Why were the 10 commandments important to the Hebrew religion?

Answer 1

The first 4 of the Ten Commandments God gave told them what they had to do to love God, and the last 6 of the Ten Commandments how to love their fellow man. The first 4 were promises of Spiritual blessings, and the last 6 were of Material blessings, including promises of protection and remain great and powerful:- Deu 6:4-25 GNB "Israel, remember this! The LORD ---and the LORD alone---is our God. [v. 5] Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. [v. 6] Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. [v. 7] Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. [v. 8] Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. [v. 9] Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates. [v. 10] "Just as the LORD your God promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he will give you a land with large and prosperous cities which you did not build. [v. 11] The houses will be full of good things which you did not put in them, and there will be wells that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. When the LORD brings you into this land and you have all you want to eat, [v. 12] make certain that you do not forget the LORD who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. [v. 13] Honor the LORD your God, worship only him, and make your promises in his name alone. [v. 14] Do not worship other gods, any of the gods of the peoples around you. [v. 15] If you do worship other gods, the LORD's anger will come against you like fire and will destroy you completely, because the LORD your God, who is present with you, tolerates no rivals. [v. 16] "Do not put the LORD your God to the test, as you did at Massah. [v. 17] Be sure that you obey all the laws that he has given you. [v. 18] Do what the LORD says is right and good, and all will go well with you. You will be able to take possession of the fertile land that the LORD promised your ancestors, [v. 19] and you will drive out your enemies, as he promised. [v. 20] "In times to come your children will ask you, 'Why did the LORD our God command us to obey all these laws?' [v. 21] Then tell them, 'We were slaves of the king of Egypt, and the LORD rescued us by his great power. [v. 22] With our own eyes we saw him work miracles and do terrifying things to the Egyptians and to their king and to all his officials. [v. 23] He freed us from Egypt to bring us here and give us this land, as he had promised our ancestors he would. [v. 24] Then the LORD our God commanded us to obey all these laws and to honor him. If we do, he will always watch over our nation and keep it prosperous. [v. 25] If we faithfully obey everything that God has commanded us, he will be pleased with us.' The trouble was these promises were conditional upon their obedience, and they weren't: they only wanted the Material blessings but all the Commandments are interlinked. God gave them promises of great blessings for obedience:-

Deu 28:1-14 GNB "If you obey the LORD your God and faithfully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, he will make you greater than any other nation on earth. [v. 2] Obey the LORD your God and all these blessings will be yours: [v. 3] "The LORD will bless your towns and your fields. [v. 4] "The LORD will bless you with many children, with abundant crops, and with many cattle and sheep. [v. 5] "The LORD will bless your grain crops and the foodyou prepare from them. [v. 6] "The LORD will bless everything you do. [v. 7] "The LORD will defeat your enemies when they attack you. ... [v. 8] "The LORD your God will bless your work and fill your barns with grain.He will bless you in the land that he is giving you. [v. 9] "If you obey the LORD your God and do everything he commands, he will make you his own people, as he has promised. [v. 10] Then all the peoples on earth will see that the LORD has chosen you to be his own people, and they will be afraid of you. [v. 11] The LORD will give you many children, many cattle, and abundant crops in the land that he promised your ancestors to give you. [v. 12] He will send rain in season from his rich storehouse in the sky and bless all your work, so that you will lend to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any. [v. 13] The LORD your God will make you the leader among the nations and not a follower; you will always prosper and never fail if you obey faithfully all his commands that I am giving you today.[v. 14] But you must never disobey them in any way, or worship and serve other gods.

