CONVERSATIONS WITH SCRIPTURE: THE LAW
By KEVIN A. WILSONChurch Publishing Incorporated
Copyright © 2006 Kevin A. Wilson
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-0-8192-2147-6Contents
Chapter One
The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments are a part of our Judeo-Christian heritage. Some even go so far as to claim that our civil laws are derived from the Ten Commandments. Such a claim is questionable, however. A quick glance at the Decalogue demonstrates this. Out of the ten laws, only three are reflected in modern law: the prohibitions against murder, theft, and the bearing of false witness in court. The other seven are not a part of our laws. In place of the first commandment to worship only God, the United States and many other countries have laws that guarantee the right to worship any god or no god at all. These same laws also prohibit laws against idols. While blue laws used to prevent business from operating on Sunday, most places have taken these laws off the books, and there is now no connection between the civil law and the commandment to honor the Sabbath. Dishonoring one's father and mother isn't a crime, and while adultery may be grounds for divorce, it is not an arrestable offense in most places. And as for coveting, most advertising is geared toward getting us to covet the goods the advertisers are selling, and there is certainly no law against it.
The Centrality of the Ten Commandments
While the Ten Commandments have little to do with our secular law, it's impossible to overstate their centrality to our Christian moral systems. Most people who grow up in the church memorize these laws at one time or another, and even those who enter the church as adults are generally familiar with their content. Many churches even display the Ten Commandments in their sanctuaries and Sunday school classrooms. With the possible exception of some of the psalms and a few of the stories, the Ten Commandments are probably one of the most familiar parts of the Old Testament.
This centrality is not accidental. It's rooted in the Bible itself, where the Ten Commandments are accorded a special status among the laws of the Torah. This is clear from the two passages that preserve the Decalogue, Exod 20:1–17 and Deut 5:6–21.
In Exodus 20, God has delivered the people from Egypt through the exodus and they have journeyed to Mount Sinai, where Moses tells them to prepare themselves for God's appearance. During the theophany, God delivers the Ten Commandments directly to the people. Having heard God's voice, however, the people fear that they will die, and they ask Moses to act as an intermediary: "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die" (Exod 20:19). From that point on, God speaks the law to Moses, who relays it to the people. The direct delivery of the Ten Commandments, combined with their position as the first laws given to the people, highlights the centrality of these laws to the ancient Israelites.
Deuteronomy also reinforces this impression through its placement of the Decalogue. Deuteronomy is set up as an address by Moses to the people of Israel as they prepare to enter Canaan. The book begins with a series of instructive sermons by Moses in chapters 1–11 that retell the events that have led the people to this point. Then the writer goes on to a second presentation of the law in chapters 12–26. But the Ten Commandments are not given as part of the law but placed at the beginning of the law as part of Moses' recitation of the history of the people. As in Exodus, the Ten Commandments are once again delivered directly to the people, who then ask that Moses be the mediator for the rest of the law (Deut 5:22–26).
But when did the Ten Commandments become the centerpiece of the law? They had certainly obtained this status by the time of the writing of Deuteronomy and Exodus in the seventh and sixth centuries, respectively. But there are surprisingly few references to these laws as a set prior to that time. Hosea seems to refer to them in his criticism of the people, when he accuses them of lying, murdering, stealing, and committing adultery (Hos 4:2). Jeremiah likewise records a list similar to the Ten Commandments. In his Temple Sermon, Jeremiah chides the people: "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are safe!"—only to go on doing all these abominations?" (Jer 7:9–10). While other passages in the prophets do refer to one or two of the Ten Commandments, these verses from Hosea and Jeremiah seem to be the only ones that regard the Decalogue as a set list of laws.
One possible explanation of why so few other passages refer to the Ten Commandments is that they didn't reach their final form until late in the monarchic period. Exodus was completed in the sixth century, while the section of Deuteronomy that contains the Decalogue is from only slightly earlier. In the centuries prior to this, the contents of the Ten Commandments may have been in flux. This is suggested by several passages in the Old Testament that preserve lists of laws that are similar to, but not identical to, the Ten Commandments. In fact, the Bible contains several Decaloguelike formulations, including those found in Exod 34:17–26; Lev 19:1–19; and Deut 27:15–26.
