The Preface To The Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:1–2 -- By: Thomas G. Reid, Jr.

Journal: Reformed Presbyterian Theological Journal
Volume: RPTJ 01:2 (Spring 2015)
Article: The Preface To The Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:1–2
Author: Thomas G. Reid, Jr.


The Preface To The Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:1–2

Thomas G. Reid Jr.

Librarian and Registrar
Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary

The door to your home is the most important part of it, for it is the means by which you, your family, and your friends enter and leave it. Yet, that door can become so familiar that you fail to appreciate its design, construction, utility, and beauty.

The door to the Ten Commandments is its introduction, or preface, found in Exodus 20:1–2, and, minus verse 1, in Deuteronomy 5:6. Like the door to your home, this Preface can be easy to ignore, despite its importance. Yet, to push the metaphor of the door a little further, the preface serves as the door into the house with the ten rooms of God’s moral law.

The Contexts To The Preface

The first things to note about the Preface to the Ten Commandments are the contexts to the preface, of which four are most significant.

The first context is the redemptive context. Since creation, God had impressed his will upon all of humanity through the law written on their hearts (Rom. 2:15). In that light, it is incorrect to say, as some do, that the giving of the Law occurred at Mount Sinai. Indeed, Moses records, in Genesis and Exodus 1–19, examples of the Law of God at work among humanity.1 One may even argue that Genesis provides predominantly examples of the violation of the last six commandments, while Exodus concentrates on the first four. Moreover, since the Garden of Eden, God had, through direct but occasional revelations of His will, communicated more about that will to select individuals, such as Noah and Abraham. The latter practice God supplemented by the written record of His will, to which itself His incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, added his personal testimony. But why, at the time of the Exodus, had a written law become necessary? Because the organic development of sin among mankind increasingly obscured the law of God as written on the heart and rendered mankind more vulnerable to iniquity.

The second context to the Preface to the Ten Commandments that should be noted is the historical context. Israel had left behind four hundred years of suffering in Egypt, had wandered for several months in the wilderness, and had arrived before Mount Sinai, where they had set up camp (Exodus 19:1–2). Exodus 19, then, serves as the immed...

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