**********************
JESUS , THE MAN AND HIS WORK.... ebook contains the entire, unedited text of theoriginal manuscript of Wallace D. Wattles' powerful lecture. All in all, you'll get 49 pages of hard-hitting, no-nonsense, no holds barred information - the truth about Jesus and His teachings - as only Wallace D. Wattles could deliver it!This information is timelessWallace D. Wattles delivered this lecture over ninety years ago, but its message couldn't be more timely. It's just as relevant today as it was then - if not even more so! CLICK LINK BELOW:
Click Here!
********************************************************************************
HOW CAN YOU CHANGE THE WORLD.... TO THE PERFECT WORLD IT WAS CREATED TO BE???????
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LET'S PUT GOD BACK IN TO SCHOOLS, AND HAVE A PRAYER IN THE MORNING SESSION, WITH THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE..... WHAT DO YOU THINK?.............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HEARD THE 10 COMMANDMENTS? I GUESS NO ONE HEARS THEM ANYMORE, AND NO ONE LIVES BY THEM ANY MORE: WELL HERE THEY ARE , LET'S SEE IF YOU REMEMBER ANY OF THEM, AND IF YOU LIVE BY THEM..
The list of the seven deadly sins are listed in the Bible in Proverbs 6:16-19:
16 These six hath Jehovah hated, Yes, seven are abominations to his soul.
17 Eyes high--tongues false--And hands shedding innocent blood--
18 A heart devising thoughts of vanity--Feet hasting to run to evil--
19 A false witness who doth breathe out lies--And one sending forth contentions between brethren.
~From Youngs Literal Translation.
The seven deadly sins, also known as the cardinal sins, are a classification of vices used in early Christian teachings to educate and protect followers from basic human instincts. It is often said in the Bible that God punishes the wicked, and this is something that people often cite as unfair and a reason to avoid religions that believe it. Does God punish the wicked for not living up to His standards, or does everyone simply get what they want? We call the results of these sins consquences
There are two types of sin and they are as follows: venial which is forgiven without the need for Confession and capital which can afford you to damnation. Beginning in the early 14th-century, the popularity of the 7 deadly sins with artists of the time engrained them in human culture around the world. The 7 deadly sins are Pride, Greed, Lust, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth and Envy. Attempting to destroy/fight these Seven Deadly Sins we have the Seven Holy Virtues.
Many of these deadly sins are very similar: envy, gluttony, lust and greed are all about desire. There is also a hidden lack of concern for others in at least envy and anger.
As with other religious rule-sets, these pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of a system for social harmonization or social control. Few people will openly admit to any of them and this attests to the success in the inculcation of these as anti-values in the Christian world.
There are some peculiarities to this list. First off the number seven happens to be the size of our short-term memory, which is a real limit to the number of things we can hold in our mind at one time. These 7 deadly sins are usually thought of as an action because the list names dispositions rather than people actions. Secondly another thought is that traits such as cruelty, malevolence, hypocrisy or ingratitude are left out of this list and should be part of it. Thirdly some of the sins are arguably connected with virtue: for example, proper pride is allied to the self-esteem that derives from doing something well, and a central motivation to virtue; proper anger is allied to the indignation that immoral actions warrant, and lust is nature's way of ensuring procreation.
This 1768 parchment (612×502 mm) by Jekuthiel Sofer emulated the 1675 Ten Commandments at the Amsterdam Esnoga synagogue.[1]The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue, are a set of biblical laws relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God, to keep the sabbath holy and prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, theft, deception and adultery. Different groups follow slightly different traditions for interpreting and numbering them.
The Ten Commandments appear twice in the Hebrew Bible, in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. According to the story in Exodus, God inscribed them on two stone tablets, which he gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. Modern scholarship has found likely influences in Hittite and Mesopotamian laws and treaties, but is divided over exactly when the Ten Commandments were written and who wrote them.
In biblical Hebrew, the Ten Commandments are called עשרת הדברים (transliterated Asereth ha-D'bharîm) and in Rabbinical Hebrew עשרת הדברות (transliterated Asereth ha-Dibroth), both translatable as "the ten words", "the ten sayings" or "the ten matters".[2] The Tyndale and Coverdale English translations used "ten verses". The Geneva Bible appears to be the first to use "tenne commandements", which was followed by the Bishops' Bible and the Authorized Version (the "King James" version) as "ten commandments". Most major English versions follow the Authorized Version.[3]
The English name "Decalogue" is derived from Greek δεκάλογος, dekalogos, the latter meaning and referring[4] to the Greek translation (in accusative) δέκα λόγους, deka logous, "ten words", found in the Septuagint (or LXX) at Exodus 34:28[3] and Deuteronomy 10:4.[5]
The stone tablets, as opposed to the commandments inscribed on them, are called לוחות הברית: Luchot HaBrit, meaning "the tablets of the covenant".
