What values of the Israelites are shown in the Ten Commandments and the covenant?

The first four commandments are religious values. The people were to have no other gods before God, not keep images, or worship images nor take the name of God in vain, and were to keep holy the Sabbath.

The fifth commandment demonstrates the patriarchal nature of society. It was once a capital offence if a son even struck his father or mother.

Commandments 6,7, 8 and nine are against murder, stealing, adultery and false testimony against one's neighbour. These are all values necessary for a successful society. It is instructive that the Israelites were not prohibited from giving false testimony against a gentile, since 'neighbour' meant another Israelite. It was not considered adultery for a man to have sex with a single woman, widow or prostitute, and the commandment against adultery was intended more to protect male rights.

Although Israel and Judah were not great slave-owning societies, because they were usually not dominant military powers, the tenth commandment includes an injunction not to covet a neighbour's male or female slaves, in recognition of the rights of slave-owners.

The covenant said to have been made with Abraham and renewed with Isaac and Jacob, shows the value the Hebrew people placed in justifying their claim to all of the land of the Canaanites. They could have said, "We just took the land, because we could," but chose to demonstrate divine approval for the legendary military conquest that followed.