There Are Only Nine Commandments

[37818]

There is only one original ten words God gave Moses. Any others are false presentations of God's word.

 

[MrW]

The Law was for Israel, to bring them to Christ.

 

[Christina1]

The first commandment.

Exodus 20:2, "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

Deuteronomy 5:6, "I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."

The original 10 commandments.

Extraordinary work 37818!
Verse 2 works! You found the missing commandment! I had to test this out in my mind to see if it really works. It does.

Scarlett made an excellent case for verse 3. It's solid. It works. And there's no doubt in my mind that if we had a Catholic scholar in this thread that we would have an excellent case for verse 17 as well. But still, there's something that causes me to hesitate. It's like there's this feeling that we're still missing something.

It's verse 2. That's the missing commandment. It's so easy to overlook, isn't it? It's subtle. It's not even stated in the form of a command. It's just this seemingly innocuous little introduction telling us who God is and what happened in Egypt and we easily dismiss it as irrelevant because we've read something similar many times before. And yet... Verse 2 holds an enormous treasure of an implication.

I AM the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

The implication is that it is God's desire for us to be free. But it's not just a desire. It's a covenant. And it's a command.

In other words:

I AM Lord your God, the God of everlasting love, wisdom, and eternal truth and you are my children who I love beyond measure. I have forever liberated you and your descendants from the land of bondage and slavery. My first commandment is this:

You shall not be a slave.

You shall be free.

So committed am I to your freedom that I have made it the first commandment. I will do whatever it takes to win your obedience to it. Because I love you more than you know with a jealousy that's hard to explain. I will send judges and kings and prophets to remind you of it and to hold you accountable when you stray too far away. And if that doesn't work, I'll take on the flesh of a man and teach you myself with miracles and parables. I will put you back in touch with your own freedom one way or another. I will do whatever it takes to keep you from being enslaved to anyone or anything, even if that means going to the cross. I'll go. I'll do it for you because I love you more than you know. Freewill I have given to you and in freedom I command you to live because you shall not be a slave. You shall be free, my child.

You shall be free.

-------------

I've decided to withdraw my vote. I was wrong about there being nine commandments. There are ten. I will be voting for the fourth option, the option that's not listed in the poll. I'll be voting for Verse 2. That's the commandment that speaks to my heart.
The first commandment.
The forgotten commandment.

 

[John of Japan]

As one who has lived in an idolatrous Buddhist culture for many years, making vv. 2-6 into one commandment does not make sense to me. The reason is that making an idol and worshipping an idol are two separate acts. One can make an idol but not worship it, thus perpetuating idol worship, and that is a sin. The idol maker must not be allowed to excuse himself by saying, "I made it, but didn't worship it."

 

[Van]

Exodus 20:

1 - verse 3 = have no other gods
2 - verse 4 = do not make images of gods
3 - verse 5 = do not worship images of gods
4 - verse 7 = do not use God's name without purpose
5 - verse 8 = remember the Sabbath
6 - verse 12 = honor your parents
7 - verse 13 = do not murder
8 - verse 14 = do not commit adultery
9 - verse 15 = do not steal
10 - verse 16 = do not give false testimony
11 - verse 17 = do not covet​

Now you can alter the count simply by combining (do not do this or that, e.g. make or worship)

And we can find many "do or do not" commands in other parts of scripture such as verse 19.

Jesus gave us more than 75 instructions for us to follow.

 

[Scarlett O.]

Exodus 20:

1 - verse 3 = have no other gods
2 - verse 4 = do not make images of gods
3 - verse 5 = do not worship images of gods
4 - verse 7 = do not use God's name without purpose
5 - verse 8 = remember the Sabbath
6 - verse 12 = honor your parents
7 - verse 13 = do not murder
8 - verse 14 = do not commit adultery
9 - verse 15 = do not steal
10 - verse 16 = do not give false testimony
11 - verse 17 = do not covet​

Now you can alter the count simply by combining (do not do this or that, e.g. make or worship)

And we can find many "do or do not" commands in other parts of scripture such as verse 19.

Jesus gave us more than 75 instructions for us to follow.

Van, the Bible states that there were 10 commandments.

EXODUS 34:28 = "And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments."

 

[Scarlett O.]

Exodus 20:

1 - verse 3 = have no other gods
2 - verse 4 = do not make images of gods
3 - verse 5 = do not worship images of gods
4 - verse 7 = do not use God's name without purpose
5 - verse 8 = remember the Sabbath
6 - verse 12 = honor your parents
7 - verse 13 = do not murder
8 - verse 14 = do not commit adultery
9 - verse 15 = do not steal
10 - verse 16 = do not give false testimony
11 - verse 17 = do not covet​

Now you can alter the count simply by combining (do not do this or that, e.g. make or worship)

And we can find many "do or do not" commands in other parts of scripture such as verse 19.

Jesus gave us more than 75 instructions for us to follow.

Van, the Bible states that there were 10 commandments.

EXODUS 34:28 = "And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments."

