Deuteronomy 5:6-22

The Lord did not become Israel’s suzerain, sovereign, Lord, by beating Israel in battle. No, the Lord became Israel’s suzerain, sovereign, Lord, by beating Israel’s enemy and liberating them from slavery. This is gospel, and it’s important to remember that this historical prologue is a fundamental part of the document. If you take this part off, you are in a world of legalism, but recognizing it here, we notice that the ten commands that follow become not preconditions to salvation, but responses to salvation already received.

Notice the past tense of the verb: “who brought you out of Egypt.” God does not come to the Israelites in Egypt and say, “All right, here are the ten commands. As soon as you can keep all of these, I’ll get you out of here. I’ll rescue you.” No, that would be merited salvation. This is unmerited. God rescues Israel from Egypt without qualification or condition, and actually, there is a sermon here, isn’t there? Salvation is always by grace alone, through faith alone, in the Lord alone. This was salvation by grace. The Lord is Israel’s gracious redeemer.

We call them casuistic laws and apodictic laws. Casuistic laws are usually conditional. They begin with an “if” statement, whereas unconditional laws are simply imperatives usually expressed in the negative.

Casuistic Laws

A conditional statement would be like we find in [Exod 21:28]: “If an ox gores a man [or someone else] to death, then the ox shall surely be put to death.” Here you have an “if-then” statement. Or Exodus 22:26–27: “If you ever take your neighbor’s property as a pledge, you are to return it.” There you have an “if-then” statement.

The Exodus [Decalogue] statements are quite different; there are no “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts” here, simply Exod 20:3: “You shall have no other gods besides me,” or [Exod 20:16]: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” That’s what we find in the Decalogue. We can summarize the differences as in a chart like this. Casuistic laws are typically conditional. They begin with “if” or “when.” They are in the declarative mood. They usually are in the third person. They are specific, based on special cases, actual cases, and usually positive in form.

Apodictic Laws

Whereas unconditional, apodictic laws, like we find in the Decalogue, are unconditional: “Honor your father and your mother.” It does not say, “If your father and mother are good parents, honor them.” No, it’s without condition. They begin with a verb in the imperative. They always are in the second person: “you shall do this,” or “you shall not do this.” They are usually very general without qualification or exception—“Honor your father and your mother,” “You shall not kill,” “You shall not steal,” very general terms—and they are often negative in form.

in Christian circles, we will often hear it said that the Decalogue is a statement of eternal truth, eternal ethics, universal principles, in contrast to the rest of the laws given at Sinai, which are local and parochial.

who is the “you”? Obviously, the “you” isn’t anybody. The “you” here is an adult male

this person owns fields and houses; he owns oxen and donkeys; he has adult children and servants; he is tempted to commit adultery with his neighbor’s wife. Who is the “you”? And of course, the conclusion is the adult male head of a household.

Although some people say this is to protect the interests of the head of the household, it actually does the opposite. The point of the text is to protect families and neighbors from an adult male head of a household who is tempted to abuse his power in self-interest and to run roughshod over other people.

The document begins with “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,” and it ends with “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.”

guarantee that the head of the household will always work and live and serve in the interests of the other person.

the prohibition on other gods (“You shall have no other gods besides me”) and the prohibition of images

the prohibition on other gods and the prohibition of images are a single command. This is one command. To achieve a total of ten, then the command on coveting at the end is split into two.

The Lord has the right to exclusive allegiance. The head of the household is not to make another god to worship it in the place of, or alongside of, God.

2. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,” except that’s not what the Hebrew says. We usually interpret the second command as a command against profanity or using God’s name in oaths or in curses. Actually, that may be involved, but it is not the primary sense as I understand it. Literally, the text says, “You shall not carry/bear/wear the name of the LORD your God in vain.” This text assumes that every true Israelite is stamped with the name of the Lord, branded by God. Isaiah 44:5–6: he talks about people having written on their hands “belonging to Yahweh.” This means that the Israelites are the property of the Lord and that wherever they go, they declare to the world that they belong to the Lord and they advertise to the world what their God is like.

Bearing the name of the Lord means claiming Yahweh as one’s God and covenant Lord. Bearing the name falsely means to claim this name but then to live as if one belongs to Baal or some other god. “You shall not take/carry/wear/bear the name of the LORD your God in vain”—this is also a NT truth. Peter talks about if you suffer for the name, be sure that it’s not because you are ethically problematic, but if you suffer as a Christian, that’s an honor because you bear the name of Christ. We are baptized into the name. At the moment of our baptism, the Lord brands us with His name. We are called Christians. Wherever we go, we advertise the character of the God whose name we claim. You shall not wear this name in vain.