20150610 Wednesday, June 10 2015
Ecclesiastes 12: When Did The Ten Commandments Begin?

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"Fear God, and keep His Commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into Judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil"

Centuries before the LORD's Ten Commandments were made known to the Israelites (who never knew them in the sun-worshipping Egypt of the time) in the Sinai, Abraham, and all other righteous people before him, was Judged righteous because he obeyed the Ten Commandments (see The LORD's Seed Covenants With The Two Men Of Iraq).

Abraham was not an Israelite or a Jew. Israelites and Jews did not yet exist in the time of Abraham, and Abraham is as much an ancestor of many of the Arab people as he is of the Israelites (see The Origin Of Israelites And Jews and Abraham's Seed: From The Nile To The Euphrates). Abraham was declared to be a righteous man (see Which Way Is Right And Left? to understand what "righteous" means) because he obeyed "My Commandments, My Statutes, and My Laws" - long before they were also given to those people at "Sinai."

"26:4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." (Genesis 26:4-5 KJV)

By the time of "Sinai," the LORD (see the Fact Finder question below to understand Who "the LORD God" was and is), by giving His Law to them, told them to "remember" - not only to never forget it of themselves, but to "remember" His Law that had existed from the time of Creation i.e. Adam and Eve (who, by the way, were the first human observers of the Fourth Commandment - long before some began to sneeringly call it the "Jewish Sabbath") became sinners when they violated at least two of the Ten Commandments - against coveting and theft.

When the Exodus generation chose not to remember God's Eternal Law, they were left to die in the wilderness (see The Israelite Wanderland). Their children and grandchildren, who did remember (i.e. obey) God's Law, were then given to enter the Promised Land, forty years after the Exodus (see Why A Book Of Deuteronomy In The Bible?).

"8:1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live." (Deuteronomy 8:1-3 KJV)

While many Christian-professing people have fallen for the loser Satan's rebel lie that "God's Law is done away," that isn't what the Messiah says. If you are a Christian, sooner or later you are going to have to choose to believe and obey Satan (see Iniquity In History And Prophecy), or to believe and obey Jesus Christ.

"5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matthew 5:17-18 KJV)

"7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:19:23 KJV)

Satan absolutely detests the Ten Commandments and those observe and teach them. But Satan, and all who follow his leftist revolution against God's Law (see Which Way Is Right And Left?), are headed for oblivion, while those who truly obey God's Commandments, in the way that they are genuinely stated and intended, will live forever in the glorious Kingdom of God.

"12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman [i.e. the true Church of God], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelation 12:17 KJV)

"22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Revelation 22:12-15 KJV)

King Solomon became a very confused old man - not from natural dementia, but from the dementia that is caused, at any age, when the Holy Spirit is rejected (see The Cure For Confusion). Amidst his vain ramblings at that time (see Ecclesiastes 1: Solomon's Ballad To Losers and Ecclesiastes 2: Solomon's Bubbles), he was still able to recollect (even though he was not himself doing it any more), for his closing of the Book of Ecclesiastes, the key of what made him a wise man in the first part of his life: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His Commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

"12:1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; 12:2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: 12:3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, 12:4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; 12:5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

12:6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

12:8 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.

12:9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. 12:10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.

12:11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 KJV)

Fact Finder: How have the LORD's Ten Commandments always been purely and exclusively Christian?
See The LORD God Our Saviour and The Christian Ten Commandments