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| 1 And Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances that I speak in your ears this day, and learn them, and keep them to do them. |
O Israel – The Ten Commandments were given to Israel alone. R971:4
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| 2 Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. |
Made a covenant – The Ten Commandments are the "covenant" of the Law. R542:3
The Ten Commandments alone are declared to be the covenant; the ordinances merely went with them. R974:2
With us – The Law covenant was made with the people of Israel, not with Moses. Moses was the Mediator. R4999:3, R4370:5
God dealt only with one man, Moses, in the making of the Law covenant. He stood in the position of a father to the nation, the nation being regarded as children under age. R5046:4
The Jews eagerly accepted the arrangement but, being imperfect, they could not keep this perfect law. PD35/46
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| 3 Not with our fathers did Jehovah make this covenant, but with us, even us, those who are here alive all of us this day. |
With our fathers – Not with any one else previously. F356
But with us – The blessings of that covenant and its promises were only to the one nation; so also its curses. R1725:1, R5046:1
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| 4 Face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire Jehovah spoke with you |
Talked with you – Not through the intervention of priests. A54
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| 5 (I stood between Jehovah and you at that time, to declare to you the word of Jehovah; for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up to the mountain), saying, |
I stood between – Proving that the Law was conditional. R4370:5
It was the Law of God because it came from him; and it is the Law of Moses in that it came through him. HG583:6*
Moses was the Mediator of the Law covenant. As Mediator he stood between the two parties, God and Israel. On the one hand he represented God, and on the other, Israel. R4681:3, R2858:3, R5000:1; Q185:2
So the antitypical Moses, the Christ (Head and Body), as Mediator, will stand between God and the world and will for a thousand years shield the people from the requirements of absolute justice. R4646:1, R5000:1
The title of Mediator applied to Moses only while the covenant was being made. In future renewals, Aaron represents the Mediator in his sacrificing and subsequent blessing the people, while Moses represents the Law. R4570:3*
Not only to satisfy the claims of justice but to instruct, correct and restore as many of the fallen race as so desire. E18
Into the mount – Type of the Kingdom of God. R4037:5
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| 6 I am Jehovah thy God who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. |
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| 7 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. |
Thou shalt have – The Decalogue is a synopsis of the whole Law. A45
Neither the angelic sons nor the New Creation are under the Law, nor do they need it. F365; R4014:2
The wonderful Law of God, represented by the Ten Commandments, has a depth of meaning not seen on the surface, and was apparently seen by none until Jesus "magnified the law and made it honorable." (Isa. 42:21) R5286:2
None other gods – Mighty ones, my equals. E40
God properly puts himself first; the true God shall have first place in the human heart. R4014:3, R5286:3
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| 8 Thou shalt not make thyself any graven image, any form of what is in the heavens above, or what is in the earth beneath, or what is in the waters under the earth: |
Any graven image – With spiritual Israel this goes so far as to include father, mother, self, wealth, ambition; anything that would prevent the Lord from having the first place. R3038:2, R4014:4, R5071:5
Waters beneath – The waters are below, beneath, the level of the "dry land," called the earth. R1813:1
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| 9 thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous *God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, |
Bow down thyself – Shaw-kaw, worship. E73
Unto them – To images or to rival gods. E73
Am a jealous God – Wanting all the affections, confidence and trust of my creatures, for their own good. R3038:3, R4789:2
God's jealousy is just and is sure to bring to the sinner a just punishment. R4789:2
The impropriety of jealousy is when it leads to bitterness and other like qualities to which the fallen human mind is subject. R4789:2
Upon the children – By the law of nature under which, in wisdom, God has placed humanity. R3038:3
The tendency of sin is to break down the moral character and to impair the physical system. R2668:2
Suffering for the fathers' sins. R527:6*
Unto the third – Darwin considered that species had been and were being built up by the process of natural selection, but no species is being built up, and deviations from the prototype are corrected in the course of three generations. R4859:6*
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| 10 and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. |
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| 11 Thou shalt not idly utter the name of Jehovah thy God; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that idly uttereth his name. |
Taketh his name – The only ones who may properly take Christ's name are those who really become his disciples. R5404:6
As a child adopted into a family takes the name of the family, so we have taken upon ourselves the name of the sons of God. R4014:5
To take the name of God without careful effort to represent him is a sin against God. R1527:6
So the Jews, going to the extreme, avoid the covenant name of God-Jehovah. R3038:6
In vain – Lightly, frivolously, or in any other than a sacred and reverential manner. R3038:5, R1527:3
"Thou desirest truth in the inward parts." (Psa. 51:6) R1527:3
"Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (2 Tim. 2:19) R1527:3