The Top Ten List
To illustrate, let's take a look at two of these passages. Exod 34:17–26 contains a list of laws, only two of which are found in the Ten Commandments. Although the enumeration of these laws is unclear, it is possible to arrange them to form ten commandments:
1. Do not make cast idols.
2. Keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
3. Sacrifice all firstborn male animals to God.
4. No one shall appear before God empty-handed.
5. Keep the Sabbath.
6. Keep the Festival of Weeks, the Festival of Firstfruits, and the Festival of Ingathering.
7. Do not offer sacrifices with leaven.
8. Do not leave the sacrifice of Passover until the morning.
9. Bring the firstfruits of the ground to the temple.
10. Do not boil a kid in its mother's milk.
Of these, only the prohibition of idols and the keeping of the Sabbath are found in the Ten Commandments. The rest deal primarily with specific sacrifices and festivals. In this regard, it's interesting to note that within the Ten Commandments, the only festival law is the law concerning the Sabbath. Even the Passover, which is central to the salvation story of the Israelites, is left out of the Decalogue.
The laws of Lev 19:1–19, with a much longer catalogue, contain more laws that are parallel to the Ten Commandments. This list contains laws prohibiting stealing, swearing falsely, and bearing false witness. In addition, it includes a number of laws that cover topics ranging from unjust judgments and wage practices to the interbreeding of two different species of animals. There is only one law dealing with festivals, stipulating that the entire well-being offering must be eaten on the day it is offered. This passage also contains the commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev 19:18), a law that Jesus called the second greatest commandment (Matt 22:39; Mark 12:31).
If these competing versions of laws were all circulating in the monarchic period, it's easy to see why the Ten Commandments were selected to serve as the center of Israelite law. Among the collections of laws surveyed here, the Decalogue is the one least tied to the land and to temple observances. Instead of expressing specific issues of how the Passover is to be observed, whether certain animals should be sacrificed, or how to keep the Feast of First-fruits, the Ten Commandments deal primarily with the overarching ideas concerning how the people are to relate to God and to others. In fact, the only law in the Ten Commandments that does deal with the observance of a specific day concerns the Sabbath. Originally, attendance at the temple or synagogue (a practice that began in the late postexilic period) wasn't required on the Sabbath—that day was merely a day of rest.
When Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BCE and 586 BCE took Israel into exile in Babylon, the "transportability" of the Ten Commandments was even more important. With the destruction of the temple, a number of religious festivals couldn't be observed at all, since Deuteronomy specified that such festivals could be observed only in Jerusalem (Deut 16:5–6). The Sabbath, however, could still be observed in Babylon, and it was in this period that it became the essential religious observance for Judaism.
Other laws of the Ten Commandments were also important in Babylon, as the people encountered the Mesopotamian gods. The call to worship Yahweh was even more urgent in this setting, and the remembrance that Yahweh was the God who had led them out of Egypt (Exod 20:2; Deut 5:6) inspired hope that God would once again remember the people and bring them out of their current captivity. The commandment against idols was also important in this period—it is reflected, for instance, in the message of Second Isaiah, who harangues those who fashion idols from wood: "No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, 'Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and have eaten. Now shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?'" (Isa 44:19). Idolaters, he says, are too foolish to see that half of the wood is burnt to keep them warm, while the other half they consider to be a god.
Note that neither the Exodus 20 passage nor its parallel in Deuteronomy 5 refers to this set of laws as the Ten Commandments. In fact, the expression "Ten Commandments" isn't actually found in the Torah. The Hebrew phrase translated "Ten Commandments" literally means the "ten words." In Exodus, the only reference to the Ten Commandments comes in 34:28 and seems to refer to the laws in Exod 34:17–26. In Deuteronomy, Moses speaks of the Ten Commandments in 4:13, right before the recitation of the Ten Commandments. This reference, however, is a part of Moses' first speech in Deut 1:1–4:43, an introduction that was added to the book sometime after the second speech in chapters 12–28. In Deut 10:4, however, Moses does mention the Ten Commandments by name, making reference to the second set of tablets that God made after Moses broke the first set. Outside of these three occurrences, however, the phrase "the ten words" or "the ten commandments" occurs nowhere in the Old Testament. The fact that the references to the Ten Commandments are not directly associated with the Ten Commandments further strengthens the perception that these laws were not "set in stone" until late in the monarchic period.
Despite the fact that all Christian traditions hold the Ten Commandments to be a central statement, there is disagreement over the way we number them. Anglicans, as well as many others in the Reformed tradition, see the commandment to have no other gods as the first commandment, and the prohibition against idols as the second. Roman Catholics and Lutherans, however, combine these two into one commandment and divide the law against coveting into two commandments, one covering the neighbor's wife and the other covering all other possessions. The first division is suggested by the wording in Exodus, while the second follows that of Deuteronomy, but neither division affects the meaning of the commandments. In the discussion that follows, we'll use the Anglican division of the laws.
