The Bible contains several passages showing that the moral principles later expressed in the Ten Commandments were already recognized, practised or understood before God gave the commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai
(Exodus 20:1–17).
Some passages explicitly mention particular commandments,
while others demonstrate that people were already held accountable for conduct that the commandments would later prohibit.
It is important to distinguish between the existence of these moral principles before Moses and the formal giving of the Ten Commandments to Israel.
1. Biblical evidence before Moses
1. The prohibition against murder
Genesis 4:8–11 — Cain murdered his brother Abel. God confronted Cain and held him accountable for shedding innocent blood, long before the Ten Commandments were given.
Genesis 9:5–6 — God declared that whoever sheds human blood would be held accountable because human beings were made in His image. This was after the flood but centuries before Moses.
2. The prohibition against adultery
Genesis 20:3–9 — When Abimelech took Sarah, God warned him in a dream that he was as good as dead because she was another man's wife. Abimelech also acknowledged that God would not allow him to commit a great sin.
Genesis 39:7–9 — Joseph refused his master's wife's advances, asking, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" This demonstrates that adultery was already understood as sinful before Sinai.
3. The recognition of the Sabbath
Genesis 2:2–3 — God blessed and sanctified the seventh day after completing creation.
Exodus 16:22–30 — Before the Ten Commandments were formally given at Sinai, God instructed the Israelites to observe the Sabbath. He rebuked those who went out to gather manna on the seventh day.
These passages establish that the seventh day was already set apart before the formal giving of the commandments.
4. The prohibition against stealing
Genesis 31:19, 30–32 — Laban accused Jacob's household of stealing his household gods. Although the passage concerns an accusation rather than a direct divine command, it demonstrates that theft was already recognized as wrongful conduct.
Genesis 44:8–9 — Joseph's brothers acknowledged the seriousness of stealing when they defended themselves against the accusation of taking Joseph's silver cup.
5. The prohibition against idolatry
Genesis 35:2–4 — Jacob instructed his household to put away their foreign gods before going to Bethel. They surrendered their idols, which Jacob buried.
This demonstrates that the worship of other gods was already an issue addressed within the family of Jacob before the commandments were given at Sinai.
6. The recognition of God's commandments and laws before Moses
Genesis 26:4–5 — God spoke of Abraham's obedience, saying:
"Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
Particularly significant
This is one of the clearest passages supporting the idea that God's commandments, statutes and laws existed in some form before Moses. However, it does not specify that Abraham possessed the exact Ten Commandments as later written on the stone tablets.
7. Sin and moral accountability before the law of Moses
Genesis 4:7 — God warned Cain that sin was crouching at his door and that he needed to master it.
Romans 5:13–14 — Paul explains that sin was in the world before the law, and that death reigned from Adam to Moses.
Romans 2:14–15 — Paul explains that Gentiles who do not have the written law can nevertheless do things required by the law, with their consciences bearing witness.
These passages support the broader biblical principle that moral accountability did not begin with the giving of the Ten Commandments.
THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT EXISTED IN OLD TESTAMENT:
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
[4]Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
[5]Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Leviticus 19:18
[18]“ ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
NEARLY ALL ELEMENTS OF THE LORD'S PRAYER WERE KNOWN IN ISRAEL LONG BEFORE JESUS:
1 Chronicles 29:10-13
[10]David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,
“Praise be to you, Lord,
the God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
[11]Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
[12]Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
[13]Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
Psalm 51:1
[1]Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
GOD IS THE BUILDER OF EVERYTHING:
Hebrews 3:1-6
[1]Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.
[2]He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.
[3]Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
[4]For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
[5]“Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future.
[6]But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
SINCE LONGTIME, GOD DESIRES THAT WE DIFFERENTIATE HIS WILL FROM TRADITIONS OF MEN.
Isaiah 29:13
[13]The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Mark 7:8-9
[8]You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
[9]And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!
ELIJAH MUTUA KIRIMA
PASTOR
THE WORD OF GOD IS THE WILL OF GOD.
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