The Ten Commandments

Have You Really Thought About Them?

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. You shall not make unto yourself any graven image.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long.
6. You shall not kill.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
10. You shall not covet.
11. You shall not link to the FBI without explicit, written permission from the FBI (just kidding).

Let us ponder the commandments for a moment.

Commandment #1 as presented: You shall have no other gods before me.
What the Bible says (Exodus 20:2-3): 2 “I, the Lord, am you God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. 3 You shall not have other gods besides me.”
Notes: Seems reasonable enough; although this implies the existence of other gods, and because of this, the Lord God is claiming exclusive rights. Ignore the others, it’s all about Him and His interests.

Commandment #2 as presented: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
What the Bible says (Exodus 20:7): 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain.”
Notes: While the type of punishment isn’t stated, we can imagine it will be something beyond a slap on the wrist.
Observations: Let’s look at the word vain, which used in this context is also know as “irreverently”. We flip through the dictionary and find irreverent, which enlightens us with “lacking in reverence”. Reverence yields “an act of showing respect”. Okay, so the Lord God wants His name respectfully used. I think we all do, sounds like common courtesy to me.

Commandment #3 as presented: You shall not make unto yourself any graven image.
What the Bible says (Exodus 20:4-6): 4 “You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; 5 you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; 6 but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Notes: Interesting that this is listed as the third commandment, but it is actually the second as written in Exodus.
Observations: Being raised Catholic, I was constantly surrounded by graven images which I was instructed to worship. I think it’s safe to say me and my children are doomed for a thousand generations. All I can do is try to help my offspring a thousand generations from now by stopping the practice in my own life. Something else to consider: suppose Jesus The Christ lived and died in modern times. Further suppose that his mode of death was to be pushed in front of a speeding Mack truck. Would the church congregations in future generations stand before an altar made from the grill of a Mack truck with Jesus crushed against the front? How utterly tasteless and offensive that would be! Is that any different than the crucifixion? Somehow I don’t think so.

Commandment #4: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
What the Bible says (Exodus 20:8-11): 8 “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. 9 Six days you may labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God. No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you. 11 In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
Notes: The Lord God acknowledges slaves and aliens.
Observations: Everyone deserves a day off, even slaves and aliens. I find it interesting that people in Biblical times had alien house guests, yet modern society and our government tries to tell us they are figments of our over-active imaginations. Read your Bible Agent Scully, the truth is there!

Commandment #5 as presented: Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long.
What the Bible says (Exodus 20:12): 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you.”
Notes: If you don’t honor your father and mother, you may not have a long life.
Observations: If we apply the commandments in order, #5 takes precedent over #6; therefore, if you don’t honor your mother and father, they can kill you as an act of God’s will (denying you long life); yet, they would not be violating #6, only enforcing #5.

Commandment #6 as presented: You shall not kill.
What the Bible says (Exodus 20:13): 13 “You shall not kill.”
Notes: Pretty much a slam-dunk in sports terms.
Observations: Is it a slam-dunk really? The Bible has numerous passages where someone kills someone or something, and due to the circumstances, it was a righteous and noble deed. David slays Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:48-51, and everyone rejoices (except Goliath and the Philistines). While the commandment seems absolute, there are obviously exceptions to the rule. If we take the commandment at face value, every living thing is condemned because every living thing kills to survive. If your body was not an efficient killing machine, you would have been overcome by your first cold and died. No, clearly this is not the absolute it seems to be. Indeed, in Exodus 21:23-25: 23 “But if injury ensues, you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” Hence, this commandment is flexible; if someone kills or maims your wife, you can justly kill or maim his wife in the eyes of the Lord God. Seems urban street gangs are doing something right.

Commandment #7 as presented: You shall not commit adultery.
What the Bible says (Exodus 20:14): 14 “You shall not commit adultery.”
Notes: Half-court toss at the buzzer, nothing but net.
Observations: Again, there seems to be times when adultery as modern culture defines it is okay, if done for the right reasons. Consider the story of Jacob and Rachel, Genesis 30:1-8: When Rachel saw that she failed to bear children to Jacob, she became envious of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children or I shall die!” 2 In anger Jacob retorted, “Can I take the place of God, who has denied you the fruit of the womb?” 3 She replied, “Here is my maid-servant Bilhah. Have intercourse with her and let her give birth on my knees, so that I too may have offspring, at least through her.” 4 So she gave him her maidservant Bilhah as a consort, and Jacob had intercourse with her. 5 When Bilhah conceived and bore a son, 6 Rachel said, “God had vindicated me; indeed he has heeded my plea and given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan. 7 Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah conceived again and bore a second son, 8 and Rachel said, “I engaged in a fateful struggle with my sister, and I prevailed.” So she named him Naphtali.
Isn’t that adultery? Maybe it wasn’t because Rachel gave her permission. Did Bilhah give her permission? Perhaps not, and Jacob raped Bilhah. But there doesn’t seem to be a commandment against rape, now does there? We could invoke the “eye for eye” clause and assert that Bilhah’s husband could then rape Rachel . . . assuming Bilhah had a husband, that isn’t explicitly stated either way. That just seems to be punishing the women though; perhaps Bilhah would be well within her rights to find a righteous, well built man to do God’s will and rape Jacob.
Assuming Bilhah consented to the arrangement, perhaps it wasn’t adultery because their intentions were to produce a child; this goes back to the beginning of it all and could be considered complying with Genesis 1:28: God blessed them, saying: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.” Since Rachel’s multiplication efforts were falling short, Jacob must have been justified in spilling his seed in Bilhah.

Commandment #8 as presented: You shall not steal.
What the Bible says (Exodus 20:15): 15 “You shall not steal.”
Notes: While this seems absolute as well, my certainty is wavering. I’m looking for a specific reference when stealing was condoned because of it serving a higher purpose. Maybe there isn’t one. I remain vigilant.

Commandment #9 as presented: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
What the Bible says (Exodus 20:16): 16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Notes: Here we have “neighbour” versus “neighbor” but that’s cleaving protein strands.
Observations: I think this one is pretty much common courtesy as well.

Commandment #10 as presented: You shall not covet.
What the Bible says (Exodus 20:17): 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him.”
Notes: Obviously condensed a bit, probably because the scribes were getting really tired by this point.
Observations: If we examine the full text, it seems to be acceptable to covet your neighbor’s live-in alien, since the alien doesn’t technically belong to him (the neighbor).