We usually call them ‘The Ten Commandments,’ but there are a couple of problems with that label. First, if we suppose that there are specifically TEN commandments, that could suggest that this is a complete list of the things God requires of us: if we can just follow these ten rules, then we’re all set, because if there were an eleventh commandment it would have been listed here.

Second, the Hebrew phrase used to label this material (Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 4:13, 10:4) is ḥaseret haddevarim, which translates literally as ‘the ten words.’ The second-century-BC Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible used the term dekalogos, which again means ‘ten words.’ The fourth-century-AD Latin translation used the term decalogue: ‘ten words.’ But the King James translation (1611) rendered it as ‘The Ten Commandments,’ and English versions of the Bible have been using that label ever since.

These words are described as “the words of the covenant, the ten words” (Exodus 24:28), or the “covenant, which he charged you to observe, the ten words” (Deuteronomy4:13). That is, they are the statement of a covenantal relationship, grounded in a history: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2). So because we are covenant partners with God, we recognize that we must not bow to any other gods; we must not misuse God’s name or make an idol (20:4-5), because doing such things is not how someone would behave toward a covenant partner. Because we – a large group of us – are covenant partners with God, that makes us covenant partners with each other, too, and so we recognize that we must not kill or steal from or cause other harm to our covenant partners (20:12-17).

Two of the ten words are particularly difficult for us, on keeping the sabbath and on refraining from coveting what others have. Almost no one lives out the admonition to do no work on the sabbath, nor do most of us even consider that to be a worthy goal. And the American economy is built on the idea that you absolutely should covet – and obtain! – what others have. All in all, while many of us claim that the Ten Commandments are important to us – mandatory for us! – the reality is that few people make much effort to live by them.

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You are the Lord our God, and we set ourselves to live in covenant with you! Yet we often do a poor job of following through on our responsibilities. Help us, O Lord, to turn our hearts to you, to worship you and follow you with all we are.

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