Translation provided by KYP Shillam:

You shall have no other gods before me (before me, means besides me)
You shall not worship any graven image
You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain
You shall honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy
Honor your father and your mother
You shall not kill
You shall not commit adultery
You shall not steal
You shall not bear false witness
You shall not covet

Matthew 22:36-40 

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

What if the 10 Commandments were God’s way of saying “I love you, will you marry me”? What if we did not look at them as legalistic, a set of do’s and don’ts, but instead looked at them as God’s marriage contract with us?

If you look at the events leading up to the giving of the 10 Commandments, you realize that God wanted the Hebrews for His own. In Exodus 6 it says, He saved them, brought them out and redeemed them for His own. Then he led them through the desert and brought them to Mount Sinai. In a way the desert was the courtship period because that was where they got to know each other. When the Israelites got to Mt. Sinai, they were ready for the wedding vows and the wedding contract.

In many ways, the Bible views the Sinai events as a wedding vow. What some would call legalism, God called love. We have always looked at them as a list of do’s and don’ts, but what if we changed our thoughts to “God loved us so much that he wanted to marry us and live with us and here is what each of us promises to do for the other as our marriage contract.” God says in Exodus 19:5. If you will, then I will. Reread them like this – God says “I love you over all the other nations in the world. So please:

Command 1: Don’t have any other lovers, no statues, no pictures

Command 2: Don’t take my name in vain (our name). I’ve given you my name, so don’t bring shame to us and don’t misuse it.

Commands 3&4: Find time to love me and get to know me for who I really am.

THE FIRST FOUR REFLECT JESUS’ COMMAND TO LOVE GOD

Commands 5-10: Get along with the rest of our family, don’t treat each other badly.

THE LAST SIX REFLECT JESUS’ COMMAND TO LOVE PEOPLE.

We’ve turned the Commandments into legalism when they are really a way to show God you love Him. You show your love by telling him and doing things for him, just like you would your spouse. You want to make your spouse happy, right? Not having the Commandments would be like having a wedding without vows.

We have the privilege of being married to Almighty God, because we have been grafted into God’s olive tree.

Wedding Ring

If you reread the Mount Sinai events and think of how much God must have loved us and all the things he did for us to bring us to His own, it should motivate us to want to please him. Can you remember back to your wedding and how beautiful your bride was and how happy you were and how much you wanted to please them? We need to reclaim that love affair, that feeling with God. We please him by obeying him. Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

God loves us like a bride! He called us “segullah” – His treasured possession. Marriage partners during this time in history would each give the other a treasured possession to keep as a symbol of the wedding. This is the word God uses – “segullah” – to describe us – we are His treasured possession.

We are the bride of Almighty God and His son, Messiah Jesus. They have done so much for me; I cannot help but want to do my part also, to love and obey. The people said, “Everything you have said we will do!” Jesus said, the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might (Matthew 22:34 – 40). This is how we say “I do” – by being obedient. Could we do any less? Tell the Lord, I Do!, I Do!, I Do!

Exodus 19 – God prepares Israel for the Wedding Covenant (Ten Commandments) in chapter 20.

At every Jewish wedding there are 4 items that are part of that ceremony: 

mikvah (or mikveh), a chuppah, a ketubah, and a sign.  We find these four items at Mount Sinai:

1.   A Mikvah מקווה, a place of ceremonial cleansing – Yahweh commands the people to cleanse themselves and make themselves ready for the marriage (Exodus 19:10-14).

2.   A Chuppah חוּפָּה, a place of covering, a canopy – not only does Yahweh cover the entire mountain with a cloud, but Hebrew scripture can literally be translated “they stood under the mountain” (Exodus 19:17).

3.   A Ketubah כְּתוּבָּה, a written contract or marriage agreement – the two copies of the Ten Commandments; one copy for the husband, one for the wife.  Yahweh trusted his bride so fully both copies were given for her to hold and to keep (Exodus 20:1-17).

4.   A Sign אוֹת, a visible, tangible expression of the love – Yahweh institutes the Sabbath as a weekly sign that he and his bride belong to each other and enjoy each other’s presence (Exodus 20:1-17, Exodus 31:16-17).