Ninth Commandment – No False Witness Against Neighbors

Ninth Commandment – No False Witness Against Neighbors

Exodus 20:  ¹⁶ “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

 

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GOD told Moses and the children of Israel not to bear false witness against their neighbors.

 

My Observations:

• GOD seemed to be addressing a mindset of gaining power by lying about someone.
• GOD specifically used “false witness” that counters the “true witness” that is needed.
• JESUS would face false witnesses who would be instrumental in HIS death.

 

The very thing GOD commanded against would be used to kill JESUS. False witness is an untruth about what a person saw or experienced. While it is a lie, it holds a different meaning to GOD. A false witness sentences an innocent person to judgement.

 

If I lied and said “I didn’t break that window” when I broke the window, I am the one who will face the consequence of my lie. BUT GOD was pointing out that a witness to something means there is a situation that needs a judge and the outcome needs witnesses who will provide a testimony that the judge can use for a sentence.

 

A false witness could cause an innocent person to bear judgment. Some powerful people have used false witnesses to bring down a leader so they themselves, can remain in power or gain it. GOD does not like false anything.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about HIS command to not bear false witness?
• Have you lied about what you actually saw or who was actually involved?
• Have you asked yourself if GOD will gain anything by your false witness about something or someone?

Eighth Commandment – No Stealing

Eighth Commandment – No Stealing

Exodus 20:  ¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

 

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GOD told Moses and the children of Israel not to steal. This was HIS eighth commandment.

 

My Observations:

• GOD may have been addressing a mindset of stealing that was adopted from the Egyptians.
• GOD may have seen how powerful people steal to remain in power.
• GOD may have also been addressing the fact that the people may have ignored HIS provision

 

 

Being a god was important to the Egyptian Pharaoh. They would go to great lengths to obtain the status of a god and to keep it. One method they may have used was stealing from those who served them. During the plagues, all of the Egyptian animals were killed by GOD. The Egyptians may have used force to steal some of the living animals from the children of Israel.

 

This mindset was dangerous to the LORD. Thievery is a form of trying to be a god. The thought behind it is “I want what you have and I have decided to take it by force or by sneaky activity.”

 

Stealing reduces GOD’s power and provision. The thief may feel GOD’s timing or current provisions were inadequate. GOD provided manna, turned bitter water sweet and provided water from a rock. HE wants you and me to know HE is the provider. But when wee take matters in our own hands, we become thieves.

 

The result of getting more money or more food or a better living space may not be pleasing to GOD. Undercutting and devaluing may be a form of stealing that also surfaces from the Egyptian mindset. Over valuing a house or under paying for a car could be an example of adjacent thievery that is more complex.

 

GOD was addressing a mindset that keeps a person from asking for something. They take without giving and make decisions for how they treat the people around them as justification for their thievery.

 

GOD is the provider, but when we steal, HE no longer is viewed as the provider. Fortunately, GOD is merciful. JESUS was hung on the cross between two thieves. One thief gave a testimony about JESUS not deserving to be put to death. The thief was forgiven.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about HIS warning to not steal?
• Have you stolen something that should have been provided by GOD?
• Is GOD your provider?

Seventh Commandment – No Adultery

Seventh Commandment – No Adultery

Exodus 20:  ¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

 

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GOD provided the seventh commandment to Moses and the children of Israel. This time HIS focus was on relationships.

 

My Observations:

• GOD was protecting the lineage of JESUS, keeping it pure and traceable.
• GOD symbolically wanted a relationship with people who wanted HIM and HIM alone.
• GOD was addressing their polytheistic mindset through the symbolism of marriage.

 

To keep the lineage of JESUS pure and traceable, GOD needed the children of Israel to remain married. They had been under the influence of Egypt for hundreds of years. Their mindset was that any god will do. This mindset would spill into their relationships. Any woman or man will do, was not enough for GOD.

 

In this commandment, GOD shows HIS commitment that HE would keep HIS promise. “I will never leave you or forsake you.” When humans look at this commandment from a human perspective, they fail miserably by boiling the statement down to sex versus choice.

