You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make idols.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honour your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
You shall not covet. Above is the short form version of the most important code of conduct ever written. It appears in Exodus 20:2-17.The ten commandments are there to show instruct mankind how to live with both God and ones fellow man.
At a time in history when life was cheap God gave Moses a set of laws that call on mankind to have but one God. The Lord God almighty.
The laws also provide a day of rest, stating,
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.”
Exodus 20:8.
Man was never meant to work 24/7. People need at least one day a week to rest from their labours.
Not only that there is a call to respect your parents, to honour them.
Then there are the laws without which our society would fall into anarchy,
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
You shall not covet.
All of these were I believe written on the hearts and in the mind of everyone who has ever lived. God simply chose to give them in a written form to Moses so that no one could say I didn’t know.The ancient Israelites recognized there was a God and acknowledged Him. The result was to make society better.
Abba Hillel Silver wrote,
“Faith in God is the strongest bulwark of a free society. Human freedom began when men became conscious that over and above society and nature there is a God who created them...who fashioned them in His likeness, and that they are, therefore, possessed of intrinsic and independent significance and are endowed, as individuals, with original and irrevocable rights and authority.”
Abba Hillel Silver
God gives us freedom.
It is when man starts to turn away from God and his moral principles that our society starts to slip into lawlessness and chaos.
Think about it.
