 
The Ten Commandments

A Commentary

The Rev. Daniel W. Kreller

Published by Daniel W. Kreller at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 Daniel W. Kreller

Discover other titles by The Rev. Daniel W. Kreller at Smashwords.com:

Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus - My Sabbatical in Israel

The God of Abraham Praise - A Short Course in Christian Belief

St. Bartholomew's Haggadah - Prepared by The Rev. Daniel Kreller

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Introduction

Some years ago the Bishop was visiting our congregation. In his sermon he asked for a show of hands of how many felt the Ten Commandments were important. All raised their hands. Then he asked how many could name all ten. Now no hands were raised including mine. Like my parishioners I wasn't confident I could name all ten, at least not in the order they are given in the scriptures. That embarrassing moment prompted me to study the commandments for myself and prepare a study guide for my parishioners. This present guide is a revision of the original. It is by no means exhaustive but I hope suggestive of the richness to be found in the commandments sufficient to pique the reader's further exploration.

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Foreword

The Historical Context of the Ten Commandments

In the Biblical narrative the Ten Commandments are first given to the people of Israel through Moses after they went out (the Exodus) from Egypt roughly 3,300 years ago. This occurred in the spring of the year and is remembered annually in the Passover Festival. Fifty days later the people arrived at Mount Sinai and encamped there. Moses ascended the mountain and over a 40 day period received the Law as it is recorded in the Torah, the first 5 books of the Hebrew Testament.

This arrival at Sinai and the receiving of the Law is remembered annually in the festival called Shavuos. Shavuos means weeks and refers to the 7 weeks (49 days) that are counted from Passover until this festival that is celebrated on the 50th day. In Greek the festival is called Pentecost, meaning the 50th day. Together these festivals memorialize the events that founded Israel as a nation that was devoted to serving Yahweh alone.

But as yet they were a nation without a land. All that remained was for Israel to decamp from Sinai and journey onward to the land that had been promised to them through their forefather Abraham. The first generation of the exodus balked at the prospect of entering the land and so it was the second generation that entered the land 40 years later. The entry into the land occasioned a recounting of the Law by Moses to the new generation as he turned the leadership of the nation over to Joshua. Thus, there are two versions of the Ten Commandments, the first in Exodus 20 given at Sinai, and the second in Deuteronomy 5 given as the people were encamped at Beth Peor in the Transjordan.

Once the people did occupy the land, the Law contained in the Torah served as the supreme law for Israel to live as one nation under Yahweh's rule. The Ten Commandments, however, are accorded a special place as can been seen from the fact that they were written on stone tablets given to Moses and placed within the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark, which stood in the inner sanctuary of first the Tabernacle and then the Temple, served as the footstool for Yahweh's throne. His throne was in the heavens but his feet rested upon the Ark on earth. One can think of the Ten Commandments as the root that nourishes and sustains all the other laws.

In summary, the context of the Ten Commandments can be explained with four words – covenant, exodus, law, and land. Through the covenant Yahweh made with Abraham Israel was conceived as nation. Israel was created as a nation at their exodus from Egypt. Israel was formed as a nation through the giving of the Law. Finally, Israel reached completion as a nation living under the rule of Yahweh and his law in the land of Israel.

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The Cosmic Context of the Ten Commandments

The historical context of the Ten Commandments might suggest that they are relevant only for the nation of Israel. This is not the case. The Hebrew Scriptures testify that through Abraham Israel has a vocation to bless all the nations of the earth (Genesis 22). Israel blesses the nations by bearing witness to the truth that Yahweh is the creator of all and harmony, shalom (peace), is established by submitting to his will. His will is revealed in the Torah and most especially in the Ten Commandments.

In the Biblical account of creation Yahweh brings existence and order to all things when there was nothing but a formless void. This he does with ten sayings and he pronounces his work exceedingly good. But in the Biblical narrative no sooner is the cosmos ordered in goodness than it begins to revert back to chaos. The order and harmony between the various realms of creation begins to fracture. So beings in the invisible spiritual realm no longer help man but tempt him to stray from communion with Yahweh. Man, who likewise is viewed as a help to the creatures who were created with him, lords it over them. Women's bodies betray them and they bear children in pain. The earth betrays man and will only produce for him with the sweat of his brow. Even the exalted spiritual beings of the invisible realm represented by the serpent must eat the dust of the ground. What began as the glorious liberty of a fully integrated and functioning cosmos, devolves into a disintegrating cosmos marked by bondage.

Here is where the historical and cosmic contexts of the Ten Commandments intersect. The bondage of Israel in Egypt bespeaks a cosmos returned to a formless void. It has the appearance of something for Egyptian society is well ordered. The gods provide sustenance for Pharaoh and Pharaoh sustains the people. Yet all are in bondage and no one is free. The well-ordered existence is only an illusion. Yahweh shatters the illusion by bringing upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians and their gods ten plagues. The plagues are of cosmic proportion for they deal blows not only to the Egyptians but also to the elemental spirits of the earth, air, fire, and water, as well as to the heavens and the underworld. Thus, Yahweh exhibits his mastery over all realms. With the Egyptians and their gods subdued, Pharaoh releases Israel to begin their exodus.

When in Egypt Israel was as much a part of the chaos as the Egyptians for they served their gods. But once they arrived at Sinai Israel committed to serving Yahweh alone. Then Yahweh began to reassert the original order and harmony of his creation through the revelation of his Law to Moses. The ten sayings of the Ten Commandments stand in parallel to the ten sayings that brought the world in to being. By hearing and doing all that Yahweh speaks, Israel can restore the original goodness of creation. This is not just for their benefit but also for the benefit of all the nations and even the invisible powers. By beholding lowly Israel the powers of earth and heaven are shown God's good order.

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The Analogy of Marriage

When it comes to describing Israel's relationship to God we are reduced to analogies. But which one is best - the analogy of a slave to the master, a subject to a king, a child to a parent, or a wife to a husband? For Israel newly delivered from its bondage in Egypt, the analogy of slave to master is the least appropriate. Their deliverance from bondage in Egypt is viewed in the scriptures as a great act of liberation not a new bondage. The analogies of subject to the king, or child to the parent are more in keeping, but the best analogy is that of wife to husband for at Sinai Israel gave her consent to the relationship. When Moses related the words of Yahweh to the people that if they harkened to his voice and kept his covenant they would be a special treasure to him they said, "All that Yahweh has spoken we will do." In other words, they exchanged vows like a bride and groom. For his part Yahweh promised his presence and provision and protection to Israel and she, in return, promised obedience to his covenant.

Thus the Law, and most especially the Ten Commandments, is analogous to the Ketubah, the nuptial agreement that is a standard part of traditional Jewish weddings. In the case of the Ten Commandments, however, the document outlines the responsibilities of the bride toward her husband whereas in a Ketubah it is the reverse. The Prophets in particular use the analogy of marriage to describe Israel's relationship to Yahweh. For example, in Ezekiel 16 the prophet describes Yahweh's attention to Israel from the time of her birth to the day she had grown to full womanhood and was at the age for love. Then, Yahweh pledged himself to her and entered into covenant with her. Yahweh bestowed his splendor upon her and her fame spread among the nations. Yet Israel became like an adulterous wife and went after other lovers, the gods of the other nations. For a time he sent her into exile and brought her wickedness back upon her, but true to his nature Yahweh forgave her and renewed his covenant with her.

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The Division of the Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments were written on two tablets of stone. The implication of this is that five commandments were written on each stone. The first stone contained the five commands relating to devotion to God. This included the command to honor parents. The second stone contained the five commands relating to behavior toward others. The Torah itself notes three divisions of the Law - the ordinances, the statutes, and the decrees. The ordinances have to do with devotion to God. The statutes have to do with our behavior towards others. The decrees have to do with issues of ritual purity. Thus, the first five commands of the Ten Commandments fall into the category of ordinances. The next four are in the category of statutes. The last commandment is a statute, but could also be considered a decree for it has to do with a purity issue, not outward purity but inner purity of the heart.

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The Ten Commandments

1

I am Yhwh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of serfs. You are not to have any other gods before my presence.

The revelation of the Divine Name is the formative moment in the life of Israel and it is linked to the pivotal event, their deliverance from Egypt and the creation of the nation. Although the Hebrew Scriptures use various titles for the Divine Being, Yhwh is the proper name of God. Traditionally the vowels of words are not written in the Hebrew Scriptures and must be supplied by the reader. When the vowels are added, the Divine Name becomes Yahweh, or in some English transliterations, Jehovah. The name Yhwh is also referred to as the Tetragrammaton, referring to the 4 letters of the Name. Following the analogy of marriage, the revelation of the Divine Name is the declaration of the personal identity of Israel's husband.

The Divine Name was revealed to Moses when God spoke to him from the burning bush to commission him to go down to bring Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 3). Moses asked God to reveal His name in order that he could declare to the people who it is that sent him. If we follow the marriage analogy, Moses plays the role of the friend of the bridegroom who speaks to the bride on the groom's behalf. God's response to Moses seems almost evasive. It is, Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, which can be translated, I will be there howsoever I will be there. It is a word play on the Divine Name, Yahweh. Two things are implied in the Name. First, Yahweh is the living God. He has existence in himself and does not come into being or pass out of being. Second, there are no constraints upon Yahweh. Yahweh is absolutely free. Thus, we deduce from this that the highest attribute of Yahweh that we can discern with our limitations is God's will, God's choosing, or God's choices. And of course, will or choice is an attribute only of living beings.

God's choosing goes to the heart of Israel's identity. They came into being by God's choice. Thus, at the moment God reveals his Name to Moses he reminds him that He is Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God who chose Israel, through Abraham, to bear the knowledge of him (i.e. of his Name) into the world. Again following the analogy of marriage, Yahweh, the husband, is revealed to the other nations through the one nation he has chosen for his bride. No rationale is given for this choice other than God's freedom to be there howsoever he chooses to be there. He chooses to be there through the Hebrew people. To the believing, of course, this explains their remarkable persistence as a people throughout history. It also explains their frequent persecution by those persons, or powers, that resist God's choices.

Since the Hebrew people are chosen for the task of making Yahweh known, they are first commanded to absolute fidelity to His name - "You are not to have any other gods before my presence." Having other gods, other loyalties, would obviously undermine the mission. The commandment seems to acknowledge the existence of other gods, but directs Israel not to consort with any of them. In a marriage fidelity is of paramount importance, so also in the relationship of Israel to Yahweh. Yahweh had already pledged his fidelity by ransoming Israel from Egypt, now Israel must avow the same fidelity by shunning other gods. It has often been said that the Hebrew people introduced monotheism (the belief in one God) to the world. What is more the case is that they vowed to limit their devotion to this one God, Yahweh, whom they regarded as the Most High God. Thus, the quintessential Hebrew confession of faith found in Deuteronomy 6 verse 5 is, "Hear, O Israel: Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."