But God also promised them great curses for disobedience:-

Deu 28:15-45 [v.15] "But if you disobey the LORD your Godand do not faithfully keep all his commands and laws that I am giving you today, all these evil things will happen to you: [v. 16] "The LORD will curse your towns and your fields. [v. 17] "The LORD will curse your grain crops and the food you prepare from them. [v. 18] "The LORD will curse you by giving you only a few children, poor crops, and few cattle and sheep. [v. 19] "The LORD will curse everything you do. [v. 20] "If you do evil and reject the LORD, he will bring on you disaster, confusion, and trouble in everything you do, until you are quickly and completely destroyed. [v. 21] He will send disease after disease on you until there is not one of you left in the land that you are about to occupy. [v. 22] The LORD will strike you with infectious diseases, with swelling and fever; he will send drought and scorching winds to destroy your crops. These disasters will be with you until you die. [v. 23] No rainwill fall, and your ground will become as hard as iron. [v. 24] Instead of rain, the LORD will send down duststorms and sandstorms until you are destroyed. [v. 25] "The LORD will give your enemies victory over you. You will attack them from one direction, but you will run from them in all directions, and all the people on earth will be terrified when they see what happens to you. [v. 26] When you die, birds and wild animals will come and eat your bodies, and there will be no one to scare them off. [v. 27] The LORD will send boils on you, as he did on the Egyptians. He will make your bodies break out with sores. You will be covered with scabs, and you will itch, but there will be no cure. [v. 28] The LORD will make you lose your mind; he will strike you with blindness and confusion. [v. 29] You will grope about in broad daylight like someone blind, and you will not be able to find your way. You will not prosper in anything you do. You will be constantly oppressed and robbed, and there will be no one to help you. [v. 30] "You will be engaged to a young woman---but someone else will marry her. You will build a house---but never live in it. You will plant a vineyard---but never eat its grapes. [v. 31] Your cattle will be butchered before your very eyes, but you will not eat any of the meat. Your donkeys will be dragged away while you look on, and they will not be given back to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to help you. [v. 32] Your sons and daughters will be given as slaves to foreigners while you look on. Every day you will strain your eyes, looking in vain for your children to return. [v. 33] A foreign nation will take all the crops that you have worked so hard to grow, while you receive nothing but constant oppression and harsh treatment. [v. 34] Your sufferings will make you lose your mind. [v. 35] The LORD will cover your legs with incurable, painful sores; boils will cover you from head to foot. [v. 36] "The LORD will take you and your king away to a foreign land, where neither you nor your ancestors ever lived before; there you will serve gods made of wood and stone. [v. 37] In the countries to which the LORD will scatter you, the people will be shocked at what has happened to you; they will make fun of you and ridicule you. [v. 38] "You will plant plenty of seed, but reap only a small harvest, because the locusts will eat your crops. [v. 39] You will plant vineyards and take care of them, but you will not gather their grapes or drink wine from them, because worms will eat the vines. [v. 40] Olive trees will grow everywhere in your land, but you will not have any olive oil, because the olives will drop off. [v. 41] You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, because they will be taken away as prisoners of war. [v. 42] All your trees and crops will be devoured by insects. [v. 43] "Foreigners who live in your land will gain more and more power, while you gradually lose yours. [v. 44] They will have money to lend you, but you will have none to lend them. In the end they will be your rulers. [v. 45] "All these disasters will come on you, and they will be with you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and keep all the laws that he gave you.

And so on. However these promises of blessings and curses do not apply just to the ancient Hebrews: they also apply to the Christian nations of today. Look at them today and compare their problems now with the cursings for disobedience and you will see they match.

I suppose you could summarize it all as 'Greed', or 'What's in it for me?'

"In times to come your children will ask you, 'Why did the LORD our God command us to obey all these laws?'If you obey the LORD your God and faithfully keep all his commands... he will make you greater than any other nation on earth..you will always prosper and never fail...

Answer 2

Exodus 20:20 "And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God has come to test you, that His fear may be upon you, that you sin not."

God loves mankind, and for that reason He enacted the ten commandments in order to keep humanity from committing crimes.

Answer 3

They are the ten laws given to Moses on mount Sinai , to help the people to have rules to be governed.

Answer:While the rest of the Torah was given through Moses (Exodus 24:12), the Ten Commandments were the one part of the Torah which the Israelites heard directly from God (Exodus ch.19-20); and they thus served as the foundation for complete acceptance and belief in the entire Torah.

