Ten Commandments: October 2024

Ten Commandments Part 1

(The beginning of a 19 part series)

(click on "Next" to move to the next part)

Introduction

When you hear the words “The Ten Commandments,” what are your first thoughts? For many people in our secular age they are seen as being very negative, something which cramps our lifestyles. They are thought to be old fashioned and out of date. We don’t want to be commanded to, or prohibited from, doing anything. Secular society doesn’t want to be reminded of them, preferring them to be out of sight and out of mind. We see this in the campaigns to have them removed from courthouse walls, etc. Unfortunately, many in today’s churches don’t think of them in a positive light either. We may also think of them as negatives.

But are they really restrictions and constraints placed upon us, or are they something more? Can they be freeing and liberating? To answer this question it’s helpful to answer another question first. What is it in the Ten Commandments that threatens us? Do I want to live in a society where adultery, murder, theft, slander, etc. are the norm? Most people will say “No!” In this sense the Ten Commandments are positive and life enhancing. They are designed to help us flourish in society.

G. K, Chesterton once said “If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments, they shall be governed by the ten thousand commandments.” We certainly can see this when we look at all the laws we deal with on a day to day basis. It becomes burdensome to keep track of them all. To only have ten would be liberating.

Most of us learned them during our catechetical instruction in our youth. Oftentimes we memorized them. Memorizing them without looking at them in greater detail leads to our having a false idea about them. Viewing them as merely “you shall not” commands leads to having a negative viewpoint. They can then be seen as inhibiting our happiness and freedom.

Jesus, when asked what was the greatest commandment said it is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. These two statements summarize the Ten Commandments. Elizabeth Scalia notes “But the greatest commandment, coupled with what Jesus called the “second,” – which sum up all the rest – is meant to save us from ourselves.”[1] In the Ten Commandments we see God in search of man. He desires us to experience freedom from being enslaved to our passions. He seeks to be in relationship with us.

Ps 119:45 says “I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.” Have you ever thought of the Ten Commandments as the Ten Great Freedoms? It is my contention that God gave them to us to promote human flourishing. They help us to avoid becoming enslaved to our own inappropriate passions. To help us understand this it is important to look at the historical background to the Ten Commandments. That will be the topic for next week.

Food for thought:

1. How does my attitude towards God compare to my attitude toward the Ten Commandments?

2. Why is it important as a Christian to keep the Commandments?

1. What are ways the Ten Commandments can be liberating?

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[1] Elizabeth Scalia, Strange Gods: Unmasking the Idols of Everyday Life (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2013), 24

Ten Commandments Part 2

Historical background

The Ten Commandments were first given in a time much like today. The known world was experiencing disruption, chaos and great destruction. There was a great migration of people groups into the Middle East around 1200 BC. Some of these groups, like the Sea Peoples, were warlike. The existing populace was either killed, forced out of their homelands, or assimilated into the newer people groups. The global trade of goods ceased due to disruption of the sea trade, coupled with extended drought and famine throughout the Middle East.

Civilization after civilization was destroyed, never to arise again. The Minoan civilization on Crete had been destroyed in the preceding century. The Mycenaean civilization of Greece which took over Minoans was destroyed in both Greece and Crete. Egypt barely survived the invasion of the Sea Peoples, but was so weakened that it had no influence in the Middle East for the next three hundred years. The vast Hittite civilization in Turkey was so thoroughly destroyed that in the late 1800s people laughed at the Bible because it mentioned Hittites, as they were thought to have been a nonexistent people. Then in the late 1800s the ancient capital city of the Hittites was discovered along with Hittite literature. From this we have learned that the book of Deuteronomy follows the structure of a Hittite Law code. God’s covenant with Israel was something people would have understood because it was based on this structure. In Syria, the city of Ugarit was leveled, not to be rediscovered until 1929 when a farmer, plowing his fields, broke into a tomb. Underneath his fields there was a large city, with an extensive library of texts that have greatly helped us understand the meaning of several of the words in the Hebrew Bible that occur only once.

