You may know that the Bible doesn’t actually refer to ten ‘commandments’ but the exact translation of the Hebrew (e.g in Deuteronomy 4:13) is ‘Ten Words’. This is also the meaning of the Latin word often used to describe the 10 Commandments: the Decalogue. I wonder if that simple difference (‘Words’ rather than ‘Commandments’) suggests something very deep. ‘Words’ certainly underlines the graciousness of the gift and of Yahweh the speaker who is not so much dictating as offering a future. The 10 Words in Exodus 20 are directed to the whole people: “you” is always the singular ‘you’, so the nation as a whole is being addressed. Yahweh, through Moses, has told the people: “if you obey me fully and keep my covenant … you will be my treasured possession … a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6).  The people agree to the terms and Yahweh then proceeds to tell them how to live as his holy nation beginning with the Decalogue or 10 Words.

• The 10 Words have the context: this is how you will live as a holy nation. The first commandment is normally translated: “You shall not have other gods … ” which sounds like but is not quite the same as “you must not have other gods …”. It is equally correctly translated: “you will not have other gods …” followed by several more uses of “you will not” (make idols, misuse Yahweh’s name, murder, steal etc). This is what it means to be Yahweh’s people. It tells them it is possible to live like this.
• Undoubtedly, these are still commands but they are presented as the future for Israel. Later laws will elaborate details of particular cases and sanctions and punishments, but first it seems that an overarching vision is being presented. We can compare the ‘will’ in the 10 Words to ‘the lion will lie down with the lamb’ of Isaiah 11, which is a vision of the future not a command.
• If you read Exodus chapters 19 and 20, the ‘10 Words’ of chapter 20, verses 1-17, stand out as different, and are inserted into the story with their own special introduction in verses 1-2. If you left out the whole section, chapter 20 verse 18 would follow on naturally from the end of chapter 19 and continues with its own version of the giving of the Law to Israel.
• Why is this detail significant? The 10 Commandments, the Decalogue or 10 Words, is set apart. It has pride of place in the establishment of Yahweh’s covenant with Israel. Before all the detail comes the vision, the big picture, the evocation of what it is to be God’s chosen people. It’s the Old Testament’s summary of the Law and what it means to be God’s people.
• The establishment of the covenant with Yahweh at Mount Sinai is the foundation of Israel’s identity. Yahweh chooses them, they choose Yahweh and Yahweh gives them a summary vision in the 10 Words for how they will live thereafter. It’s a summary everyone can memorise. The long and detailed laws that follow immediately are of a different quality altogether although they flesh out the Decalogue. Everything else is tied to time and place in what we can call ‘case law’.
• The Bible offers this base vision of what it means to be God’s people, and will adapt, develop and renew that vision in the historical situations Israel will come to face: entering the promised land… under kingship… in exile… in the return from exile… in the promise of a messianic king… and ultimately in the New Covenant focused on Jesus the Messiah with a new summary of the Law. None of these visions are ever realised fully (far from it) but the vision is always drawing God’s people forward towards the reign of God on earth.
• The genius of the Bible is that it keeps God’s people looking forward in hope to a promised future. We must not be satisfied with anything less, but to survive such a demanding vision, we need to know deeply that we are chosen, loved and readily forgiven when we fail.
• So, the Bible calls the Church today to put flesh on its vision in every situation, holding it up for one another to aspire to. It’s a vision we will feel inadequate to fulfil, but with God’s help we see his kingdom breaking in in multiple ways whenever love triumphs, evil is defeated and there is healing and reconciliation across human divides.