THE LAW OF MOSES

I. Intro:   The Passage from history to legislation

A. Israel at Sinai -Exodus 19

    1. Third month from Exodus - on the “same day” (Exodus 19:1).

        a. Probably being on the day of Pentecost.

        b. Fifty days after the Passover, as Jewish tradition affirmsⁱ

        c. Thus proper analogy for Acts 2 and the giving of the Spirit and the beginning of the “law of liberty” from Jewish legalism.

        d. See Adam Clark’s Commentary - notes of Exodus 19:1.

    2. The place - Mount Sinai - Israel was to “serve God upon this mountain” (Exodus 3:12).

        a. “Serve” is “latreusete” in the LXX - and means “to worship.”

        b. This is the same mountain where Moses saw the burning bush.

    3. Recall to memory. “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you with eagles wings" (v. 4).

        a. Eagles perch young on top, not in claws as other birds protecting young with own body - see Deuteronomy 32:8-11 and Mt. 23:3. Read J. Wash Watts.

O.T. Teachings, pg 78-79.

        b. “I brought you unto myself” to belong to YHWH alone.

            1) Ezekiel 16: 1-14 describes Israel’s plight in Egypt.

            2) Jeremiah 31: 32 declares God had made Israel His wife.

            3) “To be a peculiar treasure unto Me” as God’s heritage 1 Peter 2:9 and Malachi 3: 17.

            4) “All the earth is mine” - but Israel is particularly mine! Yhwh is Lord universal! (v.5).

    4. “And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” - a true dynasty of persons invested with both royal and priestly rank. Levi and Aaron were not to supplant the nation of priests, but represent it.

    5. Three days of sanctification and consecration (vs.10).

        a. To deepen their reverence for God.

        b. Thunders, lighting, clouds, awesome and fearful (Hebrews 12: 18ff).

        c. Mountain fenced from profanation by man or beast (vs.12).

        d. Two clear warnings given “breaking forth upon YHWH” in verses 12 and 21.

        e. Third and final warning given in vs 24 - priests to sanctify themselves and then draw near.

B. The purpose of the Law of Moses

     1. To show the Holiness of God and what man ought to be.

     2. To show the sinfulness of man - and what man really is.

    3. By works of law can no flesh be justified - Galatians 3:16.

    4. Salvation is by faith - Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 4:3, 6; Galatians 3:12.

       a. The blessing of Abraham was not obtainable by the obedient but by the

Pardoned Acts 3:25; Galatians 3:8; Ephesians 5:6.

       b. Reliance on ones own performance is useless - Romans 2:13; 3:19; 4:1-5; 4:1
Galatians 3:10, Deuteronomy 27:26; Levticus 18:5; Galatians 3:22, 5:3.

       c. This does not mean that the Jews were free from moral law.

            1) It is erroneous to believe we can keep law and earn our salvation.

            2) It is equally erroneous to believe we can break law with impunity, i.e., without penalty.

    5. Law does not have the ability to pardon the guilty - Hebrews 10:28.

       a. Not any more than a mirror can remove the wrinkles and blemishes it reveals.

       b. Or a plumb line straighten a wall it shows to be crooked.

       c. Yet neither the mirror not the plumb line create the derangements they reveal. Nor can either remove-their purpose is only to reveal.

      d. Like electricity - it is good and useful as long as one uses it respectfully and lawfully.

            1) But violate its mandates and it kills without mercy whether its laws are known or unknown.

            2) Likewise, it can not restore life once it is lost.

            3) See again Leviticus 18:5 and Deuteronomy 27:26.

 Read C.H. Mackintosh, Genesis to Deuteronomy, pages 228-235.

    6. Law only reveals the feebleness of him who tries to keep it all.

    7. It contrasts the spiritual beauty of the pure ideal with the wretchedness of him who breaks it.

       a. The elaborate sacrificial apparatus accompanied the law to convict its subjects of their violations.

        b. Even its priestly ministers were acknowledged transgressors.

    8. The law was an authorized statement of what innocence means and establishes the preservation of such innocence.

    9. It was an organic whole - it is either kept as a whole or it is broken as a whole.

        a. Thus states James 2:10; Galatians 5:3.

        b. For He who gave the 7^th Commandment, also gave the 6^th.

        c. The challenge of God to man cannot be met halfway.

        d. Either it is thoroughly kept or thoroughly broken.

