Were the
TEN COMMANDMENTS
in force before Moses?
By Herbert W. Armstrong
THE NEWS today is nearly all bad. There’s a reason
why! Not only do we have war, and much strife between nations, but we also have
competition and strife in business. We have quarrels leading to divorces in the
home. We have a growing, younger generation - nervous by blowing up steam and
getting into all sorts of troubles that we call "juvenile
delinquency."
What’s the matter with us anyway? Are we
afraid to stop and look this situation in the face? Do we dare recognize the
FACT that we’re bringing all this fear and worry, this heartache, this
suffering, this frustrating emptiness on ourselves?
There is a reason. But are you afraid to
hear it? Will you deny the true reason?
The Basis of Life
If you find the TRUTH - that God Almighty,
the Creator, set in motion invisible, SPIRITUAL LAWS for our happiness and for
our good, and that ALL our woes and troubles are the DIRECT RESULT of our
rejection and transgression of those laws - you’ll probably say. "But I’ve
been taught that those laws were abolished by Christ!" Or, "Why,
that’s a religious and theological question that I know nothing about. It has
nothing to do with my practical, down-to-earth, everyday life anyway."
You’re wrong! It has EVERYTHING to do with
your everyday life. It has everything to do with all the bad news we hear and
read about every day. It has everything to do with the fact that you are
restless and discontented, that you’re not as happy as you want to be, and
would like to be. It has everything to do with today’s chaotic world
conditions, with social unrest, with the troubles that you probably are having
in your own home!
You’ve probably heard that the ten commandments were done away. You’ve been taught that the
ten commandments either are the same as, or a part of,
the ritualistic law of Moses, and that they didn’t even EXIST until Moses, and
that they lasted ONLY UNTIL CHRIST!
This is no mere, irrelevant theological or
religious question. This is the very ESSENCE OF YOUR LIFE - your home life,
your social life, your business life. It’s the very crux question behind world
troubles today. Strange as it may seem, the ten commandments
have been in FULL FORCE and effect SINCE HUMAN LIFE HAS EXISTED ON THIS EARTH!
They constitute a spiritual law that is
inexorable and eternal. A law that is LOVE and the fulfilling of which is love
- a law that was set in motion for our happiness to produce everything good
which we have foolishly denied ourselves. These ten commandments
are ENTIRELY DIFFERENT AND SEPARATE FROM the ritualistic law of Moses which was
just a code of physical laws, not spiritual laws.
Proof that
Commandments Were in Force at Beginning
The ten commandments
were first made known to Adam in the Garden of Eden. Why? Because
that is the very law that he broke in the "original" sin. EVERYONE of the ten commandments was then in full force and
effect. It was SIN to transgress any one of them between the time of Adam and
Moses. You can read this in your own Bible.
When did this thing that we call
"sin" start anyway? Did it start with Moses?
We read the answer in Romans 5:12,
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and DEATH BY SIN; so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." And in verse
fourteen "Death reigned FROM ADAM TO MOSES."
"Sin is NOT imputed when there is NO
law," you read in the 13th verse. yet
sin was imputed because death did reign from Adam to Moses. There must then
have been a law from Adam’s time.
What Is Sin?
People have numerous IDEAS about what sin
is. In
Actually, the book was quite harmless.
When you bought it, it just gave you names of restaurants and similar places.
Most of them were eating places without any entertainment.
There wasn’t necessarily anything that
pointed really to sin, but sin always seem to be the forbidden fruit that is
most glamorous and that would be most desirable if only some unfair God had NOT
denied it to us. That seems to be what human beings think of sin.
What is sin? Is there a BIBLE definition?
Is there any place in the Bible where it says, "Sin is ..." and then
follows the definition?
The answer is in I John 3:4, "Sin is the transgression of the law."
SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW! Do
you realize that God Almighty is not only the Creator of matter - solid matter,
liquid matter and gaseous matter, as we know it - but God also is the Creator
of FORCE and of ENERGY and of EVERY POWER and of EVERY LAW.
The laws of physics, the laws of chemistry, every law that is
in motion and is energized. Do you realize that God Almighty also
created a SPIRITUAL LAW? That spiritual law regulates your happiness.
Happiness Instead of Suffering
You want happiness. You want to be happy
above al things. Everyone does. You want to lead a life that is pleasing and
pleasant. You would like to lead a life that is just full and abundant and
INTERESTING - as a matter of fact, a little bit exciting all the way along,
wouldn’t you? And you want a life where everything is pleasant, where there are
no pains or suffering.