According to Jewish tradition, Exodus 20:1–17 constitutes God's first recitation and inscription of the ten commandments on the two tables,[13] which were broken in pieces by Moses, and later rewritten on replacement stones and placed in the ark of the covenant;[14] and Deuteronomy 5:4–20 consists of God's re-telling of the ten commandments to the younger generation who were to enter the promised land. The passages in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 contain more than ten imperative statements, totalling 14 or 15 in all.
Religious groups use one of three historical divisions of Exodus 20:1–17 into ten parts tabulated below:[15]
Huffmon writes that the Ten Commandments were written with room for varying interpretation because they are fundamental.[16] They are not as explicit[16] or detailed as rules and regulations[17] or many other biblical laws and commandments, because they provide guiding principles that apply universally, across changing circumstances. They do not specify punishments for their violation. Their precise import must be worked out in each separate situation.[17]
Various aspects of the Bible have been considered indications of a special status of the Ten Commandments among all other Old Testament laws. They have a uniquely terse style.[18] Of all the biblical laws and commandments, the Ten Commandments alone[18] were "written with the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18). And lastly, the stone tablets were placed in the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:21).[18]
In Judaism, the Ten Commandments provide God's universal and timeless standard of right and wrong.[19][20]
In some traditions, worshipers rise for the reading of the Ten Commandments to highlight their special significance[21] even though many rabbis, including Maimonides, have come out against this custom since one may come to think that the Ten Commandments are more important than the rest of the Mitzvot.[22] (See below: Use In Jewish Ritual.)
The Eastern Orthodox Church holds its moral truths to be chiefly contained in the Ten Commandments.[23] A confession begins with the Confessor reciting the Ten Commandments and asking the penitent which of them he has broken.[24]
In Roman Catholicism, Jesus freed Christians from the Jewish obligation to keep the 613 mitzvot, but not from their obligation to keep the Ten Commandments.[25] They are to the moral order what the creation story is to the natural order.[25]
Even after rejecting the Roman Catholic moral theology, giving less importance to biblical law in order to better hear and be moved by the gospel, early Protestant theologians still took the Ten Commandments to be the starting point of Christian moral life.[26] Different versions of Christianity have varied in how they have translated the bare principles into the specifics that make up a full Christian ethic.[26] Where Catholicism emphasizes taking action to fulfill the Ten Commandments, Protestantism uses the Ten Commandments for two purposes: to outline the Christian life to each person, and to make each person realize, through their failure to live that life, that they lack the ability to do it on their own.[26] Thus for Protestant Christianity, the Ten Commandments primarily serve to lead each Christian to the grace of God.
According to the Talmud, the compendium of traditional Rabbinic Jewish law, tradition, and interpretation, the biblical verse "the tablets were written on both their sides",[29] implies that the carving went through the full thickness of the tablets. The stones in the center part of some letters were not connected to the rest of the tablet, but they did not fall out. Moreover, the writing was also legible from both sides; it was not a mirror image of the text on the other side. The Talmud regards both phenomena as miraculous.[30]
The traditional Rabbinical Jewish belief is that the observance of these commandments and the other mitzvot are required solely of the Jewish people, and that the laws incumbent on humanity in general are outlined in the seven Noahide laws (several of which overlap with the Ten Commandments). In the era of the Sanhedrin transgressing any one of six of the Ten Commandments theoretically carried the death penalty, the exceptions being the First Commandment, honoring your father and mother, saying God's name in vain, and coveting, though this was rarely enforced due to a large number of stringent evidentiary requirements imposed by the oral law.