10. Man’s failure to keep the law does not mean that the Law failed to accomplish its intended purpose.

        a. Through law is the knowledge of sin - Romans 3:20; 7:7.

        b. The law works wrath - romans 4:15; Galatians 3:10.

        c. It showed the sinfulness of sin - Romans 7:13.

        d. It was added because of the transgression - Galatians 3:19.

        e. It was given so that the offense might abound - Romans 5:20

        f. It was the Jew’s tutor to bring them to Christ - Galatians 3:24

        g. The law is good, holy and righteous - Romans 7:12

11. The law was frequently called by Moses: “the testimony” and the “ark of the

testimony” (which was the depository of the law in the tabernacle) - Exodus

16:21; 30:6; Leviticus 16:13 - see further Exodus 32:15; 34:20.

C. However the Jew did not live in a constant state of frustration and hopelessness under the Law’s testimony against him for sin.

     1. Faith was given ample expression under law and in fact, Paul said that faith

“established the law” - Romans 3:31.

    2. Loves fulfills the law - Romans 13:8, 10.

        a. As affectionate men are free from control of law which demands they support their wives and children.

        b. It is because their natural volition coincides with the law’s demands - 1 Tim. 1:8-9; Galatians 5:23.

    3. The Jew was assured of grace from God, not by works that justified without faith but works of obedience that demonstrated his faith - James 2:14-26.

D. The covenant is the Law---The Ten Commandments are the Covenant

1. The concept is important because it corrects the error proposed by the Seventh

Day Adventists.

    a. They claim Christ only terminated the ceremonial part of the Law, its sacrifices

and rituals.

    b. They try to separate the Ten Commandments for the Law of Moses, and from

the Covenant of Sinai.

    c. Thus they claim that the Ten Commandments are the moral code for all time

and were not abrogated together with the Law and Covenant.

2. The following verses gainsay their view.

    a. Exodus 34:28 - “He wrote upon the tables of the covenant, the ten

commandments.

    b. Deuteronomy 4:13 - “And he declared unto you His covenant,...even the ten

commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone.”

    c. Deuteronomy 5:2-3 - YHWH our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

YHWH made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are all of us

alive this day.” commandments.

    d. Deuteronomy 9:9 - “When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables

of stone, even the tables of the covenant.”

    e. Deuteronomy 9: 11 - “ at the end of the forty days and forty nights, that

YHWH gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.”

    f. I Kings 8: 9, 21 - “There was nothing in the Ark save two tables of stone

which Moses put there at Horeb when Yhwh made a covenant with the

children of Israel...and there have I set a place for the ark, wherein is the

covenant of YHWH which He made with our fathers.

    g. Nehemiah 8:1 - the “law of Moses” is read to all the people, for it is “the

law of God” (verse 8).

    h. Luke 2:22 the “law of Moses” is the “law of the Lord” (Verse 39).

    I. Romans 7: 7 - “the law said, thou shalt not covet.”

    j. Romans 13: 8-10 - the law is the ten commandments which the command

to “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Levticus 19:18) is “fulfilled by love.”

II. Romans 8: 1-4 now puts us under the “law of the spirit of life” and frees us from “the law of sin and death.”

A. Not that God has become gentler or better than He was under the law

    1. His moral righteousness remains unchanged under both economies

    2. His judgments against sin are just as severe.

    3. His love and grace are just as available under both systems.

B. But because Christ “who is the end of the law” has come - Romans 10: 4; Galatians

3: 24; Romans 7:4.

C. It is because of Christ that the sacrificial system had its symbolic value - as a

shadow system both predicting and demanding Christ’s finished work at Calvary.

The whole book of Hebrews is a demonstration of this fact.

D. It is evident that Christ is the center of both the Old and New Covenant - first in shadow, then in reality.

III. Structure and arrangement of the Law

A. Called the “ten words” - Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4; Exodus 34:28.

    1. Called “the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger

of God” - Exodus 31:18 - see 2 Cor. 3:3-10.

