The ten commandments were the words of the covenant (Ex 34:28): the old covenant, made between God and the children of Israel. They were part of the law of Moses and made up part of the 613 commandments. This law was what the Jews attempted to keep, not just the ten commandments.
When God made His covenant with the children of Israel, He used a form they would understand. Covenants were common in the ancient world and always involved blood. In this case it was the blood of animals. Two copies of the promises/duties were written down, in this case, in stone.
The covenant starts off with a proclamation of Who God is, and what He has done, followed with a list of commandments that honours Him. Then follows a list of duties towards their fellow man, and these commandments would have been familiar to them as part of the law of the land and part of the Noahide commandments.
The rest of the law was written down in the book of the law, and kept BESIDE the Ark of the Covenant, as a witness (Deut 31:26. The stone tablets were kept IN the ark. Two copies of the ten commandments were written down in the book.
It was always God’s plan to give the new covenant. The old covenant was given to a particular lot of people, different to the people with whom the new covenant applied to. The old one was not faulty, just replaced, as God said. Different laws, different priesthood, new and better promises. Still blood..but now Christ’s, not animals.
Are we supposed to keep the ten commandments today? No. Very few of us fill the physical requirements. But the “do not murder/steal/etc? Those commandments by themselves are part of the law of the land wherever we live, and we will find ourselves thrown in goal if we do them! Apart from the fact that if we are Christians we live a life honouring God. We love Him, we love our neighbour. We do more than refrain from murder, robbery etc, we care for him, we go out of our way to show God’s love to him.
Jesus raised the bar. Our actions should be based on love, not duty.
Light of Christ 