1. The Ten Commandments are God's words and that is why we pay attention to
them. Indeed, they are God's words in a special sense because this is
the only time God spoke to his whole people together and these are the only
words God is said to have written down himself.
2. They are not all that can or needs to be said
about how God’s people are to live. Thus the Ten Commandments instruct us not to
murder (“kill without authority”), not to commit adultery, and to honour our
parents but they do not spell out what this means. For this we need – and are
given – more words from God. The same applies to the great commandment to love God and neighbour. We need to learn what it means to truly love.
3. The Ten Commandments are God's words for a people he has delivered from slavery. This suggests
two things:
·
we do not become God’s
people by obeying his commandments; we have become God’s people by his gracious
act of deliverance; God’s instructions are to help us to become more and more his
holy people
·
the commandments are not to
enslave us; God has liberated from slavery – the law is a gift of his grace; it
shows us the good life; the commandments are the boundaries that make true freedom
possible, a bit like a play ground fence facilitates safe play for children and guard rails on mountain roads help safe driving
4. The first commandment is the basis for the other
commandments.
“All sins are sins against the first commandment; the first commandment contains the whole of the Decalogue. For all sin serves some other god, obeys another commander: the world or the flesh or the devil. So if we obeyed only this one commandment perfectly, we would need nothing more. St Augustine says, “Love God and then do what you will.” For if you give your whole heart and will and love to God, then what you will will be all that God wills.” (Kreeft, Catholic Christianity, 205)
This is not payback for God’s deliverance; this is an
expression of our belief that God is worthy to be feared, to be loved, and to
be trusted above all things. God deserves the allegiance of those he delivered. More
fundamentally, the nature of reality demands that worship is only given to God.
Idolatry consist in treating as God what is not God. This links closely with
the next word.
5. The living God who transcends all of creation cannot be represented by a lifeless statue. To confuse the Creator with a part of creation has serious and
far-reaching implications for our life as God’s people. The Israelites were told
that if they disobeyed, the effects would be felt by whole households for
several generations.
6. God’s reputation is of the utmost importance - for us. (The old blasphemy laws were not about protecting God, but protecting us against fundamentally misconceiving reality.) If
God’s name is besmirched, people are not drawn to him. God’s name must be honoured and praised, celebrated and invoked. To treat God’s
name with disrespect is to treat his gift lightly and to misrepresent his nature. Arguably the worst way in which we can break this
commandment is by calling ourselves Christians without living as disciples of
Christ. How can they call upon him whom they do not know because those who bear his name misrepresent him?
7. We are not to live as if all time were our own, to do with as we please. “The God of all time retains the right to determine how one day shall or shall not be used.” (Janzen, Exodus, 229). Remembering the Sabbath by creating “a sanctuary of time” aligns us with the pattern of creation. God built into the very order of
things a working/resting rhythm. “By resting on the seventh day, Israel is not
just following God’s command, but actually following God’s lead.” (Enns, Exodus, 419)
8. The commandment to honour one’s parents (notice: both
father and mother) is open-ended, not clearly defined. It finds expression differently at different stages of our lives. For young children to “honour” one’s parents
means to trust and obey them; for mature adults, especially when their parents
get to a stage that is closer to the dependence of childhood again, to “honour”
one’s parents means to make sure that they are properly cared for and to make time for them.
This is the first commandment with a promise, as the
apostle reminds us (Eph. 6:2). This should not be understood in an
individualistic way. The nation Israel is here warned that breaking God’s
commands, “will jeopardize their possession of the land God has given them.” (Enns, Exodus, 421)
9. God protects the integrity of his creation by prohibiting attacks and so the next few commandments give us
- God’s “No” to attacking another’s life
- God’s “No” to attacking another’s marriage
- God’s “No” to attacking another’s property
- God’s “No” to attacking another’s reputation
These commandments are not about personal morality only but protect society from the corrosive effect of violence and injustice. They can remind us that
- life belongs to God and he alone has the right to end it
- sexual union in God’s purposes is linked with procreation and parenthood
- theft is an attack on human dignity and their work
- false witness compromises justice and gossip corrodes community
10. The last commandment concerns our hearts rather
than actions. Lust, envy, and greed will lead to breaking other commandments.
In this sense the tenth commandment is a ‘summary commandment’, as one commentator pout it (John Durham). Coveting of course cannot be regulated or policed and this
reminds us again at the end that it is all about God. Only God can look upon
the heart. “These commands are not given so that we can be good
citizens, but so that we can reflect even more fully the image of God in which
we participate through our union with the risen Christ.” (Enns, Exodus, 430)
Final reflection in the following post.
Final reflection in the following post.
