There is much disagreement about “The Ten Commandments;” whether Christians should or must obey them. I always felt the need to obey and thought that strict obedience was necessary to please God. Remembering that “Laws” remain the Will of God, is it necessary for His heirs to do His Will or merely to have goodwill (agape love) toward Him?
Doing His Will is hard work, as any Christian knows. Having goodwill toward God is very ergonomic, not having to do anything (Greek; katergomai)! So, The Ten Commandments are the same Words of God but mean different things to different people. In this commentary, it is my hope, I will address those perceptions.
Throughout out the Bible, God manifests Himself in different forms and even different substances. The Tree of Life was in the form of a genetic tree of which the Israelites were the “vine,” according to Pseudo-Philo. [1]
On some occasions, God manifested Himself as Abel, Melchizedek, the man in the fiery furnace, and so on. On other occasions as a burning bush, a cloud, and a fire. Whenever God manifests Himself, according to John 1, that Divine Substance is Jesus; that which He is called when in human flesh.
In my previous commentaries and books, I proposed that Abel was of God and Eve in a similar manner as Cain was of Eve and the Wicked One (1 John 3:12).
The LORD GOD scolded Cain, “The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground” (Gen 4:10). “Ground” therein is adama in the Hebrew. Adam was said to have been formed on the Foundation Stone now beneath the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, and Adam is said to be buried there as well. Hence, Abel is the “Second Adam” in much the same manner as Jesus is the “last Adam” (1 Cor 15:45). I contend that Abel was either symbolic of Jesus Christ or he was the Messiah whose blood was propitiated to mark Cain, as was the case (Gen 4:15).
Now to the Ten Commandments, but first consider the Greek word for “finger” daktylos which is also used for the plural, “fingers.” Daktylos comes from the root word, deka, meaning ten (BLB 2021). Of course, ten fingers are the digits of both hands. What comes to mind with that? The hands of Jesus were laid one upon the other, according to Philo and nailed to the wood of the “tree” with one nail.
God came to Moses and wrote the Ten Commandments — His Statutes — on two tablets of stone, “written with the finger of God” (Exod 31:18). A finger is material. God manifested Himself to Moses, did not show His Face, but did his Person, including His ten digits.
Now consider the Hebrew for “finger” — ‘esba. It is an appendage, either a finger or a toe (ibid). Using the same argument as the Greek, perhaps fingers or toes, or perhaps both, remembering that Jesus had one nail driven in each His hands and feet — ten fingers and ten toes.
Perhaps you can see where this is headed; that the “ink” for the Ten Commandments was the blood of Jesus, and the substitution was Abel’s blood crying out from the stone.
Some theologians believe that Mount Sinai was in the mountains of Moriah and hence, the stones of the Ten Commandments were cut from the Foundation Stone whereunder Abel was buried. In other words, The Ten Commandments were possibly written in the blood of Abel, imperfect because Eve was the “adulteress” (ibid).
The root word for ‘esba is seba, meaning something dyed. It seems that the finger of God did not engrave the stones with anything other than His miraculous blood which was the dye used for that purpose which faded when Moses came back the first time (Pseudo-Philo 12:5). The same source indicates that God wrote the first Words with His own finger, but Moses rewrote them on the second set of tablets (P-S 12:10) to which some biblical manuscripts agree from Exodus 34:7.
So, there were God’s Laws written by His own hands in Blood, and a second set by Moses who probably chiseled them to never fade because they were for perpetuity.
Jesus was accused of doing away with the Law. Note that there were two sets of Laws with the same Words written by two different people; the first would be the Law of God and the latter the Law of Moses, or Mosaic Law.
So, what is the difference? How one looks at the same Laws! Referring to “The Ten Commandments” God said, “I will give a light to the world and illumine their dwelling places and establish my covenant with the sons of men and glorify my people above all nations,” and get this: “For them I will bring out the eternal statutes that are for those in the light but for the ungodly a punishment.” (Pseudo-Philo 11)
As I have written many times, those Commandments are “commands” for the ungodly but a “light” to shine the way for the godly. It depends on how a person looks at them: a bitter herb to control or a prescription for eternal life.
The ungodly created the golden calf, so for them the second set of tablets were Moses Laws for them that they must obey. The first set of tablets would have been for the few that were willing to accept them, not as commands, but the written “Will of God” in His own Blood; them they would willingly do.
