THE TIME IS COME
THE 10 COMMANDMENTS BEFORE MOSES
God gave the 10 Commandments to the people of Israel from Mount Sinai about two months after Moses led them out of Egypt. This is recorded in Exodus 20:1-17.
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But was this the first time these laws were given to human beings? Or were these commandments known to people long before Moses’ time?
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The answer is found in a fascinating statement God made about Abraham, recorded in Genesis 26:5: “Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
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The First and Second Commandments
The First and Second Commandments state: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” and, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. . . Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them” (Exodus 20:3-5).
God worked with the patriarch Jacob hundreds of years before Moses.
“Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.’ And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.’ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem” (Genesis 35:1-4).
Jacob understood that idols were sinful and only the true God was to be worshipped. He understood the commands that later were called the First and Second Commandments.
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The Third Commandment
The Third Commandment says, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” (Exodus 20:7).
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Most scholars believe the patriarch Job lived before Moses, perhaps during the patriarchal period (around the time of Abraham and Isaac). Job was concerned that his children might have been taking God’s name in vain, and he knew that was wrong.
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“So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them [his children], and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, ‘It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ Thus Job did regularly” (Job 1:5).
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The Fourth Commandment
The Fourth Commandment tells us to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). But embedded in the command is the truth that the Sabbath existed long before this commandment was given to Moses. You can only “remember” something that already existed. To “remember the Sabbath” is to recall something that was established earlier.
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The Sabbath day actually goes all the way back to the early days of creation! “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” (Genesis 2:3).
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Interestingly, the Israelites were reminded to remember the Sabbath even before they came to Mount Sinai and received the 10 Commandments. This was when God gave them manna to eat.
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“Then he [Moses] said to them, ‘This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord”’ . . . "And Moses said, Eat that today; for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord: today ye shall not find it [Manna] in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.’
“And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?’ (Exodus 16:23-28).
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So even before they arrived at Mount Sinai, God expected the people to rest and remember the Sabbath day.
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The Fifth Commandment
The Fifth Commandment instructs us to “Honour thy father and thy mother:” (Exodus 20:12).
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Both Jacob and Esau had dishonored their parents, but Jacob finally did obey. “Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,’ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram” (Genesis 28:6-7, emphasis added).
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The Sixth Commandment
The Sixth Commandment instructs us: “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).
We see this all the way back in the early chapters of Genesis. God told Cain he was to rule over his anger and avoid sin.
“So the LORD said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.’ Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him” (Genesis 4:6-8).
Cain’s anger led to the sin of murder. God cursed Cain for his cold-blooded act of fratricide (verses 11-14). But God also forbade others from murdering him (verse 15).
One of the reasons God flooded the earth was because it was “filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11).
After the Flood, people knew that God was against murder and demanded a penalty for it. “From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:5-6).
God’s command against murder existed long before it was codified as the Sixth Commandment on Mount Sinai.
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The Seventh Commandment
The Seventh Commandment tells us: “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).
This command was known and understood by the patriarch Joseph hundreds of years before Moses’ birth. When Joseph was in Egypt working under Potiphar, the wife of Potiphar attempted to tempt Joseph into sleeping with her.
“And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife [Potiphar’s wife] cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’” (Genesis 39:7-9).
The commandments are still important for all peoples today. God gave His laws for our good. They are based on God’s eternal character of love and help show us how to love God and our fellow man.Joseph called the very idea of adultery “wickedness” and a “sin against God.” He clearly understood God’s command forbidding adultery.
Earlier in the book of Genesis, God warned Abimelech, king of Gerar, not to commit adultery with Sarah (Abraham’s wife). “God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife’” (Genesis 20:3).
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The Eighth Commandment
The Eighth Commandment instructs us, “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15).
This command was apparently on Jacob’s mind when he discussed his wages with Laban.
“So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the lambs, will be considered stolen, if it is with me” (Genesis 30:33).
When Joseph framed his brothers for stealing his silver cup, they understood the gravity of the charge and how serious an offense stealing was: “With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves” (Genesis 44:9).
These individuals, all living hundreds of years before Moses, seemed to understand that stealing was a sin.
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The Ninth Commandment
The Ninth Commandment tells us: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). In other words, don’t lie.
The first recorded lie in the Bible was told by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, Satan the devil. He contradicted God and told Adam and Eve a blatant lie: “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). He convinced them that they had an immortal soul and that God could not end their lives—which was untrue. This sin led to many other sins.
In the next chapter, we find Cain lying directly to God. After Cain murdered his brother, God asked Cain where Abel was. Cain surely knew where his brother’s body was, but he answered God, “I do not know” (Genesis 4:9).
Job also knew that deceit was a sin against God: “If I have walked with falsehood, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity” (Job 31:5-6).
The patriarch Jacob lied and deceived others in his younger days, which brought many negative consequences on himself and others. The deceiver experienced being cheated by his father-in-law Laban, and later he was deceived by his own sons. Jacob’s sons sold Joseph into slavery and tricked their father into believing he had been killed by a wild animal (Genesis 37:31-33).
As we can see from all these examples, lying is a sin that is often committed to cover up other sins.
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The Tenth Commandment
The Tenth Commandment tells us: “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17). Coveting is desiring and lusting after something that isn’t ours.
We see this sin going all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Eve saw and desired (coveted) the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:6). Her coveting, provoked by the serpent, resulted in her eating the forbidden fruit. Adam ate of it as well (Genesis 3:6), and then both of them justified their actions (verses 10-13). The result of their disobedience to God was that they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
Job also understood that coveting was sin: “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door . . . that would be wickedness; yes, it would be iniquity deserving of judgment” (Job 31:9, 11).