And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” ~ Exodus 20:1-3 (ESV)
I recently preached on the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20. I listed them as follows.
You shall have no other gods (v. 3).
You shall not make any carved images to worship (vv. 4-6).
You shall not take the LORD’s name in vain (v. 7).
Remember the Sabbath (vv. 8-11).
Honor your father and mother (v. 12).
You shall not murder (v. 13).
You shall not commit adultery (v. 14).
You shall not steal (v. 15).
You shall not lie (v. 16).
You shall not covet (v. 17).
But many Christians combine the first two commandments into one. They include carved images as part of the prohibition on worshiping other gods. Combining those would leave only nine, so to get back to the ten commandments, they break the last one into two: don’t covet your neighbor’s wife and don’t covet your neighbor’s stuff.
Which is correct? Are the first two commandments really one? Is the last one really two? Or are there 12 commandments, breaking both the first and the last into two? Or, perhaps there are even more? After all, verse 17 lists seven things we’re not supposed to covet. Verses 4-6 give two commands: don’t make carved images, and don’t worship them. So maybe there are 17 commandments?
Actually, there are somewhere around 613 commandments in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), depending on how you count them! Of the commandments given in Exodus 20, the famous Ten Commandments, I think it makes the most sense to differentiate between the first two. One addresses who we worship (no other gods), and the other how we worship (no carved images). That’s why I taught it that way. But it doesn’t make a difference whether you split the first commandment into two or the last commandment into two. It’s a matter of interpretation because the commandments themselves aren’t numbered in the Bible. And the point isn’t whether there are 10 or 12, or 613. The point is whether we are following God and listening to his Word.
Jesus said we are to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20). And the Apostle Paul said, “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom 13:10). There’s enough in those statements to keep me busy for the rest of my life!