You don’t want a life of boredom. You
don’t want a life of sorrow, pain or suffering. You want a HAPPY life, and you
would love to feel well, jolly and joyful - happy all the time.
You could have a life like that. Everyone
could.
This ENTIRE WORLD could be like that - if
we only UNDERSTOOD the WAY!"
God Almighty in His great love for
humanity set a law in motion. That law was DESIGNED to produce just that kind
of life for YOU.
But you’re not living that way! You’re
breaking that law and that law has been breaking YOU a long time, because
that’s precisely what happens.
That law is merely love. It’s the way of
love. It’s the way that love should be expressed - love toward God and love
toward neighbor.
The apostle Paul tells us what sin is in
Romans 7:7, "What shall we say then? Is the law sin?" People think
that the law is all wrong, that it’s sin. Paul continues, "God forbid,. Nay, I had NOT KNOWN SIN BUT BY THE LAW." In other
words, by the law is the KNOWLEDGE of sin, as Paul had said previously in
Romans 3:20.
The law gives you the knowledge of what
sin is. It directs you and guides you as to what you ought to do.
We Were Born Ignorant
Do you realize that when you were born you
didn’t know one thing? Do you realize that you were not born with instinct like
the dumb brutes? Dumb brutes don’t have to "know." They don’t have to
be taught a law to know what to do; they don’t have to learn about a law that
they can receive in their minds and that will show them what to do to be happy,
and what not to do to avoid suffering. Animals are just dumb brutes equipped
with instinct. They live as the Eternal Creator designed.
But you and I are made AFTER God’s image.
We were put here as free moral agents for the purpose of producing character -
holy, righteous, spiritual character. God is REPRODUCING HIMSELF, and He’s
given us a mind like He Himself has, except our minds are very limited. Our
minds are fallible, God’s is infallible and unlimited - that’s the ONLY
difference.
What Is the Law?
You don’t KNOW what is right and what is
wrong without its being revealed. Paul would not have known what sin was if the
law had not told him. Human nature will not teach you. Human nature has evil in
it. As Paul says, "I had not known lust," that is, he wouldn’t have
known that lust was evil or wrong; he didn’t have such instinctive knowledge,
"except the law has said, ‘Thou shalt not covet.’" The law that said,
"Thou shalt not covet," TAUGHT the apostle Paul what was sin. And
that is the tenth commandment. So the law that taught that principle IS THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS!
In Romans 7:12, Paul’s says that "the
law is holy and the commandment holy, just and good." That isn’t what you
have been taught today, is it? Many people have been reared in the belief that
the law is UNHOLY, that tit is altogether WRONG, and that Christ had to do away
with it.
In verse 14 of Romans 7, the apostle
Paul’s says, "For we know that the law is spiritual." The law is
spiritual.
Paul said he was carnal.
He was fleshly and material. So are you. So am I. But the law is a SPIRITUAL
PRINCIPLE, and it REGULATES YOUR HAPPINESS - a spiritual matter.
The Original Sin
Every one of the ten
commandments WAS IN EXISTENCE during the time of Adam. It was SIN to
break any one of them PRIOR to the time of the law of
Moses. The law of Moses, we know, didn’t come UNTIL
the time of Moses - 430 years after the time of Abraham. But the SPIRITUAL LAW
has been in existence from Adam!
The original sin is recorded in Genesis,
beginning with chapter 2, verse 15: "And the Eternal took the man and put
him in the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it. And
the Eternal God commanded the man saying, Of every
tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat."
God gave him permission. God is Supreme
Ruler. God is giving the orders. He is teaching. The hand DIDN’T KNOW. The man
had to be TOLD. He had to be TAUGHT and INSTRUCTED. Here is the instruction -
the command, and a sentence. Notice: "But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil," a MIXTURE of good and evil, "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!"
"The wages of sin is death." God
was preaching the gospel of the man. There it is! The very fact that God said,
"In the day that thou eatest thereof ..." shows that the man was
ALLOWED to do it, that the man was a FREE MORAL AGENT, that
the man himself had to make the choice. God designed that you and I CHOOSE
whether or not we will obey His law, or not.
Animals don’t make a choice. Animals have
instinct.
