4. Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
5. Thou shalt not kill.
6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7. Thou shalt not steal.
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s. (Ex. 16-20.)
At the command of the Lord, Moses afterwards gave laws concerning worship. He made Aaron high priest, and after him his oldest son, and thus successively from son to son. The other sons of Aaron became priests, and the other descendants of Levi, or the Levites, became their assistants.—A Tabernacle, or large tent, was raised and divided into two parts: The Holy of Holies and the Holy Place. In the Holy of Holies was a chest, called the Ark of the Covenant, and a pot filled with manna. The ark was overlaid with gold, the cover was of pure gold, and was called the Mercy Seat. Only the high priest might enter the Holy of Holies, and even he only once a year. The Holy Place was for the priests. Round about the Tabernacle was the Court, which was without a roof, here the people should assemble.—The seventh day of the week was the day of rest, or the Sabbath.—There were three great feasts: The Passover, in memory of the passing out of Egypt; The Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost; and The Feast of Tabernacles, in memory of Israel’s living in tents.—There were many kinds of sacrifices. The most important sacrifice was brought on the great Feast of Atonement, when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood of an ox and of a he-goat on the Mercy Seat for the sins of himself and of the people. (Ex. 23-29; Lev. 16.)
The Lord said to Moses: Come up to me on the mountain, and I will give thee the Tables of the Law. Moses was with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. And the Lord gave him the two Tables of the Law. They were written on both sides; the writing was the writing of God; it was written by God’s own finger.—While Moses was on the mountain the people said to Aaron: Make us a god which shall go before us; for Moses does not return. Aaron made a golden calf, and the people danced around it. When Moses came down from the mountain and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger was kindled, and he cast the tables against the mountain so they broke; and he took the golden calf and ground it to powder and strewed it on the brook that runs down the mountain. Then he bade the Levites go with drawn swords through the camp, and 3,000 were killed on the same day.—Moses went again on the mountain, and was there for 40 days and 40 nights, and he ate no bread and drank no water, and the Lord wrote the ten commandments on two new tables of stone. These were afterward kept in the Ark of the Covenant. (Ex. 24, 32, 34.)
The Israelites went from Sinai toward Canaan, and Moses sent twelve spies into the country. These returned, saying: The land is very good; but we are as grasshoppers compared to the inhabitants, of such stature are they. But Joshua and Caleb, two of the spies, replied: We can subdue the land, for the Lord is with us. But it availed not. The people would not go against the Canaanites, but wished to choose a new leader and return to Egypt. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the Tabernacle, and the Lord spoke thus by Moses: For forty years shall ye wander about in this wilderness, until all those are dead who were 20 years old or over when ye went out of Egypt; none who hath seen my wonders in Egypt shall come into Canaan, except Joshua and Caleb. (Num. 13-14.)