The Ten Commandments Before Mount Sinai

Many people today believe that the Ten Commandments were spoken for the first time at Mt. Sinai thus concluding that the laws of God were not in place before Mt. Sinai. The Scriptures present a radically different story. God says that all of His laws were in place before Mt. Sinai. The reason that He spoke the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai was so that the nation of Israel, so long in slavery, could have their understanding refreshed as to the requirements of God. It is this writer’s intent to reveal the Ten Commandments of God, in the Word of God, before Exodus 20:1-17, where the Ten Commandments are listed in their standard order. I will also list the Ten Commandments in the time of Jesus, and after Calvary, in separate studies on this same website, to reveal the fact that Jesus does not change and neither does the expression of His character the Ten Commandments.

1.       And God spake all these words, saying, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”

2.       Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, or 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; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.

3.       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.

4.       Remember the Sabbath day to holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: 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 they daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

5.       Honour they father and they mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

6.       Thou shalt not kill.

7.       Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8.       Thou shalt not steal.

9.       Thou shalt not bear false witness against they neighbor.

10.   Thou shalt not covet they neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet they neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. Exodus 20:1-17

The following list describes the commandments in both positive – meaning that people did these things and negative – the people rebelled against format, so please read accordingly.

No other gods before God – Genesis 2:16-17; 4:5; 12:8; 26:5; 33:20; 35:1-4; Joshua 24:2

No idolatry – Genesis 31:19, 30-35; 35:1-4

Do not claim the name of the Lord falsely – Genesis 11:4; 28:16-22; 39:9; 41:16,28 ; 44:32-34

Remember the Sabbath – Genesis 2:1-3; Mark 2:27-28; Genesis 26:5; Exodus 5:5 (Patriarchs and Prophets 257-258); Exodus 16

Honor your mother and father – Genesis 9:20-27; chapter 24; Genesis 26:5, 34-35; 37:18-36; 46:29

No Murder – Genesis 4:8-16, 23-24; chapter 34

No Adultery – Genesis 3:1-19; 4:19; 6:1-4; 26:5; 39:7-20

No Stealing – Genesis 26:5; 27:35-36; 31:14-16, 36-42

No False Witness – Genesis 3:8-13; 4:9; 12:12-20; 14:21-24; 20:1-18; 26:1-11; 27:6-24; 37:31-35

No Coveting – Genesis 3:6; 30:1; 31:14-16; 37:3-4, 11