Ten Commandments

1- No gods before me
2- No graven images
3- Dont take the lords name in vain
4- Keep the sabbath
5- Honor your father and mother
6- Dont kill
7- Dont commit adultery
8- Dont steal
9- Dont bear false witness against a neighbor
10- Dont covet

It has always struck me a little odd that the top four commandments are all about how god wants to be viewed, spoken about and treated as the one true god.

No gods before me? I understand that a jealous god would demand unwavering dedication to it. Exodus 34:14 Was god so afraid of his followers being promiscuous with some other god? Well, I guess he should be, look what happened when god was preoccupied making the tablets for Moses, the people went crazy and made golden calf and worshiped it. My question is, if god is all powerful, how did he miss these events going on? God does seem to be jealous, but also vindictive. Give people just enough proverbial rope to hang themselves and then run down the mountain, smash the commandments and slaughter 3,000 of his people as an example? Jealous god indeed!

No graven images. If you have ever been in a synagogue, you will notice there are no depictions of god, no images, nothing. Go to just about any christian church what do you see? lots of images, paintings, murals, statues, etc. Aren't these explicitly forbidden? For me personally I am creeped out by the image of some poor soul hanging off a cross.Many christians believe idolatry is just about the golden calf and worshiping false gods. But that is not the case. The word idoltry is the problem I believe, and this heads off to the ignorance many christians have of the bible. But that is for another posting.

Taking the lords name in vain. I believe it is not in reference to exclaiming "god damn it" or as some believe saying the word god. I think it refers to not making a statement in gods name. for instance saying that god demands this, when it is not written any where. You are in essence putting words into gods mouth, and god doesn't like that. 

Keep the sabbath. Despite what christians believe, according to biblical belief, the sabbath is Saturday not Sunday. And aside from some hassidic jews I cant think of anyone who actually follow this commandment. Keeping the sabbath means, no work at all, no work for people and animals. According the bible work is something as mundane as collecting firewood. So typing on a computer, opening a refridgerator door or even the door to a house, driving a car, taking the dog for a walk, all forbidden!

Honor your father and mother. Didn't Jesus tell his followers to turn against their father and mother. It was in reference to the beginning of the end, kind of. Its not very specific, at least what I could find. But no, Jesus did not mean to turn against your parents.

Dont kill. This is one that has lead to lots of arguements. According the jewish law, it means don't kill another jew. Sometimes the word murder is used, which has a whole other set of meanings. Murder is wrong, killing can be justified according to the bible. I might need to come back to this one.

Don't commit adultery. According to the bible (OT), this is not as simple as it may seem. Since men were able to have more than one wife, to accuse a man of adultery was not so easy. Adultery was a capital offense, meaning you could be put to death for it. But since a man could have more than one wife, if he was caught having relations with a woman who was not his wife, he avoid death by making her his wife, unless the womans father forbade it. But for a woman it was worse. If she was caught with a man who was not her husband, with at least two witnesses, she would be put to death. If the woman was raped and did not cry out for help, she would be put to death. If she cried out it would signify it was not consensual. It goes on, but basically, sex outside of marriage is forbidden.

Don't steal. This has some interesting basis in another interpretation. I have been reading that it is not simply taking what is not yours, but refers to slavery and kidnapping. The word steal was misinterpreted, which is not surprising. But it refers to kidnapping or enslaving people. But in the OT there was lots of slavery, lots of stealing of women, so what gives? It goes back to the don't kill commandment. It means don't steal a fellow jews slaves, don't kidnap a fellow jew. Kind of brings this one into a new light.

Don't bear false witness against a neighbor. This is really a legal term in the bible. It literally means giving false testimony in court. That simple.

Coveting. This is really the commandment dealing with stealing, not the previous. It began in the OT as dealing with treasure of destroyed cities that god commanded be utterly destroyed. All the gold and silver in the cities was to be destroyed and not brought back. Coveting leads to lust, and lust leads to all sorts of ill behavior.

So how many of these commandments are actually followed?