10 Commandments Revisited

When was the last time you reviewed the 10 Commandments?  Well...as a matter of fact, Wes, I was just thinking to myself the other day about this.  Or, I just happen to always carry a copy of this in my wallet right next to the US Constitution.  Or maybe not so much.  You may have learned the 10 Commandments when you were a kid...or even memorized the every word.  But at some point we forget about this until around Easter when one of a t.v. station re-plays the movie which bears the same name.  

Where do we start with the 10 Commandments?

Some initial thoughts:

The 10 Commandments are found in Exodus chapter 20.  This is after the Israelite people have liberated from the land of Egypt.  This is after they have crossed the Red Sea.  This is after wandering in the wilderness for some time.  It was not as though the people of God entered the wilderness and immediately God gave them the rules.  Rather it took some time...And it took a lot of grumbling on the part of the people that they were hungry, thirsty, and wanted to go back to Egypt (you know where they were basically slaves.  It is amazing how much as people we can idealize the past.)

At some point they come to Mount Sinai also known as Mount Horeb.  And the people engage in a ritual cleansing where they wash themselves and their clothes (an early sort of baptism) before they even approach the mountain.  And then comes these words:

Exodus 20

And God spoke all these words:  “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before[a] me.  “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  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 parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,  but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.   “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.   “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.  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.  “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.  “You shall not murder.  “You shall not commit adultery.  “You shall not steal.  “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.   “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”  When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

Part of the struggle people have with the 10 Commandments is they are written in the negative, they only tell us what not to do, what is off-limits or out of bounds.  When that is coupled with pastor's sermons who amplify the negative, continue to add onto the above 19 verses with more negativity, it leaves a legacy of guilt.  

On the other hand, because they only speak in negative terms, there is a lot of positive ways we can act.  Re-read the above passage and see that it really gives humans a lot of free will to make decisions.  The metaphor of a baseball field might help.  The Commandments are the outfield wall, go beyond that and our relationship with God and each other gets into difficult territory.  But there is lots of ways we can live that are on solid ground and in God's realm.  

Over the next several posts I will talk briefly about the Commandments.  I want to be clear that I do this with some trepidation and trembling.  Trying to describe or define God's covenant too much and soon the one commenting is in difficult territory.  Yet, our children are learning about these in Summer Sunday school and I hope/pray this can be a helpful resource for families.  I want to be clear that while these are written in the negative, part of what God is getting at is what is helpful for whole life.  Sometimes as a parent I find it difficult to always be calm, cool and collected.  Sometimes my patience wears thins.  Remember the People of God have traveled well into the wilderness and during that time they grumbled a lot.  Think of the last car trip with kids you took, that kind of grumbling. The "Are we there yet?!" kind of grumbling.  Maybe God was responding in a less than positive way because of that.  I know people don't like to think we have that much influence on God, and maybe we don't.  But in some ways every time we pray a prayer of confession...which often deals directly with the way we are not living out the commandments/covenant of life...we are saying sorry because we believe our actions and words matter in our relationship with God.

One final comment.  After this post I will refer to this the covenant of the People of God with God rather than "Commandments."  Language matters.  And honestly, the word "commandments" can build a wall of resistance.  If you felt some initial surge of resistance to this post, I pray you will stick with me.  I pray that in the following posts you find new ways to appreciate and even live this wisdom God offered people years ago.  I think this covenant can offers us more than just a trace of God's grace and even God's presence.

Blessings