The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Zachary W. during the 2007-2008 League.
The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments are a set of ten moral laws which God sets forth in Exodus 20.
They are intended to be the ultimate rules that govern our lives as Christians. Forming the basic foundation for the rest of the moral governances laid down later in Exodus, these laws deal with our relationship with God and our relationships with others. There are many other passages throughout the Bible which refer back to and reiterate these laws.
The first four commandments are commonly called the first table. Their topic is our relationship with God. The fact that these four commandments are first indicates their importance, and indeed throughout Scripture the greatest importance is placed on our relationship with our Maker. Exodus 20:3-11 says:
3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image-any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. 8 " Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. (NKJV)
The first commandment tells us that our object of worship should be Jehovah. If we are not putting God first, then we have created a false god. These false gods can include money, power, etc. The act of worshiping a false god is called idolatry, and we are warned constantly in Scripture to avoid this practice. An example of this is Leviticus 19:4, which says "Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the LORD your God."
The second commandment deals with a specific form of idolatry, the act of worshiping an image or statue that represents a god. God strictly forbids this practice in Leviticus 26:1, where He says "You shall not make idols for yourselves;
neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves;
nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it;
for I am the LORD your God." (NKJV)