Answer 4

The Ten Commandments are a pillar of Western civilization. They have improved the conduct of billions of people; but because of His covenant with them (Exodus ch.24), God specifically honored the Israelites with being the nation which would be the ones to receive and treasure the Ten Commandments (Exodus ch.19-20) until they had been absorbed by humanity in general. These Commandments are so important that God revealed His presence to the entire Israelite nation when He spoke these Commands. And He scribed them in stone (Deuteronomy ch.9); unlike the rest of the Torah, which He had Moses write (Deuteronomy 31:24). What would Western society look like without these Commandments? 1) "I am the Lord your God..." has shaped the Western beliefs about God. Pantheism and polytheism, which were excuses for immorality, are out.
2) The 7-day week, including a day of rest for everyone, is thanks to the Fourth Commandment.
3) Without the Fifth Commandment, society might still permit abandoning our aged parents to die. 4) Without the Sixth Commandment, we might still be killing our own children. Aristotle, who was among the greatest of the Greeks, and Seneca, the famous Roman, both write that killing one's young babies is perfectly acceptable; and that was the practice in their societies. The above are just a few examples.
And how do Jews live by the Commandments in our daily lives?
1) "I am the Lord your God" is our reminder to be aware of God constantly. The very first paragraph in the Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Arukh) reiterates this command.
2) "You shall not have other gods" means not to make anything other than God too important. Example: not to "worship the almighty dollar" or anything other than God.
3) "You shall not use God's name needlessly" teaches us to deal with God's names with the utmost reverence. Other than in prayer and reading the Tanakh, we don't pronounce any of God's names at all.
4) "Remember the Sabbath day": to learn the halachos (laws) of Shabbat (Sabbath) and to prepare for the holy day properly (nice clothes, food ready, etc.). The Sabbath is a testimony to the Exodus and to the Creation of the world (Exodus 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:14).
5) "Honor your father and mother": to do our best to honor and assist them; and to avoid being cheeky to them. No "generation gap" should be allowed to spoil family ties.
6) Do not kill: also hints at avoiding character assassination or endangering someone. Slander is forbidden in Judaism even when it's not untrue.
7) Do not commit adultery: flirting is playing with fire.
8) Do not steal: even a paperclip should not be filched.
9) Do not bear false witness.
10) Do not covet: to avoid jealousy and gazing longingly at what is not ours. To realize that the other fellow's possessions have been allotted to him by God.

Answer 5

The Ten Commandments contain some of the most important Israelite beliefs (belief in One God; and the prohibition against idolatry); as well as some of the most fundamental underpinnings of society in general (the integrity of the family unit; and not stealing or murdering).

Answer 6

The Ten Commandments are a pillar of Western civilization. They have improved the conduct of billions of people; but because of His covenant with them (Exodus ch.24), God specifically honored the Israelites with being the nation which would be the ones to receive and treasure the Ten Commandments (Exodus ch.19-20) until they had been absorbed by humanity in general. These Commandments are so important that God revealed His presence to the entire Israelite nation when He spoke these Commands. And He inscribed them in stone (Deuteronomy ch.9); unlike the rest of the Torah, which He had Moses write (Deuteronomy 31:24).

What would Western society look like without these Commandments?

1) "I am the Lord your God..." has shaped the Western beliefs about God. Pantheism and polytheism, which were excuses for immorality, are out.
2) The 7-day week, including a day of rest for everyone, is thanks to the Fourth Commandment.
3) Without the Fifth Commandment, society might still permit abandoning our aged parents to die.

4) Without the Sixth Commandment, we might still be killing our own children, as was done in Classical European nations until Judaism and its daughter-religions put a stop to it. The above are just a few examples.

And how do Jews live by the Commandments in our daily lives?
1) "I am the Lord your God" is our reminder to be aware of God constantly. The very first paragraph in the Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Arukh) reiterates this command.
2) "You shall not have other gods" means not to make anything other than God too important. Example: not to "worship the almighty dollar" or anything other than God.
3) "You shall not use God's name needlessly" teaches us to deal with God's names with the utmost reverence. Other than in prayer and reading the Tanakh, we don't pronounce any of God's names at all.
4) "Remember the Sabbath day": to learn the halakhot (laws) of Shabbat (Sabbath) and to prepare for the holy day properly (nice clothes, food ready, etc.). The Sabbath is a testimony to the Exodus and to the Creation of the world (Exodus 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:14).
5) "Honor your father and mother": to do our best to honor and assist them; and to avoid being cheeky to them. No "generation gap" should be allowed to spoil family ties.
6) Do not kill: also hints at avoiding character assassination or endangering someone. Slander is forbidden in Judaism even when it's not untrue.
7) Do not commit adultery: flirting is playing with fire.
8) Do not steal: even a paperclip should not be filched.
9) Do not bear false witness.
10) Do not covet: to avoid jealousy and gazing longingly at what is not ours. To realize that the other fellow's possessions have been allotted to him by God.

See also:

How has the Hebrew Bible influenced Western society?

What is the history of the Hebrew Bible?

Answer 7

The entire Torah is important. What makes the Ten Commandments stand out is that they were uttered directly to the people by God with no intermediary.

Answer 8

It was Gods commandments given to Moses , it is the ruling laws that they had to follow. even our law follows it in court.

Answer 9

Because God said if the Israelites don't obey him they will be punished