HEBREW WORD STUDY –Ten Sayings – Aseret Ha’Dibrot   Ayin whin Resh Taw   Hei Daleth Berth Resh Vav Taw

Exodus 31:18: “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”

“When He had made an end…” in Hebrew is kechaloto which comes from the same root word as kalah which is the word for a bride.  It could be read as: “And he gave unto Moses when he made an end of communing with him…” or the letter Kap could be read as the preposition like or as and the final Vav as the pronoun his.  You would then read this as “He gave unto Moses as His bride.” The intent, of course, is to say “when He made an end of communing” but there could also be this word play to suggest a deeper understanding that God is referring to Moses as His bride.

Then by saying that he gave Moses the two tablets or the ten commandments you would imply that the ten commandments were a ketubah.  A ketubah is a Jewish marriage contract. A marriage contract consisting of ten commandments? Can you imagine on a bride’s wedding night she is confronted with ten commandments by her new husband?  Well, yes.  The word ten commandments in Hebrew is aseret hadibrot which really means ten sayings.  The word commandment is very misleading as that has a negative connotation. 

I saw a sign on a church lawn that said: “God gave ten commandments not ten suggestions.”  Well, actually, ten suggestions would be more accurate.  This is a bridegroom talking to his bride and he is telling her the secrets of his heart just as a bride shares the secrets of her heart with her bridegroom. Hadibrot comes from the same root as dabar which are words coming from one’s heart. Literally aseret hadibrot can read as “ten words from the heart.”

On one’s wedding night, as the couple join together in an intimacy they begin to share their hearts with each other.  In a sense they will lay down the law.  The bride might tell her husband, “I don’t want you having any other woman before me. I don’t want you seeking comfort or advice from another woman, I do not want you to bring gifts to another woman.  I want to have one day that will be special (holy) between us where we will be together and share our hearts together to take a break from the prior six days that we are working. I want you to honor and respect my father and mother, I don’t want you to lie, I don’t want you to ever make fun of my name etc. If you don’t do these things it will break my heart.”  These requests are reasonable requests, not commands. They are the bride telling her new husband the secrets of her heart, the things that will win her heart or break her heart if they are not followed.  If her husband obeys these suggestions they will always remain intimate and special to each other. 

This doesn’t have to be a command; the new bride or bridegroom will want to know these things so they can please the one they love and bring joy to that person and most important not break the heart of their beloved. In fact if they truly love that person they would rather die than break the heart of the one they love. When Moses received the ten commandments that he delivered to Israel it was a contract of marriage.  Marriage meant entering a new life.

The term born again is a common term in Judaism.  For when a man and woman are married they are considered born again. This is why Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again and Nicodemus said he did not understand, was someone to enter his mother’s womb and be born?  Jesus asked Him: “Are you not a master of Israel and knowest not these things?” John 3:10. Marriage is a picture of our relationship with God.

When we enter into a marriage relationship we enter a new life. No longer does the world revolve around oneself. No longer does one concern themselves with their own desires, hopes, dreams, they now share them with another person.  No longer does the man go to work to earn money for himself.  He is going to earn it to take care of another person.  His world now centers around another person and soon a family rather than himself.

As Jimmy Durante once said when he asked his friend Umbiago who he was working for and his friend replied: “Same people, my wife and kids.”  This is the same with one who becomes a Christian.  No longer are they working for their own pleasure, their own desires, their own future.  They have a someone that comes before their own desires, dreams and hopes.  They have someone who is first in their lives and for the believer that is God. 

And here is the thing about it all, he is glad to do it, no, if this is love relationship, he wants to do it, he wants to deny himself for the one he loves, he wants to sacrifice himself for the ones he loves, he is even willing to lay down his life for the ones he loves.  He does not have to be commanded to do these things, he wants to do them if that is what it takes to bring joy to the one he love and protect his lover’s heart.

When God gave Moses the ten commandments it was marriage contract built on love. It wasn’t warning of do this or else, it was  plea from God to protect His heart. For in giving His love to His people He was making Himself vulnerable to the.  It was God revealing the secrets of His heart to Moses who would share with the children of Israel the things which would bring joy to the God they love and what would break the heart of the God they love if they do not follow these “ten sayings from the heart.”

Hi there! Thank you for reading this Daily Word Study. Can I ask a favor? Share this Daily Word Study with your friends on Facebook and Twitter by clicking one of the icons below.

Thanks & Blessings, it means a lot to me!