When the Israelites entered the promised land, there was a danger of them becoming complacent toward God, or adopting Canaanite practices. So before they enter, Joshua gives them a charge to follow God wholeheartedly, and nothing else.

This command prescribes that we recognise the worldly push to be discontent. We are to cultivate contentment, otherwise we are vulnerable to coveteousness. We are to distinguish between contentment and complacency, always desiring more spiritual progress. We are to make a conscious effort to kill coveting in its tracks, and fix our desires on wholesome things. And last, we are to always call to mind where our true treasure lies!

The implied prescription of this command includes the telling of the truth. We are to let our yes be yes, and our no be no (Matt. 5:37). We are to tell the facts. We are to focus on the positives - and we have a choice in this matter. We are to give others the same grace we would like to receive, remembering that we are all made in God's image.

The scope of this commandment: it means that God has given the right for man to own property. This command then carries with it the responsibility to respect what God has given others. The right to property is not to be withstood in any way by another.

This commandment prohibits adultery, but the word used is comprehensive for all sexual sin and lustful thought. It is evil because it breaks God's design for marriage as "one flesh." God has intended for a man and woman to have oneness between themselves, and unity in the home. But adultery produces heartbreak for all partners and children involved.

From the first chapter of the Bible, we learn that God has created us in His likeness. For this reason, and because God has stamped eternity on man's heart, murder is such an abuse of the life God has given us. Though sin has marred our image, we are still valuable to Him.

Respect is demanded and deserved. While our culture predominantly disparages authority figures, God has placed them for our good, and commands us to obey. Although being God, Jesus submitted Himself to his parents while he was a child, and held them in honour even until His death. As believers, we are commanded to do no less, and always esteem our parents. Because God has ordained them, to reject them is to reject God.

How are we to understand the principles of this commandment? Firstly, it implies that most of the week, we should be involved in work. We are created to work, although pain and tedium have entered into it since the Fall. Like God who created the heavens and earth in six days, we are also to labour for the good of others.

To take God's name in vain is to invoke it in wrongly. It is to have a life that does not match our confession; it is to use God's name lightly, or in jest; it is slandering those made in God's own image. As Christians, we are called to uphold, and not tear down the name of the God who saved us.

The second commandment extends the first by describing how God is to be worshipped. Not only are we to worship Him alone, but we must worship Him as he is, not as we want Him to be.

The first commandment is "you shall have no other gods before Me." We are called to love and worship the one true God with lives that are completely loyal and undivided towards Him alone. This commandment is not just for Jews, but for all men. Jesus preached this in the New Testament (Mk. 10:19, Matt. 19:18 - 19), because regardless of nationality, we all tend to neglect God.

The Ten Commandments are much misunderstood today, and for that reason, Exodus 19 is vital to give us context and a proper understanding.