Ten commandments on glass plateDuring the period of the Second Temple, the Ten Commandments were recited daily.[21] The Mishnah records that in the Temple, it was the practice to recite them every day before the reading of the Shema Yisrael (as preserved, for example, in the Nash Papyrus, a Hebrew manuscript fragment from 150–100 BCE found in Egypt, containing a version of the ten commandments and the beginning of the Shema); but that this practice was abolished in the synagogues so as not to give ammunition to heretics who claimed that they were the only important part of Jewish law,[32] or so as to dispute a claim by early Christians that only the Ten Commandments were handed down at Mount Sinai rather than the whole Torah.[21] In later centuries, rabbis continued to omit the Ten Commandments from daily liturgy in order to prevent a confusion among Jews that they are only bound by the Ten Commandments, and not also by many other biblical and talmudic laws, such as the requirement to observe holy days other than the sabbath.[21]
Today, the Ten Commandments are heard in the synagogue three times a year: as they come up during the readings of Exodus and Deuteronomy, and during the festival of Shavuot.[21] The Exodus version is read in parashat Yitro around late January–February, and on the festival of Shavuot, and the Deuteronomy version in parashat Va'etchanan in August–September.
In printed Chumashim, as well as in those in manuscript form, the Ten Commandments carry two sets of cantillation marks. The ta'am 'elyon (upper accentuation), which makes each Commandment into a separate verse, is used for public Torah reading, while the ta'am tachton (lower accentuation), which divides the text into verses of more even length, is used for private reading or study. The verse numbering in Jewish Bibles follows the ta'am tachton. In Jewish Bibles the references to the Ten Commandments are therefore Exodus 20:2–14 and Deuteronomy 5:6–18.
The text of the commandment follows:
In the Gospel of Matthew 19:16–19, Jesus repeated five of the Ten Commandments, followed by that commandment called "the second" (Mat.22:34–40) after the first and great commandment.
JESUS , THE MAN AND HIS WORK.... ebook contains the entire, unedited text of theoriginal manuscript of Wallace D. Wattles' powerful lecture. All in all, you'll get 49 pages of hard-hitting, no-nonsense, no holds barred information - the truth about Jesus and His teachings - as only Wallace D. Wattles could deliver it!This information is timelessWallace D. Wattles delivered this lecture over ninety years ago, but its message couldn't be more timely. It's just as relevant today as it was then - if not even more so! CLICK LINK BELOW:
Click Here!
********************************************************************************
MIRACLE MASTERY..... UNLEASH THE POWER OF PSYCHIC ABILITY......CLICK FOLLOWING LINK:
Click Here!
********************************************************************************HOW CAN YOU CHANGE THE WORLD.... TO THE PERFECT WORLD IT WAS CREATED TO BE???????
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LET'S PUT GOD BACK IN TO SCHOOLS, AND HAVE A PRAYER IN THE MORNING SESSION, WITH THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE..... WHAT DO YOU THINK?.............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HEARD THE 10 COMMANDMENTS? I GUESS NO ONE HEARS THEM ANYMORE, AND NO ONE LIVES BY THEM ANY MORE: WELL HERE THEY ARE , LET'S SEE IF YOU REMEMBER ANY OF THEM, AND IF YOU LIVE BY THEM..
16 These six hath Jehovah hated, Yes, seven are abominations to his soul.
17 Eyes high--tongues false--And hands shedding innocent blood--
18 A heart devising thoughts of vanity--Feet hasting to run to evil--
19 A false witness who doth breathe out lies--And one sending forth contentions between brethren.
~From Youngs Literal Translation.
The seven deadly sins, also known as the cardinal sins, are a classification of vices used in early Christian teachings to educate and protect followers from basic human instincts. It is often said in the Bible that God punishes the wicked, and this is something that people often cite as unfair and a reason to avoid religions that believe it. Does God punish the wicked for not living up to His standards, or does everyone simply get what they want? We call the results of these sins consquences
There are two types of sin and they are as follows: venial which is forgiven without the need for Confession and capital which can afford you to damnation. Beginning in the early 14th-century, the popularity of the 7 deadly sins with artists of the time engrained them in human culture around the world. The 7 deadly sins are Pride, Greed, Lust, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth and Envy. Attempting to destroy/fight these Seven Deadly Sins we have the Seven Holy Virtues.
|
As with other religious rule-sets, these pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of a system for social harmonization or social control. Few people will openly admit to any of them and this attests to the success in the inculcation of these as anti-values in the Christian world.
There are some peculiarities to this list. First off the number seven happens to be the size of our short-term memory, which is a real limit to the number of things we can hold in our mind at one time. These 7 deadly sins are usually thought of as an action because the list names dispositions rather than people actions. Secondly another thought is that traits such as cruelty, malevolence, hypocrisy or ingratitude are left out of this list and should be part of it. Thirdly some of the sins are arguably connected with virtue: for example, proper pride is allied to the self-esteem that derives from doing something well, and a central motivation to virtue; proper anger is allied to the indignation that immoral actions warrant, and lust is nature's way of ensuring procreation.
| Proverbs 6:16-19 |
| 16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. |
Ten Commandments
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Ten Commandments (disambiguation).
