The First Four

   There were ten commands given by God Jehovah voice at Mt. Sinai and the last six pertains to our relationship with other humans, directing us to perform righteousness toward all humans. The first four are for a righteous relationship with our Creator, Almighty God Jehovah. Let's look at each of these first four commands that have been provided for humanity in guiding our relationship with our Father, God, Jehovah, "And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect." (Genesis 17:1), this was stated bt God to make us aware of His interest in where we stand in our relationship with the living God, declaring to us that we should desire and direct our efforts, and can be perfect before Him. His word to Abram was not just for him but also for all humanity. All the verses presented here are taken from the J. P. Green Interlinear Bible containing the Old Testament Hebrew text and the Greek text for the New Testament.

    The first is, "I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall not have any other gods beside (before KJV) Me." (Exodus 20:1:2). Since I am using an Interlinear Bible, which provides the Hebrew text, we first see that God is using His personal name, "Jehovah", which is the most accepted English translation of the Tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters used for God's name). Any god other then Jehovah would NOT be the God of the Bible, who spoke and wrote all ten of the Ten Commandments onto stone with His own finger. Throughout God's word, given to us by the Son of God, Jesus (called the Word of God, in John 1:1, which indicates that He was the inspiring force to all the Bible writers), the name "Jehovah" always refers to Almighty God, our Father. Within the New Testament, there was introduced a "Godhead" because there is more then one being that is divine, the second is the Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, then named Michael, the Son of the Father, Jehovah; He is also divine and classified with His Father in the "Godhead" because He was brought forth from the Father, "When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no springs heavy with water." (Proverbs 8:24, also read 22 & 23 to understand who is speaking). This verse speaks of a time before earth's creation. All other beings are created beings, according to God's word. By Jehovah saying: "you shall not have any other gods beside Me" He is saying that there is only one God. It is also stated that there is only one Jehovah, "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah your God is one Jehovah." (Deuteronomy 6:4). This declares that Jehovah is the One, and the only sovereign Almighty God and the only One with the name "Jehovah". There are others who are called god, but Jehovah is of the highest authority, because He is the Creator of all that exists. Jehovah alone is the sole sovereign God, possessing all rule and authority, "I am Jehovah, that is My name; and I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to engraved images." (Isaiah 42:8), later, He gave some authority to His Son, "And coming up Jesus talked with them saying, All authority (power KJV) in Heaven and earth was given to Me." (Matthew 28:18). What was translated as "Heaven" is Strong's #3772 ouranos, the sly, heaven, happiness, power, eternity, air, sky. Strong''s does add in parentheses God abode, however Jehovah would not lower His Son to below the angels and give Jesus "all" authority. Logically God gave His Son authority over the "heavens and earth" because Jehovah maintains by His will all existence and Christ was sent to experience death. Jehovah is our God and there is no expressed god presented within God's word that is made up of three being, or a god with three aspects, nor is there two or any other number, only one, according to all of God's word, "And let them know, Your name is Jehovah, that You alone are the Most High over all the earth." (Psalm 83:18). If we trust God's word to be pure, then we must trust all of God's words, according to the original writings that make up the Bible. However, the various translations and versions which claim to make His word easier to understand, are somewhat less then perfect, we must use caution and consider only what is consistent throughout all of God's perfect word.

    The second is, "You shall not make a graven image for yourself, of any likeness which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow to them, and you shall not serve them; for I am Jehovah your God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of fathers on children, on the third and fourth generation, to those that hate Me; and doing kindness to thousands, to those loving Me, and to those keeping My commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6). The Hebrew word used for "graven image" Strong's #6459 is pecel, an idol: - carved (graven image.) "graven image" is just one example of an idol, but the word pertains to anything that a soul chooses to worship, outside of the two listed in the Godhead, God and His only-begotten Son, now named Jesus, His Christ. The idol that is mentioned in this translation is physical made by men, by the imagination of men to represent a god other then Jehovah God, for the purpose of worshiping. We need to consider that anything from the imaginations of man that receives worship should be included in this second command, because they all have the same effect, stealing from God's, His deserved worship, being our Creator and the sustainer of all life. In this second commandment of God, He declares His personal sovereignty "My Commandments" in this last part of this Commandment. God invites and instructs us to keep all His Commandments, if we love God, Jehovah.

