“Lesson 11: Exodus 20,” Old Testament Instructor’s Guide, Religion 301–2 (1994), 21–22
“Exodus 20,” Old Testament Instructor’s Guide, 21–22
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Exodus 20
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Scripture Content Outline |
Supplementary Study Sources |
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Deuteronomy 4:10–13, 33; 5:2–4, 22–26. What great experience did the people of Israel have at Mount Sinai? John 12:27–30. Why were there differences in the reactions of those who heard the voice of God? D&C 110:3; 3 Nephi 11:3. How have prophets described the voice of God? |
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Religion 301 student manual, 11-1 through 11-17. Matthew 22:37–40. How do the Ten Commandments help us fulfill the two great commandments? (see also Leviticus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 6:4–5). DS, 1:96. Was Moses the first to receive the Ten Commandments? MF, pp. 98–99. Inherent in the “thou shalt nots” of the Ten Commandments are the “thou shalts.” Spencer W. Kimball, in CR, Oct. 1978, pp. 6–7. Living the Ten Commandments is just the beginning of our progress toward perfection. Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, p. 267. When were the Ten Commandments first made known to the Lord’s children? Ezra Taft Benson, “America at the Crossroads,” New Era, July 1978, pp. 36–39. This article comments on each of the Ten Commandments. |
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Some Suggestions for Presentation
You are not expected to teach everything in the scripture content outline. Select those concepts that you feel will be the most helpful to your students.
Obedience to the Ten Commandments (Section B)
The Ten Commandments, if righteously followed, are the foundation of a happy life. They should serve as a guide in doing many good things of our own free will (see D&C 58:26–29), not just as a list of things to be avoided. Use the following quotations to begin a discussion of the Ten Commandments:
“The true believers are helped in keeping the basic commandments by gladly performing their specific duties in the kingdom. These duties, brothers and sisters, are usually measurable and straightforward. They include: partaking of the sacrament, receiving the gospel ordinances, attending meetings and the temple, praying, fasting, studying the scriptures, rendering Christian service, attending to all family duties, being involved in missionary work and reactivation, doing genealogical work, paying tithes and offerings, and being temporally prepared. The true believer willingly does these things because he sees their clear connection to keeping the commandments. …
“These duties are practical and specific expressions of keeping the first two great commandments—the love of God and the love of neighbor. Clearly, we cannot become true believers in Christ merely by keeping the sixth commandment—Thou shalt not kill.’
“Discipleship, therefore, means being drawn by seemingly small and routine duties toward the fulfillment of the two great and most challenging commandments.
“Of the Ten Commandments, as originally given, eight were stated as ’thou shalt nots’ and two required affirmations. (See Ex. 20, Deut. 5, but also Lev. 19:18.) Jesus’ later statement cast the two great commandments as grand affirmatives (see Matt. 22:34–40). Brothers and sisters, our duties involve implementing ways of keeping the two great commandments because they require us to ’do’ rather than to merely ’abstain.’ Abstentions do not necessarily move us on to affirmative actions, and our duties constitute the ’thou shalts’ in the gospel of Jesus Christ.” (Neal A. Maxwell, “True Believers in Christ,” Speeches of the Year, 1980, pp. 135–36.)
“But living by the letter of the Ten Commandments is only the beginning of perfection. Jesus taught the sanctity of the Ten Commandments, but emphasized repeatedly that there was more.
“It is not enough to acknowledge the Lord as supreme and refrain from worshiping idols; we should love the Lord with all our heart, might, mind, and strength, realizing the great joy he has in the righteousness of his children.
“It is not enough to refrain from profanity or blasphemy. We need to make important in our lives the name of the Lord. While we do not use the Lord’s name lightly, we should not leave our friends or our neighbors or our children in any doubt as to where we stand. Let there be no doubt about our being followers of Jesus Christ.
“It is not enough to refrain from moviegoing, hunting, fishing, sports, and unnecessary labor on the Sabbath. Constructive use of the Sabbath day includes studying the scriptures, attending church meetings to learn and to worship, writing letters to absent loved ones, comforting the sorrowing, visiting the sick, and, in general, doing what the Lord would have us do on this, his holy day.
“If we truly honor our parents as we are commanded to do, we will seek to emulate their best characteristics and to fulfill their highest aspirations for us. Nothing we could give them materially would be more prized than our righteous living.
“It is not enough to refrain from killing. We are rather under solemn obligation to respect life and to foster it. Far from taking a life, we must be generous in helping others to enjoy the necessities of life. And when this has been accomplished, we seek to improve the mind and the spirit.” (Spencer W. Kimball, in Conference Report, Oct. 1978, pp. 6–7.)
The Ten Commandments Are Part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Section B)
Some people have the mistaken idea that the Ten Commandments are old-fashioned or out-of-date because they believe that the Ten Commandments are not a part of the gospel of Christ, only part of the law of Moses. Such an idea is erroneous. The Ten Commandments are as much a part of the gospel today as they were a part of the law of Moses anciently (see D&C 42:18–28; 59:5–13). President Joseph Fielding Smith said of the Ten Commandments, “They have not been abrogated; they have not been modified and are binding upon the people with all the force which accompanied them when first uttered” (Seek Ye Earnestly, p. 159).
The Two Great Commandments (Section B)
Elder Howard W. Hunter said that the two great commandments reduce “the ten laws, the ’thou shalt nots,’ as they are often called, to two simple admonitions containing the element of love—love the Lord and love thy neighbor” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1965, p. 58; see also Matthew 22:36–40).
Divide the chalkboard into two sections. List each of the Ten Commandments under one of the two great commandments: love of God and love of neighbor.
Written on Tablets of Stone or in Our Hearts? (Section B)
Discuss Exodus 32:15–16 and Mosiah 13:11. Exodus 32 states that the commandments were written on the tablets of stone. In Mosiah 13 Abinadi challenged the wicked priests of King Noah by saying that the Ten Commandments were not written in their hearts. What did he mean? How might these commandments be written in our hearts? President Hugh B. Brown offered one suggestion that might help us write them in our hearts:
“Get a large cardboard and print on it by hand in letters large enough to be seen across the room the twentieth chapter of Exodus, the third through the seventeenth verses. Will you put that on the wall where you and other members of the family will see it every day. Read it, assimilate its meaning, profit by its instruction.
“Let each one of us read that every day and then pray to the Lord before going to school or to work and say to him, ’For today I am going to keep the Ten Commandments.’” (In Conference Report, Oct. 1964, pp. 99–100.)