Exodus 20:1-17
The Ten Commandments
1 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
13 "You shall not murder.
14 "You shall not commit adultery.
15 "You shall not steal.
16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
Matthew 22:34-40
Two Great commandments
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
God gave us, through Moses, the Ten Commandments...This was one of the first things God gave Moses...And after all these past years these commandments are still valid today...The Ten Commandments show us we have a Moral God..The Commandments are about mankind's relationship with God and mankind's morals...
The focus on the first four commandments are about our LORD...The fifth commandment is about honoring our parents... The next five, commandments six through ten are the shall not commands, focusing on things we shall not do to others...
God has taken this very large group of people, some 600,000 men (Exodus 12:37) and probably 2.5 million total people (counting woman and children) and led them into the desert...An unorganized group of former slaves of Egypt, would be organized into the nation of Israel where they would take the Promised Land that God had promised hundreds of years ago to Abraham (to your offspring I will give this land (Genesis 12:7))...Moses led this group with God's assistance...
And when they were in the desert and were headed for the Promised Land, when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments for the people of Israel...They now had Ten Commandments and later would receive Laws from Moses (also from God, written by Moses) that would make the people more civil and better morally...Getting the nation of Israel organized, together and focused on the right ideas and values would take forty years...Can one even imagine this many people in one place, let alone a desert for forty years?...One can only imagine the problems Moses would encounter (besides the ones mentioned in the Bible) with that large group of people...God had to be with Moses for this trip to the Promised Land to work at all...The LORD said to Moses, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."...Moses said "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here (Exodus 22:14-15)...Moses, rightfully depended on God's help...He trusted in the LORD...
With God's patience and the Ten Commandments, the people of Israel, led by Moses, will continue their journey in the wilderness of the Sinai to the Promised Land of Canaan, to the land of milk and honey...
Jesus later tells us from these Ten Commandments, we can derive Two Great Commandments...The first Great Commandment are Love the LORD with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength...We must put God first...This takes into account the first four commandments...The second Great Commandment Jesus talks about is to Love your neighbor as yourself...This takes in account our last six commandments...Jesus tell us all the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments...
We are to put God first and then our neighbors...The commandments are all about love...We are to love God, and if we do the first four commandments will take care of themselves...If we love our neighbors the final six commandments will take care of themselves...And like Moses, we are to trust in the LORD everyday to get through the things the life brings us with each day...