Sunday Sermonette: The Ten Commandments
The Republican candidates for Preacher-in-Chief have often referred to the sacred Judeo-Christian values on which our nation was built. I'm not exactly sure which Judeo-Christian values these are - the chief value of Jews for Christians until fairly recently was as financiers and scapegoats. But there’s one thing on which all agree: the fundamental importance of the Ten Commandments. First given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai, evangelical Christians long to have them adorn our courthouses, public schools, and public squares as a reminder of where our laws come from.
Let's leave aside the obvious fact that our laws are in no way based on Mosaic edicts. "Thou shalt not covet?" Our whole economic system is based on coveting! For the sake of argument, let's assume that the Ten Commandments ought to be erected by every flagpole. Which ones would you like to use?
I'm not just talking about the different decalogues observed by Catholics, Protestants, and Jews. These three are close enough for government work - the Catholics skipped the prohibition on graven images and turned “Thou shalt not covet” into two commandments - but still, close enough.
Chapter 20 of the book of Exodus tells about God giving Moses tablets containing his commandments. In fact, there are more than ten - count them. You might keep counting until Exodus 32, but in Exodus 24 it’s explained that there were both tables and a “book of the law” handed down. There is no count on the number of commandments, however.
Then what happens? After forty days and forty nights, Moses comes back down the mountain with the two tablets inscribed by God, and finds the people having an orgy around a golden calf. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. (Exodus 32:19)
So we don't have the tablets written by God. Moses smashed them. We have only the storyteller’s word. But it's OK. And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. (Exodus 34:1).
And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. (Exodus 34:28) This is the first time the covenant is referred to as Ten Commandments. These are what were placed in the Ark of the Covenant.
And what are they, these ten commandments which God said contained the words "that were in the first two tables, which thou brakest?"
I. Thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (and quite a bit of language about sons and daughters a-whoring after other gods).
II. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
III. Thou shalt keep the feast of the unleavened bread.
IV. Every firstborn male is mine, no one shall appear before me empty-handed. But you can trade a firstborn donkey for a lamb and you can redeem your son. Everything else, though, is mine.
V. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest.
VI. Thou shalt observe the harvest festival, the Feast of Weeks.
VII. All males must show up at temple at least three times a year.
VIII. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
IX. The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God.
X. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
Don't take my word for it - read your Bible.
These are the tablets that the Hebrews kept in the Ark of the Covenant along with Aaron’s rod and a gold pot containing manna. Those tablets that the evangelicals and politicians want to display? They don’t exist. Moses destroyed them.
Unless they’re the Muslim Ten Commandments. The Quran says that Moses did not destroy the original tablets, he placed them down before venting his rage and then When the anger of Moses was appeased, he took up the tablets: in the writing thereon was guidance and Mercy for such as fear their Lord. (Quran 7:154)
Whatever you do, no seething a kid in his mother’s milk. It’s strong moral principles like these that have made America great.
Let's leave aside the obvious fact that our laws are in no way based on Mosaic edicts. "Thou shalt not covet?" Our whole economic system is based on coveting! For the sake of argument, let's assume that the Ten Commandments ought to be erected by every flagpole. Which ones would you like to use?
I'm not just talking about the different decalogues observed by Catholics, Protestants, and Jews. These three are close enough for government work - the Catholics skipped the prohibition on graven images and turned “Thou shalt not covet” into two commandments - but still, close enough.
Chapter 20 of the book of Exodus tells about God giving Moses tablets containing his commandments. In fact, there are more than ten - count them. You might keep counting until Exodus 32, but in Exodus 24 it’s explained that there were both tables and a “book of the law” handed down. There is no count on the number of commandments, however.
Then what happens? After forty days and forty nights, Moses comes back down the mountain with the two tablets inscribed by God, and finds the people having an orgy around a golden calf. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. (Exodus 32:19)
So we don't have the tablets written by God. Moses smashed them. We have only the storyteller’s word. But it's OK. And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. (Exodus 34:1).
And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. (Exodus 34:28) This is the first time the covenant is referred to as Ten Commandments. These are what were placed in the Ark of the Covenant.
And what are they, these ten commandments which God said contained the words "that were in the first two tables, which thou brakest?"
I. Thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (and quite a bit of language about sons and daughters a-whoring after other gods).
II. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
III. Thou shalt keep the feast of the unleavened bread.
IV. Every firstborn male is mine, no one shall appear before me empty-handed. But you can trade a firstborn donkey for a lamb and you can redeem your son. Everything else, though, is mine.
V. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest.
VI. Thou shalt observe the harvest festival, the Feast of Weeks.
VII. All males must show up at temple at least three times a year.
VIII. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
IX. The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God.
X. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
Don't take my word for it - read your Bible.
These are the tablets that the Hebrews kept in the Ark of the Covenant along with Aaron’s rod and a gold pot containing manna. Those tablets that the evangelicals and politicians want to display? They don’t exist. Moses destroyed them.
Unless they’re the Muslim Ten Commandments. The Quran says that Moses did not destroy the original tablets, he placed them down before venting his rage and then When the anger of Moses was appeased, he took up the tablets: in the writing thereon was guidance and Mercy for such as fear their Lord. (Quran 7:154)
Whatever you do, no seething a kid in his mother’s milk. It’s strong moral principles like these that have made America great.