The Ten Commandments – Part 1
Focus reading: Exodus 20:1-17 (the Ten Commandments)
The Reverends Jim MacDonald and Val Chongva held the following conversation as part of a Sunday morning service on March 4, 2018. The material is based on John Spong’s latest book entitled Unbelievable: Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today (2018).
Jim
(begins to speak) In today’s reading we have heard the 10 Commandments, with which we are all familiar. This morning, I would like to …..
Val
(waving her hand, and interrupting Jim) Jim, Jim, before you go on, I think there is a bit of a problem.
Jim
(annoyed) And what would that be?
Val
The 10 commandments we just read don’t agree with the 10 commandments that I see in the bible.
Jim
What do you mean – they don’t agree? The 10 commandments in the Bible are listed in Exodus chapter 20, verses 1-7, and that is what we just read from the New King James Version.
Val
But Jim, there are three versions of the 10 commandments in the bible, and they don’t agree with one another. Tradition alone has dictated that the version found in Exodus 20 is the official version. (pushes Jim away from the stand/mic) Here, let me highlight the 10 commandments from Exodus 34:
The first two commandments are about the same – I am the Lord your God and not having any other gods before me.
But listen to the rest:
3 – You shall keep the festival of unleavened bread.
4 – all that first opens the womb is mine – that includes first born of cows and sheep – and first born sons.
5 – No one shall appear before me empty-handed.
6 – Six days you shall work, but on the seventh you shall rest.
7 – three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.
8 – You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, and the sacrifice of the festival of the Passover shall not be left until the morning.
9 – The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God.
10- You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk,
– I hope the kid they are referring to is a baby goat!
Jim
You are kidding, right? I have heard the ten commandments many times, and those aren’t them.
Val
Well, I didn’t make them up. That’s what it says in here (waves bible). The passage even ends with the following statement: The Lord said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. He was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.”
Jim
Wait a minute – I know what is going on – that’s the second set of commandments. When Moses got the first set and came down the mountain, he found the people dancing around an idol made of gold in the shape of a calf. Moses got so angry he threw the original tablets (the ones we just read) from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
Val
Actually, no, those aren’t the original ones. There is third set that was written earlier.
Jim
I am almost scared to ask – where is this third version that you mention and what does it say?
Val
The third version is in Deuteronomy 5. These are a lot closer to the ones we just read. In fact the first three are the same. But listen to the 4th commandment – particularly the reason to keep the sabbath holy.
“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”
Through biblical scholarship, we’ve learned that the commandment regarding the observance of the Sabbath in Exodus 20 was edited to bring it into conformity with the seven-day story of creation with which the Hebrew bible opens. That Genesis chapter was one of the last of the Hebrew scriptures to be composed, in the sixth century BCE. Deuteronomy, the one that I just read from, was written during the latter years of the seventh century BCE, before Genesis was written, before the creation story was written.
Jim
So the first book in the bible, Genesis, was one the last ones written?
Val
That’s right. Don’t you remember anything from theological school about when the various books were written? But that is another subject for another day. Let me finish talking about the differences.
The rest of the commandments are similar, except for the last one. Notice the difference as I read the Deuteronomy version: You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
In Deuteronomy, the wife got first mention over the house. That too was later changed.
It seems that the ten commandments emerged out of the common life of the people over a long period of time and were adapted to new circumstances as the Israelites’ life changed and developed. That is why there are different versions of these commandments in the biblical text itself. No code can or will endure forever.
Jim
This is all very interesting, Val. But what’s your point? Why did you interrupt my ‘inspirational’ reflection on the 10 commandments to bring this to our attention?
Val
Actually, Jim, the points I’ve made about the 10 commandments are John Spong’s, out of his last book entitled Unbelievable – the one we talked about last Sunday. You see, when I got home after the service last week, there was no more curling to watch, so I decided to finish reading Spong’s book – and wouldn’t you know it he had a whole section on Ethics. The chapter titles in that section are: chapter 26 Finding the basis for Ethics, chapter 27 How the Ten Commandments Have Changed Through History, chapter 28 Meet Moses’ Father-in-law, chapter 29 The Questionable Relevance of the Ten Commandments Today, and chapter 30 Modern Ethics.