Yhweh, in this view, merits such devotion because he is the ultimate source of all created reality whether things in the visible realm or the invisible realm. The so-called gods of the invisible realm are created beings while Yahweh alone is uncreated. The superiority of Yahweh is demonstrated in many texts, as, for example, the one in 1 Kings 18 that recounts Elijah's confrontation with the priests of Baal (a Canaanite storm deity) on Mount Carmel. The priests of Baal call upon him to cast fire from heaven upon their altar. No fire is forthcoming. Elijah soaks his altar with water and then calls upon Yahweh. Fire falls and consumes his altar. The message is clear. If Baal has any reality at all, his powers are limited compared to the one, true, living God, Yahweh.

It should be noted that Jews do not attempt to pronounce the name, Yahweh. The Torah proscribes death for the person who blasphemes this Name. According to tradition, the priests, who used this Name in blessing the people, felt increasingly unworthy to pronounce it. Finally, only the High Priest pronounced the Name in the Temple on Yom Kippur. With the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. even that practice ceased. Now the words Lord (Adonai), or the Name (Hashem), are commonly substituted by the reader when the Name, Yahweh, appears in the Hebrew text of scripture. In English translations of the Hebrew Scriptures translators have adopted this Jewish practice and so wherever the name Yahweh appears it is translated as Lord. This is more confusing than enlightening for Lord is a title and not the actual proper name of God.

For Christians it is worth noting that the name Jesus means Yahweh saves. Each time we pronounce the name Jesus we are affirming our belief in Yahweh as the ultimate Reality. It is also worth noting that the word Hallelujah (Alleluia) that is frequently used by Christians in worship means praise Yahweh.

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2

You are not to make yourself a carved-image or any figure that is in the heavens above, that is on the earth beneath, that is in the waters beneath the earth; you are not to bow down to them, you are not to serve them, for I, Yhwh your God, am a jealous God, calling to account the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, to the third and fourth generation of those that hate me, but showing loyalty to the thousandth of those that love me, of those that keep my commandments.

People who have grown up in Western culture have little understanding of idols. We tend to think of them as works of art that have little or no spiritual significance. For example, not far from where I live there is a very large statue of Buddha in one of his manifestations as a healer. He has a fearsome appearance. It is in the corporate headquarters of medical products company, one of many works of art that grace the facility. I saw a video of how it was made. As part of a cultural exchange Japanese artisans were brought to this country to carve the figure from wood. When the figure was completed Buddhist monks dedicated the figure in a lengthy ceremony the purpose of which was to invoke the spirit of the deity into the figure. This ceremony is called opening the mouth of the idol. Only when the spirit enters the image does it become an idol. One does not bow down to or serve a mere work of art but a devotee of a certain deity will bow down to and serve the spirit that inhabits the idol.

In the Hebrew Scriptures Yahweh is the great image-maker. According to the creation account in Genesis 1, God created humankind in His image. The word used in this text has the same sense as the one used in the commandment prohibiting the making of images, or idols. Thus we are meant to understand that since God created his own idol, or image, there is no necessity for man to make an image of God. In fact, man cannot make any image with his hands like the image that God makes. The image that God makes feels, thinks, hears, sees, speaks, and acts. Therefore it adequately represents its maker who can do the same. Idols made by man are poor representations of their human makers, much less adequate representations of God. Or, if you follow the analogy of marriage, compatibility is the issue. A living God, who is the husband, needs a living wife. Also a living wife needs a living husband. The idols God makes are suitable for him since they are alive. The idols men make are not suitable since they are inanimate. In human marriage the union is between two individuals. In the divine/human union Yahweh marries the whole nation of Israel, as befits his majesty (greatness).

In the Genesis 2 account of creation Yahweh made his image by first fashioning the form of Adam from earth and then breathing His own Spirit into him. The procedure is similar to that of any idol maker. Yet there is a profound difference. When Yahweh opened Adam's mouth and breathed his own Spirit into him, Adam became a living being. Even so in this account Yahweh declares his image is not good because Adam is alone. Adam needs a helper to fully image God. Thus, Yahweh creates Eve from Adam's side and together he pronounces them good. Now they are a suitable idol for together they can create life and so image God the author and giver of life. Adam and Eve are then commanded by Yahweh to bear fruit, fill the earth, and subdue it - the very first commandment given to mankind in the Hebrew Scriptures. Ordinarily, a temple is built to house an idol, but this text implies the whole earth is the temple that Yahweh prepared for his self-replicating idols.

Because the man and woman together are the image of God, marriage, the union of the two that can produce children is an important concern in Scripture. This can be seen in the texts where barrenness is an issue as was the case with Abraham and Sarah. Every child, born as a result of the union of a man and a woman images God. In turn, such a child may mature and be joined to the opposite sex to manifest the image of God anew. Perhaps we can understand why, then, a severe curse attaches itself to the children of idolaters for several generations. An idolater makes something with his hands and calls it the image of god. His own offspring are the true image. His offspring are defiled by an idolater's sin and bear the consequences of it. The worse consequence occurred when parents offered their children as sacrifices to a deity, like the Canaanites did to Molech. Conversely, blessing attaches to the children of non-idolaters (those who worship Yahweh and do not defile His image - the man, woman, and child) even to the thousandth generation. To put this promise in perspective, we are nowhere near one thousand generations removed from Abraham or Moses. In this context it is interesting to reflect on Jesus's attitude toward children. "Let the little children come to me... for it is to such as these such that he Kingdom of God belongs," he said (Luke 18:16). And also, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me..." (Luke 9:48) Children bear the Divine image, thus the Messiah welcomes them.

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3

You are not to take up the name of Yahweh for emptiness, for Yahweh will not clear him that takes up His name for emptiness.

Many commentators take the position that this commandment has to do with invoking the Name of God for its authority in a way that is contrary to God's nature or person. Most have legal proceedings in view where to validate his testimony a person swears an oath in the Name. If his testimony is false, he is invoking the Name for emptiness. This view is well substantiated in the Torah. One of the attributes of Yahweh is truth, or beauty, and if we pervert the truth by uttering falsehood things turn ugly. Innocent lives can easily be destroyed. Why should Yahweh clear such a person who has muddied the waters of justice, so to speak, and caused harm to the innocent? But there are other situations in which someone can invoke Yahweh's name in a way that is contrary to his nature such as uttering a curse upon someone in His name. Another attribute of Yahweh is mercy, indeed the Torah affirms this as his chief attribute and when one curses another by taking up the name of Yahweh, His name is emptied of its meaning. The opposite of taking up His name for emptiness is to honor His name.

There is a beautiful story of honor in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is the story of Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite who married a Hebrew man, Mahlon. He had migrated to Moab at a time of famine with his parents and brother. Mahlon's father died in Moab, widowing his mother Naomi. Mahlon and his brother then married and both boys also died before having children. Naomi declared to her daughters-in-law her intention to return to Israel and urged them to return to their families. But Ruth would not be parted from her and in one of the most moving texts of scripture she says, "Entreat me not to leave you...where you go I will go. Where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God." (Ruth 1:16) So the two childless and destitute widows return to the land. Ruth gleans in the fields of a kinsman, Boaz, to provide sustenance for Naomi and herself. Naomi hatches a plan to have Boaz redeem Ruth, that is, claim her for his kinsman's sake and marry her to raise up an inheritance (children) for his kinsman. Naomi tells Ruth to anoint herself and to uncover the feet of Boaz and lay down at his feet after he has fallen asleep on the threshing floor during the barely harvest. This gesture signified Ruth's willingness to submit her life to Boaz. Upon awakening and finding her there he acts to claim her as his own for he has heard of her honorable behavior toward Naomi. Ruth bore a son to Boaz and that son, Obed, was the grandfather of King David.

This story serves as an analogy for the marriage of Yahweh to Israel. When Yahweh descended upon the mount at Sinai his feet touched the mountain. Israel was encamped at the foot of the mountain, at Yahweh's feet. This signified their willingness to submit to Him and be His spouse. Ruth did not dishonor the name of Boaz throughout all of her days but from the very beginning of their relationship Israel dishonored the Name of Yahweh. For while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Torah from Yahweh, Israel grew impatient and demanded Aaron make a god for them to lead them through the wilderness. Aaron made the Golden Calf from the jewelry they had taken from Egypt. Yet, even this dishonorable act served and important purpose. Enraged, Yahweh wanted to destroy the people but Moses interceded saying why should the Egyptians say it was with evil intent, to destroy Israel, that you brought them out to the mountain. In other words, Moses argued that associating the Name Yahweh with evil would render His Name for emptiness. Moses then asked to see Yahweh's glory. Yahweh granted this favor to Moses replying, "I will make all of my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, 'Yahweh; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I show mercy.'" (Exodus 33:19) From this text the Rabbis declare that mercy along with will is the highest attribute of Yahweh for that is what He chooses. If we choose, therefore, to invoke His Name in a way that does not reflect His goodness and mercy we take up His Name for emptiness.

Jesus took oaths, and invoking God's Name while swearing an oath, very seriously. Thus, in the Sermon on the Mount he said, "Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, you shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord. But I say to you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be, Yes, Yes, or No, No; anything more that this comes from the evil one." (Mathew 5:33-37) In other words, Jesus says our insides and outsides should match. When Moses interceded with Yahweh he said in effect your insides and outsides would not match if you did evil to Israel for your insides are about grace and mercy. Another way of translating into English the Hebrew word for mercy or grace is steadfast love. This connotes constancy. When Jesus says let your yes be yes and your no be no he enjoins us to be constant in our nature and consistent in our word. To invoke God's Name to back up our word opens us up to the temptation to be inconsistent since we are calling upon God's constancy to "vouch" for us. Yahweh is constant and consistent in nature and word and, as his images Jesus instructs us to be the same.

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4

Remember the Sabbath day, to hallow it. For six days, you are to serve, and are to make all your work, but the seventh day is Sabbath for Yhwh your God: you are not to make any kind of work, (not) you, nor your son, nor your daughter, (not) your servant, nor your maid, nor your beast, nor your sojourner that is within your gates. For in six days Yhwh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in it, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore Yhwh gave the seventh day as his blessing, and he hallowed it.