Our Relationship with God
The outline of the Ten Commandments falls neatly into two sections: the first four deal with our relationship with God, and the last six concern our relationships with others. Although only four laws address our behavior toward God, they are much longer than the last six laws. They also set the context for the interactions between people, as interpersonal relationships must be seen in the light of our relation to the divine.
The Ten Commandments open with the statement " I am the LORD your God." While not a commandment itself, it sets the context for the laws that follow. This phrase is found in other sections of the Pentateuch, most notably in the Holiness Code of Lev 17–26. There, the complete phrase is "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" (Lev 19:2). In Exodus and Deuteronomy, however, it refers not to the holiness of God but to the personal relationship between God and God's people. The word translated "LORD" here is the personal name of Yahweh, revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai (Exod 3:13–15).
Next comes a historical reminder: Yahweh is not some random god who has met the Israelites at Mount Sinai but the God who brought the people out of the land of Egypt and freed them from slavery. This is a crucial statement for understanding the Ten Commandments. These commandments are not moral absolutes given for all time. Instead, they are the stipulations of the covenant relationship made at Sinai between Yahweh and the people he has saved. These laws, as well as those that follow in the rest of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, are to be understood as the requirements laid on the people by virtue of their willingness to enter into that covenant. The people are free to disobey the law, but if they do so, the covenant relationship with God is placed in danger.
After this introduction, the first commandment is given: "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exod 20:3; Deut 5:7). This commandment usually is understood to mandate monotheism among the people. And by the time of the closing of the biblical canon, this was probably the case. Within its earlier historical context, however, the existence of other gods was presupposed. This commandment, while not denying the reality of other gods, does prohibit worshiping them. Yahweh is not one god among many for the Israelites but rather the sole God of this people. God has redeemed this people for himself, and they are to worship him only. They may hold no other gods to be higher than or even equal to Yahweh.
The second commandment forbids the making of idols. In later tradition, people understood this as making a representation of Yahweh, the God of Israel. In Moses' first speech in Deuteronomy, he instructs the people, "Since you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire, take care and watch yourselves closely, so that you do not act corruptly by making an idol for yourselves, in the form of any figure" (Deut 4:15–16).
In the current wording of this law in the framework of the Ten Commandments, however, the law deals not with the worship of God but with the possibility that the people might make an idol in the form of anything, whether in heaven, on earth, or in the seas. As such, the law logically follows the first commandment. Not only are the people supposed to worship Yahweh alone; they are even forbidden from making idols of other gods or anything else that might be worshiped.
The law against idols continues with the statement that God is a jealous God who punishes children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren for the sins of the parents. The idea that God is a jealous God is found in a number of places in the Old Testament (Exod 34:14; Deut 4:24; 6:15; Ezek 39:25; Joel 2:18; Zech 1:14; 8:2). It refers to God's unwillingness to share his people with other gods. They are to worship only Yahweh. This metaphor of jealousy is drawn from the realm of marriage. Yahweh wants an exclusive relationship with the people, just as the relationship between a husband and wife is exclusive.
The statement that God punishes the descendants for the sins of the parents may be a troubling statement for modern readers. We are not comfortable with the idea that an entire family could suffer for the sins of one. Moreover, this statement cannot be reduced to the idea that sin merely affects an entire family, because the verse states that it is God—and not merely the outworking of sin—who punishes these generations.
It is clear that even in ancient Israel some people found this concept problematic. During the early sixth century, when it was becoming clear that Babylon would soon destroy the kingdom of Judah, people had apparently taken up the saying, "The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge" (Jer 31:29; Ezek 18:2). They claimed that it was not their sins that were bringing on the destruction but the sins of their parents. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel took up this proverb only to reject it, saying that the people were being punished for their own sins, not those of their ancestors.
Yet although the idea of corporate punishment for individual sins was certainly present in ancient Israel, the statement in the third commandment doesn't actually refer to the punishment of the children long after the parents have died. Instead, it refers to the punishment of all of the generations living together in an extended family—the punishment of an entire household for the sins of one member—not the passing on of a punishment to successive generations. Much more important, but more often overlooked, is the statement that God shows mercy to the thousandth generation of those who love him and keep his commandments.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from CONVERSATIONS WITH SCRIPTURE: THE LAWby KEVIN A. WILSON Copyright © 2006 by Kevin A. Wilson. Excerpted by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