 

[MrW]

Exodus 20:

1 - verse 3 = have no other gods
2 - verse 4 = do not make images of gods
3 - verse 5 = do not worship images of gods
4 - verse 7 = do not use God's name without purpose
5 - verse 8 = remember the Sabbath
6 - verse 12 = honor your parents
7 - verse 13 = do not murder
8 - verse 14 = do not commit adultery
9 - verse 15 = do not steal
10 - verse 16 = do not give false testimony
11 - verse 17 = do not covet​

Now you can alter the count simply by combining (do not do this or that, e.g. make or worship)

And we can find many "do or do not" commands in other parts of scripture such as verse 19.

Jesus gave us more than 75 instructions for us to follow.

*****
Your two and three are actually both one commandment, the second commandment.

 

[CJP69]

I hold a rather unpopular opinion: Contained in Exodus 20:1-17 are the NINE Commandments.

That's correct my dear brothers and sisters! I disagree with both Catholics and Protestants on this one! Now let's all open our Bibles and grab a nice cup of something hot to drink as I proceed to back up this claim.

How I see it:

Verse 1: The introduction to the passage.
1) Verses 2-6: No other gods.
2) Verse 7: Taking name in vain forbidden.
3) Verses 8-11: Sabbath day holy.
4) Verse 12: Honor father and mother.
5) Verse 13: Murder forbidden.
6) Verse 14: Adultery forbidden.
7) Verse 15: Theft forbidden.
8) Verse 16: False witness forbidden.
9) Verse 17: Coveting another's things forbidden.

There we have it. The footnote in my Bible for this passage states:

20, 1-17: the precise division of these precepts into "ten commandments" is somewhat uncertain. Traditionally among Catholics vv 1-6 are considered as only one commandment, and v 17 as two.

So, the Catholic Church starts off pretty much exactly as I do in the beginning. But then things get a little weird. They take verse 17 and split it into two separate commandments. Hm...
???

The Protestant community, on the other hand, does something equally mystifying. They separate verse 3 from 2-6 and make TWO separate commandments about having no other gods. Hm...
???

Conclusion:

There are only nine commandments. It is what it is.

It's an interesting take, I suppose, but how do you square this argument with the fact that Moses himself tells that God gave him ten commandments?

Exodus 34:28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy 4:13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

Deuteronomy 10:4 And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me.​

In all three instances, the Hebrew word is "ʿeśer" (Strong's H6235) and it totally means ten. The Hebrew word for nine is tēšaʿ (Strong's H8672) and is not used in these passages nor in any other passage that makes any reference to the commands which God wrote on two tablets of stone.


P.S. I just noticed that someone else has already made this same point!

 

[Deacon]

Exodus 20:

1 - verse 3 = have no other gods
2 - verse 4 = do not make images of gods
3 - verse 5 = do not worship images of gods
4 - verse 7 = do not use God's name without purpose
5 - verse 8 = remember the Sabbath
6 - verse 12 = honor your parents
7 - verse 13 = do not murder
8 - verse 14 = do not commit adultery
9 - verse 15 = do not steal
10 - verse 16 = do not give false testimony
11 - verse 17 = do not covet​

I've heard it argued that Exodus 20:17 is simply a final summation of each of the commandments.
By the failure to keep any of the previous commandments, one explicitly breaks the last.

However they are numbered, Israel's testimony of breaking these commandments is written in the pages following Exodus 20:

from the Golden Calf incident of Exodus 32;

to murder of the levite's concubine in Judges 19;

and Jezebel's false testimony against Naboth in 1 Kings 21.​

Israel's only hope was their faith that God would one day send a Savior.

Rob

 

[Van]

Van, the Bible states that there were 10 commandments.

EXODUS 34:28 = "And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments."

As I said, you can come up with ten by combining making and worshiping. But they are not exactly the same thing, such as a maker marketing his images as opposed to a buyer who worships them.

While "commandments" is traditional, the Hebrew word here is "dabar" (H1697) which refers to a statement, i.e. a sentence, which might address both making and worshiping.

 

[Van]

I've heard it argued that Exodus 20:17 is simply a final summation of each of the commandments.
By the failure to keep any of the previous commandments, one explicitly breaks the last.

However they are numbered, Israel's testimony of breaking these commandments is written in the pages following Exodus 20:

from the Golden Calf incident of Exodus 32;

to murder of the levite's concubine in Judges 19;

and Jezebel's false testimony against Naboth in 1 Kings 21.​

Israel's only hope was their faith that God would one day send a Savior.

Rob

Thanks for your informative viewpoint. Our command to not desire what belongs to another does have quite a range. We belong to God, so we should not covet what belongs to Satan, the World, or Fleshy desires. But we can desire more knowledge of God, especially His plan for how we are to live out our lives.

 

[Scarlett O.]

As I said, you can come up with ten by combining making and worshiping. But they are not exactly the same thing, such as a maker marketing his images as opposed to a buyer who worships them.

While "commandments" is traditional, the Hebrew word here is "dabar" (H1697) which refers to a statement, i.e. a sentence, which might address both making and worshiping.

Van, you can be obstinate with me all day long. I can walk away from this thread.

You said that "YOU [meaning me] can come up with 10 by combining two of them.