Jim
Wait a minute – did you say “The Questionable Relevance of the Ten Commandments Today”? I can see where we may have some discussion around the first two commandments, with the changing images of God and all. But what is irrelevant about “you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” or as our parents translated it, no swearing. What about “Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy” or “Honor your father and mother”, or you shall not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness or covet your neighbour’s stuff? What is “the questionable relevance” of those commandments?
Val
First of all, according to Spong, “you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” has nothing to do with swearing as we think of swearing. In the primitive culture of ancient Israel, there were no lawyers to write legal contracts and no courts to enforce the terms of a legal deal.
So when a business transaction was agreed to between two negotiators, they would clasp hands and swear in the name of the Lord that they would be true to the bargain to which both had agreed. If later one or the other of them failed to abide by the agreed upon terms of this deal, they were guilty of having “taken the name of the Lord in vain.” That was this commandment’s original meaning.
Jim
But what about the rest of the commandments?
Val
Let me give you a short overview of Spong’s comments.
Keep holy the Sabbath – the sabbath in the bible, the seventh day of the week, was Saturday. Christians abandoned Saturday and made Sunday the holy day – so which of these two days are we to keep holy?
Honoring one’s parents – sounds like good advice, but what if they are abusive to their children? Should the children still honour them?
You shall not murder – how complicated has this one been throughout history and how many times have religious institutions deliberated over this in times of war?
Jim
So far, you raise some valid points. But what do you have to say about the next commandment – you shall not commit adultery?
Val
Adultery is also referenced in Matthew 19:8-9 where Jesus noted, that if you divorce your faithful wife and then marry someone else you are committing adultery. Does that still hold today?
Jim
You still have three commandments to go.
Val
You shall not steal – Spong highlights Victor Hugo’s great novel Les Miserables. Jean Valjean steals bread to keep his family alive. Was his stealing a sin, or was the sin found in the social system that ground some people into such poverty that stealing was a necessary survival technique? By what standard do we judge?
You shall not bear false witness – shall not lie. What if the truth is rude, or violates another, or puts someone’s life at risk? For example, as you leave a neighbour’s home after dinner, do you tell the truth, “I had a miserable time at your home this evening and your dinner was inedible.” Is it helpful to name the truth at such a moment?
You shall not covet – How about desire? Is it always bad? How many children covet the gold medals that they saw the Olympic athletes win? Does that inspire them or cause these children to sin? Where does admiring end and coveting begin?
Jim
Well, you have raised some interesting questions. That is a lot of stuff for us to absorb, Val, and it certainly puts a different light on the ten commandments – which we learned as children and have been told would guide us all of our lives. This reminds me of being back at theological college. So much of what we were exposed to really shook the foundation that had been formed for me in the church of my upbringing. Having our instructors challenge so much of what we had believed all our lives up to that point did not make it an easy journey. The frustrating part is that church leaders who have been exposed to these learnings, have not always passed these learnings on to their congregations. Why is that? Is it that leaders have underestimated the ability of the wider community to understand these ideas, or is it that we will do anything to keep the peace – including shying away from the hard challenges and the real work? Today this information has become widely accessible to everyone and many are choosing to read it and reflect on it – especially when we are given writers like John Shelby Spong, who use language we can all easily understand.
But I digress – getting back to the Ten Commandments – all this still leaves me with a question for you, Val. If none of the ten commandments can be invested with ultimate, absolute authority, on what basis, then, do we determine that good is good and that evil is evil?
Val
I agree with your statements re theological school. As Spong mentions in his book, “there is a gap between the academy and the pew, to say nothing of the gap in honesty between what clergy both knew and believed and what they were willing to say.” But I too digress. Getting back to your question regarding how we determine what is good and what is evil – (looks at watch) Well, Jim, the answer to that question will take a bit of time, and we just ran out of time for today. For the answer to that question, you’ll have to come to church next Sunday.