    2. “Written on both sides” and “the writing was the writing of God graven upon

The tables” Exodus 32: 15-16.

        a. These are the stones Moses broke - Exodus 32:19.

        b. Moses made two more tables of stone and wrote the words of the law -

Exodus 34:1, 27-28.

B. The division seemed to be five and five.

    1. The first five all have reasons rooted in YHWH attached to impress upon Israel

their importance.

    2. The second five have no reasons attached.

    3. Deuteronomy 5: 17 begins the last series with, “Thou shalt not kill” and then

continues the series, introducing each additional commandment with the negative copulative “neither” commit adultery , neither steal, et. al.

    4. Leviticus 19:1-4 classes honor to father and mother alongside the commandments about images and Sabbath keeping.

    5. Romans 13: 9-10 list duties to neighbor but does not include the fifth commandment.

    6. Anyone who cursed father or mother receives the death penalty (Exodus 21:17;

Leviticus 20: 9; Matthew 15:4; - “Let him die that death.”) and anyone who

cursed God shall “bear his sin” and “he shall be put to death” (Leviticus 2: 15-

16). So the death penalty was the same for cursing God or parents.

C. Catholic addition of the second commandment to the first is gratuitous deception for the reasons well known.

    1. They seek to justify the prevalence of images in worship.

    2. They divide the tenth into two in order to restore the number (10).

    3. But then the ninth would simply reiterate the seventh.

D. Thus each table seems to begin with the gravest duties and descend to the lessor.

    1. The First Table - duties to God - later becomes the basis of the sin sacrifice in

Leviticus 4.

        a. First - Sanctifies God’s unique personality.

        b. Second - Sanctifies God’s spiritual nature.

        c. Third - Sanctifies God’s holy name.

        d. Fourth - Sanctifies God’s holy day.

        e. Sanctifies God’s earthly representatives to children–their parents.

            1) The very fountain, and sanction of all God’s law to childhood.

            2) Duties to parents seem more sacred than those to a neighbor.

    2. The second Table - duties to neighbor - basis of trespass offering.

        a. Sixth - Protects his life.

        b. Seventh - Protects his marriage and family.

        c. Eight - :Protects his property.

        d. ninth - Protects his reputation.

        e. Tenth - Protects his interest in my inner-self and my thoughts about all that is his.

E. Basis of this division and structure.

    1. Only proper relation between man and man is in each mans relation to God.

    2. Man’s Wisdom would probably reverse in importance the two tables.

    3. The University of Michigan asked the students to list the Ten Commandments in order of importance and their vision went somethinglike this:

        a. First - Don’t kill - sixth on God’s list.

        b. Second - Don’t commit adultery - seventh on God’s list.

        c. Third - Don’t steal - eight on God’s list.

        e. Fourth - Don’t bear false witness - ninth on God’s list.

        f. Sixth - have no other God’s - first on God’s list.

        g. Seventh - Don’t take God’s name in vain - third on God’s list.

        h. Eight - Keep the Sabbath - fourth on God’s list.

        I. Ninth - Don’t covet - tenth on God’s list.

         J. Tenth - Don’t make graven images - second on God’s list.ⁱⁱ

F. Now to the commandments themselves - after God’s arrangement and not man’s.

   1. They are presented in the negative form, but they affirm positive truths that must

be sought, affirmed and defended.

    2. The first five contain the basis of all theology - the reverence and religious service

we owe God. The last five form the basis for all ethics - the honor and duties we

owe our fellow man.

    3. Deuteronomy 6:4 demands love for God as the basis for all duty to Him.

    4. Leviticus 19:18 demands love for man as the basis of all duty to Him.

    5. The ten commandments are the basis of God’s covenant with Israel as seen

in Deuteronomy 4:13; I Kings 8:9.

    6. In Matt. 22:55-40 Jesus places love of God as the greatest of all commandments

And love for neighbor second to it - for “on these two commandments the whole

Law hangs and the prophets."

IV. The Decalogue - from Him who said: I am YHWH your God.”

A. The First Commandment - “Thou shall have no other gods before me.”

    1. Strict monotheism not only revealed but enjoined, commanded.

        a. Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear O Israel, YHWH our God (Elohim) is YHWH one.”

        b. Romans 3: 29-30, “If so be that God is one” then He is the God of the Jews

and of the Gentiles.