    The third is, "You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain; for Jehovah will not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7). The addition of God's personal name, "Jehovah" being used in God's third command, puts this command in a different light from the common Bibles most Christians read. Very few Christians ever use His personal name because they neither hear it mentioned in sermons or read it in the books written about God, and only a few times "Jehovah" is presented in the common Bibles of today. In the original Hebrew text, the name "Jehovah" was rendered by His Son, (being the "Word of God" John 1:1), 6747 times, and in the KJV Bible, the name "Jehovah" was replaced with "Lord", "LORD" or "God" 6743 times, which can easily be confirmed by looking up "Lord" and "God" in the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and counting every #3068 & 3069 used, then look in the Strong's dictionary section for #3068 and #3069. Yehovah, (the) self-Existencet or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God: - Jehovah, the Lord. I can not comment with any support on the New Testament, since there are no current copies of the original text that are available to the public, in order to declare if the original text (whatever language that was) contained God's personal name, Jehovah, (or a translation of His name), but I believe that it was written, since Christ read from the Old Testament scrolls in the temple, which contained "Jehovah" and if they were not as He inspired these words, He would have spoken it correctly and/or mentioned this error to correct the error, plus Christ spoke three verses to Satan, all contained "Jehovah", and surely He spoke them as He inspired the Bible writers. I know of no Greek translation for God's name, therefore, The Third Commandment has been abundantly transgressed by the removing of His personal name from the translated Bibles, not only from the third commandment but by the other 6743 times presented in the Old Testament and the questionable number in the New Testament, changing it to a title that is also used for men, by men, plus "Lord" is also used for His Son, the Christ. With all these unauthorized changes, omitting God's personal name, could there be a more "vain" disregard toward our God, transgressing His Third Commandment, by discarding "Jehovah" from man's eyes daily?

   The fourth commandment says, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy; six days you shall labor and do all your work; and the seventh day is the sabbath to Jehovah your God; you shall do no work, you and your son, and your daughter, your male slave and your slave-girl, and your live stock, and your stranger who is in your gates. For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all which are in them, and He rested on the seventh day; on account of this Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and sanctified it." (Exodus 20:8-11). This command shouldn't even need mentioning, because it is most clearly stated and obvious that this command is being transgressed by the largest majority of the Christian community. As it is stated, there is no reference to worshipping on the seventh day, however, all the Sunday worshipping church do not keep the seventh day Sabbath as it is presented in the Fourth Commandment. There can be no good reason why any of these first four commandments of Jehovah God should be transgressing toward our relationship with our personal loving God. We are invited to worship Jehovah any or every day, but working and causing others under our authority to work on the seventh day is surely a transgression of the Fourth Commandment.    

   The commands of God were known in the beginning, or Cain would not have been cursed by God for taking Abel's life, "Everyone practicing sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." (I John 3:4), God voiced them and set them in stone to the Israelites, for them to share with the world, "And you shall become a kingdom of priest for Me, a holy nation..." (Exodus 19:6), and they shall remain in force till the end of time, "Blessed are the ones doing His commands that their authority will be over the Tree of Life, and they may enter into the city by the gates." (Revelation 22:14). Are the first four of God Ten Commandments less important then the remaining six? Is it acceptable to ignore the commands pertaining to God, who holds in His hand our existence and future; are any of His command insignificant? "For whoever shall keep all the law but stubble in one, he has become guilty of all." (James 2:10). Maybe if we could see God in person there would be more respect for His commands, but in the New Testament, God's sent His representative, the Christ, who was given little respect and later killed, even though His arrival was abundantly foretold by the Hebrew prophets, and Jesus arrived on time. Are we acting any better toward God and His instructions then the early Israelites, remembering they heard Jehovah's voice and saw many extreme miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness, but they still ignored and transgress His commands, and the Jews, during Christ first advent also lost their way? The last six commands are commands to love the people we share earth with, but the first four are for our love, honor and respect for our Creator and Judge, Jehovah. He is just, long suffering and forgiving, as He was with the Israelites in the Old Testament. God's mercies and His just judgments were an example for the Israelites and for all future generations, this certainly including our generation. Can we possibly learn from the history given to us in God's word? His mercy is given to those who have asked for His forgiveness and repented of their transgressions, "And answering Jesus said to them, Do you think that the Galileans were sinners beyond all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? No, I say to you, but if you do not repent you will all perish in the same way." (Luke 13:2,3). Christ said His burden is light, "For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:30), that is, if we call on Jehovah to help us by sending His Son spirit, we can be perfect as Jehovah asked Abram to be, but we need to study and understand why His commands and law are for our good fortune and for our coexistence with man and all the heavenly host. Read all of His perfect word and prepare ones self for Jehovah's eternal kingdom, hopefully your future home.