learn more deeply by imitating what their parents do. And we have the greatest and best Father there is and ever will be: His words and actions will never contradict each other!

How refreshing and clarifying are the words of the prophet Isaiah about the Sabbath:

“You will call out to to Me for help and I will answer you. I will always guide you. I will satisfy your needs in a land baked by the sun. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water. If you keep your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable, then you will find your joy in Me.”

This is the kind of life we are invited into: In His Kingdom, we are untied from our reliance upon earthly things and upon our hard work. By learning to place our trust in Him, we can truly start to enjoy one full day of rest every week because we have learned that our lives are not in our own hands. There is Someone Infinitely Good providing for us and inviting us into intimacy with Him. This is truly the place where we find abundant life that is available nowhere else.

Honor Your Parents

“Honor your father and your mother. Then you will live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

God is a father and He wants to be honored. On the other hand, God is also a son and wants to honor his father. We can imitate Him by honoring the people who brought us into this life on a biological level, showing them our deep respect and love — even though our families are often the places where we are wounded the most.

You have learned to honor Me and obey what I say. Now, you can subject yourself to your mother and father freely, knowing you are not in their hands but in My loving care first. In Me, you are finally able to respect them and keep your heart vulnerably open at the same time.

You Will Not Kill

“You will not murder” — for I am The Life. You will not take life away from others to secure your own life.

Remember: Your life ended when you entered into a covenant with Me, and what you live now, you live in and through Me. And through Me, your life will become a place where others thrive, where they come alive and their lives start to unfold and blossom.

You Will Not Break Marriage

“You will not commit adultery” — for I am Faithfulness. You will be faithful to your spose — not because he or she deserves it but because you have learned to be faithful to Me, and because you are becoming more and more like Me.

The way you lead your marriage and all your relationships with the other sex will display My relationship with My bride.

You Will Not Steal

“You will not steal” — for I am your Provider. I give you more than enough. You are no longer poor because I am rich for all who call on me. In this deep bond with Me, you share in this wealth and this fullness of life.

You don’t have to live in fear any longer and grasp feverishly for things to secure your survival. You are no longer bound to a self-centered and ultimately self-destroying life: Out of My riches you can totally afford to generously give to others around you and love lavishly.

You Will Not Lie Against Others

“You will not be a false witness against your neighbor” — for I am The Truth. You no longer have to fight against others at all. You can simply say the truth, and say it in Love.

You can afford to be honest and vulnerable because when you are in Me, nobody can ultimately harm you. Yes, you can afford to speak the truth even about your enemies, and even if it causes you disadvantage or harm at first — because you are not living from your limited resources but from Me, Life Himself.

You Will Not Envy

“You will not covet your neighbor’s house or wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey or anything that is your neighbor’s” — for I am your Great Reward and the one who satisfies all your deepest needs.

Envy for others’ success, happiness or wealth will not be part of your life because you are not living from a reality of poverty anymore. No, even better: You will be free to genuinely rejoice in the good that others around you experience, maybe even more than they themselves enjoy it!

This is the second part of a series about The Beauty of the Law. Here is Part 1.