After their escape from slavery in Egypt, God led the Israelites through the desert to Mt. Sinai. They camped at the foot of the mountain, while God gave Moses the laws His people were to obey. The promise (covenant-treaty) God previously made with individuals - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - He now renewed with the whole nation. They were His people: He was their God. He had rescued them and He expected them to respond by obeying His laws. These were not just rules for worship or religious occasions. They covered every aspect of life. And they are summed up in the Ten Commandments.
God spoke, and these were His words: I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves.
1. Worship no god but me.
2. Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship it because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation. But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws.
3. Do not use my name for evil purposes, because I, the Lord your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name.
4. Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. You have six days in which to do your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work - neither you, your children, your slaves, yours animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country. In six days I, the Lord, made the earth, the sky, the sea, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the Lord, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.
5. Respect your father and your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you.
6. Do not commit murder.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not accuse anyone falsely.
10. Do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns.
This is the best-known collection of Israel's laws. It clearly has a special significance: in Exodus it is the first set of laws given on Mt. Sinai, and in Deuteronomy it is said at the end of the Ten Commandments: "These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly… and he added no more" (Deuteronomy 5:22), that is, there were no others of equal importance.
The Ten Commandments are addressed to the whole nation of Israel, not just to a particular group like the priests, and to every Israelite as an individual. All the same, though these Ten Commandments are unique as a collection, each one of them is found again in other places in the Hebrew laws.
The Ten Commandments were written on two stone tablets. This probably means two copies. The reason for having two copies of the Ten Commandments has only recently been understood. When a written covenant was made in the world of the Bible, each party making the covenant had a copy of its contents. If the covenant was between two nations, for instance the Hittites and the Egyptians, the two copies would be kept far apart, in the temple of a god of each land.
In Israel, though, the covenant was between God and His people. Both copies of the Ten Commandments were kept in the Covenant Box (ark). This was the center of Israel and it was also the place of God's presence. So God's copy and Israel's copy could be kept together.
The Ten Commandments, then were the terms of the covenant that God had made with His people. At Sinai, in response to all that God had done for them, the people of Israel accepted these terms.
The penalty for breaking any of the Ten Commandments is not mentioned. But if we compare these commandments with similar ones, it seems that the penalty was death (compare Exodus 20:13 with Exodus 21:12). This does not mean that the penalty was always carried out.