The God Who Brought Them Out Tells Them How to Live Together

The opening names Elohim, not the LORD, and speaks of “words”, not laws. Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 4:13 call them “the ten commandments”, literally the ten words, which is where the Greek name Decalogue comes from.

Jewish tradition counts this self-introduction as the first of the ten words, though it commands nothing. Other traditions number differently: Catholics and Lutherans join the ban on images to verse 3 and split verse 17 in two, while Reformed and Orthodox churches count the image command separately.

Literally “there shall not be to thee other gods”: the Hebrew states what may exist in Israel’s life rather than issuing a verb of doing. “Other gods”, elohim acherim, becomes the standing phrase for Israel’s great failure through Deuteronomy, Judges and Kings.

A “graven image” is a pesel, something carved or hewn out. The three tiers, heaven, earth and the water under the earth, are the full range of the visible world, and Deuteronomy 4:16–18 spells them out as man, woman, beast, bird, creeping thing and fish.

The Hebrew qanna, “jealous”, is used only of God in the Old Testament, and 34:14 goes further: “the LORD, whose name is Jealous”. “Visiting” in 1611 meant coming to inspect and deal with, so the word covers punishment as well as a call.

“Thousands” stands against “third and fourth”, and Deuteronomy 7:9 reads it as “a thousand generations”. This is also the first place in the Bible where people are described as loving God; until now love has run only between human beings.

“Take” is nasa, to lift up or carry, the same verb used when Aaron is told to “bear” the names of the tribes on his shoulders (28:12). Leviticus 19:12 draws out one application: “ye shall not swear by my name falsely.”

Deuteronomy 5:12 gives this command as “Keep the sabbath day”, not “Remember”. Jewish tradition resolved the difference by saying both words were spoken in a single utterance, and the Friday evening hymn Lekha Dodi still sings that they were.

The verb for labour is avad, the same root as the “bondage” of verse 2. In Egypt Israel worked without limit; here work is commanded, but it is given six days and no more.

“Within thy gates” means within your towns, a phrase spoken to a people who as yet have no towns. The word for work, melakhah, is the one used for the craftsmanship of the tabernacle, and later rabbis defined forbidden Sabbath work from the tasks that building required.

The reason quotes Genesis 2:2–3 almost word for word, but the verb for rest changes: Genesis has shabat, to cease, and this verse has nuach, to settle down. Exodus 31:17 adds a third, that on the seventh day he “was refreshed”, literally took breath.

To honour is kabbed, from the root for heavy: to give parents weight. Paul notes in Ephesians 6:2 that this is “the first commandment with promise”, the promise here being tied to “the land”, a land the hearers have not yet entered.

In Hebrew the command is two words, lo tirtsach, and the next three are just as short. Genesis 9:6 has already given the reason human blood may not be shed: “in the image of God made he man.”

The Hebrew verb na’aph is the one the prophets turn on Israel itself when it forsakes the LORD: Jeremiah 3:8–9 and Hosea 4:13 speak of the nation committing adultery with stone and stock. The marriage command becomes the language for the covenant.

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 86a) read this command as stealing a person, kidnapping, arguing that it keeps company with capital crimes, while theft of goods is forbidden in Leviticus 19:11. Most readers have taken it more broadly; the rabbinic reading is one interpretation, not the plain wording.

The verb “bear” is anah, to answer, the language of a witness responding in court. Deuteronomy 5:20 calls the false witness “ed shav”, using the same word as the “vain” of verse 7, so a lie under oath and a false use of God’s name share a vocabulary.

The verb chamad appeared in Eden: the tree was “to be desired” (Genesis 3:6), from the same root. Deuteronomy 5:21 puts the wife before the house and uses a second verb for the rest, making coveting a neighbour’s wife a command of its own in some counts.

The Hebrew says the people “saw the voices”, the qolot of thunder, and ancient readers took note of a sound that was seen. “Removed” renders a verb for staggering or swaying; they reel back and take up a position “afar off”.

Deuteronomy 5:23–28 gives the fuller scene: the heads of the tribes and the elders bring the request, and the LORD answers, “They have well said all that they have spoken.” The appeal for a mediator is approved, not rebuked.

To “prove” is nissah, the verb used when God tested Abraham in Genesis 22:1 and of the test at Marah (15:25). The purpose clause is plain: that his fear may stay “before your faces”, in front of them, where they will see it.

The “thick darkness” is arafel, heavy cloud. Solomon recalls it at the temple’s dedication: “The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness” (1 Kings 8:12), and Psalm 97:2 sets clouds and darkness round about his throne.

“From heaven”, though 19:20 said the LORD came down on the mountain. Deuteronomy 4:36 holds both together: out of heaven he made them hear his voice, and on earth he showed them his great fire.

“With me” means alongside me, as partners in worship. Silver and gold are exactly what Aaron will ask for in 32:2–4, when the people’s earrings are melted into the calf at the foot of this same mountain.

“Record my name” is literally “cause my name to be remembered”. “In all places” allows many altars, and how this sits with the single chosen place of Deuteronomy 12 is debated: some read a sequence over time, others a distinction between kinds of altar.

The word translated “tool” is chereb, usually a sword. Joshua obeys this at Mount Ebal, building an altar “of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron” (Joshua 8:31, echoing Deuteronomy 27:5–6).

The robes of the day left a climbing man exposed. When the priesthood is ordered, a second answer is given: Aaron and his sons are to wear linen breeches “from the loins even unto the thighs” (28:42) when they come near the altar.