Advent Day 8 - Moses & the 10 Commandments - Deuteronomy 5:1-22

If you ask most people what the Ten Commandments are about, they would probably reply: "A list of rules." And they are a list of "do's and don'ts", but also so much more than that... they are a covenant - an unbreakable promise - between God and his people, the Israelites. It was God's way of saying: 

You are mine, save yourself for me. 
You bear my name, do not drag it through the mud.
I want to spend time with you - save one day a week especially for me.
Honor our love by living true to it - without stealing, lying, or cheating. 
Love others with the same love we share.

Looked at from that perspective, all of a sudden the dusty old tablets of stone become something beautiful and sacred. The words of Deuteronomy become those of a handsome groom to his beloved bride:

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!   - Deuteronomy 5:29

"Oh that their hearts..."

Hear the cry of a God who loves you, the One who gave it all to be with you - forever - and longs to be close to you, even now.

All is grace, 
Carie

Day 8  -  Moses & the 10 Commandments  -  Deuteronomy 5:1-22

The Message (MSG)

5 Moses called all Israel together. He said to them,

Attention, Israel. Listen obediently to the rules and regulations I am delivering to your listening ears today. Learn them. Live them.

2-5 God, our God, made a covenant with us at Horeb. God didn’t just make this covenant with our parents; he made it also with us, with all of us who are alive right now. God spoke to you personally out of the fire on the mountain. At the time I stood between God and you, to tell you what God said. You were afraid, remember, of the fire and wouldn’t climb the mountain. He said:

6 I am God, your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of a house of slaves.

7 No other gods, only me.

8-10 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don’t bow down to them and don’t serve them because I am God, your God, and I’m a most jealous God. I hold parents responsible for any sins they pass on to their children to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation. But I’m lovingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments.

11 No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.

12-15 No working on the Sabbath; keep it holy just as God, your God, commanded you. Work six days, doing everything you have to do, but the seventh day is a Sabbath, a Rest Day—no work: not you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your maid, your ox, your donkey (or any of your animals), and not even the foreigner visiting your town. That way your servants and maids will get the same rest as you. Don’t ever forget that you were slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there in a powerful show of strength. That’s why God, your God, commands you to observe the day of Sabbath rest.

16 Respect your father and mother—God, your God, commands it! You’ll have a long life; the land that God is giving you will treat you well.

17 No murder.

18 No adultery.

19 No stealing.

20 No lies about your neighbor.

21 No coveting your neighbor’s wife. And no lusting for his house, field, servant, maid, ox, or donkey either—nothing that belongs to your neighbor!

22 These are the words that God spoke to the whole congregation at the mountain. He spoke in a tremendous voice from the fire and cloud and dark mist. And that was it. No more words. Then he wrote them on two slabs of stone and gave them to me.