Moses & the 10 Commandments

We are discussing the 10 commandments today. There is a set of teacher's visuals and a student workbook that can be used with the lesson.

Review: We are studying Moses and we learned about Moses and his brother Aaron going to Egypt and talking to Pharaoh about letting his slaves, the Israelites leave. Pharaoh said no, and then God sent the 10 plagues. They left Egypt and are wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. God sends them manna and quail to eat. Last week, Moses hit a rock and water came out for them to drink!

Lesson found in Exodus 19-20: Three months after the Israelites left Egypt, they came to the wilderness of Mount Sinai. Moses went up to Mt. Sinai and God talked to him. God told Moses to have the people wash their clothes and on the third day, God would return. When the people heard the trumpets, they were not allowed to touch the base of the mountain, or they would die.

On the third day, in the morning, there was thunder and lightning, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 

Mount Sinai was completely covered in smoke and the whole mountain was shaking! The trumpet blasted louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God went to the top of the mountain. He told Moses to come to the top of the mountain. God told Moses to go remind the people not to come on the mountain and tell them they are not permitted to look on the face of God.

(Exodus 20) God gave Moses rules He wanted the people to follow. They are called the 10 Commandments. They were written on both sides of 2 tablets of stone by God’s own finger. (Exodus 31:18; 32:15)

God begins telling Moses about His commandments by stating He is the Lord and He took the people out of slavery in Egypt. (Exodus 20:2)

1. Have no other gods.  [You shall have no other gods before Me. vs. 3] God has made this clear in both the Old and New Testaments. Be careful how much time and money is spent on things. It can be something we collect, a person (discuss this) or when you get older, maybe a job. God wants us to worship Him only.

2. No idols.  [You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;  you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.] This was a serious problem during Bible times! We will talk more about it next week, but Paul talks about it several times in the New Testament. (Gal. 5:19-21, Col. 3:5, Eph. 5:5, etc)

3. Do not take the Lord’s name in vain.  [You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. vs. 7] This is a big problem! Taking the Lord's name in vain is using His name for no reason, or using it as a swear word. It is wrong and God tells us not to do it! When someone says "Oh my G*d!" God's name is being used in vain, and it is wrong. When someone says "OMG", it means the same thing, and it is wrong. Wow! I don't even like typing it to make it clear what I am talking about! Christians are not to use God's name this way! Just because your friends do it, doesn't make it right.

Dictionary: in vain = devoid of substance or meaning

4. Keep the Sabbath Day holy. [Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. vs. 8]

This is the only commandment that God changed when the new laws were put into effect after Jesus died. All the New Testament Christians met on the first day of the week, which is Sunday. The Sabbath was Saturday. (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:2)

5. Honor father & mother. [Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. vs. 12]  What can you tell me about honoring your parents? What can you do to show them honor? (Let the kids answer.)

6. Do not murder.  [You shall not murder. vs. 13]  Remember, we talked about Cain and Abel? Cain killed Abel. And, God made Cain leave his parents, Adam & Eve. Part of murder is using self control. Control your temper, be careful of the friends you pick.

7. Do not commit adultery. [You shall not commit adultery. vs. 14]   God tells us that when you pick your spouse (husband or wife), it is for life. God wants us to be faithful to our spouse and to Him.

8. Do not steal.  [You shall not steal. vs. 15]  God said very simply it is wrong to take something that is not yours. 3 words! Very clear! Do not steal!

9. Do not lie.   [You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  vs. 16]  This is the same as the last one! 3 words! Do not lie! Tell the truth! Usually, one lie leads to another lie, and then you are just making the situation worse!

10. Do not covet.  [You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s. vs. 17]  This is to want what your friend/neighbor has. (Greed/envy) Don't be jealous because your friend has something that you want! Be satisfied with what you have!

Next week we will continue this lesson and talk about what happened when Moses took the 10 commandments to the people!

These are my 10 Commandments Visuals that I made from slate.

The photo above shows my Mount Sinai visual that I made and used for this lesson.

Click here to see the directions.

Click here to download the updated ten commandments visuals for Exodus 19-20.

Not all are shown.

Click here to download the ten commandments pictures to color.
(These are the same as the visuals but are black & white.)

The 10 commandments visuals are the same as the student workbooks, but the teacher's visuals are a full page. They can also be used for bulletin boards, etc. 
(The notes for the teacher's visuals are basic starter notes.)

Click here to print the teacher's visuals that were used.

This is the student book that is the same as the book below, but has everything already on the correct pages to be used for the teacher. Click here to print the finished student book.

Here is the student booklet. I printed the book parts on cardstock, front and back. I printed the pictures for the students to glue to each commandment on regular paper. I put the books together, and on the back cover, you will see a cutting line to make the book look like the commandments, as we think of them. You can print the above teacher's student book if you do not want to have the kids cut & glue the pictures. Here is the order to print the book pages 2 sided:

back cover/cover & 1/10

9/2 & 3/8

7/4 & 5/6

Click here to print the student book.

This is today's cut & glue picture to color. I print the backgrounds on different color cardstock, and the pictures for the students to cut are on regular paper. You can print it here.

Click on the above picture to see all the Moses cut & glue worksheets and the pictures to color.

We marked our Moses map for his travels. You can find more information here.

Bible Verse:  Exodus 31:18 

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.

Used by permission.

You can find more on the 10 Commandments, including a lapbook here.