Exodus 20 Vs Deuteronomy 5
by Rod Jackson
All verses are quoted from the NASB anything in [square brackets] is added by me for clarity.
3 days before giving the 10 commandment, God gives Moses the following message -
"The LORD said to Moses, `Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.' " Exodus 19:9a
So God says that the people of Israel will hear Him speaking the 10 commandments. Then at the start of Exodus 20 it says
"Then God spoke all these words, saying," Exodus 20:1
And then from Exodus 20:2-17 God gives the 10 commandments. And in the next verse it states -
"All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance." Exodus 20:18
The people of Israel were naturally afraid after hearing God give the 10 commandments to Moses. And God confirms that the Israelites heard Him, as a few verses later He states -
"Then the LORD said to Moses, `Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven." ' " Exodus 20:22
So the first recorded instance of the 10 commandments is the spoken word. In fact it is not until Exodus 24 when we read about the written form of the 10 commandments.
"Now the LORD said to Moses, `Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.' " Exodus 24:12
God commands Moses to climb the mountain, after He's already given the spoken version of the 10 commandments back in Exodus 20:1-17. And while on the mountain God promises to give to Moses the written word of the 10 commandments. And then we read that Moses was obedient and climbed the mountain, as it says -
"Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain." Exodus 24:15
Moses stays on the mountain getting God's law. It is not until Chapter 32 that Moses comes down the mountain, and we read -
"It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses' anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain." Exodus 32:19
So the first set of the written version of the 10 commandments were broken. To fix the problem of not having a written version anymore we read -
"Now the LORD said to Moses, "Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered." Exodus 34:1
"So he [Moses] cut out two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand." Exodus 34:4
So Moses was obedient and cut some new stone tablets for the 10 commandments to be written on. And Moses goes back up the mountain to get the 2nd set of the written version of the 10 commandments.
"So he [Moses] was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him." Exodus 34:28-29
Moses comes down from the mountain with the 2nd set of tablets with the written version of the 10 commandments on them. And finally we read what happened to this 2nd set of tablets -
"Then he [Moses] took the testimony [the 2 tablets with the 10 commandments on them] and put it into the ark, and attached the poles to the ark, and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. He brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up a veil for the screen, and screened off the ark of the testimony, just as the LORD had commanded Moses." Exodus 40:20-21
So there were 3 versions of the 10 commandments given to Israel. The first was the spoken version. The second was a written version that was broken. And the third was this one that was finally placed inside the Ark of the Covenant and the Ark was placed inside the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle.
These passages in Exodus occur after the Israelites leave Egypt but before they do their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. In Deuteronomy it is after the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, for it says -
"In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that the LORD had commanded him to give to them," Deuteronomy 1:3
Moses then reminds the Israelites of the events that occurred many years ago. So Moses is speaking "in flashback". And He repeats some of the points we have already seen above, when Moses said to Israel, the following -
"Remember the day you [Israel] stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me [Moses], 'Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.' You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom. Then the LORD spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form--only a voice. So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone." Deuteronomy 4:10-13
We have already seen that the 10 commandments written in Exodus 20 were the spoken version. Now we are many years later; Moses is reminding the people of their history. In Deuteronomy 5:6-21 he reads them the 10 commandments. But this seems to be the written version. Why the big deal?
In both sets of commandments the actual commandments are the same. However, the justification for the 4th commandment, is vastly different in these 2 different versions. In the spoken word, we read -
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy." Exodus 20:8-11
Here God's reason for giving the Sabbath day is that God created in 6 days and rested on the Sabbath. So the spoken word uses creation as the justification for the commandment. Whereas the written version, reads -
"Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day." Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Here God's reason for keeping the Sabbath is redemption. God redeemed Israel from Egypt, so they should keep the Sabbath.
To summarize we have seen - The spoken word is associated with Creation. The written word came down from God in visible form, was broken because of Israel's sin and then resurrected and is associated with redemption. Thus the 10 commandments are symbolic of Jesus who is the creator and the "word of God" (John 1). And is our redeemer whose body was broken so that the body of Christ [the church] need not be broken. Moreover the written word came down from where God was on the mountain, the incarnation. But ends up in the Holy of Holies which is symbolic of heaven, where God resides.