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| 12 Keep the sabbath day to hallow it, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee. |
The sabbath day – Type of the Millennial age. B40; R5071:6; Q607:4
Typifying the rest which spiritual Israelites now enter by faith in Christ. R4015:1, R5071:6, R5360:1
Sanctify it – Observance as a day of rest, and no more. R4995:3
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| 13 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; |
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| 14 but the seventh day is the sabbath of Jehovah thy God: thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy bondman, nor thy handmaid, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy sojourner that is within thy gates; that thy bondman and thy handmaid may rest as well as thou. |
But the seventh day – Not the first day; if this commandment is binding at all, it is binding as stated and cannot be changed. R1727:2
Not do any work – It prohibits all kinds of work, secular or religious. R1727:1
"We which believe do enter into rest." (Heb. 4:3) R3753:4 Deuteronomy 5:15
Keep the sabbath day – This was something new to the Israelites, not previously known among them or their fathers. R1731:3
The Jewish Sabbath and its system of sabbaths are types of the greater Sabbath-the heavenly. Q759:3
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| 15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence with a powerful hand and with a stretched-out arm; therefore Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee to observe the sabbath day. |
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| 16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with thee in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee. |
Honour thy father – To the spiritual Israelite this would mean our Father in heaven. R4019:3
If our forefathers were monkeys, as so many now teach, why should we have much honor or respect for them? R4019:3
Quoted by Jesus in Mark 7:10 and attributed to Moses. HG583:6*
And thy mother – To the spiritual Israelites this would mean God's original covenant with Abraham, typified by Sarah. R4019:5
In the land – The fact that the Jews did not dwell long in the land given them is evidence that they did not keep this commandment properly. R3044:6
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| 17 Thou shalt not kill. |
Thou shaft not kill – Hatred of a brother is the spirit of murder. R3045:1, R4019:6, R5286:3
We should not even kill animals wantonly. R3045:1, R4019:5, R5287:6
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| 18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery. |
Commit adultery – Not even "in the heart." (Matt. 5:28) R4020:4, R5286:3
The Church is to be uncontaminated, unadulterated, separate from the world. R3045:3
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| 19 Neither shalt thou steal. |
Neither shalt thou steal – By any method deprive another of that which is properly his. R4020:5
Making false returns to tax assessors, attempting to smuggle without payment of customs duty, failure to give agreed-upon services for wages, are stealing. R5288:1
The worst form of stealing is the filching of another's good name. "Speak evil of no man. (Titus 3:2) R5288:1,4
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| 20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. |
Bear false witness – By a nod of the head, a shrug of the shoulders, or by silence. R3045:5
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| 21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, nor his bondman, nor his handmaid, his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's. |
Desire ... covet – Wish to appropriate for yourself. R4021:4
"Godliness with contentment (absence of covetousness) is great gain." (1 Tim. 6:6) R3046:1
Covetousness caused Satan's fall. R3046:1
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| 22 These words Jehovah spoke to all your congregation on the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the obscurity, with a great voice, and he added no more; and he wrote them on two tables of stone, and gave them to me. |
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| 23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, and the mountain burned with fire, that ye came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; |
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| 24 and ye said, Behold, Jehovah our God has shewn us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God talks with man, and he lives. |
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| 25 And now, why should we die? for this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more, we shall die. |
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| 26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we, and has lived? |
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| 27 Come thou near, and hear all that Jehovah our God will say; and speak thou to us all that Jehovah our God will speak to thee; and we will hear it, and do it. |
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| 28 And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke to me; and Jehovah said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people that have spoken to thee: they have well spoken all that they have spoken. |
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| 29 Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments continually, that it might be well with them and with their sons for ever! |
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| 30 Go, say unto them, Get you into your tents again. |
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| 31 But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. |
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| 32 Take heed then to do as Jehovah your God hath commanded you: turn not aside to the right hand or to the left. |
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| 33 In all the way that Jehovah your God hath commanded you shall ye walk, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess. |
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