Exodus 20:12-17 – How should we relate with others

The first four commandments given at Mount Sinai dealt with our relationship with God. Living them will enable us to honour God. Since we are people called to live in fellowship with one another in the community, it is also needful to know how to live harmoniously with each other. The next six commandments were given with the aim in helping us achieve that but they also revealed the other traits of God. When we live them out, we will have great harmony with each other and we honour God among men.

The fifth commandment in verse 12 is a call to respect authority in the home. It says, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” We should remember that God Himself is our Father and that is the basis of the authority a parent has over his or her children. Besides, this is the first commandment that has a promise attached. It promises long life in God’s promised land. The promise reveals to us how generous our God truly is. Apart from calling us to be filial to our parents, this commandment reveals that God is generous and He expects us to respect authority in the home.  

The sixth commandment given in verse 13 is a call not to commit murder. It is a great reminder that God is the giver of life. Because He is the giver of life, He forbids a man from taking it from people whom He had given breath. He is the only who has the authority over life and death. We are reminded that God holds a man’s destiny in life and in death. The only person that has the right to take away life is God Himself. He is the Lord of life as well as death.  

Verse 14 gives us the seventh commandment. It is a call not to commit adultery. This commandment reflects that our God not only honours purity but He also cherishes faithfulness. While He expects us to keep the covenant we have made with Him, He also expects the covenant husband and wife have made with each other to be kept. He desires to make us people of integrity and honour. On the other side, this commandment also tells us that God is the giver of sexual pleasure. But it must be enjoyed by a man and a woman within the confines of their marriage. This command is a call to preserve the sanctity and integrity of the marriage institution.

The next command which is the eighth is a reminder to honour God not only as the Creator but also the provider of all that we have in life. It is He who has provided us with all that we have in life. What He has given to a person is a gift from Him and we have no right to take anything which He had given to someone else. So God said, “You shall not steal.” Know that God is the source of all the blessings we have in life. He gives to everyone what is rightly his or hers. When we view life and possession that way, we are less inclined to covet another person’s goods.    

The ninth commandment is a needful one for harmonious living. Our speech is what often creates division between friends and relations. This commandment, not to bear false witness, is a call to tell only the truth. Verse 16 says, “You shall not bear false testimony against your neighbour.” He is the truth and in Him, there is not the slightest smidgen or hint of a lie. He expects us to carry this value so that we can live in honesty with each other. God dislikes duplicity, and telling lies and spreading falsehood is duplicitous living.

The final of the Ten Commandments in verse 17 states, “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbour.” It’s a call to a covetous-free living. We should never cultivate the desire of wanting the goods that God has given to our neighbour. We must trust that all that we have comes from God and learn to work hard to earn whatever we need. Don’t ever covet what God has given to someone else. Not coveting what someone else has, but living with what He has given to us, help us to see God as the source and provider of all that we have in life.

The key to living out the Ten Commandments is love. In the New Testament, these Ten Commandments are summarised into two. Jesus, our Lord states it this way in Mathew 22:37-39, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’” Remember that love is the key that holds these commandments together. Loving God leads us to offer our devotion and worship to Him. Loving our parents help us to honour and respect them. Loving our spouse helps us to be faithful. And loving our neighbour helps us to show respect for their lives and property. It will also enable us not to bear falsehood against others.  

What do we see concerning God in these commandments? We see God as sovereign and He jealously guards over us with justice. He is also a holy God, faithful, full of integrity and honour. He is the provider and the God of truth and love. God’s goodness is revealed throughout the law, and through them, we see the goodness of God.