How many commandments can we find b4 Mt. Sinai?

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May 14 update:

The reason for this post, is to meet many claims by various religious people, that the ten commandments were only instituted at Mt. Sinai, and that they were not binding from before that. Especially when it came to the 4th commandment.

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So, I recently got this little book simply titled Bible Handbook, by S.N. Haskell. I got it at the ABC, and its actually a small book. Not big at all, fits easily in a pocket. It covers a variety of topics and while I was at the ABC, I had glanced at it, as it was next to some other books I had seen, and thought just to take a quick look. I happened to flip through, and paused randomly, at a section which spoke of the ten commandments, before Mt. Sinai. Now, I know of a few examples of those ten being shown and followed before Moses and the stone tablets, but this book showed me quite a number of different occasions. I will share a few, and provide the link to where you may find the book of it should interest you.

I am not going to copy down all the points made in the book, nor its words. What I will do is simply refer to some of the Scripture used, and draw conclusions based on those verses. I do encourage you to get the small book.

(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. | Romans 5:13

There had to be a law, for there to then come sin. Sin, was the result of disobedience to God, but how so? This is going to prove to be very interesting.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. | Genesis 2:17

About that tree, it is true, is it not, that it did not belong to Eve? Neither did its fruit, correct? Yet there came a point, where she was tempted, and fell. Why? Well, she was made to believe good things would come of eating the fruit, and a natural reaction is… to want it, to covet it. But wait, is there not a commandment that speaks against coveting? The 10th commandment, right? There is more. As this fruit did not belong to her, she took it, and taking what is not yours is defined how? Answer: Stealing, as found in the 8th commandment. Two commandments broken right there. Was not sin the result of these choices? And is not sin defined as breaking the law? See 1 John 3:4. You may want to also read Genesis 3:1-7 for the context about what happened in that temptation sequence with Eve and the serpent.

As discussed in this blog before hand, we already have the example of Cain and murder in Genesis. There is a commandment about killing, the 6th commandment, and in Cain’s time, it was known that such an act was called sin. This is found in Genesis 4:7. Click the other blog for more details.

Again in this blog, this was briefly covered, but as this book gave the context, I’ll go ahead and share that too for the emphasis.

And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.  But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;  There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?  10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. | Genesis 39:7-10

That would be breaking the 7th commandment.

And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:  And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.  And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.  And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.  And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.  And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlargec Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. | Genesis 9:20-27

Lets examine the 5th commandment.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. | Exodus 20:12

Did Ham honor his father? No. A curse, was the sentence for his sin. Again, a definition of sin is to break God’s law.

Idolatry is a sin, is it not? You may want to refer to commandments number 1 and 2. As, or after you do that, you will want to remember this Scripture.

Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strangegods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:  And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altarunto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.  And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. | Genesis 35:2-5

Ah, and the Sabbath? Lets examine what what Moses was trying to restore to the Israelites. Consider this text.

And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. | Exodus 5:5

Doesn’t sound like any proof for Sabbath keeping, does it? But, what if we define that word, rest. What if we look at the Hebrew used for that word? Well, the word used for rest there is “shabath”. And what does shabath mean? Well, I’ll provide two sources that define this term.

E-sword live (.com)

A primitive root; to repose, that is, desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causatively, figuratively or specifically): – (cause to, let, make to) cease, celebrate, cause (make) to fail, keep (sabbath), suffer to be lacking, leave, put away (down), (make to) rest, rid, still, take away.

Biblos (.com)

cause to, let, make to cease, celebrate, cause make to fail

A primitive root; to repose, i.e. Desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causative, figurative or specific) — (cause to, let, make to) cease, celebrate, cause (make) to fail, keep (sabbath), suffer to be lacking, leave, put away (down), (make to) rest, rid, still, take away.

Now, this should be enough to settle it, and it does in fact settle it, but can there be another passage found to compliment this? Yes.

And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake thatwhich ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. | Exodus 16:22-30

… All before Mt. Sinai, and the tables of stone, and the Sabbath, was expected to be kept, like the other of the 10 commandments. This takes care of finding the 4th commandment before the stone tablets.

We still have some to go, and this one, took a little bit of digging. I could not rely on this book by Haskell I had recently bought alone. You know, studying the Bible truly is nothing short of AMAZING. I really mean that. Here I was, thinking I may not find a certain commandment, but sure enough, through study and referencing, God reveals His word to those who seek. The commandment I was looking for was the 9th commandment. This is the the one that has to do around bearing false witness. You see, I found that before the flood, the thoughts of men were on evil continually. Lets allow Scripture to clarify.

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. | Genesis 6:5

What does that mean, the imagination of the heart? I found various references to this, but, none stuck out to me like the one that Jesus Himself explained.

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: | Matthew 15:19

It is safe then to know, and believe, that these were among the things that the antediluvians did, before God decided to wipe the earth with a flood, because of the amount of sin (lawlessness) in it. How many more commandments can we check off by the way?

Recap

We can be sure that the ten commandments were always kept, even from the beginning, because we have evidence for it via the Bible.

1st Commandment • No gods before God • check

2nd Commandment • Idolatry • check

3rd Commandment • God’s name

4th Commandment • Sabbath • check

5th Commandment • Honoring parents • check

6th Commandment • Murder • check

7th Commandment • Adultery • check

8th Commandment • Stealing • check

9th Commandment • False witness • check

10th Commandment • Coveting • check

There seems to be one commandment I cannot find a reference to. Its interesting, that it is the same commandment I have not been able to find repeated in the New Testament. But, surely, there is not a soul who will argue against the commandment regarding taking the LORD’S name in vain.

Right?

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