“And God spoke all these words, saying:” (Exodus 20:1 NKJV)

Before God wrote the ten commandments down onto two stone tablets, He actually spoke them aloud from Mount Sinai before all the Israelites. The Scripture actually refers to them as “words” (Hebrew: הַדְּבָרִ֥ים ha-Dabarim “the words”). The Jews therefore refer to them as the Ten Words or Ten Sayings (Hebrew: עֲשֶׂ֖רֶת הַדְּבָרִֽים Aseret ha-Dabarim). These ten words are beautifully organized into two tablets, the first tablet of words being about how we should love and relate to the Lord God and the second tablet of words are about how we should love and treat our fellow man. This is why Jesus could summarize all the commands with “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.” There are around 613 commandments given to the Israelites by God. Yet, all of them are found within the “ten words,” that appear like chapter headings in a table of contents in the beginning of a book. For instance, all the commandments concerning feasts and holidays, might be considered under the “Keep the Sabbath” heading. And all the laws concerning human sexuality might be implied under the “You shall not commit adultery” word. The wisdom and righteousness of God is revealed in these ten words. But the only way to satisfy them is to have them written on our hearts by believing in the Christ and receiving His righteousness in exchange for our sin.