The Hebrew calendar reckons days from sundown to sundown. The Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday. Observance of the Sabbath is the one ordinance with a proscribed ritual that witnesses to an important event or concept, in the Ten Commandments. The Sabbath testifies to God as the Creator (the Exodus version) and as the Redeemer of Israel from Egypt (the Deuteronomy version). Its critical importance in Hebrew devotion is revealed by the following quote.

"The Sabbath is the most important institution in Judaism. It is the primary ritual, the very touchstone of our faith. Not only is the Sabbath the only ritual appearing in the Ten Commandments, but it is also repeated more often in the Torah than any other Commandment. Our great prophets hardly ever mentioned any ritual. Their task was to admonish Israel with regard to faith and morality. But still, they placed a great emphasis on the Sabbath. Classical Judaism does not recognize such divisions as Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. There were basically only two kinds of Jews, The Sabbath Observer and The Sabbath Violator." (From Aryeh Kaplan's Sabbath; Day of Eternity, page 7f)

Although the Ten Commandments refer only to keeping the Sabbath day, it should be noted the rest of the Torah also requires keeping the Sabbatical year (the 7th year) and the Jubilee year (the 50th year - the year following 7 successive Sabbatical years). So rather than think of the Sabbath as only a weekly observance, it is actually a complex of observance with profound implications. The Sabbath signifies eternity.

"God dwells in Eternity, in a realm beyond change and time. On the Seventh Day, God added this dimension of tranquility and harmony to the world. It was no longer in a process of change, and therefore was able to partake of God's serenity. As such it became holy and blessed. In a sense, God descended to the world on the Sabbath of creation. It is interesting to note that the word Shabbos is related to the word Sheves, to dwell. On the Sabbath, God made the world his dwelling place. When a man observes the Sabbath, he too partakes of God's eternity." (From Aryeh Kaplan's Sabbath; Day of Eternity, page 21)

But what does it mean to partake of God's eternity? What would that be like? Clues are given to us in the second account of creation in Genesis 2 that describe the conditions in the Garden of Eden - Paradise. There, the man, Adam, was in intimate communion with God. But he was lacking in one respect; he was alone. He had no suitable companion like himself with which to share his creaturely life. God recognized this lack and so created all of the animals of the field and the birds of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would name them. Even so these fellow creatures were not suitable partners for man. So God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and from his side he took a rib and created a helper for him. When Adam awoke he exclaimed, "This-time she-is-it! Bone from my bones, flesh from my flesh! She shall be called Woman/Isha, for from Man/Ish she was taken!" Then, the text comments, "Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. Now the two of them, the human and his wife, were nude, yet they were not ashamed." (Genesis 2:23-25) The two becoming one is the very definition of marriage. With respect to the Sabbath, the two, heaven and earth, marry and become one on that day. The communion of heaven and earth, between God and humanity, is the theme of the Sabbath, but such communion also extends to humans with one another and humans with all other creatures.

Paradise, thus also eternity, is characterized by such intimate communion. There is no interruption in communion that would cause shame or fear. It is the state of love. Insight into the nature of love is given to us by the use of the Hebrew word that is translated as cleave. It can mean to split open and also to be joined. When we say that God made the world for love's sake we imply he split himself open to take something of himself to place in another so that he could be joined to that one. In Adam's case, he took some of his Spirit and placed it into the man he had shaped from the dust, thus giving him a soul. With that soul man in turn can cleave to God, now in the sense of being joined to him. So David writes in Psalm 63:8, "My soul cleaves to you; you right hand (the hand of love) holds me fast." In the same way Adam was split open and something taken from him in order to create the woman, whom he named Eve, meaning mother of all. Therefore he could cleave to her now in the sense of being joined. Eve, in turn, gives birth to men. They are taken from her body, and so her desire would be for them, to cleave, to be joined to them. In Paradise man is in communion even with the animals. His naming them is a form of cleaving, being split open and taking something from himself, a name, and placing it upon his fellow creatures in order to be joined to them. Cleaving, the process of splitting and joining, taking something from the inside and giving it to another on the outside for the sake of union is a journey of mutual self-discovery. This cannot be done alone but only in the company of others, of God, of our fellow humans, and of our fellow creatures.

Two things are necessary for self-discovery – love and work. Sigmund Freud put it this way, "The communal life of human beings has, therefore, a two-fold foundation: the compulsion to work which was created by external necessity, and the power of love." (Civilization and Its Discontents) But in Paradise there was no external necessity that compelled Adam to work in the ordinary sense. All of his provisions were readily at hand. Nor will there be any external necessity to work in Eternity. It is only in this world, or rather in this age, that work is a necessity. And since the Sabbath partakes of Eternity, it is observed by resting, by ceasing from work in order that the day be given over to love. Although the necessity of work is recognized in the command, "For six days...you shall make all your work," loving is viewed as essential for we were made in love for love. Love is our essence, not work. One only need compare two books of the Hebrew Bible attributed to Solomon, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon, to see which is preferred. In the first he writes about work and says, "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?" (Ecclesiastes 1:2,3) In the second he extolls love, "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned." (Song of Solomon 8:7)

Work in the ordinary sense is exhibiting mastery over the world by the exercise of intelligence or skill. Through work we enter into what Martin Buber called an I-It relationship with the world. In this relationship we regard things, animals, and even people, as being there for our use. We strive to fix and change things to suit our needs. When we cease from our labors on the Sabbath, however, we no longer exhibit mastery nor do we alter things to suit us. We receive things as they are and appreciate them for their otherness. This kind of relationship Buber called the I-Thou relationship. So for six days we (and our spouse) work, and one's son, or daughter, servant, or maid, beast, or sojourner, may work at our side, and in this labor we master and are mastered. On the Sabbath we receive the world and all that is in it as it is without any desire to change it or master it. Rather we seek to cleave to it, to the things and people in it, and to God who created it. We dwell together in loving communion, the fruit of which is peace, that profound wellbeing that is the meaning of the Hebrew word shalom.

One Biblical story of love and work that illustrates the Sabbath mindset is the story of Jacob and Rachel. Jacob traveled to his mother's homeland and there encountered his niece Rachel at the well where she went to water her father Laban's flock. Laban then brought Jacob to his house and entertained him for a month. But then Laban asked Jacob what wages he would require if he stayed on to serve him. Jacob replied that he would serve Laban for seven years for his daughter Rachel, for he loved her. The text reports, "So Yaakov served seven years for Rachel, yet they were in his eyes as but a few days because of his love for her." (Genesis 29:20) Laban made a feast and then brought his daughter into Jacob, except the daughter he brought was not Rachel, but Leah, her elder sister. In the morning Jacob confronted Laban about the deception to which Laban replied it was not their custom to give away the younger before the firstborn. Laban then pacified Jacob by saying, "Just fill out the bridal week for this one, then we shall give you that one also, for the service which you will serve me for yet another seven years." (Genesis 29:27) Jacob agreed and he married Rachel as well. Work is a necessity, as Freud observed, but the real goal of life is love. Fourteen years of labor seemed as nothing to Jacob to attain his union with his beloved Rachel.

Considering the central importance of the Sabbath in Judaism, it is not surprising that it plays central role in the life and ministry of Jesus as well. He observed the Sabbath and is depicted in the Gospels as attending and teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. It is also an occasion for controversy in his ministry for he doesn't always observe the Sabbath in the same way as his contemporaries. The commandment to remember the Sabbath by not making work, doesn't define work. Eventually the Rabbis came to accept the definition of work as those thirty-nine categories of work that were required to build the Tabernacle in the Wilderness because God repeated the command to observe the Sabbath just before he told Moses to start building the Tabernacle. It is probably not the case that work was so well defined in Jesus' day, however. Probably there were various schools of thought about Sabbath observance. But clearly Jesus' practice at times offended the sensibilities of one or more of these schools. A typical example is the story of the healing of an invalid man by the pool of Bethzatha in Jerusalem recorded in John 5. The waters there were said to have had healing properties when they were stirred up (by the descent of an angel). The man had been ill for thirty-eight years, and had been by the pool for a long time, but had no one to put him into the waters when they were stirred up. Jesus ordered the man to stand up and take his mat and walk. The man stood up and was healed. He then did what others regarded as a violation since the healing took place on the Sabbath – he carried his mat. Carrying things in the public domain is one of the categories of work necessary for building the Tabernacle and therefore, forbidden. Though it was the man who did the carrying, he did so at the direction of Jesus, and so Jesus was viewed as the greater Sabbath violator.

Christians regard Jesus to be the Messiah and the Rabbis allow that the Messiah will give new more definitive interpretations of the Torah. We believe Jesus did just that with respect to the Sabbath. So, for example, on one Sabbath his disciples were walking through a grain field and because they were hungry they plucked and ate the grain. Some who considered this a Sabbath violation criticized him for allowing his disciples to do this. He defended his action by citing the instance when David and his men ate the bread of the Presence from the Tabernacle that only priests were allowed to eat. This too happened on the Sabbath. He then said to his critics, "The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath." (Mark 2: 27-28) Son of man is the title Jesus used for himself to identify with humankind and the teaching alludes to the fact that humankind was created last on the 6th day of creation and then given dominion over creation. Humankind's dominion began the next day and that was the first Sabbath. Thus, humankind exercises dominion on that day as well as the other days of the week. Jesus' contemporaries were doing just that when they rendered their judgments about how the day should be kept. They too were being lords of the Sabbath. The Son of Man title also indicates a disposition to humility and service, something Jesus extoled to his disciples when he said he was not like the Gentile kings that lorded it over their subjects but he exercised lordship by being the servant of all. The kinds of things Jesus did on the Sabbath, like the healings, were of service to humankind. Similarly the Rabbis also agree that Sabbath restrictions can be violated in order to save a life. This relates to the notion of Tikkun Olam (Hebrew for healing or repairing the world). In the aforementioned story of healing the man by the Pool of Bethzatha Jesus repaired his world. He justified his actions on that occasion by saying, "My Father is still working, and I also am working." (John 5:17) Here he seems to allude to the Father's work of redemption. The Father ceased from his labors after the six days of creation, but since the fall of the cosmos he has been working to redeem the world and will continue to do so until that work is completed in the Age to Come. Jesus affirms the work of redemption must continue even on the Sabbath. A noteworthy instance of this is the "rest" Jesus took on the Sabbath after his death and burial. Even then he continued his labor for redemption for he descended to the dead and proclaimed the gospel to them. (I Peter 4:6)

Finally, we need to ask, do Christians observe the Sabbath? In one sense the answer is no. When the movement that is now called Christianity was still a Jewish phenomenon the followers of Jesus did observe the Sabbath. But once the movement became largely a Gentile phenomenon, Sunday, the first day of the week became the preferred day for rest and religious observance. The first day of the week, Sunday, was the day of Jesus' resurrection from the dead and since that is the main historical event that Christians celebrate (their new creation and new exodus) it became the day to cease from the labors of this world and commune with God, one's fellows, and the creation. But in another sense the answer is yes. Like devout Jews, Christians look forward to the transformation of the world into what the Rabbis refer to as Yom Shekulo Shabbos – the day when all will be Sabbath. That day is the same as the Day of Eternity – the 8th day, the day of the Age to Come that follows the 7 days, or the 7 epochs of this present age. Just as Jews refer to the Sabbath as a bride, Christians use the marriage analogy to describe our hope for life in that age. Marriage takes place in two phases, the betrothal and then the wedding. Christians understand Jesus' first coming into this world as the betrothal phase when he woos the bride (the church) and pays the bride price for her (his death). He then returns to the Father to prepare a place for his bride. At his second coming at the end of this present age he will gather his bride and the marriage of Christ and his church (the Messiah and his disciples) that is Eternity will begin. Thus, the last book of the New Testament, John's Revelation, ends with a vision of the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God as a bride adorned for her husband. The union, the marriage of heaven and earth, is consummated and all becomes Sabbath.