 

GOD was establishing a lineage that would eventually lead to the birth of CHRIST. Both people needed to follow GOD versus the ways of the people of Canaan. Zipporah had a strange encounter with GOD, who was about to execute Moses if his son was not circumcised.

 

We are not given the context, but I believe Zipporah had to accept the command of circumcision without fighting it as she may have done. GOD wanted harmony between HIM, Adam and Eve. But due to the fall of humans, pain and rules needed to be put in place.

 

I believe the commitment to GOD is what HE is speaking about. I carefully paraphrase this passage by saying, “Children of Israel, choose a mate who will follow ME so that JESUS will come through your people and save all humans from their sins.”

 

It was not about effectiveness. The woman that JESUS spoke to at the well had many “husbands,” yet her testimony saved an entire town. David, the most famous adulterer, was a man after GOD’s heart. Not because of adultery, but because of his relationship with GOD.

 

JESUS said there is no need for marriage in heaven because HE is the GOD of the living. Humans look at themselves when reading this commandment versus looking at GOD. Their choice of a mate needed to point to the arrival of JESUS.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about HIS commandment to not have adultery?
• Have you ever considered leaving GOD and HIS ways, to pursue what?
• GOD said HE would never leave you nor forsake you, so are you willing to stay with GOD no matter what you have done?

Sixth Commandment – No Murder

Sixth Commandment – No Murder

Exodus 20: ¹³ “You shall not murder.

 

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GOD continues with giving the Ten Commandments to Moses and the children of Israel. This time HE addressed murder.

 

My Observations:

• GOD addressed the Egyptian’s negative mindset with ten plagues, but HE addressed the children of Israel’s mindset with Ten Commandments.
• GOD seemed to be addressing a complicated problem of hatred, jealousy, and rage, mixed with the thirst for power.
• GOD could not fulfill HIS prophesy if humans murdered one another.

 

Murder is different than killing someone. While the result is the same, murder has an attitude of trying to be GOD. Life is precious to GOD and taking someone else’s life to get one’s own way was a problem GOD needed to make clear to the children of Israel and to you and me.

 

The root of murder points to a seed of hatred that can be traced back to Cain. His brother Abel tried to mimic GOD by offering an animal. Abel may have done this gesture, because GOD showed kindness to Adam and Eve by killing an animal to provide clothes for them.

 

Cain was so jealous and enraged that GOD did not accept his offering of vegetables. Cain may have tried to recreate the garden of Eden and in his pride, tried to offer the vegetation from his garden. Cains murder was born out of a lust for power, and his own jealousy.

 

GOD may have also seen the defiance of Canaan. The children of Canaan hated GOD and would take land and people as they pleased. They would kill to get their own way. GOD seemed to be putting a stop to people trying to grab power through murder. Getting your own way can lead to aggressive or passive aggressive actions that diminishes a person’s value to eventually justify murdering the person.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about HIS command to not murder?
• Are you trying to get your own way and are resisting hearing GOD?
• Have you examined your recent actions to see if you are on the path of love and peace versus self-protection and getting your way?

 

Fifth Commandment – Honor Your Mother and Father

Fifth Commandment – Honor Your Mother and Father

Exodus 20: ¹² “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

 

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GOD spoke to Moses and the children of Israel, giving them the Ten Commandments. The first four were about how to have a healthy relationship with GOD.  HIS next commandment was about having a healthy relationship with parents.

 

My Observations:

• Honor means to hold in the highest esteem.
• GOD seems to be addressing a value system that should include more than self.
• GOD does not leave HIMSELF out; rather, HE mentions longevity in the promised land that HE was about to give them.

 

Up until now, I thought this verse was about long life. That is because I would read the verse and stopped reading at “Your days may be long.” I threw away the part that GOD was concerned with. GOD wants peace.

 

When GOD cursed the earth and destroyed the garden of Eden, humans began to fight one another for territory. Physical and passive fights broke out over the tiniest parcel of land that would produce food. Some people would take their parents land, similarly to the Egyptians stealing their animals. The Egyptian culture of stealing was being addressed by GOD.