Life, in the Middle East at this time, was totally unpredictable. In the midst of this God stepped in and gave the Ten Commandments to Israel. They are a part of the covenant code which God established with Israel (Exodus 21:1 – 23:19). It defined their relationship, God saying “I will be your God and you will be my people”

The Ten Commandments, and the Covenant of which they are a part, became a rallying

point to a world gone awry. In them we see God’s search for man. His love is so strong that he desires for us to flourish, not only in our relationship with Him, but also with each other.

The Ten Commandments were given to a people who had spent several centuries as slaves, told how to live and what to do. Now the question being asked is: How do a people, freed from slavery, live peaceably in society? It is the same question that could have been asked following the end of the Civil War. How can a people, suddenly freed and on their own, live together in their freedom? The covenant gives us God’s instructions of how to live in community and how to flourish in so doing. Ten Commandments set rules that governed the new Israelite society. They established the conditions necessary for a free, loving, and just community of God’s people to develop and flourish. This is a key point. The context of the Ten Commandments is seen in relationships – with God, with neighbor. Pope John Paul II writing on the subject of freedom and law says “God’s law does not reduce, much less do away with human freedom; rather it protects and promotes that freedom.”[1] Charles Chaput, in an article in First Things notes that “We find true freedom only as we’re liberated from our vices so that we not only desire what is truly good, but also act to attain it.”[2] We don’t have to be enslaved to addictions of any kind.

These two quotes well illustrate the aim of the Ten Commandments. They are to free us from enslavement to our passions so we can flourish as a community of persons. God is a God who liberates. He desires that we live freely in society. He desires that we live in personal freedom, not enslaved to anything. The Ten Commandments are a simple, elegant statement of what makes society good.

Tradition holds that the first tablet deals with our relationship with God and the second with our relationship with each other. They contain both vertical relationship with God and horizontal relationship with neighbor. These relationships are extremely important. To illustrate, if I have a relationship with God which tells me how to live, and I know you have the same relationship with Him, it gives predictability to how we will interact with each other. We can better expect how each other will react to the situations we face in life.

Jesus speaks to both these vertical and horizontal relationships when asked what is the greatest commandment (Mk 12:29-31). He says to “love the Lord (vertical) and love your neighbor (horizontal). Notice that the common word between the vertical and horizontal dimensions: Love.

The Ten Commandments give predictability to a world in decline. In them we see God’s mercy at work, reaching out to mankind. It is interesting that in the life of the Church the Ten Commandments have been most looked up to in times of chaos. It may be that we will see this again in our days, despite society’s efforts to do away with them.

Next week we will examine several aspects of the Ten Commandments.

Food for thought

1. Have you ever thought of the Ten Commandments as helping make life predictable?

2. How can the Ten Commandments help free us from enslavement to our inappropriate passions?

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[1] Quoted in Charles J. Chaput, The Splendor of Truth in 2017 (First Things October, 2017) p 25.

[2] Ibid, 26.

Ten Commandments Part 3

Aspects of the Ten Commandments

Although we refer to them as the Ten Commandments, they really aren’t commandments at all. The Hebrew word “debarim” (Greek logous) is translated “words. It never refers to “commandments.” The Greek word logous is the plural form of the word logos, translated “word” in John 1:1. There is a connection between the “Ten Words” and Jesus as the “Word” of God. Of the twenty-four verbal forms in the Ten Commandments only one is an imperative command. The rest are declarative verbs. There is a difference between a command and a declarative word. A command doesn’t require dialogue. A word “is the essential medium of relationship as a dialogue.”[1] The Ten Commandments speak to the covenantal relationship we alluded to earlier.

The back story helps us understand this. God has rescued the people from slavery. When they reach Mount Sinai God tells them that if they keep his covenant they will be his people. All the people replied “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” (Exodus 19:8). God, in the Ten Commandments, describes what keeping his commandments will look like. He effectively says “then you will have no other gods, will honor your parents, won’t kill, steal,” etc.

This is a key point for us to remember. Israel’s desire to keep the commandments was grounded in their gratitude and love for God. Because he had freed them they desired to please him by following his dictates.