God ordained that you and I must make a
choice. And if we choose the right way to live, according to that law which God
set in motion to produce happiness and contentment and a FULL, THRILLING,
ENJOYABLE life, we can have it. But if we’re going to choose to live the other
way, we’re going to have suffering, sorrows and curses - that’s what we’ve
elected to do.
The First Lie
To continue:
"Now the serpent was more subtle than
any beast of the field which the Eternal God had made, and he said unto the
woman, ‘Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every
tree of the garden?’ And the woman said unto the serpent, ‘We may eat of the
fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which in the
midst of the garden, God had said, Ye shall NOT eat of
it nor touch it LEST YOU DIE.’ And the serpent said unto the woman ‘Ye shall
NOT SURELY DIE.’" (Gen. 3:1-4)
YOU SHALL NOT SURELY DIE - there was the
first lie that we have any historic record of. It was not told by a man, but by
the DEVIL. "You will not surely die." "You’re an IMMORTAL
SOUL." Or "You have an immortal should that WON’T DIE." That’s
what the DEVIL said.
Continuing: "For God doth know that
in the day that you eat thereof, then you eyes shall be opened and you shall be
as gods knowing good and evil."
In other words, the devil said that God
knows better; God has been lying to you - that’s what he wanted the woman to
believe.
"And when the woman saw that the tree
was good for food" - she used her own judgment and didn’t obey the law of
God - she used her own human reason -" ...the tree was good for food, and
it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree was desired to make one wise; she
took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her
and he did eat" - the first human sin!
The Commandment Broken
Analyze exactly what happened GOD is the
One we obey. Do you realize that’s one of the definitions of God? Whoever you
obey is your God. Whatever you SERVE is you god. it might be your automobile. Maybe it’s an idol. Whatever it
is, that’s your god.
Adam and Eve had another god in place of
the true God - they broke the first commandment. They dishonored
their only Parent. How? In Luke
Adam not only dishonored
his only Parent, but he also broke the TENTH commandment. There was LUST when
the woman saw that it was good for food and desired to make one wise-vanity,
egotism and pride entered into her heart.
Lust is what usually causes a person to
have an inordinate desire to have something is not
legal. Lust causes you to steal and Adam and Eve broke the EIGHTH commandment
by STEALING what was not theirs.
FOUR OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS WERE BROKEN
IN THE ORIGINAL SIN.
And in other ways EVERY ONE of the ten commandments were actually broken in that very first
sin.
How Did Cain Sin?
Consider their first son. Genesis 4,
beginning with verse 6. "And the Eternal had said unto Cain [their elder
son], Why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest
well," God said, "shalt thou not be
accepted? and if thou doest not well, SIN lieth at the door."
Notice what sin was in those days - in the
days of Cain! "Cain talked with his brother, Abel; and it came to pass
that when they were in the field Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and
slew him."
He was a MURDERER. Sin did lie at the
door.
And the Eternal said unto Cain,
"Where is Abel thy brother?" And he replied, "I know not."
He LIED and broke another one of the commandment. That was sin, too.
Cain broke the sixth and ninth
commandments. Every one of these commandments was know from creation, because
God had revealed them to Adam. He thus revealed them to mankind at that time.
But humanity has rejected them.
Idolatry Committed Before Abraham
Notice Joshua 24:2. "And Joshua said
unto the people, Thus saith the Eternal God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on
the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah,
the father of Abraham and the father of Nachor, and
THEY SERVED OTHER GODS." IDOLATRY WAS A SIN in the days BEFORE Abraham and
that was 430 years BEFORE the law of Moses!
Now turn to Genesis 35:1-4: "And God
said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there and make there an altar
unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest
from the face of Esau, they brother. Then Jacob said unto his household and to
all that were with him, ‘Put away the STRANGE GODS that are among you and be
clean and change your garments and let us arise and go up Bethel and I will
make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress and was
with me in the way which I went.’ And they gave me Jacob ALL THE STRANGE GODS
WHICH WERE IN THEIR HAND."
They could hold these gods in their hands.
Notice: "And all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid
them under the oak which was by Shechem." it was
a sin to WORSHIP IDOLS and they had idol god in their own hands.
The Third Commandment
Notice the THIRD commandment in Leviticus
18:3,21,27. "After the doings of the
"And after the doings of the land of
Canaan whither I bring you SHALL YOU NOT DO, NEITHER shall you walk in their
ordinances ... And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire of Molech, NEITHER SHALT THOU PROFANE THE NAME OF THY GOD, I
am the Eternal."
