Exodus 20:1-21

"Then God gave the people all these instructions:" v1
Why were the Ten Commandments necessary for God's new nation? At the foot of Mt. Siani, God showed his people the true function and beauty of his laws. The commandments were designed to lead Israel to a life of practical holiness. In them, people could see the nature of God and his plan fr how they should live. The commands and guidelines were intended to direct the community to meet the needs of each individual in a loving and responsible manner. By Jesus' time however, most people looked at the law the wrong way. They saw it as a means to prosperity in both this world and the next. And they thought that to obey the law was the way to earn God's protection from foreign invasion and natural disaster. Law keeping became an end in itself, not the means to fulfill God's ultimate law of love.

Taken from the NLT Life Application Study Bible