Lesson 50 Exodus 20, Part 2

Exodus 20:13–17

God gives the Israelites commandments pertaining to relationships with others

6. You shall not commit adultery.

7. You shall not steal.

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

1. I am the Lord your God. You shall not have strange gods before me. You shall not make to thyself any graven thing; nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. You shall not adore them nor serve them.

2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

3. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.

4. Honor your father and your mother.

5. You shall not kill.

Matthew 22:36–40

New Testament

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

By living the Ten Commandments, we can show love for God and our neighbor.

How does living the commandments we have discussed help us show love for our neighbors?

How does living these commandments allow us to show love for God?

Activity

Study and then teach each other about one or two of the Ten Commandments. Divide into four groups. Each groups will have five minutes to learn about a few of the Ten Commandments and prepare to teach the class using the outline provided. Student teachers from each group will have five minutes to teach the class about the commandment(s) you studied.

If your group finish your preparations before the allotted time is up, please find a scripture reference that illustrates the importance of keeping the commandment(s) you learned about. You can use this reference when you teach the class.

Love one another

Exodus 20:13. Killing is not always murder

There are some situations when someone may kill another person with different intentions from those associated with murder. These circumstances might include self-defense or war (although some may still have murderous intentions in war). Killing in such situations does not constitute murder. Regarding killing as part of war, President Harold B. Lee explained, “There is … a vast difference in destroying life while acting under the mandate of a sovereign nation whom we are in duty bound to obey and wantonly killing on our own responsibility” (“The Sixth Commandment—Part Two,” The Ten Commandments Today: A Discussion of the Decalog [1955], 94; see also Alma 43:45–47).

Exodus 20:14. “Thou shalt not commit adultery”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

“[Why did] Alma … warn his son Corianton that sexual transgression is ‘an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea, most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost?’ [Alma 39:5].

“By assigning such seriousness to a physical appetite so universally bestowed, what is God trying to tell us about its place in His plan for all men and women? I submit to you He is doing precisely that—commenting about the very plan of life itself. Clearly among His greatest concerns regarding mortality are how one gets into this world and how one gets out of it. He has set very strict limits in these matters” (“Personal Purity,” Ensign, Nov. 1998, 76).

Thou shall not commit adultery

Exodus 20:16. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour”

President Howard W. Hunter taught about ways in which the commandment to not bear false witness is broken:

“Primarily this commandment has reference to false testimony in judicial proceedings, but it is extended to cover all statements which are false in fact. Any untruth which tends to injure another in his goods, person, or character is against the spirit and letter of this law. Suppression of the truth which results in the same injury is also a violation of this commandment” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1965, 57).