The majority of the commandments are cast in a negative framework, with the 3^rd and 4^th (Protestant 4^th and 5^th) being positive. In each case the opposite side is also implied. For example, to say “you shall not worship other gods” implies “You shall worship God.” To say “you shall not kill” says “you shall honor life.” Each time we look at a negative command we must look at the truth of its contrary affirmative command. Each time we look at a positive command we must look at the truth of its contrary negative command.

We can ask why they are mostly negative statements. It is because being human, we tend to violate them in one way or another. Therefore, they are cast in a negative light to point out to us the things we shouldn’t be doing that we find ourselves doing.

All of the commandments are very personal. The prelude (Exodus 20:3) is in the first person. God addresses the people with the pronoun “I.” Throughout the commandments the word “you” is singular, implying that God is personally speaking to each one of us. For example, he says to me “I, God, and you, David, are in a relationship together. And if we are going to continue to be in relationship together this is what your life should look like.” Next time you read the Ten Commandments add your own name with the word “you.” You may find them more meaningful.

Eight of the commandments concern action, the 2^nd (Protestant 3^rd) and the 8^th (Protestant 9^th) concern speech. The 9^th and 10^th (Protestant 10^th) are concerned with thought. When we read the commandments it is easy to think that their focus is solely on right behavior. That is not the case. While they begin with the goal of transforming external behavior, the ultimate goal is to transform the inner self.[2] Rabbi Akiba, speaking of this, says that the act of restraint helps bring about holiness. The Ten Commandments have a more elevated purpose than what is merely permitted, forbidden, or obligatory. They describe the conditions for membership in a community. For Israel, anyone who didn’t observe them excluded him/herself from the community of the faithful. They aren’t concerned with punishments – that is dealt with elsewhere. In this sense they are like our Declaration of Independence. It doesn’t list punishments for those who don’t embrace “all men are created equal.” Other laws do that.

“The Ten Words establish the conditions necessary for a free, loving, and just community of God’s people to develop and flourish.”[3] They all begin with “I, God, and you, man, now we belong together. And if we are to remain together, then your life will look like this:”[4]

As we will see when we look at each individual commandments we will find we have broken all of them. Our failure to keep the Ten Commandments calls forth a prayer for mercy. It is a prayer that God will not give us what we deserve, but be merciful to us and the culture in which we live. It is in the sense that the commandments help define a community of the faithful that I think we will see them becoming more meaningful in the church again.

We can look at the Ten Commandments literally and typically. Literally, it refers to a historical event – when Israel was delivered out of their bondage in Egypt. Typically, we can see ourselves to be in bondage. Just as Israel was in bondage under the tyranny of Pharaoh, so we are in bondage under the tyranny of Satan. Just as Israel was saved by God’s hand from the power of Pharaoh so we are saved from the power of Satan.

Next week we will look at the confusion caused by different church bodies numbering the commandments differently.

Food for thought

1. How do the commandments seem different when you include your name in them?

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[1] http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180620_udienza-generale.html

[2] Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Biblical Literacy (New York: William Morrow Co, 1997) p. 420.

[3] Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places (Grand Rapids: Wm B Eerdmans, 2005), p 252.

[4] Ernst Lange, Ten Great Freedoms (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1970), p 1

Ten Commandments Part 4

The Commandment Numbering System

The Hebrew Bible doesn’t number the Ten Commandments. They are merely a list of ten sayings. There are two different ways in which the Ten Commandments are numbered. This has caused considerable confusion in how to refer to them. For instance, is the commandment “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” the 2^nd or the 3^rd commandment. The Protestant, Anglican, and Orthodox traditions follow the Jewish way of numbering the commandments. Catholics and Lutherans follow the numbering system devised by St. Augustine.

It is impossible to determine categorically that either of these two systems is the correct one. There are reasons for both. Part of the problem is that the Ten Commandments are listed in both Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The two versions are slightly different. Deuteronomy 5:21 reads “Neither shall you covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house . . . .” Two different Hebrew words are used. Exodus 20:17 reads “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife . . . . .” The same Hebrew word translated “covet” occurs twice in Exodus but only once in Deuteronomy.

Lutherans and Catholics base their numbering system on the Deuteronomy passage while Jewish, Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant (hereafter referred to as “Protestant”) base their numbering on the Exodus passage.

