What Makes the 10 Commandments Special?

BibleProject

BibleProject Podcast

Jesus, Theology, Old Testament, Demons, Satan, New Testament, Angels, Tim Mackie, Christianity, God, Spiritual Beings, Spirit, Religion & Spirituality, Bible, Jon Collins, Torah, Bible Study

4.8 • 20.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The 10 Commandments E1 — What comes to mind when you hear “Thou shalt not”? Probably the 10 Commandments! Even if you know very little about the Bible, you’re probably familiar with “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not steal,” “Honor your father and mother,” and many others. They’re all over movies, literature, and even carved into public buildings. In the Exodus scroll, these are the core commands God gives to Israel on tablets of stone at the foot of Mount Sinai. And there’s a lot that sets them apart from the hundreds of other laws God gives to Israel. In this episode, Jon and Tim kick off a new series on the 10 Commandments, exploring what makes them special and how they are quoted throughout the rest of the Bible.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thou shalt not. What do you think of when you hear those words? Well, probably the Ten Commandments.
0:12.5	Even if you know very little about the Bible, you've likely heard thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, honor your mother and father.
0:20.3	The Ten Commandments are everywhere
0:21.7	They're in our movies
0:22.6	Our literature
0:23.3	They're even engraved on public monuments
0:25.8	The Ten Commandments are central to our life now
0:28.6	But more importantly
0:29.8	They were central to the story of ancient Israel
0:32.3	But surprisingly in the Bible
0:34.2	They're not introduced as the Ten Commandments
0:36.6	Instead they're called A Serre Ten Commandments. Instead, they're called.
0:38.7	A Cere it, a Devrine, which means the Ten Words.
0:42.2	So this new podcast series is on The Ten Words.
0:46.2	So they're not Ten Divine Commands dropped out of heaven for all people of all time.
0:50.5	They were spoken at a moment in time and place in history in the context of a relationship.
0:56.0	After God gives the ten words, he gives hundreds of laws to ancient Israel, 613, to be exact.
1:03.9	And these laws are about all sorts of things, from what animals to eat, to how do we treat widows and orphans.
1:10.3	But the ten words come first, and they're
1:13.9	treated as foundational. These ten are also the only ones that are said to be written on the two
1:20.8	tablets, etched on stone by the finger of God. The story's inviting us to see these ten as a uniquely pure expression of the will
1:31.5	of God for his people. The ten words are so central to Israel's identity that they become this
	...

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