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   For now let's skip ahead to Deuteronomy 5 where Moses presents The Ten Commandments.

  1. Deuteronomy 5:1And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
  2. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. (This covenant is called The Old Covenant)
  3. The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. (Most everyone standing before Moses was not yet born when The Ten Commandments were delivered at Sinai and the Covenant entered into by the nation.. So how could the covenant be with 'us' today? I direct your attention to The United States Constitution's Preamble.)

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. 

   No one alive today was alive when the Constitution was written, yet it is binding on all citizens today. Both the United States Constitution and the Old Covenant were "for us and our posterity."

  1. Deuteronomy 5:4-5 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
  2. I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,

The Ten Commandments

  1. Deuteronomy 5:6-21 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
    2.
  2. ONE: Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
  3. TWO: Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
  4. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me*,
    5.
  5. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
  6. THREE: Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
  7. FOUR: Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
  8. Six days thou shalt labor , and do all thy work:
  9. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
  10. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
  11. FIVE: Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
  12. SIX: Thou shalt not kill.
  13. SEVEN: Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
  14. EIGHT: Neither shalt thou steal.
  15. NINE: Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
  16. TEN:  Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbor's. (Something for you to think about. An explanation will follow. If coveting your neighbors wife is adultery, then why do we need two commandments for one sin?)
  17. These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.

Comment: There are several ways to number The Ten Commandments.

   This (numbering) is a problem because there are actually more than ten imperative statements in the two relevant texts (Exodus 20:1-17, Deuteronomy 5:6-21). Here is a count of them based on Exodus 20:

1 You shall have no other gods before me.
2 You shall not make for yourself a graven image...
3 You shall not bow down to them or serve them...
4 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain...
5 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
6 Six days you shall labor...
7 In it the seventh day you shall not do any work...
8 Honor your father and your mother...
9 You shall not kill.
10 You shall not commit adultery.
11 You shall not steal.
12 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
13 You shall not covet your neighbor's house
14 You shall not covet your neighbor's wife...

  Obviously, in order to get these to total ten commandments, some imperative statements must be grouped together. Fortunately, most of the groupings are obvious, but there are still two groupings (dealt with below) which are disputed. There is also one other issue complicating matters. The passages which refer to The Ten Commandments, do indeed specify that there are ten of them, but they don't actually say that they are commandments. What they actually say is that there are Ten Words:

  Exodus 34:28 -- "And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Words (Hebrew, eser dabar)."
Deuteronomy 4:13 -- "And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Words (Hebrew, eser dabar); and he wrote them upon two tables of stone."
Deuteronomy 10:4 -- "And he wrote on the tables, as at the first writing, the Ten Words (Hebrew, eser dabar) which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me."

   The words above were quoted from a good article on this subject. You can find it at  http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/numberng.htm

* What's New in Plant-based Nutrition? "third and fourth generation" -listen at 27 minutes into the presentation.

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Question 19: Why should we "Honor thy father and thy mother."

  So we will go to heaven when we die.   

 So we will have a long life and things will go well with us.

 I don't have to 'honor' my parents if they are not 'honorable'.   

 Because God said so.