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5

Honor your father and mother in order that your days may be prolonged on the soil that YHWH your God is giving you.

This is no simple command to be obedient to parents for it comes with the promise that your days may be prolonged in the land. Only infidelity to Yahweh could threaten Israel's continuation in the land. Such infidelity has its origin in idolatry, going after other gods as the people did at Sinai, and its end is oppression, the failure of establishing justice (giving what is due) particularly to the widows and orphans and strangers in the land. These are the reasons cited by the great prophets for first Israel, the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom, being carried off into captivity by Assyria, and then Judah, the 2 tribes of the Southern Kingdom, being carried off by Babylon. Such exiles from the land are the equivalent of a husband putting an unfaithful wife out of his household. And yet in Yahweh's case he does not divorce Israel but, in time, restores her. Today is such a time of restoration for Israel as she returns to Yahweh and he restores her to the land.

Fidelity to Yahweh through the generations requires that children are instructed by parents in the Torah so that each generation might know the Lord and serve him. Thus, right after the quintessential confession of faith is given in Deuteronomy 6:4f that Yahweh alone shall be your God and that you shall love him with all your heart, soul, and might, is given the charge concerning Yahweh's words to, "You are to repeat them to your children and are to speak of them in your sitting in your house and in your walking in the way, in your lying down and in your rising-up. You are to tie them upon your hand, and they are to be bands between your eyes. You are to write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates." This is the origin of the phylacteries that Jewish men wear at the times of prayer and the mezuzahs that Jews affix to the doors of their houses. Thus, parents are obligated to instruct their children and children, in turn, to honor, literally, give weight to, such instructions by observing all that Yahweh requires. Such instruction begins before a child is of an age to be considered responsible for observing the commandments and so this command to honor parents is not aimed at such young children but those now grown that they continue in their parent's instruction. Traditionally when a child reaches 13 years of age he or she is considered responsible for the Law (a son or daughter of the Law, a bar or bat mitzvah). The Scriptures recognize the early years are formative in a child's life, so that if parental instruction is given then, he or she will seldom depart from observance afterward. "Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray." (Proverbs 22:6)

But suppose the parent's themselves have strayed and been unfaithful to Yahweh and so what they have taught their children is the wrong way. There is no obligation upon children of such parents to give weight to the ways of their parents. This is illustrated in the life of Hezekiah, King of Judah. His father, Ahaz, had been an apostate. Toward the end of his reign "Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, and cut in pieces the utensils of the house of God. He shut the doors of the house of the Lord and made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. In every city of Judah he made high places to make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his ancestors." (2 Chronicles 28:24, 25) Hezekiah, however, did not follow in the way of his father. When he ascended to the throne at age 25, his first act was to restore the Temple to the exclusive worship of Yahweh. So the text comments, "He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his ancestor David had done." (2 Chronicles 29:2) Here we encounter a profound truth. We do not attain to life only because of our parents but because of their parents and their parents' parents. We spring from a lineage and if in the immediate generation before us our parents were unfaithful, we can look back to the ancestors who were faithful and honor them as our father and mother. The adverse effects of parent's unfaithfulness to Yahweh may have to be born by the three or four generations that follow, but the blessings of faithful parents accrue to the thousandth generation of their offspring. Thus, Jews have looked back to their faithful ancestors, particularly to their progenitors, Abraham and Sarah, as their father and mother whom they honor by following their example of fidelity to Yahweh alone. Their merit has established an account with Yahweh, so to speak, upon which new generations can draw.

Ultimately, of course, Jews view God as father and one should always honor him even when human parents fail to give him honor. So the prophet Malachi says, "Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?" (Malachi 2:10) It is this text Jesus seems to have in view when he gives what some see as a dishonorable retort to his own mother on the occasion when she and his brothers came to bring him back home at the outset of his ministry. He was teaching in a house and when he was told they were outside he said, '"Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?' And pointing to his disciples, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.'" (Mathew 12:48-50) The Talmud speaks of these three partners in the creation of every human being - mother, father and the Almighty. Dear to God is the honoring of the father and the mother for Scripture employs the same expressions about honoring, revering, or cursing parents, as about honoring, revering, or cursing Himself, thus, according to a hermenutic rule, equating the things themselves. The rewards attached to these are equivalent. It is logical that father, mother, and God should thus be joined, for they are so to speak partners in bringing the child to life. (From G. F. Moore's Judaism, vol. II, page 131) But while honor is due parents and we are commanded to give weight to their words, God's words are given final weight, since we are commanded to worship him.

Though it might seem Jesus placed devotion to God above devotion to parents in such a way that filial piety could be neglected, this was not the case. Mark records an interchange between Jesus and certain Pharisees and scribes. They accused him of abandoning the tradition of the elders with respect to washing, an issue of ritual purity. He in turn accused them of abandoning the commandment of God while holding onto human traditions specifically with respect to honoring parents. He said to them, "'For Moses said, 'Honor your father and mother'; and, 'Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, 'Whatever support you might have from me is Corban' (that is an offering to God) – then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this." (Mark 7:10-13) Apparently a practice had grown up where people could devote some or all of their wealth to the Temple as an offering. They had use of it during their lifetime for their personal needs but upon their death it became the possession of the Temple. Since it was devoted to God in this way it could not be used for other purposes, even the care of one's parents. Jesus devoted himself to God to such a degree that he made a sacrifice of himself. Even so he did not neglect the care of his mother. In a poignant scene Jesus, while dying on the cross, transfers the care of his mother to his beloved disciple John with the words, "Woman here is your son," and to John, "Here is your mother." (John 19; 26,27) In this way he fulfills both the command to worship God alone and honor mother and father at one and the same time.

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Introduction to the Second Division

By Jesus' day a summary of the whole of the Law was reduced to two commandments, to love God and to love neighbor. The first was based upon the confession of faith in Deuteronomy 6:4f that I referred to in the last section. The second was based upon the command in Leviticus 19:18, _"You are not to take vengeance, you are not to retain anger against the sons of your kinspeople - but be loving to your neighbor (as one) like yourself, I am YHWH."_ The two tablets, thus the twofold division of the Ten Commandments, relates to this summary. The first tablet with its 5 commandments relates to the love of God. The second with its 5 commandments relates to the love of neighbor.

The Leviticus text, by itself, seems to limit the love of others to one's own kinspeople, or in this case, love of one's fellow Israelites. Apparently the issue of how far the love of others must extend was a topic for debate. Such debate gave rise to one of Jesus' more famous parables, the parable of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:25-37) The sense of that parable is that a neighbor is anyone in need and the command is fulfilled if love is extended to such a one, even if he is not one's kindred. Of course there is much precedence for this in the Torah for the Talmud, the Rabbinical commentary on the Torah, identifies 7 universal laws that were recognized to predate the commandments given at Sinai. They are referred to as the Noahide Laws since they date to the days of Noah and his sons. Two prohibitions against making idols and blaspheming God relate to the love of God. Four prohibitions against murder, adultery and theft and a requirement to set up an effective judiciary, to addresses the issue of taking vengeance and retaining anger, relate to the love of others. Here love is not limited to kin but the prohibitions are viewed as universal. Interestingly, the final law of the seven laws has to do with cruelty to animals. It is forbidden.

Behind both the Noahide Laws and those given to Moses lies the very first and fundamental commandment given in the Torah. It is given in Genesis 1:28 where it says God blessed the man and the woman and said to them, "Bear fruit and be many and fill the earth and subdue it! Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the foul of the heavens, and all living things that crawl about the earth!" Note that they are given dominion over other creatures but not over each other, that is, over other human beings. Human beings, the previous verse in the same text affirms, are God's idols and therefore he alone has dominion over them. So the intent of both the Noahide Laws and those given at Sinai is to limit man's dominion. He is not to exercise his God given dominion over the animals in a cruel fashion, and he is not to exert dominion over his fellow humans. To murder, to commit adultery, to steal, and so on are all ways to exert dominion over another. One way to look at this issue of dominion is to say it extends as far as to those we name. In the second creation account Adam names the animals for he exercises dominion over them. He names Eve. Eve named Cain, her son. So humans do exercise dominion over others but only within their family, parents over their own children and husbands over their own wives. But that is where their dominion ends with respect to others for they do not name them.

Of course, the issue of dominion of husbands over wives is a thorny one. These days the Torah and its laws are either disqualified outright by some or viewed as limited in usefulness by others because of its patriarchal stance that gives men power over women and the unequal status between the two. Consider that the prohibition against adultery does not prohibit a married man from having sexual relations with a women other than his wife provided she is not married to another man, but it prohibits all sexual relations for a married woman save for those with her husband. The patriarch Jacob with his two wives and two concubines illustrates the point. Or, consider that the prohibition against coveting doesn't even seem to be addressed to women for it says to the man you are not to desire the wife of your neighbor but is silent about the wife desiring the husband of another woman. The Rabbis resolve this by saying all the prohibitions, the negative commands, are required of both men and women, though not all the positive ones (like journeying to Jerusalem for the festivals if a woman was unable because of pregnancy or child rearing). But the former issue of sexual relations in marriage has been resolved in the Judeo-Christian tradition by custom rather than by the Biblical law. Monogamy for both husbands and wives has become the accepted norm so much so that in these traditions if a man has sexual relations with any woman other than his wife it is considered adultery.