"Decalogue" redirects here. For other uses, see Decalogue (disambiguation).
The Ten Commandments appear twice in the Hebrew Bible, in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. According to the story in Exodus, God inscribed them on two stone tablets, which he gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. Modern scholarship has found likely influences in Hittite and Mesopotamian laws and treaties, but is divided over exactly when the Ten Commandments were written and who wrote them.
Contents[show] |
[edit] Terminology
| Part of a series on |
| The Ten Commandments |
| Ten Commandments |
| The commandments |
| I am the LORD thy God Thou shalt have no other gods No graven images or likenesses Not take the LORD's name in vain Remember the sabbath day Honour thy father and thy mother Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not bear false witness Thou shalt not covet |
| Related articles |
| Tablets of Stone Ritual Decalogue Catholic doctrine view |
The English name "Decalogue" is derived from Greek δεκάλογος, dekalogos, the latter meaning and referring[4] to the Greek translation (in accusative) δέκα λόγους, deka logous, "ten words", found in the Septuagint (or LXX) at Exodus 34:28[3] and Deuteronomy 10:4.[5]
The stone tablets, as opposed to the commandments inscribed on them, are called לוחות הברית: Luchot HaBrit, meaning "the tablets of the covenant".
[edit] The revelation at Sinai
The biblical narrative of the revelation at Sinai begins in Exodus 19 after the arrival of the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, (also called Horeb). In the morning of the "third day" of their encampment, "there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud", and the people assembled at the base of the mount. After "the LORD[6] came down upon mount Sinai", Moses went up briefly and returned and prepared the people, and then in Exodus 20 "God spoke" to all the people the words of the covenant, "even ten commandments"[7] as it is written. The people were afraid to hear more and moved "afar off" and even Moses said, "I exceedingly fear and quake".[8] Nevertheless, he drew near the "thick darkness"[9] to hear the additional statutes and "judgments", (Exodus 21–23) all which he "wrote"[10] in the "book of the covenant"[11] which he read to the people the next morning, and they agreed to be obedient and do all that the LORD had said. Moses escorted a select group consisting of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and "seventy of the elders of Israel" to a location on the mount where they worshipped "afar off"[12] and they "saw the God of Israel" above a "paved work" like clear sapphire stone. (Exodus 24:1-11)The mount was covered by the cloud for six days, after which Moses went into the midst of the cloud and was "in the mount forty days and forty nights." (Exodus 24:16-18) And Moses said, "the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly." (Deuteronomy 9:10) Before the full forty days expired, the children of Israel decided that something happened to Moses, and compelled Aaron to fashion a golden calf, and he "built an altar before it" (Ex.32:1–5) and the people "worshipped" the calf. (Ex.32:6–8) After the full forty days, Moses and Joshua came down from the mountain with the tables of stone: "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." (Ex.32:19) After the events in chapters 32 and 33, the LORD told 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." (Ex.34:1) "And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me." (Deuteronomy 10:4)And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. 13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.—First mention of the tablets in Exodus 24:12,13
According to Jewish tradition, Exodus 20:1–17 constitutes God's first recitation and inscription of the ten commandments on the two tables,[13] which were broken in pieces by Moses, and later rewritten on replacement stones and placed in the ark of the covenant;[14] and Deuteronomy 5:4–20 consists of God's re-telling of the ten commandments to the younger generation who were to enter the promised land. The passages in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 contain more than ten imperative statements, totalling 14 or 15 in all.
[edit] Enumeration of the Ten Commandments
The two texts commonly known as the Ten Commandments are given in two books of the Bible: Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:4–21.Religious groups use one of three historical divisions of Exodus 20:1–17 into ten parts tabulated below:[15]
- S. Septuagint, generally followed by Orthodox Christians.
- P. Philo, same as the Septuagint, but with the prohibitions on killing and adultery reversed.
- T. Jewish Talmud, makes the "prologue" the first commandment and combines the prohibition on worshiping deities other than Yahweh with the prohibition on idolatry.
- A. Augustine follows the Talmud in combining verses 3–6, but omits the prologue as a commandment and divides the prohibition on coveting in two and following the word order of Deuteronomy 5:21 rather than Exodus 2:17.
- C. Catechism of the Catholic Church, largely follows Augustine.