    2. Thus God’s own declaration of His own unique nature enjoins upon Israel the

obligation to keep all His laws.

        a. If He is the only God - then His laws must be kept!

        b. “I am YHWH” is frequently repeated in the Torah as the basis for all statutes,

Laws and injunctions - cfr. Leviticus 11:44; 18:2, 4, 30; 19:4, 10, 25, 31, and

34.

    3. “Thou shalt have no other gods” means: to “have” as the true God , by

knowing, confessing and being in the right relationship to Him.

    4. But even in the prohibition is a marvelous condescension: “Thou shalt have...Me!

    5. “Thou” - each individual is personally responsible, even if it is a national law -

Deuteronomy 5: 3.

    6. He is God who made Himself known and familiar to Israel by miracle and by

    delivery - Deuteronomy 5:3.

      a. This is the introductory phrase to the whole decalogue.

      b. He is mentioned as the reason for all commands to Israel only.

         1) See Fifth Commandment - applies the law to people on their way to a land

      this God had given unto their father Abraham.

         2) See Fourth Commandment - it is enforced by reference to Israel’s servitude

in Egypt.

    7.  Yhwh wants to be known as a personal God - for no true worship of, right

thought about, faith in, or obedience to God can exist until He is properly known.

        a. Any allegiance to God that does not recognize Him as He has revealed

Himself to be is allegiance to a false God.

        b. Five great evils in theology are averted when this commandment is fully

respected.

            1) Atheism - many must be condemned for having no God at all.

            2) Polytheism - whether practical or real.

            3) Pantheism - God is everything and in everything.

            4) Deism - God created all and left it all.

            5) Agnosticism - God has revealed himself, we just can't know Him for sure.

B. The Second Commandment - “Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image.”

    1. Again - “unto thee” - thus personalizing.

    2. Motive - having defined who He is in His uniqueness, He now defines His true nature - spirit.

        a. The spirit nature of God revealed and worship conforming to that nature is enjoined - John 4:24; Acts 17: 24-29; Romans 1: 20-25.

        b. God is external to all created things and is not conditioned nor contained by them.

        c. Psalm 115:8 affirms that those who make dumb images “are like them” in other words - as dumb as their images.

    3. Deuteronomy 4:15ff explains: You saw no from...”

        a. Deuteronomy 4:16 - “lest you corrupt yourselves by making images. “ Images

corrupt our “image of God” that we were given at creation..

        b. Exodus 32: 7 - When Israel made the Golden calf to be their God, then

God said of them: “they have corrupted themselves.”

        c. Psalms 106:20 says that when Israel made the Golden Calf, “ thus they

changed their glory for the likeness of a ox that eats grass.

    4. Exodus 20: 5 adds: “Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, not serve

(Latreuses= LXX) them.”

        a. As in prayer or sacrifice or any and all other actions that invoke God through

religious ceremonies.

        b. Additional warnings against materialization and secularization of God

enjoined -

            1) Deuteronomy 4:12, 15-19, 23-24 warnings before giving the law.

            2) Exodus 20:23 warnings after the law was given.

    5. “For I am a jealous God.”

         a. Not only a zealous avenger of sinners - zeal for His law.

         b. But zeal for self also - who will not allow the transfer of honor belonging

     only to Him to be paid to another.

         c. Such prohibitions are essential to keep man from degrading his concepts of

God and thereby debasing Him.

    6. There is such a strong influence of evil that if a “father eats sour grapes, his son

will also want to eat sour grapes” Ezekiel 18: 1-4; Jeremiah 31:29.

    7. But good is stronger - “showing loving kindness unto thousands of them that

love me and keep my commandments.

    8. By and act of homage men acknowledge themselves inferior to that which they

adore; so that every degradation the of Object of worship involves a simultaneous abasement of the worshiper.

        a. God is jealous for the influence of His people upon the world. Israel was

appointed the guardian of the truth, an apostle of the one God, a harbor-

light to the nations in darkness.

        b. Idolatry is absurd and irrational; for the workman is better than the work; “he

who built the house” - Hebrews 3:3.