It might seem very odd indeed that I say man was not given dominion over his fellows since we are only familiar with kings and princes and rulers of all sorts who exercise dominion. My only defense is to say that the Scriptures are quite countercultural. Following the marriage analogy, Yahweh, the husband of Israel, is viewed in the Scriptures as her only king. The anointing of Saul as the first king of Israel is not viewed as the ideal but an accommodation to the desires of the people. Before this king they had judges and elders who "establish courts of justice" to adjudicate disputes. Samuel, the great prophet rejected the demand of the Israelites to have a king like the other nations. But Yahweh said to him, "Listen to the voice of the people in all they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me for being king over them." (I Samuel 8:7) There has been no greater treatise on politics written than that singular chapter. After that the second greatest may be the Book of Daniel, especially chapter 7. There, as is typical of the prophetic writings the rulers and kingdoms of this world are viewed as powerful and ravenous beasts that stomp upon and devour their own people and those of other nations. Do I need to denounce this view as ahistorical? Hardly. History testifies and confirms the truth of the scriptures. The hope of that chapter in Daniel and all of scripture is for a ruler that God anoints who resembles a human being, thus, has humanity, and doesn't rule by lording it over others and exercising dominion in a cruel fashion but is gracious and the servant of all. That is the Messiah whom Israel awaits and Christians acknowledge has come in Jesus.

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6

You are not to murder.

The first sin in the Torah is Adam and Eve's sin of eating of the tree of the knowledge and good and evil when they were in the Garden of Eden. It was a sin against God's command not to eat of that particular tree. The second is the sin of their firstborn son, Cain's murder of his sibling, Abel. It occurred outside of Eden. It was a sin against Abel, the worst one can commit against another, but it was also a sin against his parents and against God. It was a sin against his parents since it deprived them of a son and against God since it deprived him of an image of himself. Thus, we see the relationship between the first tablets of 5 commandments and the second. They are not independent of each other but any violation of the second tablets is also a violation of the first and observing the first tablets is key to observing the second. If Cain revered God and honored his parents it is inconceivable that he could murder his brother.

In many translations of scripture this commandment is rendered as a prohibition against all killing and that has led to much discussion about the nature of violence. Can it be justified in self-defense or to save the life of another? Does God condone war at times like when Israel was commanded to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan as they entered it in the days of Joshua? These questions are beyond the scope of my modest project of commenting on the commandments. I can only say that personally I have been both a conscientious objector eschewing violence and a supporter of self-defense and the defense of others even if that meant being the "aggressor." Life hardly allows us to be consistent. We wrestle with these issues as Jacob did with the "angel" and are left wounded by them. Many who would have been content to live in peace were not allowed to. Suffice it to say scholars and translators generally agree the prohibition in the sixth commandment is against murder and not all forms of killing.

The story of the first murder is recorded in Genesis 4:3-16. The two brothers bring offerings as a gift to set before Yahweh. Cain works the soil so he offers a portion of his crops. Abel is a shepherd of flocks so he offers lambs from the firstborn of his flock. The text says Yahweh had regard for Abel's offering but had no regard for Cain's gift. No rational is given in the text for Yahweh's preference and perhaps that is intentional for it sets the tone for Cain's act that is also without reason. There is an irrational element to murder for we recognize that someone who murders has to a great degree gone beyond rationality even if he is calculating and cognizant of his actions. What is clarified in the text is Cain's reaction when Yahweh had no regard for his gift. It reports that Cain became exceedingly upset and his face fell. He had, in other words, a shame reaction. Shame is what we experience when the flow of love is interrupted. Adam and Eve experienced the same when they committed the first sin for the text says when they ate of the fruit their eyes were opened and they knew then they were naked. Their reaction to the shame was to hide themselves by sewing fig leaves together for loincloths and to hide from God when he came to walk with them in the garden. Cain's reaction to shame was different, he chose to attack his brother and kill him, thus committing a grievous sin. Before he does so Yahweh converses with Cain and asks why he is so upset and ashamed. Yahweh says to him, "Is it not thus: If you intend good, bear-it-aloft, but if you do not intend good, at the entrance is sin, a crouching demon, toward you his lust – but you can rule over him." (verse 7) Thus, Yahweh invites Cain to overcome the shame by intending good and restoring the flow of love between the two. But he also acknowledges Cain has the other option of intending evil and in that case, though he seems to exercise his reason, the irrational element of sin comes to the fore. It is a crouching demon that enters his domain and whose lust overtakes him. Cain chooses the second option. He arranges to meet his brother in the field where they can be alone and there he rises up against Abel and kills him.

The odd thing is that Yahweh doesn't require the life of Cain when he confronts him over the murder of his brother. Nor did Yahweh require the life of Adam and Eve when they sinned even though the prohibition was "on the day you eat of it, you must die, yes die." But they did not die that day but lived on. Nor did Cain die the day Yahweh confronted him over his sin even though later in the Torah the penalty for murder is death. They all did die, eventually but not immediately. The Rabbis have an explanation for this. They say Yahweh created the world twice. The first time was with strict justice. Man sinned. Yahweh executed his judgment and the world came to an end. But his purpose was for the world to continue. So Yahweh created the world again. Man sinned. This time Yahweh showed mercy so the world could continue. In a most prescient text Cain, who is spared from death by Yahweh but is banished from his face says, "I must be wavering and wandering on earth – now it will be that whoever comes upon me will kill me!" (Genesis 4:14) Meaning men will judge me and condemn me to death as I killed my brother. So Yahweh puts a sign on Cain so that "whoever came upon him would not strike him down." Here again God chooses mercy over judgment so life can continue. But to be banished from the face of Yahweh is to be banished from life itself. If Cain did not die on that day that he murdered his brother, he did die eventually. Yahweh sets a limit on life for sinners, as when he expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden lest they eat of the Tree of Life and live forever.

The sin of murder is essentially appropriating the power of God to oneself. The tempter said to Eve in the garden, "Die, you will not die! Rather God knows that on the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will become like gods..." (Genesis 3: 4.5) Only God can kill and make alive as the text in Deuteronomy 32:39 affirms. Man, like Cain can kill, but how can he make alive (after he has killed)?

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7

You are not to adulter.

As I mentioned in the in the Introduction to the Second Division, the Torah has a patriarchal bent that is problematic for many today. In the Torah adultery is the sin of a man having sexual relations with a married woman that is not his wife or a married woman having sexual relations with a man that is not her husband. Thus, adultery has a more limited sense in the Torah than the sense it has in Western culture today. In the Torah polygamy is acknowledged and permitted so a married man is not limited to one sexual partner but a married woman is. In addition to multiple wives a man's sexual partners may be an unmarried woman that is not his wife, a concubine, or prostitute but in these cases that is not considered adultery. Not that those relations are necessarily approved in the Torah, especially consort with a prostitute since prostitution was often associated with the cult practices of the other nations. It fits into a different category of the Law. Adultery is a violation of a commandment, what we think of as the moral law. Consorting with prostitutes is more a violation of the decrees, the purity laws. This is a difficult distinction for many to understand – the difference between immorality and impurity – but it is, nevertheless, an important distinction that we must grapple with to comprehend the Biblical texts.

The most famous example of adultery in the Scriptures is that of King David with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, as recorded in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. As the story goes, David remained at home in Jerusalem in the spring of the year at a time when kings customarily go out to battle. David had sent Joab, his commander, and the army out to besiege Rabbah, a town of the Ammonites. One day, in the late afternoon, David was walking on the roof of the palace (the roofs of the houses being flat in that climate and serving as an elevated porch to catch the breeze). He looked down and saw a beautiful woman bathing. He inquired about the woman and was told her name was Bathsheba and that she was the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, who was serving with Joab at the time. David sent for Bathsheba and lay with her and then she returned home. But Bathsheba soon sent word to David that she had conceived a child. David then concocts a plan to cover his misdeed. He sends a message to Joab to have Uriah return to report on the progress of the campaign. Uriah returns and reports and then David urges him to go to his home, anticipating he will lay with Bathsheba and cover David's act. Uriah, however, doesn't go home but sleeps at the entrance to the king's house with the other servants. When David questions Uriah in the morning about this he replies he cannot do such a thing, eat and drink and lie with his wife, while Joab and the army are camping out in the fields and on duty. David tries once more by having Uriah eat and drink in his presence until he was drunk, but even then he did not return home. So, in the morning, David drafted a letter to Joab and handed it to Uriah to deliver. The letter instructed Joab to put Uriah in the front of the hardest fighting and then withdraw from him so that he would be struck down and die. Joab obeyed David's command and Uriah was killed in battle. This story illustrates well the dilemma of adulterous relationships. While the two who are enchanted with each other feel delighted that the other is alive, inevitably they harbor thoughts that their partners in marriage would die. A king, like David, has the power to kill and can turn his wish into reality.

King David showed no remorse at all over his actions. Uriah's death in battle he chalks up to the nature of warfare for the "sword devours now one and now another." (2 Samuel 11:25) As to his dalliance with Bathsheba, perhaps he did not see it as an adulterous act. The text of the affair is careful to assert two facts. First, Bathsheba was not bathing merely to cleanse herself. She was purifying herself after her period the text reports. The decrees prohibit sexual relations with a woman during her period and for 7 days afterwards for she is impure during those days. But when those days are completed she restores her status to purity by immersing in the mikvah. She then can engage is sexual relations and would be ovulating and more likely to conceive. David, no doubt, understood Bathsheba's bathing as her return to the status of purity and sexual availability. The text also repeatedly identifies Uriah as a Hittite, thus a foreigner, non-Israelite, who had settled in Israel and married Bathsheba, an Israelite woman. Interestingly, the prohibition against having sexual relations with a menstruating woman is followed by a verse that prohibits sexual relations with a kinsman's wife. (Leviticus 18:19, 20) Perhaps David felt some liberty to have relations with Bathsheba for her husband was not a kinsman. If so, this would be an example of David justifying his behavior from one text while ignoring others that condemn it. For in the very next chapter of Leviticus Yahweh commands that the resident alien not be oppressed rather that, "like the native born among you he shall be to you, the sojourner that sojourns with you; be-loving to him (as one) like yourself, for sojourners you were in the land of Egypt. I am YHWH your God!" (Leviticus 19:34) Or, perhaps David thought he had redeemed himself for after Bathsheba's period of mourning was over for her husband Uriah, David brought her to his house and married her. Later she bore David's son, Solomon, who succeeded him.

