This week we’ll continue to look at the Ten Commandments, but this time with a different focus. In order to fully understand the law as Moses would’ve seen it, we need to understand our verticals ↕ and our horizontals ↔. Verticals↕ have to do with humans, humanity, God, salvation, and the relationship between all of these things. In present day Christianity, the majority of what preachers and Bible teachers speak on is vertical ↕. Horizontals ↔, however, have to do with God’s overarching plan for humanity. For instance Creation in Genesis 1 would be an example of something horizontal. So too would be the Old Testament Law, as Israel was to be a kingdom of priests (Leviticus 19:6).
With this in mind, let’s take another look at the 10 Commandments in Deuteronomy 5. The first four commandments are most certainly vertical ↕. They have to do specifically with God’s relationship with His people. Having no other Gods, having no idols, not taking the Lord’s name in vain, and keeping the Sabbath are all examples of our relationship with God on a vertical ↕ scale. The next six commandments, however, deal primarily on the horizontal ↔ scale. They deal with man’s relationship with others and are, therefore, a representation of what God’s plan is to be through the execution of His Chosen People.
Next let’s look at the correlation between these laws. The first two laws come with a warning that God is jealous and He will bless those who love Him, but will curse those to the third and fourth generation due to iniquity (verses 9-10). First off this is a vertical ↕ commandment, but look at the penalty. Does keeping this law result in salvation? Not at all! Instead it results in God blessing His followers temporally. These are a vertical↕pair of laws with a horizontal ↔ blessing. Let’s look now at verse 16, and the commandment to honor parents. This too comes with a similar blessing. God will prolong the days of those who honor their parents. Why are these two blessings so similar? It’s because they have a direct correlation. By affirming parent’s authority, you are affirming (horizontally ↔) God’s authority (vertically ↕). God has established that parents are to have authority over their children and so by acknowledging that authority, you are inherently acknowledging God’s authority to delegate parental authority.
If you aren’t confused (which I pray you aren’t!) let’s continue on to the next commandment, do not take the Lord’s Name in vain. This is again, vertical ↕, but God warns those who do that they will not go unpunished (↔). The horizontal ↔pairing for this commandment is the list of commandments 6-9. They all start the same way “do not” and the idea is that by not murdering, stealing, committing adultery, or bearing false witness you are affirming God’s Holy Name. Remember when we studied prayer how Holy God’s name was and is. Only people who know God can take His name in vain, because only they know Him well enough to do so. By murdering or breaking those other commandments on a horizontal ↔ scale, you are defaming His name (↕) as His people.
Finally the Sabbath and coveting have the same ending pattern. These two should be the most obvious to correlate because they go on and on about who should rest on the Sabbath and who/what you aren’t to covet, down to servants, oxen and donkeys. The idea is God has control over all things, time and things and by working on His holy day, you are profaning Him. So too coveting something that isn’t yours suggests you want/need something God hasn’t provided for you and questions His capabilities/authority.
This was a dense subject, but hopefully you can get a grasp on verticals ↕ and horizontals ↔ as well as see the Ten Commandments in a new way you hadn’t before. The way God through Moses intended. God is omniscient and He placed these bits of grain for us to find, to be fed through His Spirit, that we might worship Him more fully.