Now for some esoteric implications: Abel’s blood crying out from the stone may have been the blood that God used to write The Ten Commandments. It was still “Jesus” so to speak but in different flesh, so the blood on the tablets was not quite glorious enough.
Paul explained the difference to the Hebrews between the blood of Abel and Jesus when he said to them, “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Heb 12:24). The New Covenant was Jesus and that Covenant hung on the Law and the prophets (Mat 22:40). The Old Covenant seems to hang on the blood of righteous Abel who had died for the sins of Cain. Therefore, the blood of Abel was the writing of “The Last Will and Testament of God” on the “paper” of that day.
Abel was not the Christ but a “proxy” for executing the Will of God in the interim before the death of Christ.
However, the crucifixion was the execution of The Ten Commandments and Jesus (Goodwill) was the “Executor” in that He died willingly. Abel seems to have wrote and witnessed the Will of God — things to do willingly — by his blood crying out with those “sayings” (Exod 20:1) but they were soon miraculously erased because of those who were willing to sin down below the unseen Face of God. Then Moses rewrote them, but although they ignored God, they followed Moses! Hence, they saw the Law only as Mosaic Law because they only saw it chiseled, not in Blood from Abel crying out as if he was the Son of God himself.
The writing by the finger of God may have been by the blood of righteous Abel but the finger pointed toward Jesus when God would someday come in the Flesh. The Name that must not be taken in vain (Exod 20:7) was not Abel but “Jesus” and that Name, not Abel, was for God (Jesus), “shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments” (Exod 20:6); not mercy for all but those who love Him enough to willingly keep His Commandments. Jesus, as you remember, said that the Greatest Commandment hung on them, and it hung on the “Vine” that was love — Jesus on His “Tree!”
So, if the blood of Abel was used to witness God’s Will, then when He died, someone must execute it as if in a court of Law. The trials of Jesus were the Courts. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and the rightful heir to His Estate. His death proved to Pilate (Caesar’s legal representative) that Jesus was who He said He was (Luke 23:4). Jesus was legal heir and as heir, He had a right to share the Estate with His brothers, and all who are in Christ, are His “brothers” by adoption from God as they shall be “engendered from above” (born again, John 3:7).
The blood of Abel, if it was used to witness the will, would not do to execute it. The “Executor” had to be executed to do that! Jesus shed his blood from his fingers and toes to do just that. When He died, He gave up the Holy Ghost, proving that God was in Him, and those nearby may have seen what was written on His thigh, “King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords” (Rev 19:6).
The Fingers of God right then and there executed the Will of God. What was His Will all along? Was it to do those things on the tablets (The Law of Moses) or to please God with their willingness to do the Will of God that Abel signed? You know, the tablets that were blank and the blood Covenant, considered the Law, erased.
Now how about the sayings of
Jesus when He was on Earth?
16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, ‘Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.’” (Mat 5:16-18)
If the tablets witnessed by the blood of Abel were erased, then the Law of God was not in force even though the Law of Moses must be obeyed. The Law is coercive to the ungodly but a “light” for the godly. (Remember that the Light shined only on the first set of tablets.) When Moses brought down the original tablets both them and he were radiant in light. The first set of tablets were the true “Will of God” to be trusted and legal because Light is Truth. They were appropriately written and signed. Moses’s tablets said the same thing, but they were not binding in the eyes of God, but only to the ungodly.
Jesus Himself explained why He came: “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” How did He fulfill the Law? He signed the Stone Tablets — the ones that were broken, perhaps right there, and rewrote them in His own Blood from His own fingers and toes to validate the Will of God for perpetuity.
His signature death regenerated the
broken tablets, and His Words were written in the hearts of those in whom His
seed was planted for re-engendering at the rapture. Paul said it better than
me:
14 “For when the Gentiles, which have not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, these, having not the Law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness…” (Rom 2:14-15)
The Law that Jesus executed was not written on the second tablets but the first ones that were broken. Stone would not be necessary when softened “stone-hard” hearts were available. Jesus died to free mankind from the curse of the Law because those in whom God planted His Seed are more like Jesus. Their Covenant is in the same words, but the ones written and signed in the Blood of the Messiah!
[1] Pseudo-Philo is not biblical canon but does provide, at least, very good commentary and background for canon. It certainly can be considered, but in all cases must adhere to and be tested by scripture. Where there are any differences to canon, the standard Bible must be pre-eminent.
(picture credit: Hardcore Mesorah; "Broken Commandments")
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