The early Church Fathers are not much help. Several spoke of the commandments, but few gave them any numbering. Clement of Alexandria, in the 3^rd century, used the Jewish numbering system. St. Augustine, at the end of the 4^th century, devised the numbering system which Catholics and Lutherans use.

How are the two numbering systems different? St. Augustine concluded that the 1^st commandment contains both the prohibition to have no other gods before God and to not make any graven image. Since by St. Augustine’s time the Roman Empire had become Christianized, the making of idols was not the same problem that it was in earlier times. It made it easy to combine them. Under his system, the prohibition of taking God’s name in vain becomes commandment two. Coveting and desiring in Deuteronomy 5:21 becomes the 9^th and 10^th commandments. A distinction is made between coveting property from coveting a person. The Protestant numbering system divides the first commandment described above into two commandments. “You shall have no other gods before me” becomes commandment one and “You shall not make a graven image” becomes commandment two. Basing their numbering on Exodus 20:17, the two mentions of “covet” become the 10^th commandment. The chart below points out the differences.

Does it really make much difference which numbering system is used? In one sense it doesn’t make a lot of difference as all 10 commandments are there. By separating coveting into two, Catholics and Lutherans point to a greater respect for the marriage bond. The Protestant numbering places is more balanced in the horizontal and vertical relationships discussed in last week’s entry. Four commandments are vertical and six horizontal. The Catholic and Lutheran numbering has only three verticle. Also the double usage of the word “covet” in the Protestant numbering places a heightened emphasis on the danger of coveting.

In another sense it does make a difference. When we touch on the affected commandments I will highlight this. Although I much prefer the Protestant numbering, I will use the Catholic and Lutheran numbering since I’ve been in those traditions for most of my adult life. As we discuss each individual commandment I will reference both numbering systems, with the Protestant number listed in parenthesis. When we get to the 9^th and 10^th commandments (Protestant 10^th) I will explain why I prefer to Protestant numbering. With these introductions, we are ready to begin with commandment one next week.

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Ten Commandments Part 5

Commandment 1 Exodus 20:2-6 (Protestants Exodus 20:2-3)

Exodus 20:2 is a historical preamble to the Ten Commandments. It is often overlooked since it is not part of a commandment itself. We overlook it to our loss. God is effectively saying “I freed you from slavery in Egypt. Now I am going to teach you how to live as free people: free from slavery to passions and vices, free to flourish in community.” The concept of freedom is one we will develop over the next several weeks.

“I am the Lord your God” identifies who is speaking. It is not just some absent, almighty potentate, but Yahweh, a personal God – “your God.” The Hebrew word “your” is singular. “Who brought you out” speaks to the benefits and mercies bestowed on us by a God of love. We are to revere the glorious and awesome name of the God who created us (Deuteronomy 28:58). Gratitude for His many benefits and mercies given us should lead us to a desire of obedience.

The 1st commandment is one of the commandments that Catholics and Lutherans divide differently than the Protestants do. Catholics and Lutherans consider Exodus 20:2-6 as commandment 1. Protestants consider verses 2-3 as commandment 1 and 4-6 as commandment 2. For this reason we will divide this discussion into four parts, with parts 3-4 corresponding to the Protestant’s commandment 2.

In many ways the 1^st commandment is the most important one. All of the others hinge on it. It speaks of having God as the center of one’s life. If He is not the center, then it is very easy to violate one of the others. If you make anything but God the center of your life, or love anything more than God, or live for anything other than God, it will strangle you. You will become enslaved to it. God desires to free us from this form of slavery.

Commandment 1 Part 1 (Protestants: commandment 1) “I am the Lord your God.”

God’s first word comes in the context of salvation from slavery. It is given in the context of freedom. It is the same word that comes to us: “I am the Lord your God.” We don’t need to chase after a god to worship. God has come down to us. He seeks us. His call to Israel is the same call given to us. “Because of what I have done for you, give yourself totally to me. Not out of coercion, not out of duty, but out of love.” He tells us we can rely on him.