However David may have viewed his deed, Yahweh was displeased by it and saw it as an evil act. Yahweh instructed the court prophet Nathan to confront David. (2 Samuel 12) He does so by relating a tale of a rich man who has many flocks and herds that takes the one beloved lamb of a poor man in order to provide hospitality to a wayfarer because he is loath to take a lamb from his own flock. David is enraged when he hears of this injustice and declares that man deserves to die for he had no pity. To this Nathan replies, "You are the man," and then details all the bounty Yahweh had given David and how in turn David had taken from Uriah his life and his wife. Nathan declares the punishment Yahweh has decreed, the sword will never depart from David's house, his wives will be given to his neighbor, and the child he conceived in adultery with Bathsheba will die. The first two punishments seem like just desserts, an eye for an eye kind of justice, but the third is puzzling. Why should the innocent child pay for David's crimes? When the child is born he does indeed fall ill and dies after 7 days. During that time David fasts and lays on the ground pleading with God for the child. David's remorse is now full-blown.

Another puzzling story in the Scriptures may provide a clue to the child's death. Genesis 38 recounts the story of the death of Onan. Onan's brother Er had a wife named Tamar. For some unstated wickedness, Er dies before he and Tamar have a child. Following the laws of leverite marriage (Deuteronomy 25:5-10) Onan was duty bound to take Tamar as his wife and raise-up a son for his brother Er in order to carry on his name and preserve his patrimony. Onan did take Tamar as his wife but whenever they had relations he would spill his semen on the ground so that he would not give offspring to his brother. This displeased Yahweh and Yahweh put him to death also as he had his brother Er. This story sheds some light upon the death of the child David conceived with Bathsheba. Had Bathsheba merely been widowed, Uriah being a casualty of battle, his brother or a kinsman could have taken her as his wife and raised up a child for Uriah. David's child could not carry on Uriah's name or patrimony and his marriage to Bathsheba precluded a leverite marriage for her. Thus, Uriah's name and patrimony was cut off. Yahweh, acting in justice for Uriah and in retribution upon David, kills the child and cuts off the possibility of this child carrying on David's name and patrimony. These are harsh tales to modern ears but they do reveal something about the prohibition against adultery. What the prohibition has in view is not just a forbidden sexual act but also the danger to patrimony. David had sown his seed in Uriah's field, so to speak, but Yahweh would not allow him to reap the harvest but destroyed the crop. "Beyond the common life of two individuals, marriage organizes the life of the community consisting of descendants and ancestors. So understood marriage is of individuals as well as society." (Gilles Bernheim, in First Things, March 2013, page 43) The prohibition against adultery in marriage protects this community of descendants and ancestors and, thus, the social order.

According to the Torah (Leviticus 20:10) adultery is a capital offense and both the man and the woman who are guilty are to be put to death but it seems the punishment was hardly ever carried out. One reason for this is the difficulty of proving a case before the court. The standards of evidence are very high in the Torah, including two reliable eyewitnesses. Since adultery is done in secret it is hard to find two witnesses. There is always a third witness, however, namely God who sees in secret. This is illustrated in the case of Abimelek the King of Gerar who had taken Abraham's wife Sarah into his house with the intention of marrying her. (Genesis 20: 1-18) Abraham had told him that she was his sister, a ruse Abraham used more than once that was a half-truth since she was indeed his half-sister. God revealed the truth to Abimelek in a dream saying he deserved to die. Abimelek protested his innocence saying, "With a whole heart and clean hands I have done this." God agreed and relented of the threat of the punishment of death and Abimelek returned Sarah to Abraham. But even so only when Abraham intercede for Abimelek did Yahweh heal Abimelek's wife and concubines so they gave birth. For God had obstructed every womb in Abimelek's household on account of Sarah.

The most common form of punishment for adultery is divorce. The story of Jesus' own conception reveals this plainly. When Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant he intended to divorce her (put her away) albeit privately so as not to make a public example of her. (Matthew 1:19) They were not married at the time but betrothed, which in the ancient world was considered as substantial an estate as marriage and like marriage could only be dissolved by the prerogative of the man putting away the woman by a bill of divorce. Only an angelic visitation in a dream forestalled his decision and Joseph married Mary instead. (Matthew 1:20) Yahweh, too, puts away Israel when she becomes adulterous by violating her covenant with him and going after other gods. He in effect writes a bill of divorce and allows her enemies to overtake her and carry her off captive into exile from the land. And yet Yahweh does not make the divorce permanent but relents of his judgment. "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the holy one in your midst and I will not come in wrath." (Hosea 11:8,9) "I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely for my anger has turned from them. They shall live again beneath my shadow, they shall flourish as a garden; they shall blossom like the vine, their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon." (Hosea 14:4,7)

This example of divine mercy to an adulterous Israel is applied in Jesus' ministry to an adulterous woman. Some scribes and Pharisees bring a woman caught in the very act adultery to Jesus while he is teaching in the Temple and ask what he would say about her punishment, Moses having proscribed stoning to death. Jesus replied, "Let anyone who is without sin cast the first stone." (John 8:7) He then bent down to write something on the ground and by the time he had straightened up all of her accusers had gone away. He then said to her, '"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."' (John 8:10,11) In his teaching Jesus did allow for divorce on the grounds of adultery (Mathew 5:32) but given the possibility of repentance and forgiveness, it is not mandatory. It is interesting to note the timing of Jesus' refusal to condemn the woman caught in adultery. It occurs at the end of the festival of Sukkot. That festival follows Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when all Israel repents of their sins and is forgiven by God. The decree of death for sin gives way to God's gracious pardon to the repentant and the extension of the covenant for life. Sukkot is this celebration of the renewed covenant for life similar to the renewal a couple may make in their marriage after there has been rupture in their relationship.

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8

You are not to steal.

There is general agreement that this commandment is a prohibition against kidnapping, the theft of one's very person first and foremost, and then by extension to his property. Shlomo Itzhaki (Rashi) the highly esteemed French medieval Rabbi draws upon earlier tradition to make the point in his commentary on this commandment in his work entitled, Mekhilta. "Furthermore a person's possessions are regarded as an extension of his person. Therefore, by extension, the commandment prohibits all manner of involuntary seizures of property belonging to another person. The owner of the property invariably experiences the theft as a violation of his or her own person. That experience is worse than the loss of property itself." So theft is the violation of the person and there is no greater violation (other than murder) than the involuntary seizure of the person.

The most noteworthy story about kidnapping in the Hebrew Scriptures is that of Joseph the great-grandson of Abraham. His father Jacob, whose name was changed by Yahweh to Israel, had twelve sons by two wives, Rachael and Lea, and their two handmaidens, Bilha and Zilpa. Joseph, the firstborn of his beloved wife Rachel, was Israel's favorite son. The text reports, "Yosef, seventeen years old, used to tend sheep along with his brothers, for he was serving-lad with the sons of Bilha and the sons of Zilpa, his father's wives. And Yosef brought a report of them, an ill one, to their father. Now Yisrael loved Yosef above all his sons, for he was a son of old age to him, so he made him an ornamented coat. When his brothers saw that it was he whom their father loved above all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak to him in peace." (Genesis 37: 2-4) Joseph, for his part, seemed to lack empathy for his brothers and incited their hatred all the more by telling them two dreams that he had dreamed in which they all bowed down to him. Later Israel sent Joseph to check on his brothers and the flocks when they were grazing near Dothan. Seeing him coming from afar his brothers plotted to kill him, but the eldest Ruben intervened convincing them to throw him in a pit in the wilderness instead. He intended to come back and release Joseph. Meanwhile the other brothers relented of their plan to kill him when Judah argued, "What gain is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?" They sold him instead to a passing caravan of traders heading to Egypt for twenty pieces of silver. The traders in turn sold him as a slave to an official in Pharaoh's court. The story ended well, however, for Joseph rose in Pharaoh's court and by his guidance not only the Egyptians, but also his father and brothers, were saved during a time of severe famine. In the end Joseph reconciled with his brothers saying, "God sent me on before you to make you a remnant on earth, to keep you alive as a great body of survivors. So now it was not you who sent me here but God!" (Genesis 45:7-8)

Judah's advice to his brothers that there would be no gain in killing Joseph accurately depicts the motive of any thief – monetary gain. The price paid by the traders for Joseph, 20 pieces of silver, was a considerable sum in that day. Before the machine age and the age of technological advances human skill and labor had great value. In the days of the slavery in our country slaves were costly. One cannot help but notice that slavery was outlawed in many countries at the same time these countries underwent industrialization. But in other countries slavery has persisted even to the present time. It even persists in countries where it has been outlawed. A recent global index that tracks modern slavery estimated that there are 36 million slaves in the world today, more than anytime in human history by number though not by percentage of the population. And they are cheaper than ever, a function of both the devaluation of human labor and the sheer supply. Slaves include men who because of crushing debt are unable to leave their work, women and girls who are exploited as unpaid, abused domestic workers, and boys who are abducted to fight in wars. Slave children are denied an education and girls are often forced to marry early. Slaves have always been vulnerable to sexual exploitation, especially women and children, but not even men are immune. Joseph had to resist the sexual advances of the wife of Potipher, the official that purchased him from the traders.

It is asserted that the Bible endorses slavery, usually by those who want to undermine its moral credibility for other purposes. It doesn't, which should be obvious enough from the fact that those countries that outlawed slavery did so in large part by following the moral guidance of the Hebrew/Christian scriptures. It does acknowledge the existence of slavery as the story of Joseph reveals and of the variety of ways one could become a slave. An unnamed slave girl who had been taken captive by Naaman the Syrian commander on a raid into Israel figures prominently in the story of his healing from leprosy. It is she who tells Naaman's wife, whom she serves, about the prophet Elisha. The story is recorded in 2 Kings 5 and shows the relationship between a master, or mistress, and his or her slave, could be more nuanced than one of mere exploitation. The scriptures do acknowledge a more ordinary way that one could become enslaved. This was by debt or death. One, of necessity, might become a slave of another in order to pay off a debt he owed. And widows and orphans, again of necessity, might become slaves in order to survive.