 

The promised land seemed to be the closest thing to the garden of Eden. Food would grow in abundance. There would be plenty to eat so no one needed to despise their parents, to inherit their sliver of land. The children of Israel  could have their own part of the promised land.

 

GOD was establishing peace on earth in families so that HE would fulfill HIS prophecy of making Abraham a great nation. Through mothers and fathers, JESUS would eventually be born. GOD wants harmonious families and HE promises longevity in the promised land.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about the commandment to honor parents?
• What is GOD saying to you about your part in making a harmonious family?
• What purpose is GOD giving you in spreading peace and harmony?

In loving memory of Preston and Susie Washington.

Fourth Commandment – Remember the Sabbath

Fourth Commandment – Remember the Sabbath

Exodus 20: ⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

 

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GOD continues HIS commandments with “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

 

My Observations:

• GOD may have given this commandment because HE knew the people would forget to rest.
• GOD went into detail with HIS examples to ensure the people would understand what HE meant by rest.
• GOD does not get tired, but showed an example that HE even rested.

 

From what I gather from the commands given so far is GOD wants to spend time with us. HE did not create us for us to leave HIM alone. HE wants a day of rest that is spent with HIM, HIS creation and HIS people. You worked all week, enjoy one day.

 

GOD does not want us miserable and working seven days will place us in misery. HE did not make the Sabbath as a day to try harder to please HIM. The slave mindset was to make sure Pharaoh got what he wished, no matter the cost. The children of Israel were willing to work seven days a week to make things happen.

 

This attitude of working for results would leave GOD out of the equation of being the provider. A self-made pridefulness would eventually creep in, causing the worker to think more highly of self. GOD wants to be GOD. HE made us with the physical need for rest, but rest is also spiritual. We can reflect on the week and say our work is good because we are mimicking GOD.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about the need for everyone to rest?
• Are you trying to keep the Sabbath as a rule?
• Can you hear the love of GOD when HE tells you to rest and enjoy yourself once a week?

Third Commandment – No use of GOD’s Name in Vain

Third Commandment – No use of GOD’s Name in Vain

Exodus 20: ⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

 

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Exactly 430 years, the children of Israel were in Egypt. The same day they entered Egypt was the same day they left. During that time a deep mindset had guided the children of Israel into limiting beliefs. One belief the children of Israel adopted was GOD is as common as humans, so HIS name, or promises, were as powerless and useless as the next human.

 

My Observations:

• GOD’s name is Yahweh meaning I AM WHO I AM (all caps).
• GOD was telling the Israelites not to take HIS position, prophecies or power lightly.
• GOD was addressing a mindset that HE was like humans.

 

For hundreds of years, the children of Israel were told that Pharaoh was a god and they had to do what he said. We do the same when we want to gain power or wealth. We make a human a god by talking about them, planning for or against them and speaking their name more than GOD’s name.

 

GOD’s name was supposed to be tied to power, knowledge, presence and love. To undermine HIS name, or take it lightly, meant that anything goes when it came to following HIS commands. A person could say, “GOD told me,” when the voice was their own selfish desire. This is taking GOD’s name lightly.

 

Other obvious examples include swearing, manipulating or instigating when GOD did not say to use HIS name. To paraphrase, “Do not use MY name for your own selfish desires or to get your way or to curse people in a joking way.” Using GOD ‘s name to manipulate people or to get a sinful wish granted makes GOD remember when and why the person did so.

 

One check to see if GOD’s name is used correctly is the fruit that comes from the use of HIS name. When love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness or self-control appear from the use of the name, then it was used properly. When confusion sets in from “believers,” and not those who dislike GOD, then check to see if GOD’s name was misused.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about what HE spoke to the children of Israel about using HIS name in vain?
• Have you ever wanted to feel special so you name dropped GOD’s name to feel important versus making HIM important?
• When you use GOD’s name at the end of a prayer, are you sure you are aligned with HIS desires?