THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IS PART OF THE WHOLE LAW

Largely Transcript of Video by Chaazawan

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Many people are under the impression that the ten commandments are separate from the rest of the laws, and therefore they say the other laws no longer apply. This idea is based on a misunderstanding of the Scriptures. So, let’s start: in

Exodus 31:18 “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”

Let’s go to Exodus 32:15: “And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.”

So, we see that the Most High God wrote the Ten Commandments himself; now let’s go to Deuteronomy 31:24-26: “And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, 25 That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, 26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.”

Now, people often point out that the Most High God wrote the ten commandments himself, but it was Moses who wrote the other laws in a separate book. They also point out that Moses put the book in the side of the Ark instead of inside the Ark with the Ten Commandments, so, therefore, they say that the other laws don’t have the same authority as the Ten Commandments. However, that is not the case! Let’s see what Moses wrote down; let’s go up to Verse 9 to get the context of what we just read: Deuteronomy 31:9 “And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel.”

So, it says that Moses wrote this law—what is this talking about? What is this law that Moses wrote? It talks about the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The book of the law that Moses wrote wasn’t a separate book that was contrary to the Ten Commandments; the book that Moses wrote contained the Ten Commandments, but it also had the other laws and the history of the people of Israel. It was the Torah, the same book we read today. Now, it was not placed in the side of the Ark to show a different level of authority from the other laws, but it was placed inside of the Ark to show reverence or respect to the fact that the Most High himself wrote on the stones.

So, Moses wrote the Torah, and he gave a copy of it to the priests—let’s see why!

DEUTERONOMY 31:10-12 “And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, 11 When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:”

What law is he talking about? The Ten Commandments? No! The whole Torah— Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy; the first five books of the Bible—that’s what Moses wrote, and he gave a copy to the priests to read in front of all Israel as a reminder of how to live righteously. It was also the history of the people of Israel and everything they have gone through so that they could learn from the written examples—what to do and what not to do.

This book was a book of instruction—all of it. Now, we see the same thing happening later on during the time of Nehemiah. This is what Nehemiah 8:1-3 says: “And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. 2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.”

Why did it take Ezra so long to read? Because he didn’t just read the ten commandments, he read all the laws from Genesis to Deuteronomy. It says, and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. You see, everybody paid attention while he (Ezra) read all of it—not just the ten commandments. Let’s go to Nehemiah 8:8: “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”

In other words, they broke the scriptures down so that the people could understand the meaning of the text; this is very important because reading without understanding defeats the purpose. This kind of thinking is why you have people today who think the only thing that matters is the ten commandments, and they disregard the rest of the law. We have to read and get the proper sense of what we’re reading.

NEHEMIAH 8:9

“And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law”

Now, why did the people start crying when they heard the law? Because they saw all the different sins that they were in and how far they had fallen away from the Most High’s standard. So, why did Nehemiah and Ezra tell the people not to weep? Ideally, we should weep when we see ourselves in sin; but why did he tell them not to mourn at this time? He told them not to weep because it was the Feast of Trumpets; how do we know?  Let’s see Nehemiah 8:2: “And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.”

So, we see that it was the first day of the seventh month; now let’s go to Leviticus 23:24: “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.”

So, we see that it was a holy day in Israel—the Feast of Trumpets—which is a time to celebrate and be happy and not to mourn and be sad. You see, we’re not supposed to mourn on holy days;  watch what Deuteronomy 16:14 says:

“And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.”

That’s why Nehemiah and Ezra told Israel not to mourn when they heard the law being read even though they saw themselves in sin; it wasn’t time to mourn that day. Even Ecclesiastes 3:4 tells you: a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance. During the Feast of Trumpets, it was time to be happy.

Now let’s go back to Nehemiah chapter 8:

Nehemiah 8:9-12

“9 And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep (for it was the Feast of Trumpets). For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. 11 So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved. 12 And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.”

See, as an Israelite (or all serve the God of Israel), when you hear the law of the Most High, that should make you happy because it’s a reminder of the Most High’s love towards you and that he chooses you to be worthy to understand what he desires from his people. The law wasn’t given to Israel to oppress us; the law was given to us to show us the mind of the Most High and how he desires his people to conduct themselves. That’s why He tells you that the law is not grievous, but people make it grievous through misunderstanding its purpose.

Deuteronomy 4:5 this is Moses talking to the children of Israel; it says:

“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.”

According to what we just read in verse 5, who commanded Moses to teach the statutes and the judgments? It was the Most High; so, how can you say the other laws don’t have the same authority as the Ten Commandments when the Most High is the one that told Moses to teach the other laws? That doesn’t make sense! Moses didn’t make these laws up. People always say “the law of Moses”; that’s what it’s called because Moses presented it, but Moses didn’t make up the laws; the Most High gave those laws to Moses, and he commanded Moses to teach those laws.