But the Hebrew Scriptures mandate that those who are enslaved because of debt be forgiven their debts and released from bondage in the 7th, sabbatical year. In the 50th, Jubilee year, they mandate that lands that had been acquired because of indebtedness be returned to original owners so that they not be disinherited and subject then to hereditary slavery. In these ways the Scriptures put limits upon slavery as they did upon the maltreatment of the widows and orphans. Indeed, the prophets of Israel and Judah declare it is because Israel and Judah did not observe the sabbatical and Jubilee mandates, and because they oppressed the widows and orphans, Yahweh in an act of strict justice, sent them into exile as slaves, first at the hands of the Assyrians and then the Babylonians. In the case of Judah the judgment was 70 years of enslavement by Babylon, one year each for the failure to keep the sabbatical law of release for 490 years.

In the Christian scriptures we can see the ongoing concern for the widows. Care for the widows in the Jerusalem church precipitated the appointment of deacons to free up the apostles so they could attend to their other duties (Acts 6). And in St. Paul's letter to Philemon we see the death knell of slavery from the Christian perspective. He returns the slave Onesimus to his master Philemon, but entreats him to receive back, "no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother...in the Lord." (verse 16 of Philemon) Here Paul enacts what he had already formulated in his letter to the Galatians, "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, a do not submit again to the yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1) Critics might say Paul was speaking about slavery to sin, here, not slavery per se, but for him that would be a distinction without a difference. For it was in the same letter that he declared in Christ, "there is no longer slave nor free...for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)

At the outset we noted that the command against stealing is first about theft of the person and second, by extension, the person's property. We should also note that modern technology has facilitated a blurring of the lines between the person and his property. So today we can speak of identity theft where the personal information of a victim is acquired by nefarious means and then used to steal from him or her. The thief assumes the identity of the victim and by that means plunders the victim's property. In the process the victim is left, not physically bruised and battered by the side of the road as was the victim in Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan, but "left for dead" so to speak in terms of his or her good standing in credit markets. This too is a violation of the person.

A summary of further Rabbinic applications of this commandment can be found in Aryeh Kaplan's The Handbook of Jewish Thought -Vol. 2. He writes, for example:

"We are commanded to return any property that is illegally in our possession. If the stolen article is available intact, it must be returned, otherwise, restitution must be made for its value at the time of the theft." (Page 56)

"One who robs or cheats the public has no one to repay and can never actually rectify his crime. However, he should do the best to work for the public welfare and supply public needs, in order that those from whom he stole can benefit indirectly. If he is able, he should also make a public confession and ask for forgiveness." (Page 56)

"It is forbidden to be dishonest or cheat in any business transaction. Maintaining strict honesty in business dealings is equivalent to upholding the entire Torah, and the first thing for which one is judged in heavenly court." (Page 58)

"One's honesty should go far beyond the mere requirements of the Law, and all of one's dealings should be with absolute integrity and fairness." (Page 59)

The sense of such teachings is given concrete form in the story of Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus in the town of Jericho. Jericho was a wealthy town in that day, serving as a winter resort of sorts for the aristocracy of Jerusalem. King Herod the Great had built a fabulous palace there for himself. Zacchaeus, a Jew, was a chief tax collector for the Romans and rich. We can assume he followed the widespread practice of tax collectors in the ancient world, namely, theft by extortion. In Jesus' presence he repented and vowed to make restitution. He promised to repay fourfold anyone he had defrauded. This was twice the amount of restitution proscribed in the Torah. In addition he vowed to give half of his goods to the poor, perhaps as restitution to the public. Jesus' response was, "Today salvation has come to this house." (Luke 19: 1-10)

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9

You are not to testify against your fellow as a false witness.

This commandment has in view testifying in court. We can understand why truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth are critical under these circumstances. Life and death may hang in the balance. But by extension the commandment applies to telling the truth in all circumstances. When, however, life and death does hang in the balance the court requires more than one witness. Truth must be confirmed by at least one other witness.

A story that illustrates this principal well is the apocryphal book entitled, Daniel and Susanna. Susanna was a beautiful woman who was married to a rich man named Joakim. Because his house was large and there was a walled garden attached it was a regular meeting place for the Jews that lived in Babylon. It was also used as a court. Two wicked elders were appointed one year as judges and they were continually at Joakim's house trying the cases of the people. The two became infatuated with Susanna and each wanted to seduce her. The court would retire at noon for lunch and Susannah would then walk in the garden. One day the judges said to each other, "Let us go home; it is time for lunch." (verse 13) Each retraced his steps, however, and when they came face to face they each confessed their desire for Susanna. So they plotted together and waited for an opportune day when they could find her alone. One very hot day the elders went and hid in the garden and she came in with her two maids as usual. She told them she desired to bathe since the day was so hot and sent the maids away to fetch soap and oil shutting the garden door behind them. Then, the elders approached Susanna and told her of their desire and demanded she consent to lie with them. They threatened her saying, "If you refuse, we shall give evidence against you that there was a young man with you and that is why you sent your maids away." (verse 21) Susanna groaned and said, "I see no way out. If I do this thing the penalty is death; if I do not, you have me at your mercy. My choice is not to do it. It is better to be at your mercy than to sin against the Lord." (verse 22)

The next day the elders brought their charges against Susanna. When she was brought before them they put their hands on her head and testified that she had been in the garden with a young man and that since the man was stronger then them they could not hold onto him. When they aroused the cry he escaped through the door and Susanna refused to identify the man. The people believed the testimony of the elders and Susanna was condemned to death. "Susanna cried out loudly: 'Eternal God, you know all secrets and foresee all things, you know that their evidence against me was false. And now I am to die, guiltless though I am of all the wicked things these men have said against me.'" (verses 42,43)

As she was being led away to her execution, however, a young man named Daniel protested and said, "I will not let this woman's blood be on my head." (verse 47) He chided the people for allowing this judgment without making careful inquiry and finding out the truth. The other elders of the people invited Daniel to state his case. He separated the two elders and examined them each in turn, "Now then, if you saw this woman, tell us under what tree did you see them together?" (verse 54) The first elder said under a clove tree. The second elder said under a yew tree. The people then turned on the two elders, for out of their own mouths Daniel had convicted them of giving false evidence. Susanna was vindicated but the two elders were put to death, according to the law of Moses, as they had tried to do to their neighbor.

As we noted by extension this commandment applies to all other circumstances of life as well, not just testifying in court. The Rabbinic attitude to truth telling is revealed in the following quotes:

"One should avoid lying and deception, as the Torah states, 'Keep far away from anything false.' (Exodus 23:7) Similarly, we are enjoined by the prophet, 'Let each man speak the truth with his fellow.' (Zechariah 8:16) We are likewise taught that God's seal and emblem is Truth. It is thus written, 'The Lord God is Truth.'" (Jeremiah 10:10) Aryeh Kaplan, The Handbook of Jewish Thought \- Vol. 2, page 78.

"In Hebrew the word for truth is Emet. Its first letter is the very first letter of the alphabet, the alef. The last letter is tav, the end of the Alef-Bet. The exact middle of the 27 letters is the mem. Truth demands total accuracy from start to finish, including every point in the middle as well." Benjamin Blech, The Secret of Hebrew Words, page 61.

"Truth requires for its essence the letter alef, the 'One' standing for the Almighty. Remove the initial letter and all that remains is the met, the Hebrew word for death. Without God there can be no truth. In its place only death and destruction remain." Benjamin Blech, page 65.

The requirement of more than one witness in the judicial setting is also a requirement to confirm other important truths, such as prophetic truths. How do we know a prophet's word is true when he purports to speak a message from God? Two witnesses are required, namely, the prophet and the sign which he performs, or two prophets together. So, for example, when Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John on the mountain, they were given a sign indicating Jesus' authenticity. Then, Moses and Elijah also appeared with him as the two witnesses. Finally, the voice from heaven spoke declaring, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" (Matthew 17:5) This third witness of the Bat quol (the daughter voice) was rare but recognized as a true witness, since it was the very voice of God.

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10

You are not to desire the house of your neighbor, you are not to desire the wife of your neighbor, or his servant, or his maid, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.

As we noted in the commandment against theft, all possessions are viewed as an extension of a man's person. Likewise, all people who are a part of his household are viewed as an extension of his person. It is not quite correct to say this commandment regards people as a man's property, but again they are extensions of his person. We are prone to acknowledge the same extension when we refer to my wife, or my husband, or my son, or my daughter, for example. Similarly, we refer to my car, or my house. Perhaps, modern people can understand this notion of "possession" best by thinking of the pets they have "owned." We attach to them deeply, and I have met very few who ever thought of them with anything other than love and devotion. Similarly, I have witnessed extraordinary devotion of one person for another and a willingness to sacrifice for the beloved "possession" – one's spouse, child, friend, and so on.

This commandment is specifically directed to the interior disposition and not the outer action. The previous 9 commandments could all be observed by outer actions, though the inner disposition when one acts is also in view. The worship of God involves various actions, like keeping the Sabbath, but it is best observed when one is disposed to do so out of love for God. Or, honoring parents involves outward actions like caring for one's parents in their older age, but this, too, is best done with the right interior disposition of love. This commandment recognizes that the service of the good begins as an interior struggle before it is manifest as an outer act. The inner struggle is between a desire to do the good, or to do the evil. One must master the evil desire in order to do the good. The Rabbis name these desires, or inclinations, as the yetzer hora - the inclination to do evil, and the yetzer tov - the inclination to do the good. As one undertakes any action the two inclinations will arise and one must choose between them.

Aryeh Kaplan in The Light Beyond (page 333) quotes Rabbi Nachman to illustrate how one must choose between these two inclinations. "When a person begins to truly serve God, he is often beset by evil thoughts and confusion. Actually, the evil was always there, but it is only now surfacing. A pot of water may seem to be perfectly clear. But when it is placed on a fire and it begins to boil, all of its impurities are brought to the surface. One must stand by and constantly remove these impurities. The original purity of the water was an illusion, and with a little heat, the impurities surface. The same is true of a person. When he begins to burn with great feeling toward God he is touched with the heat of purification, and all of the evil and impurity comes to the surface. One must stand by and constantly remove the impurities as they appear. In the end, the person is truly pure and clean." Paul, who had rabbinical training before his conversion, wrote of the same struggle in Romans 7, saying, "So I find it a law that when I want to do good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members." (verses 21-23) Paul, however, is less optimistic than Rabbi Nachman about one's capacity to purify one's own self. He cites our inability to do so as the basis for our need for a savior.

One story that illustrates the disordered desires that are prohibited by this commandment is the story of Naboth's vineyard that is recorded in 1 Kings 21. A man named Naboth, whose name means fruitful, owned a vineyard on the slopes of the hill in Jezreel. Next to it was the palace of King Ahab of Israel. The scriptures say that he did more evil in the sight of Yahweh than any of the kings before him. The root of his evil was that he had married Jezzebel, a Sidonian princess, who worshipped the Canaanite deity Baal. Ahab then built an altar and temple to Baal in Samaria and abandoned the worship of Yawheh. In the Biblical view wrong worship inevitably leads to wrong action and apostasy to immorality. It disposes one to choose the evil over the good.

