This study will cover the 10 commandments. Most of this information was presented to me by my teacher Peter, He did an awesome job and I want to give him credit for a wonderful study, and to YHVH who wrote it down! We will be focusing on the 10 Commandments as given in Exodus (Shemot) 20. The Israelites had come to mount sinai to meet with God. Then God spoke directly to the entire nation as a whole. Later on YHVH gave Moses these 10 Commandments written on 2 stone tablets. Here is the list of commands .
Tablet#1 Tablet#2
I am YHVH your God Do not murder
have no other gods
before me
do not worship idols Do not commit adultery
Do not take the name Do not steal/kidnap
of YHVH in vain
Honor the Sabbath day Do not bear false witness
keep it holy
Honor your Father and Do not covet
Mother
These are the 10 commands given by God. These are an outline of the rest of the Torah, or the cliff notes if you will. All of the commandments that we are given in Torah fit into one of these 10 categories. But let's see if we can simplify the list a bit. We will see that there are parallel's between these 10 that will give us 5 distinct principles. Let's have a look.
The Two Tablets
If we look at the 2 tablets separately we will see they are separated by a common theme on both sides. the first tablet is in accordance with our relationship with God. The second tablet is in relation to our relationship with others. Let's look at command #1 and #6 and see if we can draw any parallels between them.
Command #1 states that YHVH is God and there are to be no other gods before Him. #6 states that we are not to commit murder. These 2 commands are talking about the same basic principle. When we realize that YHVH is God we are acknowledging, honoring, and respecting his existence. When we do not murder we are in essence doing the same thing to our neighbor. We are acknowledging, honoring, and respecting their right to exist! So the first principle can be simplified to "right to exist".
Command #2 is do not worship idols, and #7 is do not commit adultery. The connection between these two is fairly evident. When we worship idols we are being unfaithful to God. When we commit adultery we are doing the same thing to our spouse. The second principle here is Faithfulness.
Command #3 is Do not take the name of YHVH is vain, and #8 is do not steal. What is the most personal thing about God that he has given us? We haven't seen God face to face, no one has a recording of what his voice sounds like, the most personal thing that we have of God's is His name. So imagine that you claim you belong to YHVH and then you do something dishonest or otherwise to trash the name of the Most High God. You have stolen something precious from Him. Same as command #8 stealing can also include kidnapping someone. In essence you are stealing something precious from that person. Up to and including their bodies. The connection here is do not steal from God or man. The principle here is about personal possessions.
Command #4 is Honor the Sabbath day and keep it Holy, #9 is Do not bear false witness. When we remember to keep the Sabbath day we are establishing that God is sovereign and that his work was complete and perfect in 6 days and he rested on the 7th. We are declaring that fact when we rest on shabbat. Bearing false witness against our neighbors is the same thing. If we break the sabbath we are bearing false witness that YHVH is the sovereign God of creation, with our neighbors we are lying about what they do as well. The basic principle here is Honor the actions of others.
Command #5 is Honor your Father and Mother, and #10 is do not covet. Why should we honor our Father and Mother? Because without them we wouldn't exist, they made us. And we are made in the image of God. When we covet we are essentially seeking a way to escape who we are, we think that what we see others having will make us happy. We aren't satisfied with ourselves and we are always trying to escape who we are to be something/ someone else. These 2 commands are linked by this theme, Respect yourself because you are made in God's image.
All of these themes have one thing in common and can be summed up in one word. That word is Love. Love for others, love for our relationships, love God and man, love the integrity of others, and love yourself. These are also instructions on how to respect, and each tablet shares that reality in 2 commandments. Love YHVH your God and love your neighbor as yourself.
Thank you all for reading I hope you learned something new and were blessed! Shalom