Now we understand that the sacrificial laws are no longer applicable because Jesus came and became our sacrificial lamb—we know that! However, the death of Jesus did not make homosexuality permissible; homosexuality is a sin according to the Bible. Bestiality or sex with animals—that’s a sin! Rape is a sin—and the list goes on and on. Those things are not mentioned by name in the Ten Commandments, so can we do those things now? Of course not! So, we have to stop being ridiculous; those things are not listed in the Ten Commandments but all of those things are covered in the rest of the laws. So, if you say the rest of the laws don’t apply anymore, then that means we’re free to do all of that stuff, and nobody in their right mind would say that we’re free to do those things.

So, this is why Moses told us, as we have read earlier, to follow all the laws, statutes and judgments of the Most High—not just the Ten Commandments. Let’s read on: DEUTERONOMY 4:6 “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

Why should we obey the laws? Because these are the things that the other nations were doing. Israel wasn’t making this mess until Israel was exposed to the other nations. Let’s prove this: Leviticus 18:22-24

“22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. 23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. 24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:”

You see that the nations were doing all kinds of wickedness, and when Israel came into the land of Canaan, Israel saw how they lived and then began to follow after them. It’s no coincidence that the further we get away from the law, the closer we get to all these alternative lifestyles that go directly against the Bible. Yet, people want to teach that only the Ten Commandments are authoritative—and that’s why the world is all jacked up now.

Let’s go back to DEUTERONOMY 4:6: “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

See that the law, statutes and commandments make us wise and understanding people, so why would you want to stop doing them?

DEUTERONOMY 4:7-8

“7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?”

So, the totality of the law is a sign of Israel’s greatness; see, the Most High wanted to cover every angle so that we would look spotless in the eyes of the other nations. Let’s jump down to Deuteronomy 4:12-13:

“12 And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. 13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.”

So, here’s where some of the confusion come from; we see here that the covenant was the ten commandments—that’s undeniable! Based on what we just read; however, let’s read the next verse, verse 14:

“And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.”

So, again all the commandments, the statutes and the judgments are all part of the same law. The Most High wrote the ten because the ten encompassed them all. I want you to think about this; there were ten commandments on two tablets of stone. If we do the math, if the Most High would have written down all 613 laws, then there would have been a total of a hundred and twenty-three stone tablets. Would you please explain to me how in the world Moses was going to carry a hundred and twenty-three stone tablets down a mountain by himself? Do you see how ridiculous that is?

The Most High gave him Ten Commandments on two stones which outlined all 613 laws. Deuteronomy 9:9: “When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:”

The Ten Commandments represented the Covenant because they are a summary of all the laws just like Jesus said that all the laws hang on two Commandments: thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. All the laws fit within those two; however, that doesn’t disregard the validity of the other ones—it’s just a summary of them all.

So, Moses was so upset by what he saw that he threw the two tablets down and broke them. Now, what was that symbolic of? That was symbolic of Israel breaking the Covenant, so now Moses had to go back up to the mountain again to get another set of Commandments. This passage is

Now let’s jump down to verse 10:

10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.

So, we see that the Most High said he made a covenant with Israel. Now let’s jump down to verse 17; the Most High establishes ground rules for us to follow; look at this: Verse 17-18 “Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. 18 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.”

Now, notice that God commands us to keep the feast of unleavened bread; you can’t read that and say, oh, that don’t matter—the Most High didn’t command it. See, this is what many of us don’t understand.  It doesn’t have to be written among a particular group of verses titled the commandments; anything that the Most High says we are to do, is automatically a commandment. If he commands something to be done, we’re supposed to do it. Let’s jump down to Verse 21:

21 Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest (that’s part of the Ten Commandments—that’s the Sabbath day): in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. 22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

If you notice, the Most High is bouncing back and forth between the ten commandments and the other laws as if they’re equally important; why is he doing that if they don’t matter?

Verses 23-27 “Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year. 25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning. 26 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk. 27 And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.”

He told Moses, write these things down, why? Why is that important? After the tenet of these words, it says, meaning based on the words that I (God) just spoke. It says I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. See, the Most High said that the covenant with Israel was based on everything he said to Moses, not just the Ten Commandments. So, when people say that the covenant is only the Ten Commandments, they are in error. We just saw that the Most High said everything that he told Moses to write down was a part of the Covenant that he made with Israel—not just the Ten Commandments.

