The Ten Commandments the Constitution of Old Testament Regulations.
THE following, concerning the position which the ten commandments hold in moral government, is from W. A. Jarrel's "Old Testament Ethics Vindicated:"— The ten commandments sustain the relation to the statutes and regulations of Israel that the constitution of a State or of the United States sustains to its statutes and regulations. In other words, the ten commandments were the moral constitution of Israel; the other laws and regulations were the statutes. The reader will, from this fact, readily see that none of the laws and regulations of Israel can conflict with the ten commandments; and that their interpretation and ethics must be according to the ethics of this constitution. Let the reader carefully, here, read and compare Ex. 20, 23. Then compare these with Ex. 34: 1. Dr. Rufus P. Stebbins says these were "a code of rules based upon the ten laws or commandments."—A Study of the Pentateuch, p. 29, note. And Dr. Stebbins quotes Davidson: "The Proverbs are ethical maxims, deducted from the Mosaic law and divine Providence."—Id., p. 128. Remember that neither Professor Stebbins nor Professor Davidson are members of the "evangelical" side. "On the basis of these, it may be conceived that the fabric of the Mosaic system gradually grew up under the requirements of the time."—Smith's Bible Dict., Vol. 2, p. 163. The following are a few points from "The Decalogue," by that master of Old Testament learning, Professor Fairbairn, D. D.: "1. The very manner in which these commandments were given is sufficient to vindicate for them a place peculiarly their own. For these alone of all the precepts were spoken immediately by the voice of God, while the rest were privately communicated to Moses, and by him delivered to the people. Nor was the mode of revelation merely peculiar, but it was attended also by demonstrations of divine majesty, such as were never witnessed on any other occasion. . . . 2. The same may also be inferred from the number ten, the symbol of completeness. It indicates that they formed by themselves an entire whole, made up of the necessary, and no more than the necessary, complement of parts. . . . 3. It perfectly accords with this view of the ten commandments, and is a further confirmation of it, that they were written by the finger of God on two tables of stone—written on both sides, so as to cover the entire surface, and not leave room for future additions, as if what was already given might admit of improvements; and written on durable tables of stone, while the rest of the law was written only on parchment or paper. . . . "Hengstenberg . . . justly remarks: . . . 'The stone points to the perpetuity which belongs to the law, as an expression of the divine will, originating in the divine nature.' It was an image of the truth uttered by our Lord: 'Verily, I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.' 4. Then these ten words, as they are called, had the peculiar honor conferred on them by being properly the terms of the covenant, formed at Sinai. Then Moses, when rehearsing what had taken place, says (Deut. 4:13): 'And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon tables of stone.' Again, in chapter 9: 9, 11, he calls those tables of stone, 'the tables of the covenant.' So also, in Ex. 34: 28, the words written upon tables, the ten commandments, are expressly called 'the words of the covenant.' To mark more distinctly the covenant nature of these words, it is to be observed that the Scripture never once uses the expression, 'the tables of the law,' but always simply 'the tables of the testimony,' or, conjoining the two, 'the tables of the testimony or tables of the covenant.' "It is true some other commands are coupled with the ten, when, in Ex. 34: 27, the Lord said to Moses, that after the tenor of (at the mouth of, according to) these words he had made a covenant with Israel. It is true, also, that at the formal ratification of the covenant (Ex. 24) we read of the book of the covenant, which comprehended not only the ten commandments, but also the precepts contained in chapters 21, 23; for it is clear that the book comprised all that the Lord had then said, either directly or by the instrumentality of Moses, and to which the people answered, 'We will do it.' But it is carefully to be observed that a marked distinction is still put between the ten commandments and the other precepts; for the former are called, emphatically, 'the words of the Lord,' while the additional words, given through Moses, are called 'the judgments.' Verse 3. They are, indeed, for the most part, peculiarly rights or judgments, having respect, for the most part, to what should be done from one man to another; and what, in the event of violations of the law being committed, ought to be enforced judicially, with a view of rectifying or checking the evil. . . . "5. What has been said in regard to the ten commandments, as alone properly constituting the terms of the covenant, is fully established; and the singular importance of these commandments further manifested, by the place afterwards assigned them in the tabernacle. The most sacred portion of this—that which formed the very heart of all the services connected with it—was the ark of the covenant. It was the peculiar symbol of the Lord's covenant presence and faithfulness, and immediately above it was the throne on which he sat as king in Jeshurun. But the ark was made on purpose to contain the tables of the law, and was called the 'ark of the covenant,' simply because it contained the 'tables of the covenant.' The book of the law was afterwards placed by Moses at the side of the ark. . . . But the tables on which the ten commandments were written alone kept possession of the ark, and were thus recognized as containing in themselves the sum and substance of what in righteousness was held to be strictly required by the covenant. "6. Finally, our Lord and his apostles always point to the revelation of law engraven upon these stones as holding a pre-eminent place, and, indeed, as comprising all that, in the strict and proper sense, was to be esteemed as law. . . . We should despair of proving anything respecting the Old Testament dispensation, if these considerations do not prove that the law of the ten commandments stood out from all other precepts enjoined under the ministration of Moses, and were intended to form a full and comprehensive exhibition of the righteousness of the law in its strict and proper sense."—The Typology of Scripture, by Fairbairn, Vol. 2, pp. 78-83.