This is perhaps the most important of the commandments, for if God is not our God, something else is. As Bob Dylan wrote

” But you’re going to have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re going to have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re going to have to serve somebody”

Any other God will enslave us, If we don’t have a right relationship with God, we are more likely to violate one or more of the other commandments.

Commandment 1 Part 2 (Protestants: commandment 1) “You shall have no other gods before me.”

The Hebrew text literally says “You shall have no other Gods before my face.” We are not to worship other gods alongside worshipping our God. He is to be our exclusive God. This is perhaps one of the greatest temptations we face today – to have another god along side of God. When we do, we are saying that He isn’t powerful enough or authentic enough to meet our needs. There are four gods we are most tempted to worship: power, control, approval, and comfort.[1] They aren’t necessarily evil in themselves. They only become so when they become obsessions, when we love them so much we can’t get along without them. At that point they have become our God. If power is your God you will become domineering, harsh, even abusive. You will put yourself ahead of others. If control is your God, you’ll worry all the time, losing your temper a lot and manipulating others to get your way. If approval is your God, your life will be plagued by constant self-pity, envy, hurt feeling, and inadequacy. If comfort is your God you won’t be able to say “no” to the pleasures of food, sex, drugs or pornography. You will be afflicted by affluent consumerism, seeking material possessions. This was the problem of the rich young ruler. He couldn’t let go of his possessions. They had become his god. A Jewish scholar reflecting on this says “In regard to external gifts, to outward possessions, there is only one proper attitude – to have them and be able to do without them.”[2] When we can’t have this attitude we are in danger of putting something before God.

To say we will have no other gods means God will be our only God. We will have no hidden lust or sin in our soul that enslaves us. God is the only one we will worship, not money, status, sex, etc. We will love him, fear him and praise him (Mt 22:37).

Ernst Lange wrote a small booklet on the Ten Commandments, focusing on how God desires us to be freed from being enslaved to negative passions in life. He included a prayer with each commandment. As we go through the commandments we will close them with his prayer for that commandment.

“You wanted me to be free, Lord. But I have wasted the freedom which you gave me. There was always something that I relied on more than you: my own strength, or the influence of other people, money, the stars, or public opinion. Now I have become a slave to my own fear and lust: and I live among people for whom it is just the same. And the enslavement gets worse and worse! We deserve it, Lord, that you should let us perish in our bondage and that we should lose you for all eternity. We cannot help ourselves, Lord, but be merciful and let us be free again.”[3]

Food for thought

1. Does my daily life reflect that God is my only God?

2. What other gods am I tempted to worship?

3. How is Lange’s prayer helpful in understanding how we can place other gods alongside of God?

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[1] J D Greear, “Dismantling Your Heart’s Idols” https://www.patheos.com/blogs/evangelicalpulpit/2016/01/dismantling-your-heart-idols/ (Accessed 2/10/19.

[2] Abraham Heschel, Between God and Man: an Interpretation of Judaism (New York: The Free Press, 1965), p 222.

[3] Ernst Lange, Ten Great Freedoms (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1970), p 22.

Ten Commandments Part 6

Commandment 1 Parts 3 – 4

Parts 3 – 4 correspond to Protestant’s commandment 2. It deals with idols. Catholics and Lutherans consider these two parts to be a continuation of the first commandment, following St Augustine’s numbering.

Commandment 1 Part 3 (Protestants: commandment 2) “You shall not make for yourself a graven image”

This commandment speaks to the temptation to have something tangible to worship. It is easy for us to discount it since we don’t physically worship idols. In the ancient world, an idol was a representation of the god it represented. It was as though the god himself was there in the image – the image effectively becoming a god. This commandment speaks to several different concerns. It prohibits the worship of other gods. It also prohibits worshiping the true God in a false manner.

The roots of sin begin in the mind. This is where sinful actions begin. It is also where idolatry begins. Idols are gods with all of God taken out of them so we can continue to be our own gods. They often begin with an idea. We create them out of our norms of behavior, our possessions, our social status and our addictions. They are things which we either consider to have a higher value than God or place alongside of Him as an additional god. They are things which we either try to control or which control us. We know we have made an idol when the possible loss of something or someone creates an inappropriately dramatic reaction in us”[1] When things cause us great anger, stress, paralyzing anxiety, etc., we are likely dealing with idols in some manner. Fear can be caused by the idol Insecurity. It carries the belief that God is not strong enough to provide for us.