My statement that there were TEN comes from what GOD said, not me.

I don't really care what the word "commandment" means in Exodus 34:28.

But the word TEN is the Hebrew word עֶשֶׂר [eh' sher]. And it means - literally TEN.

I didn't make that up. God did. He is the one that says TEN commandments. Why do you dispute what the Bible clearly says?

I'm done here.

 

[Christina1]

No Scarlett!

We need you. Your voice matters! You're an important part of the thread. Without you everything will unravel!

 

[CJP69]

As I said, you can come up with ten by combining making and worshiping. But they are not exactly the same thing, such as a maker marketing his images as opposed to a buyer who worships them.

While "commandments" is traditional, the Hebrew word here is "dabar" (H1697) which refers to a statement, i.e. a sentence, which might address both making and worshiping.

Traditional? Seriously?

Ten isn't merely traditional its the number that the bible itself gives, Van. The book that lists the commandments is the very same book that puts the number TEN to them. How does that not just totally end the discussion? How much more of an authoritative source do you need beyond the books written in the bible by the very man who ascended up the mountain and was personally handed the commandments from God's hand to his?

 

[CJP69]

Thanks for your informative viewpoint. Our command to not desire what belongs to another does have quite a range. We belong to God, so we should not covet what belongs to Satan, the World, or Fleshy desires. But we can desire more knowledge of God, especially His plan for how we are to live out our lives.

Covetousness is not synonymous with "desire" except as a figure of speech. To covet something, in the sinful sense of the word, isn't merely to desire something but to want something that belongs to someone else by right. Covetousness is to steeling as lust is to adultery. Just as lust is the desire to be with a woman who is not your wife, so coveting is the desire to possess property that you have not earned.

I desire to own a Lamborghini but I wouldn't want it unless I could own it BY RIGHT. Meaning that it was either gifted to me by someone else who rightfully owned it or if I bought it.

It is unearned money that Paul is referencing when He stated that "the love of money (avarice) is the root of all kinds of evil."

Even God, who desires a relationship with us in spite of our sin, does not steel it but paid the price for it and now freely offers that relationship as a gift to all who will but except it.

 

[Van]

Van, you can be obstinate with me all day long. I can walk away from this thread.

You said that "YOU [meaning me] can come up with 10 by combining two of them.

My statement that there were TEN comes from what GOD said, not me.

I don't really care what the word "commandment" means in Exodus 34:28.

But the word TEN is the Hebrew word עֶשֶׂר [eh' sher]. And it means - literally TEN.

I didn't make that up. God did. He is the one that says TEN commandments. Why do you dispute what the Bible clearly says?

I'm done here.

A statement or sentence could refer to two or more commands.

 

[Van]

Traditional? Seriously?

Ten isn't merely traditional its the number that the bible itself gives, Van. The book that lists the commandments is the very same book that puts the number TEN to them. How does that not just totally end the discussion? How much more of an authoritative source do you need beyond the books written in the bible by the very man who ascended up the mountain and was personally handed the commandments from God's hand to his?

Yes, you should receive the benefit of the doubt. Ten what, commands or statements? I showed eleven commands.

 

[MrW]

Ten.

 

[Christina1]

It's an interesting take, I suppose, but how do you square this argument with the fact that Moses himself tells that God gave him ten commandments?

Exodus 34:28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy 4:13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

Deuteronomy 10:4 And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me.​

In all three instances, the Hebrew word is "ʿeśer" (Strong's H6235) and it totally means ten. The Hebrew word for nine is tēšaʿ (Strong's H8672) and is not used in these passages nor in any other passage that makes any reference to the commands which God wrote on two tablets of stone.


P.S. I just noticed that someone else has already made this same point!

I think I've changed my mind. There are ten.

Verse 1: The introduction to the passage. (Not a commandment.)

1) Verse 2: I AM declaration implies life lived in freedom is obligatory.
2) Verses 3-6: No other gods.
3) Verse 7: Taking name in vain forbidden.
4) Verses 8-11: Sabbath day holy.
5) Verse 12: Honor father and mother.
6) Verse 13: Murder forbidden.
7) Verse 14: Adultery forbidden.
8) Verse 15: Theft forbidden.
9) Verse 16: False witness forbidden.
10) Verse 17: Coveting another's things forbidden.

 

[Van]

Covetousness is not synonymous with "desire" except as a figure of speech. To covet something, in the sinful sense of the word, isn't merely to desire something but to want something that belongs to someone else by right. Covetousness is to steeling as lust is to adultery. Just as lust is the desire to be with a woman who is not your wife, so coveting is the desire to possess property that you have not earned.

I desire to own a Lamborghini but I wouldn't want it unless I could own it BY RIGHT. Meaning that it was either gifted to me by someone else who rightfully owned it or if I bought it.

It is unearned money that Paul is referencing when He stated that "the love of money (avarice) is the root of all kinds of evil."

Even God, who desires a relationship with us in spite of our sin, does not steal it but paid the price for it and now freely offers that relationship as a gift to all who will but except it.

If all we need to do is accept the gift, what is the reason for God to credit our faith as righteousness?