Again, that’s why Moses told us to keep all the laws, statutes and commandments because it all goes together; so, when you hear people say that all we got to do is follow the Ten Commandments—that is incorrect! As Israelites and all who serve the God of Israel, the Covenant that the Most High made with us is based on everything that he told Moses, not just the Ten Commandments.  The only exception, of course, is the sacrificial laws because Jesus shed his blood as the ultimate sacrifice for us, and we know that because we can read that in the book of Hebrews. We know that the blood of bulls and goats did not properly cleanse us of our sins; let’s read it:

HEBREWS 10:4-6

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

So, again we don’t make animal sacrifices anymore; we don’t have to go to the temple three times a year because there is no temple. See, there are certain things that we are literally not able to do at this time, but that does not give you an excuse to not do the things that you can do. For example, if you were young and your parents told you to wash the dishes, take out the trash, clean your room and walk the dog.  If you go into the kitchen and realize that there’s no dish detergent, you don’t say well I can’t wash the dishes, so I’m not going to take out the trash, I’m not going clean my room, and I’m not going to walk the dog because if I can’t do them all, I might as well do none of them. That doesn’t make any sense—that’s illogical thinking. So, why should we not keep the laws that we can keep? The Most High told us to do it, even Jesus himself told us that the laws are not done away with, but you have rebellious people who want to teach us that they are.

The Most High is the Most High, and he said we are supposed to do this throughout our generations. So, you have to decide if you believe that Jesus came and taught something opposite of what his father said and, if you think he did, then clearly, you’re ignoring his own words when he told us he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him. Let’s read one more passage:

 DEUTERONOMY 6:1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:

Again, Moses was commanded to teach the Ten Commandments and the statutes, judgments, and other laws. He didn’t make them up himself. Moses wrote what the Most High told him to write. The only exception to that is when it says that Moses gave the bill of divorce because of the hardness of Israel’s heart, but outside of that, you cannot honestly say that Moses came up with anything on his own.

We just read that the Most High commanded him to write down everything he wrote.

Verse 2: That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

So, according to the Scriptures, we are supposed to do this throughout our generations.   It even says that doing these things will prolong your life.

Verse 3:

“Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.”

It’s clear, according to the text, that all the laws are essential.

Now, let me address a point before I end; you have some people out there saying: well if you want to keep the laws, statutes, and Commandments, you got to keep their judgments. If you see somebody committing a sin that’s worthy of death, you got to kill that person; that is not a good thing—that is an ignorant and unlearned statement. First of all, we know that Jesus came and died on the cross so that we could repent and be forgiven of our sins, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t try to keep the law. Before Jesus came and died on the cross, there were specific laws that if you break them, there was no repentance for breaking those laws; you had to be put to death—your own blood had to be shed. But after Jesus came into the world and died for our sins, now we have 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

So, we don’t have to go and put an adulterer to death because that adulterer can repent through the blood of Jesus. But if he doesn’t repent, is he not still an adulterer? So, what makes him an adulterer? The fact that the law says thou shalt not commit adultery. If a person is known to be a homosexual, he can repent now through the blood of Jesus. But if he doesn’t repent, is he not still a homosexual? Yes! What makes him a homosexual? Because the law says that a man shall not lie with another man as he lies with a woman; so that means that the law is still there; the law is still dictating what is righteous and what is wicked. If you say that those laws are gone, then there is no such thing as a homosexual; there is no sin because sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). It’s very ignorant to teach that the other laws are done away with because you cannot have sin if you don’t have laws; the law is what shows what the sin is; if there is no law to show the sin, then there is no sin.

We don’t put people to death because they’re breaking the laws now; we preach repentance to those people so that they can repent from their sins and be saved from destruction. However, that does not negate the law itself.

Let me end with this because I know how people like to twist things; by no means am I saying that the law by itself will save you—it will not save you—you can only be saved first and foremost through faith in Jesus. However, just because the law doesn’t save you, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t keep it because Romans 3:31 says Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

We don’t get rid of the law because we have faith in Jesus; because we have faith in Jesus, we establish the law; we live righteously; we uphold the Most High’s moral standards; because that’s what the law is. Revelation 14:12:

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

So, know that the law by itself won’t save you, but the Saints, according to the Bible, keep the commandments of the Most High and they have faith in Jesus. And as we saw earlier, you can’t say that the commandments are only referring to the ten because we saw that the Covenant that was made with Israel was not just the ten commandments; it was everything that the Most High said to Israel.

Don’t let anybody tell you all you got to do is worry about the ten the other laws don’t matter anymore—do not be deceived—that is a lie! The Most High commanded us to keep these laws, statutes and Commandments, and there is no passage in the Bible where he came back again and said, I changed my mind.

The church has always been Israel and not something separate from Israel. How do we know this? Acts 7:38

“This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:”

The word church means ekklesia—the called-out ones. The term church is not referring to the numerous split names we have today. It is referring to Israel and all who have spiritually identified with Israel. The laws, statutes and commandments given to Israel is also for anyone who has spiritually identified with the God of Israel. The church is not a body detached from Israel—no, it is not! Watch this:

MALACHI 4:4 “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.”

The tithe verse that people so passionately obey—because it brings money to the church and nourishes the overseers’ pockets is from the laws that God commanded Moses to write. Will you only obey MALACHI 3:8-10 and disregard MALACHI 4:4? Is God only telling you to remember the tithing law?Be wise!