During the wanderings of the Israelites in the Sinaitic Peninsula, the greatest recorded events were Moses' reception of the moral law from God Himself and its promulgation in the form of what the Bible terms "words," although they are more generally known as the Ten Commandments.
Even the preliminaries leading up to the giving of the commandments through Moses suggest the deep significance of this event. Shortly after the arrival of the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai, which seems to have been the highest in a range of rugged hills generally described as Horeb, Moses ascended the mountain and talked with God. He learned that he must remind the people of the divine guidance and protection they had already received and tell them that if they were prepared to do God's will, they would be His chosen people. For three days they prepared themselves for the reception of God's pronouncement, washing their clothes in token of purification (see Ex. 19:3–14).
When the third day dawned, the heights were wreathed in smoke; thunder and lightning accompanied the ever-increasing blast of a trumpet, all adding to the awesome majesty of the occasion. The mountain quaked; the people trembled in response. The Israelites as a whole were not even to approach the mountain; but Moses was called to its summit by a voice from God, and he fearlessly obeyed the call.
The Ten Commandments (or "words") which Moses heard were not of his own choosing; rather, as the Bible indicates, they were received by him from the Lord and were in turn proclaimed to the Israelites through him. It was indeed logical that this should be so, for it was he who had stood firm in face of all the doubts and questionings of the people and their all-too-consistent resistance both to their leader and to their God.
It appears that Moses first received the commandments orally (see Ex. 20:1), going on to report them to the people, who promised to obey them; then Moses is recorded as having written down "all the words of the Lord" (Ex. 24:4).
It is recorded in the same chapter that he received a further command to ascend the mount, there to receive from the Lord a permanent record of the law on stone tablets and, apparently, many other statutes recorded in the book of Exodus. Indeed Moses spent the familiar period of forty days and forty nights on that lofty summit.
Much discussion has arisen with regard to the grouping of the Ten Commandments. Some commentators see in the first four rules the instructions concerning man's duties toward God, stressing His unique position, His complete separation from idols or other gods, the dignity of His name, the observance of His Sabbath. These are followed by a call to honor one's father and mother, which might be viewed as prescribing respect to one's heavenly Parent while at the same time indicating the importance of honor due to one's earthly parents.
The final five commandments are widely accepted as referring primarily to man's dealings with his fellows, denouncing, as they do, such evils as murder, adultery, theft, perjury, and covetousness.
However one may choose to evaluate the great and abiding message of the Ten Commandments, and their implications, they unquestionably set down basic rules of religion, morality, and human conduct which remain as valid today as they were in the time of Moses, the great Lawgiver, who was sufficiently advanced in his thinking to receive and to transmit these fundamental truths for all time.
