This ninth commandment sounds like something from the Bill of Rights or a rule in a court of law. In reality, it could apply to a legal testimony in a court of law, but in its most simple terms, this commandment warns us against lying or manipulating the truth. This commandment encompasses many different applications of falsifying truth. To put it mildly, it forbids those little, white lies that we convince ourselves are admissible and necessary. On the other extreme, it warns us against spreading or perpetuating rumors, exaggerating the truth, repeating stories without verifying information as truth, and keeping silent when we hear untrue stories to save face with others.

I have a friend who is the mother of two. When Sam and I lived in New York, we went to visit her and her family often. One Sunday, after church, we popped in to hear her very sternly scolding her oldest son who was probably about 11 or 12 years old at the time. Quietly, we sat down so she could do her thing. After sending him out to the yard and their townhome community with a roll of dog-poop bags, she turned to us shaking her head and explained that on their way home from church that day, she realized that he had stolen a candy bar while she was pumping gas. She said she didn’t care if it was a Snickers or a flat screen TV, her son wasn’t going to grow up to be a thief.

Seems a pretty open and shut commandment. Don’t murder. Easy enough. Most people don’t really get the urge to premeditate and act on the actual slaying of another life.

But when God says “murder,” what does He actually mean? The word used here is “rasah,” which is a Hebrew word specifically meaning a premeditated killing. This would not apply to accidental killing, death related to self-defense, or death as punishment by law. To kill in the context of this word, rasah, is reserved for a murder born out of hatred or malice towards someone else. This could include vengeful murder handled outside of lawful verdict, assassination, and murdering due to bitterness or vindictiveness towards someone.

If the first commandment is about holding God as supreme over our lives, not having any idols or distractions that take precedence over Him, then it might seem at first glance that the second commandment is a little redundant. Sure, the second commandment talks about not making images and bowing down to them. In ancient times, those ideas were closely linked. The Egyptian gods all had likenesses and images. Each god had animals that incarnated and represented each of their deities. As such, these animals were considered sacred, such as the cat which represented Bastet the goddess of protection, pleasure and good health, or a jackal which embodied Anubis the guide to the underworld and protector of graves.

The Ten Commandments. What is your knee jerk reaction to them? Do you picture two stone tablets with each command written out? Do you think of the Old Testament law? Do you think of a moral code of ethics given to us by God? Ultimately, all those things are correct, but just because the Ten Commandments were given to the people of Israel and represents a part of Old Testament law, doesn’t mean we can just gloss them over or throw them away. Because despite the fact that they are found in the Law, doesn’t mean they don’t apply to us. At their core, these commandments are all things that we should gladly sign on to. Don’t murder. Don’t steal. Honor God above all else. Nothing about those things are negated by the cross or the New Testament.

How is it that this is one of the simplest messages in the gospel, yet we still can’t seem to grasp it? Trust me, I’ve done it, and still do. Sometimes, we read certain passages so much that we gloss over them. But we can’t allow our head knowledge to rob us of heart knowledge. So if you read today’s key verse and immediately checked out, then I need you to reposition your heart, because I can promise you, none of us have figured out how to carry out these commandments the way Jesus did. No matter how many Sunday school lessons you sat through, no matter how many episodes of VeggieTales you’ve watched, these lessons are never done learning.