- L. Lutherans follow Luther's Large Catechism, which follows Augustine but uses the word order of Exodus 2:17 rather than Deuteronomy 5:21 for the ninth and tenth commandment.
- R. Reformed Christians follow John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, which mostly follows Philo.
| S | P | T | A | C | L | R | Main article | Exodus 20:1-17 | Deuteronomy 5:4-21 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | (1) | I am the Lord thy God | 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. | 6 “‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Thou shalt have no other gods before me | 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. | 7 “‘You shall have no other gods before me. |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image | 4–6 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God,visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. | 8–10 “‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain | 7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. | 11 “‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy | 8–11 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. | 12–15 “‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Honour thy father and thy mother | 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. | 16 “‘Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. |
| 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | Thou shalt not kill | 13 “You shall not murder. | 17 “‘You shall not murder. |
| 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | Thou shalt not commit adultery | 14 “You shall not commit adultery. | 18 “‘And you shall not commit adultery. |
| 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | Thou shalt not steal | 15 “You shall not steal. | 19 “‘And you shall not steal. |
| 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour | 16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. | 20 “‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | Thou shalt not covet | 17a “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; | 21b “‘And you shall not desire your neighbor's house |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | Thou shalt not covet | 17b “you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, | 21a “‘And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. |
| 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | Thou shalt not covet | 17c “or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.” | 21c “or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.’ |
[edit] Importance within Judaism and Christianity
Herbert Huffmon considers the Ten Commandments to concern matters of fundamental importance: the greatest obligation (to worship only God), the greatest injury to a person (murder), the greatest injury to family bonds (adultery), the greatest injury to commerce and law (bearing false witness), the greatest inter-generational obligation (honor to parents), the greatest obligation to community (truthfulness), the greatest injury to moveable property (theft).[16]Huffmon writes that the Ten Commandments were written with room for varying interpretation because they are fundamental.[16] They are not as explicit[16] or detailed as rules and regulations[17] or many other biblical laws and commandments, because they provide guiding principles that apply universally, across changing circumstances. They do not specify punishments for their violation. Their precise import must be worked out in each separate situation.[17]
Various aspects of the Bible have been considered indications of a special status of the Ten Commandments among all other Old Testament laws. They have a uniquely terse style.[18] Of all the biblical laws and commandments, the Ten Commandments alone[18] were "written with the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18). And lastly, the stone tablets were placed in the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:21).[18]
In Judaism, the Ten Commandments provide God's universal and timeless standard of right and wrong.[19][20]
In some traditions, worshipers rise for the reading of the Ten Commandments to highlight their special significance[21] even though many rabbis, including Maimonides, have come out against this custom since one may come to think that the Ten Commandments are more important than the rest of the Mitzvot.[22] (See below: Use In Jewish Ritual.)
The Eastern Orthodox Church holds its moral truths to be chiefly contained in the Ten Commandments.[23] A confession begins with the Confessor reciting the Ten Commandments and asking the penitent which of them he has broken.[24]
In Roman Catholicism, Jesus freed Christians from the Jewish obligation to keep the 613 mitzvot, but not from their obligation to keep the Ten Commandments.[25] They are to the moral order what the creation story is to the natural order.[25]
Even after rejecting the Roman Catholic moral theology, giving less importance to biblical law in order to better hear and be moved by the gospel, early Protestant theologians still took the Ten Commandments to be the starting point of Christian moral life.[26] Different versions of Christianity have varied in how they have translated the bare principles into the specifics that make up a full Christian ethic.[26] Where Catholicism emphasizes taking action to fulfill the Ten Commandments, Protestantism uses the Ten Commandments for two purposes: to outline the Christian life to each person, and to make each person realize, through their failure to live that life, that they lack the ability to do it on their own.[26] Thus for Protestant Christianity, the Ten Commandments primarily serve to lead each Christian to the grace of God.
