Exodus 20 is the place in the Bible where we find the “Ten Commandments.” When we read that chapter, we might find it hard to understand the context. Many of us have known about the Ten Commandments all our lives. We might have read Genesis, as well as other parts of the Bible. But have we ever thought about the context of Exodus 20 or about the people who received the covenant that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai?

The Israelites were descended from Abraham, who had received God’s promise that God would make his descendants a great nation. But the Israelites had been living in Egypt for 400 years, immersed in Egyptian culture. The documents that make up Genesis were available (so Moses could incorporate them into the books he put together for Israel), but it is likely that few Israelites had read them. Even if they had read the documents in Genesis, we should think carefully about how much God had revealed in those stories. They reveal that God had created the world, that human beings are sinful, that God intervenes in human life to rescue and redeem people, and that God had chosen the Israelites as the channel for His revelation and His blessing—but the details were still pretty vague. The Israelites had also learned some of the same lessons through Moses—that God’s name is Yahweh (I Am), that God is very powerful (more powerful than the Egyptian gods), that God had chosen the Israelites to be His people, and that God redeems and saves people (through their deliverance from slavery and through the symbolism of the Passover). But still those lessons did not have all the detail that we have, and it is not clear how thoroughly the Israelites had understood and learned those lessons.

It is more accurate to understand the Israelites at Mount Sinai as essentially pagan people. That is why they could so quickly revert to idolatry and debauchery, worshiping the golden calf. To these people, the Ten Commandments, God’s covenant, would have come as a novel revelation. It is important to understand that what we call “the Ten Commandments” the Bible calls the ten “words” (Exodus 20:1, 24:3, 34:1,28). The Hebrew word is dabar (word), not mitsvah (commandment). Exodus also uses the word beriyth (covenant) to describe what God was offering them (Exodus 19:5, 24:7, 34:10,29). Therefore, we should see this covenant not as rules people must follow but as a revelation of who God is (and by extension who He is calling people to be like). He is the Creator (Exodus 20:11). He is Spirit, not part of the physical creation (Exodus 20:4-5). He is holy (Exodus 20:7). He keeps His promises (Exodus 20:6,14). He prefers life over death (Exodus 20:13). He is truthful (Exodus 20:16). He is just (Exodus 20:12-17) and merciful (Exodus 20:2,6). He can see into human hearts (Exodus 20:17).

How different this is from what the Israelites were used to in Egypt! Egyptian religion taught that there were multiple gods and that these gods were limited in power, part of the natural order, and shaped like birds and animals. Further, these gods were cruel, devious, and unreliable, and they condoned theft, murder, and slavery. We should not underestimate how dramatically different was the revelation of the true God that Moses received on Mount Sinai.