www.biblestudyworkshop.org 1 Answers to Questions on Exodus 20:1-26 1. The Ten Commandments consist of two sections governing relationships. They are the relationship of man to God and the man to man relationship. 2. How did God give the law to Moses? A. He wrote it. B. He spoke it. C. He sent an angel to deliver it. The correct answer is B. 3. Why did God prohibit the worship of idols? Explain your answer. This was necessary to prevent paganism from creeping into the Israelite culture. God is not one of many gods! He is the one true God! The Israelite worship was to be focused entirely on Yahweh. 4. God stated the punishment for worshiping idols. A. True B. False The correct answer is A.
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 2 5. Would it be acceptable for a believer in God to worship an idol in the image of an animal? Give reasons for your answer. No. The second commandment prohibits idol worship of any kind of image, man or animal. No image of an animal in, on or above the earth was to made or worshiped. The Israelites had been surrounded by idols of animals that the Egyptians worshiped. 6. Why did God command the Israelites to rest on the Sabbath? Explain. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. It was to be a time of rest and to worship the Lord. The Sabbath day set the Israelites apart from pagan nations who had no precedent for observing a day without work. Genesis 2:3, Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (NIV) Exodus 20:10-11, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (NIV)
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 3 7. God commanded us to honor our father and mother. Why do you think this is important? God wants our child-parent relationship to resemble the honor and respect we show Him. Obeying and honoring them parallels our relationship as children of God to our heavenly Father. Caring for elderly parents is a social responsibility of the family. 8. Why did God forbid murder? The sanctity of life is paramount to God. He made man in His own image and breathed the breath of life into him. The deliberate taking of a life is a flagrant violation of God s law. 9. Does the prohibition against murder apply to warfare? Give reasons for your answer. Warfare is not prohibited by the sixth commandment. This applies to individuals which is made clear in Exodus 21:12-15, Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. But if anyone
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 4 schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death. Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death. (NIV) God helped the Israelites defeat the army of Amalek at Rephidim. Exodus 17:8-16, The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands. So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up one on one side, one on the other so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. He said, Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation. (NIV) God would not have helped them if it violated His law.
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 5 10. Does God consider marriage a sacred covenant between a man and woman? Yes, marriage is a sacred covenant between a man and woman, sworn to before God and witnessed to be in force as long as they live. This relationship symbolizes faithfulness. 11. Was the penalty for fornication and adultery the same? Explain. No. Adultery was considered a more serious offense and was punishable by death. Fornication was a crime, but carried a less severe punishment. Deuteronomy 22:22-29, If a man is found sleeping with another man s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man s wife. You must purge the evil from among you. But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed, there was no one to rescue her. If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 6 and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels[a] of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. (NIV) 12. The law against stealing protected an individual property rights. 13. The Israelite legal system required the testimony of two or three witnesses to support the charges against an accused. 14. God requires truthfulness and integrity in all aspects of our lives, as stated in the ninth commandment. 15. Why did God warn us against coveting our neighbors possessions? Explain. Covetousness leads to action to acquire the object being desired, which leads to violating other commandments.
www.biblestudyworkshop.org 7 16. Have you had difficulty keeping certain commandments? If so, what are you going to do to correct yourself in these areas? Individual answers will vary. 17. Are these commandments relevant in our world today? Explain. Yes. God is timeless and immutable and so are His laws. They will always be relevant. They have been relevant for three thousand years and will be relevant until the earth dissolves. (Psalm 46:6b, he lifts his voice, the earth melts. (NIV)) Technology changes many of the aspects of the way we live today, but one thing that does not change is human nature. We sin against God just as Adam and Eve did. We kill our brother in a jealous rage just as Cain killed Abel. Yes, we still need the laws of God to direct us.