Everyone knows that the Ten Commandments were written on two stone tablets. If nothing else, most of us have seen Charlton Heston as Moses descending Mt. Sinai with those stone tablets in his hands! The question is: "Why two tablets?" If you review some classical art and re-watch the movie, you might think that each stone tablet had five Commandments each. But that is not it. Both tablets had all ten. Why were there two exact copies? And what kind of punishment did Moses mete out to the people who were worshipping the gold calf? Yuck!

Moses had heard and seen what the people were doing as they worshipped the golden calf, and he made sure they suffered certain consequences. He also held Aaron responsible for his part in making the calf. In the midst of these things, the Levites were set apart as the priestly tribe. Eventually, Moses went back to the top of Mt. Sinai with a different perspective about how God might view these people because of their sinfulness!

Well, Aaron has made the golden calf. What was he thinking? He must have known it was wrong, but the social pressure applied by the people was too great for him to withstand. What was God's response? How did Moses feel about God's plan? Was it really a "plan," or was it a test that God was giving Moses to see how he would react?

Moses had been at the top of Mt. Sinai for forty days and the people had lost their patience. If Moses could not lead them to the Promised Land, they would make a god who would go before them, at least an image of that god. So they turned to Aaron to make the golden calf out of pure gold. What kind of god did they expect Aaron to make, a pagan god, a new god, or a God they already knew? Why Aaron? And where did all of that gold come from? Oh, and what did they think had happened to Moses?

There is still a lot happening at the base of Mt. Sinai after God gives the Ten Commandments. Moses continues to interact with both God and the people. The Israelites pressure Moses to fulfill a specific role on their behalf because they are afraid to do it themselves. God appoints Moses to build an altar, and it must be constructed without any tools. Why? Moses is still busy serving the Lord and His people!

In this episode we look at the last five Commandments, which feature a lot of "Thou Shall Nots," like "Thou Shall Not Murder" and "Thou Shall Not Steal." On the surface, it seems like these Commandments would be somewhat easy to obey. However, Jesus says that if we even think about doing something that would violate them, we have already disobeyed. It is not the letter of the law that is the problem, but the heart of the law that gets us in trouble most often. When do I cross the line from obedience to disobedience in my heart?

Sometimes we discount the importance of the Commandment which says, "Honor your father and mother." After all, what does "honor" really mean anyway? And compared to such big Commandments as "Thou shalt not murder" or "You shall have no other gods before Me," it seems a little puny. However, it is cited twice in the New Testament as critical for us to follow, once by Jesus and once by Paul. So we need to know how to obey this Commandment from two standpoints: as a child, and as a parent. Besides, it is the only Commandment that promises a special blessing if we follow it!

The Ten Commandments not only call us to live a certain way, but also show us when we have failed to do so. God says in the third Commandment, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," and we might wonder what the word "vain" means in this context. The idea is that we should not make the name of God "worthless." In the fourth Commandment, God says, "Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy." The Hebrew word for "Sabbath" means to "stop work" or "cease labor." How well are we doing today in obeying these "Words of God?"