C. The Third Commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain.”

   1. Exodus 3: 14ff is where God made know His nature, glory and power in His name - “I AM THAT I AM.”

        a. He was not known before by that name - Exodus 6: 2-2.

        b. Moses is informed that He is the same God who had appeared to Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob and made His covenant with them but they did not know Him

by the name YHWH.

    2. Not a prohibition of the use of His name, but of the vain use

        a. Moses is commanded to use it: “And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I

AM: AND HE SAID thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM

hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 3:14.

        b. In fact the commandment solicits its properly employ.

    3. “In vain”= “shaat” to lay desolate, or lay waste or in disorder and empty .

        a. As Isa. 6:11; 37: 26 “to cause cities to crash into ruined heaps.”

        b. 2 Kings 19:25 and Lam. 3: 47 - devastation and destruction.

    4. God’s name is not to be voided but the positive norm is to use it properly in

worship, invocation, praise, prayer and Thanksgiving.

    5. Proper use demanded - “calling upon the name of the Lord.”

        a. Acts 4:12 - “in no other name.”

        b. Phil 2:9 - “that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.”

        c. Acts 22:16; Romans 10: 8-9 “call upon the name of the Lord.”

        d. 2 Cor. 1:23 Paul calls God to witness the truth.

        e. Rev. 10: 6 Angels swear by God.

        f. Romans 9:1 God’s name confirms Paul’s concern for the lost.

        g. Mal. 1:6 “a son honors his father...”

    6. The Jews seemed to have gone to the access - almost as if God had prohibited the

use of His name at all.

        a. They never pronounced the name of YHWH says tradition.

        b. Use of the terms Kethibh and Qere.

    7. Like graven images debase God’s nature, so to flippantly and irreverently use

His name is to degrade His authority and person.

        a. So Mal. 2:2 the Priest did not “give glory to my name” and they are accursed.

        b. Leviticus 19:12 “You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the

name of your God: I am YHWH.

D. The Fourth Commandment - “ Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

   1. Any religious truth perishes if it is not rooted in religious affection and sustained

by religious observances.

    2. “Remember” suggests previous history as well as legislation.

        a. The memory is of two things:

            1) The six days of creation after which God rested.

                a. “And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made,

and rested.” Genesis 2:2

                b. “therefore YHWH blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it “Exodus 20:11

                c. Sabbath means “cessation” from work.

                d. The command to keep the Sabbath day was first given at Sinai.

                e. Ezekiel 20:12 - God gave the exodus people His ordinances and that

included “my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them.

                f. Nehemiah 9: 13 - God” came down upon Mt. Sinai...and made known

unto them the holy Sabbaths.”

        2) The years of slavery in Egypt.

            a. “you were a slave in the land of Egypt; but God delivered you” Deuteronomy 5:15.

            b. First given to man as a Law at Sinai, though provision was made to the Exodus people by the

fact that manna didn’t fall on the seventh day Exodus 16:22-23.

            c. Applied to man and beasts - as well as “any stranger within thy gates.’

        1) Numbers 15:32-36 the man stoned for picking up sticks on the Sabbath

shows the severity of penalty for disobedience.

        2) To work on the Sabbath shows a perversion of Sabbath Typology.

    3. Labor, toil, sweat of man’s brow - “in toil shalt thou eat of the ground.”

Thus, the curse because of sin (Genesis 3:17-19).

        a. Then God gave this symbol of the future redemption from sin and its

consequences.

        b. It was kind of a foretaste of future “rest” and eternal “Sabbathism” Hebrews

4:10; Revelation 14: 13.

    4. The Sabbath is also the basis of other festive seasons and even of the great Day

of Atonement - it was a “high Sabbath.”

    5. Often ignored in this commandment is the fact that work is enjoined for six days as well as Rest is Commanded on the seventh.

        a. Man’s sin has turned work into a curse.

        b. Only by working man can enjoy the rest that follows labor.

E. The Fifth Commandment “Honor thy father and mother.”

1. The command is not placed on par with duties to fellow men

    a. For duty to parents is classed along with duty to God for they are God’s representatives.

        1) Disrespect to parents is tantamount to disrespect for God.