[edit] Religious interpretations
[edit] Judaism
[edit] The two tablets
The arrangement of the commandments on the two tablets is interpreted in different ways in the classical Jewish tradition. Rabbi Hanina ben Gamaliel says that each tablet contained five commandments, "but the Sages say ten on one tablet and ten on the other".[27] Because the commandments establish a covenant, it is likely that they were duplicated on both tablets. This can be compared to diplomatic treaties of Ancient Egypt, in which a copy was made for each party.[28]According to the Talmud, the compendium of traditional Rabbinic Jewish law, tradition, and interpretation, the biblical verse "the tablets were written on both their sides",[29] implies that the carving went through the full thickness of the tablets. The stones in the center part of some letters were not connected to the rest of the tablet, but they did not fall out. Moreover, the writing was also legible from both sides; it was not a mirror image of the text on the other side. The Talmud regards both phenomena as miraculous.[30]
[edit] Significance of the Decalogue
The Ten Commandments are not given any greater significance in observance or special status. In fact, when undue emphasis was being placed on them, their daily communal recitation was discontinued.[31] Jewish tradition does, however, recognize them as the theological basis for the rest of the commandments; a number of works (starting with Rabbi Saadia Gaon) have made groupings of the commandments according to their links with the Ten Commandments.The traditional Rabbinical Jewish belief is that the observance of these commandments and the other mitzvot are required solely of the Jewish people, and that the laws incumbent on humanity in general are outlined in the seven Noahide laws (several of which overlap with the Ten Commandments). In the era of the Sanhedrin transgressing any one of six of the Ten Commandments theoretically carried the death penalty, the exceptions being the First Commandment, honoring your father and mother, saying God's name in vain, and coveting, though this was rarely enforced due to a large number of stringent evidentiary requirements imposed by the oral law.
[edit] Use In Jewish ritual
Today, the Ten Commandments are heard in the synagogue three times a year: as they come up during the readings of Exodus and Deuteronomy, and during the festival of Shavuot.[21] The Exodus version is read in parashat Yitro around late January–February, and on the festival of Shavuot, and the Deuteronomy version in parashat Va'etchanan in August–September.
In printed Chumashim, as well as in those in manuscript form, the Ten Commandments carry two sets of cantillation marks. The ta'am 'elyon (upper accentuation), which makes each Commandment into a separate verse, is used for public Torah reading, while the ta'am tachton (lower accentuation), which divides the text into verses of more even length, is used for private reading or study. The verse numbering in Jewish Bibles follows the ta'am tachton. In Jewish Bibles the references to the Ten Commandments are therefore Exodus 20:2–14 and Deuteronomy 5:6–18.
[edit] Samaritan
The Samaritan Pentateuch varies in the Ten Commandments passages, both in that the Samaritan Deuteronomical version of the passage is much closer to that in Exodus, and in the addition of a commandment on the sanctity of Mount Gerizim.The text of the commandment follows:
- And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land of the Canaanites whither thou goest to take possession of it, thou shalt erect unto thee large stones, and thou shalt cover them with lime, and thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this Law, and it shall come to pass when ye cross the Jordan, ye shall erect these stones which I command thee upon Mount Gerizim, and thou shalt build there an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones, and thou shalt not lift upon them iron, of perfect stones shalt thou build thine altar, and thou shalt bring upon it burnt offerings to the Lord thy God, and thou shalt sacrifice peace offerings, and thou shalt eat there and rejoice before the Lord thy God. That mountain is on the other side of the Jordan at the end of the road towards the going down of the sun in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah facing Gilgal close by Elon Moreh facing Shechem.[33]
[edit] Christianity
Main article: Christian views on the old covenant
[edit] Reference by Jesus
See also: Expounding of the Law
During his sermon on the mount, Jesus explicitly reference the prohibitions against murder and adultery, and elaborates on their implications.In the Gospel of Matthew 19:16–19, Jesus repeated five of the Ten Commandments, followed by that commandment called "the second" (Mat.22:34–40) after the first and great commandment.
Matthew 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
[edit] Reference by Paul
In his epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul also mentioned five of the Ten Commandments and associated them with the neighbourly love commandment.Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
— Romans 13:8-10 KJV
[edit] Catholicism
Main article: Catholic doctrine regarding the Ten Commandments
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church—the official exposition of the Catholic Church's Christian beliefs—the Commandments are considered essential for spiritual good health and growth,[34] and serve as the basis for social justice.[35] Church teaching of the Commandments is largely based on the Old and New Testaments and the writings of the early Church Fathers.[36] In the New Testament, Jesus acknowledged their validity and instructed his disciples to go further, demanding a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees.[37] Summarized by Jesus into two "great commandments" that teach the love of God and love of neighbor,[38] they instruct individuals on their relationships with both.[edit] Lutheranism
See also: Law and Gospel
The Lutheran division of the commandments follows the one established by St. Augustine, following the then current synagogue scribal division. The first three commandments govern the relationship between God and humans, the fourth through eighth govern public relationships between people, and the last two govern private thoughts. See Luther's Small Catechism[39] and Large Catechism
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