So it happened that one day Ahab approached Naboth to ask for his vineyard, since it was conveniently located next to his palace, in exchange for another vineyard Ahab would give to him, or its value in money. Ahab's intent was to turn the vineyard into an herb garden, probably a ceremonial one to use for the worship of Baal. Naboth refused because the land was part of his ancestral heritage and he would not alienate it from his patrimony. Ahab returned to his palace and lay down on his bed with his face to the wall in a state of depression and refused to eat. Jezebel seeing Ahab's depression and ascertaining from him its cause, was irritated by her husband's lack of assertiveness and sprung into action declaring, "Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." (verse 7)

The plan she set in motion was a simple one. She wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal and sent them to the elders and nobles of the region saying, "Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; and seat two scoundrels opposite him, and have them bring charges against him saying, 'You have cursed God and the king.' Then, take him out and stone him to death." (verse 9,10) The elders and nobles did as she said and then sent word to Jezebel that Naboth is dead. Jezebel then said to Ahab, "Go, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give to you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead." Then, Ahab went and took possession of it.

Yahweh's retribution upon Ahab was swift. He sent Elijah the prophet to meet Ahab in Naboth's vineyard to deliver this message. "Thus says the Lord: Have you killed and also taken possession?...Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood." (verse 19) Elijah goes on to declare that the males of Ahab's household will also be cut off and suffer the same fate, as will Jezebel too. This prompts Ahab to repent, tearing his clothes and putting on sackcloth and fasting. Seeing this repentance Yahweh declares to Elijah that he will forestall the punishment until his son's days and then the full disaster will come upon Ahab's house.

This story shows that the possessions one has are not merely property that can be bought and sold or exchanged for another. Naboth had received his land as an inheritance from his forbears. It had been allotted to them when they first entered the land in the days of Joshua and was passed down through the generations. It was a tangible good that had blessed Naboth and with which he intended to bless the generations to come in his lineage. He could not sell the vineyard because it did not belong only to him but to those who came before him and those who would come after him. The story also shows that evil actions are something tangible, the consequences of which can be passed on to future generations. Choosing the good and resisting the evil has consequences beyond the life of the one who makes the choice.

Proportionately, Jesus taught more about the inner dispositions than about outer action. Like the Rabbis he recognized that outer action springs from the inner disposition but he placed his emphasis upon it. Typical of his teaching is the one he gave that rendered all foods clean (kosher) because it is not what goes into a person that defiles a person but what comes out of a person. "For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (Mark 7: 21-23) Or, in another place he spoke of the pure and impure soul and its power to do good or evil. He uses the metaphor of the eye as a lamp when speaking of the soul. "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light: but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Matthew 6: 22,23)

Furthermore, Jesus offered a different solution to inner purity than that of Rabbi Nachman and the other Rabbis who saw it as a process of removing impure thoughts and desires as they arise and choosing the good over evil. Jesus' solution is in keeping with his ancestor David's prayer after his sin with Bathsheba. He cried out to God to help him do what he could not do for himself saying, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit." (Psalm 51:10-12) Like Paul, David saw the need of God's saving help to deliver him from his own evil inclination. Jesus sees his ministry as just that – offering God's saving help to restore inner purity through his giving of the new and right spirit, which is God's own Holy Spirit. He asserts he has the power to give this gift to all who believe in him. While in the Temple in Jerusalem on the last day of the festival of Sukkot, Jesus declared, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:37,38) On the last day of the festival there was an elaborate water pouring ritual in the Temple that was an appeal to God for the winter rains that would sustain the spring crops. It was also understood as an appeal to God for the Holy Spirit that waters and nourishes the soul. His reference to living waters (i.e. flowing water thus fresh and pure) is an allusion to the mikvah, the ritual bath that Jews underwent to attain ritual purity. Flowing waters are required for the mikvah. Thus, Jesus asserts the flowing waters of the pure and life giving Holy Spirit of God will purify the hearts of believers. With such pure hearts they will be disposed to good works, not evil deeds.

The shift in focus from outer observance to inner disposition that leads to an inclination to do good was anticipated by the prophets of Israel and was prophesied to be a hallmark of the Messianic age. Jeremiah gave voice to it when he said, "The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31: 31-34)

So we end where we began in this discussion of the Ten Commandments, with the marriage analogy. The covenant at Sinai between Yahweh and Israel, of which the Ten Commandments were the preamble, was a Ketubah, a marriage contract. In much of the world marriages were and are arranged and it is hoped that the heart will follow such arrangements. In the Jesus' world the heart is given priority and it is hoped the obligations will follow. The "marriage" between Yahweh and Israel was "arranged" by Moses. Even the Rabbis admit this is why Israel failed to keep the covenant, because it was imposed upon them. In the Messianic Age, which Christians believe was inaugurated by Jesus, the Spirit is poured out and the covenant is written upon the heart. With the Spirit inspiring the heart, the believer is inwardly disposed to do good and be faithful in keeping the covenant.

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Afterword

All of the first disciples of Jesus were, as was Jesus himself, observant of the Law. But within the first generation Gentiles came to be followers of Jesus as well. This fact precipitated the first great crisis in the church. The crisis focused upon the question of circumcision. Should Gentile converts (men) undergo circumcision, as they would if they were converting to Judaism, or not? By undergoing circumcision the convert would consent to the covenant and agree to be subject to the entire Law. The crisis was resolved at the first council of the Apostles in Jerusalem around 50 C.E. presided over by James, the brother of Jesus. The decision of the council was that Gentile converts need not be circumcised, but should refrain from idolatry, sexual immorality, and eating the blood of animals. These prohibitions were in keeping with the Noahide Laws of Judaism that predate the Law given at Sinai to Israel and are regarded as universally valid. Since circumcision was offensive to most Gentiles, this removed a barrier to their conversion.

But the controversy over how much of the Law should be observed even by Gentile converts and the relationship between the Law and the Gospel did not cease. It came to a head in the second century of the church when a man named Marcion declared that the God of the Hebrew scriptures and the Father proclaimed by Jesus were not one and the same. Marcion argued that the God of the Hebrew Scriptures promulgated the Law and acted with strict justice but the Father that Jesus preached was a God of love. And since love in the apostolic writings is regarded as the highest manifestation of the Holy Spirit, the contrast was often framed as Law verses Spirit.

The orthodox view that emerged from this debate declared that the Hebrew God is the Father that Jesus proclaimed and that he both gave the Law through Moses and the Spirit through Jesus Christ. This God is both loving and just and is revealed in both the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures. But again the councils affirmed that not all of the Law is obligatory upon Gentile believers. Thus, Gentiles were free from some of the Law's obligations but not free from all of them. As time went on, the Gentiles far outnumber the Jews in the church and as the church spread thorough the various nations variation of practice occurred as well. Still the rule held true that some but not all of the Law was obligatory upon those who now had come to be called Christians. The 7th article of the 39 Articles of Religion promulgated by the Anglican Church at its founding in the 16th century illustrates the point. It reads in part, "Although the Law given from God by Moses, as touching Ceremonies and Rites, do not bind Christian men, nor do the Civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral." (Book of Common Prayer, page 869) Thus, this Article acknowledges that Christians are bound to observe moral law, the statutes as the Rabbis refer to it, but not the ordinances that pertain to worship, or the decrees that pertain to purity. In addition any proscriptions in the Law establishing the polity in the land of Israel do not apply to other nations.

Precedent for observing some but not all the Law can already be found in the Jesus' teachings. His Sermon on the Mount with its stress upon doing unto others what you would have others do unto you upholds the moral law of not doing harm to one's neighbor and gives positive definition to loving one's neighbor. His declaration that it is not what goes into a man but what comes out of his heart that defiles him changes the focus of purity laws from outer to inner impurity. This rendered laws regarding clean and unclean foods moot. His teaching that true worshipers worship God in spirit and in truth placed priority on the disposition of the worshiper rather than on the place, time, and the performance of the rituals. To worship in truth means to worship Yahweh alone, to shun idolatry, and not profane his Name. To worship in spirit means to worship with a pure heart and those who do so would "see" God, even if they didn't go up to Jerusalem to appear before him in his Temple. Nevertheless, Jesus made clear he did not come to overturn the Law but to bring it to completion. That completion, or fulfillment, is realized when to outer observance is added the pure inner disposition of the heart. The followers of Jesus built upon this foundation he laid. So Paul, who is often read as overturning observance of the Law says the Law is spiritual - not contrary to the Spirit but from the Spirit. (Romans 7:14) And James says that faith, which some contrasted to the Law, was dead without some of those works that the Law enjoined. (James 2:17) The works are what join love to faith and love is the greatest charism of the Spirit and virtue of a disciple.

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Resources

by Benjamin Blech

The Secrets of Hebrew Words: Jason Aaronson, Inc., Northvale, New Jersey, 1996.

by Aryeh Kaplan

Sabbath Day of Eternity: National Conference of Synagogue Youth, New York, 1974.

The Light Beyond: Maznaim Publishing Corporation, New York, 1981.

The Handbook of Jewish Thought, Volumes I & II: Maznaim Publishing Corporation, New York/Jerusalem, 1992.

by George Foot Moore

Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era, Volume II, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1927.

by Gershom Scholem

On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism: Shocken, New York, 1965.

by Stephen M. Wylen

Settings in Silver: An Introduction to Judaism: Paulist Press, New york, 1989.

for Biblical quotations

Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses: Shocken Books, New York, 1983

(used for the translation of the Ten Commandments and Torah quotes)

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version: Cokesbury, Nashville, 1989.

(used for quotes of the Hebrew and Scriptures, other than the Torah, and the Christian Scriptures)

The New English Bible with the Apocrypha: Cambridge University Press,

New York, 1971.

(used for quotes from the Apocrypha)

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Cover Art: The cover art for The Ten Commandments is by Nicholas of Verdun, an enameled panel in the altarpiece at the Klosterneuburg Monastery, Austria, c. 1181

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About the author:

The son of a Baptist minister, I was ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1977. I studied for the ministry at Princeton, General, and Union Seminaries. I have served as a parish priest for over thirty years. I have a particular interest in the healing ministry and the Jewish roots of Christianity. I am married and have a grown son and daughter.

Connect with Me Online:

Kreller@aol.com