        2) The death penalty awaits those who curse either- Matthew 15:4; Leviticus 24: 15-16.

    b. Leviticus 19:1-4 classes honor to father and mother alongside of no images

and keeping the Sabbath - “for “ I am YHWY your God.”

    c. Also, in Leviticus 19: 2-3 such honor to parents is part and parcel to the

command: “You shall be holy, for YHWY your God is holy.”

2. Fellow men and neighbors are to be “ loved as yourself” - Leviticus 19:19.

        b. They are God’s ministers to the child’s needs and the first lessons of

obedience to the greater by the lessor is found here.

    c. Ephesians 6:12 - Children are to obey their parents.

3. Jesus interprets this to include aged parents Matt. 15: 4-6.

4. “That your days may be long on the earth.”

    a. This is the first commandment “ with the promise” - Ephesians 6: 1-4.

    b. Really two promises contained in the original commandment.

        1) Possession of the land of promise.

        2) Long life in that land - Deuteronomy 5: 16; see also Deuteronomy 6:2; 22:7.

5. “Disobedience to parents “ is a sign of rampant Gentile sin - Romans 1: 30.

F. The Sixth Commandment - “Thou shalt not kill.”ⁱⁱⁱ

1. The last five commandments are summed up in the one word in Leviticus 19:18,

“Love your neighbor as yourself” - see Matthew 22:37-40.

2. The order of the last five commands is obvious - offering protection of life,

marriage (family) and property.

    a. The transgressions of these are all overt actions and deeds.

    b. Generally acts that involve the violation of owners rights.

3. Then the Law proceeds to the words and thoughts behind the actions themselves -

False witness and coveting.

    a. Recognizing that deeds are not separated from the disposition or motive of the heart.

    b. Romans 13: 8-10 deals with the proper motive - that of love, for it protects the person and privileges of the neighbor against any and all abuse.

4. “Thou shalt not kill” is further amplified in the law.

    a. Not only is murder condemned whether by violence or stratagem Exodus

21: 12, 14, 18.

    b. But every act that endangers human life, with or without intent to harm

Whether it arises from:

        1) Carelessness - Deuteronomy 22:8.

        2) Wantonness - Leviticus 19: 17-18.

        3) Hatred, anger or revenge - Leviticus 19: 17-18.

5. Life is placed at the head for it is the basis of all human life and existence in God’s image - Gen. 9:6.

6. Genesis 9:6 explains that “man is made in the image of God” and that “image”

must be honored and protected.

    a. The Hebrew word for “kill” is “tiretsah” and it is best translated with the word “murder.”

    b. The Hebrew word for killing of the sacrificial animal is “shahat.”

G. The Seventh Commandment - “Thou Shall not commit adultery.”

1. Prohibits either husband or wife from extra-marital relations.

    a. For such robs one’s spouse from his or her marriage privilege.

    b. It involves the dearest of all possessions - the one chosen to share life, home

body, and family.

    c. One Hebrew word for marriage is “Kiddushin” which is also their word for

consecration, sanctification, and separation.

    d. The English word for “husband” from German roots is “hus” = house, and

“binder” = band or house binder.

    e. The English word for “wife” comes from the Old English word for a “weaver.”

2. Herein is God’s recognition of the sacredness of marriage and of the sanctity

of its privileges - Gen. 2:24.

3. The man who violates this union also violates his own body, as seen in I Cor.

6: 13-20 - and said body is the Temple of the Spirit.

4. Violation not only degrades the total marriage and the neighbors union with the

bride of his love, but also degrades the entire human family.

     a. Where this law is ignored, then men become as animals that co-habit

without restraint - Jeremiah 5: 7-8.

     b. Home is the moral and social foundation of society.

5. It is to sin in the face of God’s remedy against it.

     a. “To avoid fornication, let each man have his own wife...”

     b. It is like the rich that steal, even when there is no need.

     c. Adultery is the highest sort of theft - stealing from a man “flesh of his flesh.”

6. This commandment contributes to the development of the Fifth Commandment

where the fidelity of the parents encourages the children to honor them.