There’s profanity, or profaning the name
of God. Now the 27th verse: "For ALL THESE ABOMINATIONS have
the men of the land DONE which were BEFORE YOU" - before this generation
during which the law of Moses came.
In previous generations PRIOR to the law of Moses "ALL THESE ABOMINATIONS have the men of
land DONE which were before you and THE LAND IS DEFILED." It was sin. One
of the sins was to profane the name of God. Therefore, profanity - taking the
name of God in vain - was a sin before Moses.
The Fourth Commandment Observed
Coming to the fourth commandment in Exodus
16:4, "Then the Eternal said unto Moses" - this was WEEKS before they
came to Mount Sinai and BEFORE THE LAW OF MOSES was given or before they ever
knew there would be a law of Moses - "Behold I will rain bread from heaven
for you and the people may go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I
may PROVE them WHETHER THEY WILL WALK IN MY LAW OR NO."
Here is God’s law. He was going to see
whether the people would obey it before the law of
Moses was given - WEEKS BEFORE they even came to
Verse 5, "And it shall come to pass
that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall
be twice as much as they gather daily."
Now notice verse 22: "And it came to
pass that on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much."
Verse 23: "Moses said to the people, This is that which the Eternal hath said, Tomorrow is THE
REST OF THE HOLY SABBATH UNTO THE ETERNAL."
Then on the following day, verse 25, Moses
said, "Eat that today, for today IS a Sabbath unto the Eternal, today you
shall not find it in the fields. Six days you 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 Sabbath for to gather and
they found none!"
God was showing them by miracles from
heaven which day was the seventh day. TIME HAD NOT BEEN LOST.
Some of them thought it didn’t make any
difference. They would wait to go out on the following day - on the Sabbath -
BUT THERE WAS NONE! Did that make any difference? "And the Eternal said
unto Moses, HOW LONG REFUSE YE TO KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS AND MY LAWS? See that
the Eternal hath given you the Sabbath. Therefore, He giveth you on the sixth
the bread of two days. Abide ye every man in his place and let no man go out of
his place on the seventh day." So THE PEOPLE RESTED ON THE SEVENTH
DAY!" (Verses 28-30.)
That was WEEKS BEFORE they came to
The Fifth Commandment
Now turn to Genesis 9:21. "And he
(Noah) drank wine and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And
Ham, the father of Cannan, saw the nakedness of his
father and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment
and they laid it upon both their shoulders and went backward and they covered
the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not
their father’s nakedness."
Continuing: "Noah awoke from his wine
and saw what his [Ham’s] younger son [
DISHONORING A PARENT WAS A SIN and a curse
was pronounced in those days.
And now notice the seventh commandment
against adultery. Genesis 39:7-9, "And it came to pass after these things
that his [Joseph’s] master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph." This
occurred when Joseph was in
Adultery was sin - hundreds of years
before the physical law of Moses.
Now we come to the eighth commandment
against stealing in Genesis 30 verse 33: "Everyone that is not speckled
and spotted among the goats and brown among the sheep shall be counted AS
STOLEN WITH ME." This is Jacob and his experience with Laban.
Stealing was a sin.
We come to the ninth commandment about
lying" Genesis 20, the first nine verses. "And Abraham journeyed
toward the south country and he dwelt in Kadesh and Shur and he journeyed toward the south country and he dwelt
in Kadesh and Shur and he
journeyed to gear and Abraham said to Sarah his wife, ‘She is my sister.’ And Abimelech, the king of Gerar,
sent and he took Sarah." He was going to take her as his wife. He would
have committed adultery with her, but God sent an angel to him in a dream to
warn him. "Yea I know that thou didest this in
the integrity of thine heart." The king, remember, heard Abraham say of
Sarah, "She’s my sister." "And also I" - God says -
"withheld thee from sinning against Me;
therefore, suffered I thee not to touch her."
Abraham was lying. It would also have been
a sin to commit adultery. Of course, Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister; but,
nevertheless, the intent was all wrong. It was a lie.
What about coveting? Notice Genesis 6:1-3,
5: "And it came to pass when men began to multiply upon the face of the
earth and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters
of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all whom they
chose." "God saw the wickedness" - SIN - "of man was great
in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. And it repented the Eternal that He had made man on the
earth, and it grieved Him in His heart.
Coveting was a sin even in those days!
There it is. Every one of the ten commandments was in
existence from the creation. It was sin to break any one of them between the
time of Adam and Moses. What are you going to do about it?