by Rabbi Stuart Dauermann, PhD

The Ten Commandments are not called that in Scripture.  Rather they are called "The Ten Words," and they are the core of the Covenant Code, the compact Hashem made with our people at Sinai.

 

The Ten Words are useful in so many ways. Even though they are of course primarily designed to be the basic structure for Israel's covenant with Hashem, today I want to suggest we consider how they can form the substructure of our individual living, if we would walk with the Holy One.

It seems to me that at their root, the Ten Words may be seen to be all about making the Holy One to be our fundamental point of reference, our Absolute.  With this in view, consider making these Ten Words the core of your own covenant relationship with God.

• "I am the Lord your God . . . " Always make sure that the Holy One is your ultimate Absolute, the axis around which everything else revolves, the root of all your values and decisions.
• No graven image: do not reduce the Holy One to your own size.  He is greater, He is other, he is more holy than anything you could imagine.  Again, we are reminded that God is our ultimate Absolute.
• Not taking the name of the Hashem in vain: Using God's Name in a utilitarian and self-serving fashion only tends to cheapen it, and to bring Him down to our level.  Yeshua said, "Our Father, who art in heaven, may your name be treated as holy."  That means we must beware of any tendency to bring God down to the level of our own puny perspectives and agendas.  Think of God as always higher—exalt his Name.  Again, we are reminded that God is our ultimate Absolute.
• Keep shabbat holy as a remembrance of the Creation and the Redemption from Egypt—do not make your work your absolute. Again, we are reminded that God is our ultimate Absolute.
• Human ethics begins at home – Honor your father and mother.  You cannot be outside the home any better than you can be with your family.  Contempt for human authority goes hand in hand with contempt for the Holy One.  And here, parents are seen as representing human authority.  Those who treat human authority with contempt are treating their own desires and sense of empowerment as absolute.  Again, we are reminded that God is our ultimate Absolute.
• Do not murder: Do not use violence to obtain your own satisfaction.  You are not the center of the world, and should not use violence to try and prove that you are.  Again, we are reminded that God is our ultimate Absolute
• Do not commit adultery – Do not cross over God's appointed sexual boundaries making your own pleasure your absolute. Again, we are reminded that God is our ultimate Absolute
• Do not steal – making things your absolutes. Again, we are reminded that God is our ultimate Absolute
• Do not bear false witness against your neighbor—making revenge, influence or profit your absolute. Again, we are reminded that God is our ultimate Absolute
• Do not covet what is your neighbors—making satisfying your envy your absolute, making being as good as the next guy your absolute, ruling your life by comparing it and what you have against what others have.  Instead, rule your life by pleasing the Holy One. Again, we are reminded that God is our ultimate Absolute.

I know people who prefer to limit God's will for us to "The Ten Commandments."  I believe this is largely because we prefer generalities to specifics, because it gives us a lot more wiggle-room, and feels so much more convenient However, I don't think Torah lets us off so easy.  Not only can it be inferred that the Ten Words are the principles and assumptions underlying all the rest of God's Law for Israel, it is also explicitly stated in this week's parasha that the Ten Words were emphatically NOT all that God had to say to Israel which he wanted then to obey.  This is why Devarim/Deuteronomy 4:13-14 says this:

In the very same context in which the Ten Words are mentioned, we are reminded that these are not God's final words of command to us!

Finally, a little bit of delicious dessert: David Noel Freedman, iconic Older Testament scholar, suggests that the reason there are ten words [commandments, if you will] in the Covenant Code is related to human physiology.  Just as when you count down ten fingers, you are out of fingers, so Scripture uses this number to fortify a principle, "Ten Strikes and You're Out."  So it is, there were ten plagues—after ten plagues, the judgment of Egypt and her gods was done, there were ten times that Israel tested God in the wilderness [see Numbers 14], leading to the punishment of that generation, and, according to Freedman in his excellent writings on the subject, it was after Israel as a nation had broken each of the Ten Commandments in order, that she went into exile.

Shabbat shalom.