“Idolatry is always the perversion of something good.”[2] Greed (worshipping the appetites and what they feed on) is the perversion of the God-given instinct to enjoy his good creation. Idols always end up controlling us. They consume our lives to the point that we can’t get along without them. Oftentimes these are things we value and refuse to let go of to the point we become obsessed with them. The seven deadly sins all have idolatry behind them. The sin of pride begins with the worship of self, the sin of envy with the worship of status or possessions. The sin of gluttony begins with an obsession with food and drink, the sin of lust with sex. The sin of anger begins with an excessive desire for control, the sin of greed with security and wealth, and the sin of sloth with a desire for comfort. All of these are excessive behaviors which began with some form of idolatry. St Paul warns “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you should obey its passions.” (Romans 6:12). The Greek word for “passion” implies a desire that completely overwhelms.[3] The New International Version translates this word as lust.

The latest technological toy, the newest model car, money, or a status job can all become idols. Almost anything can become one. I knew a man who told me, years after his divorce, that he had married his wife for her beauty to be known as someone with a beautiful wife. She became his idol. “We know we have made an idol when the possible loss of something or someone creates an inappropriately dramatic reaction in us”[4]

Commandment 1 Part 4 (Protestants: commandment 2) “You shall not bow down to them or serve them

Every four years we are tempted to worship a particular political candidate, under the guise of “if so and so is elected we’ll be saved.” In effect we are worshipping these leaders. It is wise to remember that all idols have feet of clay. They will eventually crumble. When we worship an idol we lose track of who God is. This commandment speaks to addiction. Addictions enslave us, becoming all consuming.

There is another side to this commandment that we often don’t think of. We can put God in a box. When we do, we limit him. J D Phillips in his book Your God is too Small describes the danger of having a god who is a resident policeman, parent, grand old man, meek and mild, negative god, etc.[5] We effectively put shackles on him, telling him what he can and can’t do. It can be expressed in the statement “I can’t believe in a God who . . . .”

Exodus 20:5-6 describes the consequences of our choice to either love God or hate Him. God shows mercy to those who love him and keep his commandments. But God will pay attention to those who hate Him, who embrace iniquity. The “3^rd and 4^th generation” is a Semitic idiom expressing continuity. In other words, the children tend to follow in their parents footsteps.

In summary, Our God is telling us, you don’t have to constantly chase after others or things. I will be your God, I will sustain and fulfill you. He desires that we worship Him as he is, not as we contrive him to be.

“You wanted to show me the truth, Lord. But I haven’t paid attention to the word which you gave me. There was always something I considered more authentic than you: my own doubts and prejudices, or the stupid street talk, or the bloody teachings of the dictators of my time. Now I’m so confused that I don’t know what is true and what is false any longer; and I live among people for whom it is just the same. And the confusion gets greater and greater! We deserve it, Lord, that you should let us perish in our self-disception and that we should lose you for all eternity. We cannot help ourselves, Lord, but be merciful and let us know the truth again[6]

Food for thought

1. What idols might be hiding beneath the surface of my dramatic reactions to things?

2. What idols am I tempted to worship?

3. Are there any boxes I am tempted to put God into?

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[1] Robert J Wicks, Everyday Simplicity: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Growth (Notre Dame: Sorin Books, 2000) p 46

[2] N T Wright, Surprised by Hope (New York: Harper One, 2008), 212

[3] J D Greear, “Dismantling Your Heart’s Idols” https://www.patheos.com/blogs/evangelicalpulpit/2016/01/dismantling-your-heart-idols/ (Accessed 2/10/19)

[4] Robert J Wicks, Everyday Simplicity: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Growth (Notre Dame: Sorin Books, 2000) p 46

[5] J B Phillips, Your God is too Small London: Epworth Press, 1962)

[6] Ernst Lange, Ten Great Freedoms (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1970),, p 25