SUBJECT: The
Commandments
QUESTION: Were the Ten Commandments in Effect Before Mount
Sinai?
ANSWER:
Some, in their effort to
justify not observing the Ten Commandments, have argued that
the ten commandments were not enjoined in the Bible prior to
Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:2-17). This, however, is not
biblically correct. As this article will show (through
biblical quotes) all ten of the commandments are mentioned
as being applicable in the Bible before they were codified
on Mount Sinai.
Commandment 1:
"I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur" (Genesis 15:7);
"I am Almighty God, walk before me and be blameless"
(Genesis 17:1); "I am the God of your father--the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exodus
3:6). "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify
yourselves" (Genesis 35:2). "and against all the gods of
Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD" (Exodus
12:12). "Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the
gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly,
He was above them" (Exodus 18:11). "This also would be an
iniquity deserving of judgment, for I would have denied God
who is above" (Job 31:28). "Then Job answered the LORD and
said, 'I know that you can do everything, And that no
purpose of Yours can be withheld from you'" (Job 42:1-2).
Commandment 2:
"'Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify
yourselves'...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" (Genesis 35:2,4). "If I have
observed the sun when it shines, or the moon moving in its
brightness, so that my heart has been secretly enticed, and
my mouth has kissed my hand; This also would be an iniquity
deserving of judgment, For I would have denied God who is
above" (Job 31:27-28) (note
this is believed to be part of idol worship).
Commandment 3:
"It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their
hearts" (Job 1:5). "Curse God and die!" (Job 2:9).
Interestingly, those called of God are not to be cursed,
"And I will curse him who curses you" (Genesis 12:3).
Commandment 4:
"And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had
done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work
which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and
sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work
which God had created and made" (Genesis 2:2-3). "Tomorrow
is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD...So the
people rested on the seventh day" (Exodus 16:23, 30). "The
Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27).
Commandment 5:
"Adam, the son of God" (Luke 3:38), "Because you have heeded
the voice of your wife, and eaten from the tree of which I
commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat it of it": Cursed
is the ground for your sake" (Genesis 3:17). Notice that
later a blessing of land is promised for those who obey this
commandment (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16).
Commandment 6:
"You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your
father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning"
(John 8:44) (since the devil was a murderer from the
beginning it seems clear that murder was not allowed before
Mount Sinai). "Cain rose up against Abel his brother and
killed him...And He said, 'The voice of your brother's blood
cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from
the earth" (Genesis 4:8, 10). "Then the king of Egypt
spoke...'When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew
women, and see them on the birth stools, if it is a son,
then you shall kill him'...But the midwives feared God, and
did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them" (Exodus
1:15-17). "The murderer rises with the light; He kills the
poor and needy" (Job 24:14).
Commandment 7:
"his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she
said, 'Lie with me.' But he refused...'How then can I do
this great wickedness, and sin against God?'" (Genesis
39:7-9). "The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
saying, 'No one will see me'; and he disguises his face"
(Job 24:15). Job, a married man, said, "I have made a
covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young
woman?" (Job 31:1).
Commandment 8:
"So my righteousness will answer for me...everyone 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). "'With whomever you find your gods, do not
let him live. In the presence of our brethren identify what
I have of yours and take it with you.' For Jacob did not
know that Rachel had stolen them" (Genesis 31:32). "How then
could we steal silver or gold from your lord's house. With
whomever of your servants it is found, let him die" (Genesis
44:8-9). "He kills the poor and needy; And in the night he
is like a thief" (Job 24:14).
Commandment 9:
"You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your
father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth
in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own
resources, for he is a liar and the father of it "(John
8:44).” Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not
surely die"...The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and
I ate'. So the LORD God said to the serpent: 'Because you
have done this, You are cursed'" (Genesis 3:4, 13-14). "But
you forgers of lies, You are all worthless physicians" (Job
13:4). "Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar, And
make my speech worth nothing?" (Job 24:25). "My lips will
not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit" (Job
27:4). "Should I lie concerning my right?" (Job 34:6). "For
truly my words are not false" (Job 36:4).
Commandment 10:
"So when the woman saw...a tree desirable to make one wise,
she took of its fruit and ate" (Genesis 3:6). "Then the LORD
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually" (Genesis 6:5); because this law was in effect,
God decided to destroy humankind with the flood (Genesis
6:7). "The enemy has said, "My desire (AV
"lust") shall be satisfied on them" (Exodus
15:9). "Moreover you shall select from all the people able
men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness"
(Exodus 18:21). "I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why
then should I look upon a young woman?" (Job 31:1). "If my
heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my
neighbors door, then let my wife grind for another, and let
others bow down over her. For that would be wickedness; yes
it would be deserving of judgment" (Job 31:9-11
"How long do you refuse to
keep My commandments and My laws?" (Exodus 16:28). There are
other biblical examples, but the above scriptures prove the
point. Isn't it interesting that God made sure that each of
the Ten Commandments was shown to be important before Mount
Sinai? Even the ancients knew, "God is mighty...He also
opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they turn
from iniquity...But if they do not obey, they shall perish"
(Job 36:5,10,11).
"Sin is lawlessness" (1 John
3:4) or as it says in the AV "transgression of the law".
Breaking the third and seventh commandments is listed as sin
prior to Mount Sinai. How could there be sin if there was no
law, since "sin is not imputed when there is no law?"
(Romans 5:13). If the law was not in place, there would have
been none who were "hating covetousness" (Exodus 18:21).
Paul apparently agreed with these positions when he wrote,
"I would not have known sin except through the law. For I
would not have known covetousness unless the law had said,
'You shall not covet'" (Romans 7:7).
(Some have argued that even
if the Ten Commandments are mentioned throughout the Bible
that since they are not listed in one place until Exodus 20,
no one would have known what they were. This is particularly
strange to argue since 1) all are mentioned at least twice
before Exodus 20, 2) Abraham obeyed them and must have
known what they were ("Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My
charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws", Genesis
26:5) 3) Job seemed to know them since he mentions most of
them (see above quotes), and 4) interestingly Noah knew what
clean and unclean animals were, yet clean and unclean
animals are not listed in the Bible as such until Leviticus
11; remember God told Noah "You shall take with you seven
each of every clean animal, a male and his female, two each
of animals that are unclean, a male and his female" (Genesis
7:2).)
In conclusion, it is clear
that all the Ten Commandments were shown to be in effect
prior to Mount Sinai. It would appear to be dangerous to
ignore this biblical truth, "For if we sin willfully after
we have received knowledge of the truth, there no longer
remains a sacrifice for sins" (Hebrews 10:26). ---end---
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