H. The Eighth Commandment - “ Thou shalt not steal.”

1. Guarantees the sanctity of a man’s property - and assures that possession of

property is legitimate in God’s eyes.

     a. Prohibits the appropriation of another’s goods whether by open or secret design thereby damage thereto, change found properties, false evaluations or unfair advantage.

     b. See Exodus 21: 33, 2:13, 23: 4-5; Deuteronomy 2: 1-4; Leviticus 6:1.

2. There are no true Robin Hoods - as such would be prohibited.

     a. If a man wants to help his needy neighbor “let him labor with his hands the

     thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give him that hath need” Ephesians 4: 28.

     b. The temptation to steal springs from indolence, greed, covetousness and vain glory.

3. Refusal to pay debts is stealing! The creation of debts far beyond the ability

to pay is stealing. To leave school and not pay your phone bill is stealing.

To not return your library books is stealing.

4. If the fruit of my labor is mine, then the fruit of another’s labor is his.

5. There may be an underlying distrust for God’s providence in this commandment.

I. The Ninth Commandment - “You shall not bear false witness.”

1. Literally “ You shall not testify against your neighbor a false witness.”

2. The command has its roots in the moral nature of God - who is truth - if He were

not, He would not be truth.

     a. The law which guards truth must be of supreme importance.

     b. Colossians 3:9 “lie not one to another; seeing you have put off the old man

with his doings, and have put on the new man that is being renewed unto

knowledge after the image of Him.

     c. You must know take on the nature of Christ, which prohibits all forms of

     falseness.

3. Here prohibited is conscious lying to falsify truth.

    a. To give false testimony is not to give wrong evidence but a wrong witness.

    b. Any compromise of truth with half-truths, innuendos, insinuations or

suppression of the facts is wrong.

4. This law is evidently designed to protect life, marriage relations, and properties of a

neighbor.

     a. Numbers 35: 30 a man’s life is protected - as in Deuteronomy 17: 6 two

witnesses required before death penalty inflicted.

     b. Deuteronomy 19: 15-21 protects property with the false witness being subjected

to the judges verification.

        1) If a false witness is discovered , then the evil he sought to bring is meted out to him.

        2) This is the law of “eye for eye and tooth for tooth, and hand for hand, foot

for foot” - Deuteronomy 19:21.

    c. Deuteronomy 22:13 prohibits lying about the chastity of his bride.

5. Generally all lies have their roots in something ill gotten, whether property,

reputation, claim to innocence to avoid honest judgments.

6. Not only telling lies openly is prohibited but also suppression of truth by which

another is defrauded or self is advantaged.

7. To be silent when a witness is needed to truth is wrong - see Leviticus 5:1 - he is guilty.

J. The Tenth Commandment - “Thou shall not covet.”

1. Here is the root form which every sin against God and neighbor has its source 

whether in word or deed.

2. Coveting (epithumesis - LXX) proceeds from the heart - Proverbs 6:25 cfr. Matt. 15: 17-20.

3. The law not only given to protect the neighbor and his property but to protect the

Israelite from his own ambitions.

    a. My discontent with what I have - envy for what another has.

    b. Selfishness on my part degrades my neighbor in my heart, for I esteem him

Less worthy of his possession than I.

    c. Setting values on things of this world rather than heavenly things - I John 2:1ff.

4. Positive side of rule: “Honor God with they substance, and with the first fruits

of all thine increase” (Proverbs 3:9).

H. After the Law was given the people “heard thunderings, and perceived the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking... they trembled" v. 18.

A. But now we do not see Israel as blessed because they are doers of the law -by which they lived.

    1. They are rather offered blessing as worshipers of God -upon simple altars for sacrifice and devotion.

    2. It must not be hewn stones, whereon tools have been raised for such

actions pollutes the simplicity of God’s pattern.

    3. Not by building great monuments by which to glorify man, but in simple

worship and sacrifice to glorify God.

B. And “ I will come and bless you” - v. 24.

    1. God and His worshiping people shall meet at the altar of worship.

    2. An admirable type of meeting place between God and sinful man - in Jesus Christ.

    3. Where all the claims of Law and justice and conscience are met and find their total answer and satisfaction.

19

C. This is a fitting introduction to the sacrificial system found in th Book of Leviticus.