[These are notes from another RESOURCE we recommend as MUST OWN; this has been hailed as a great scholarly achievement by authorities of the Bible everywhere. Its translation is based on the American Jewish Version of TNK. Reformatting and slight editing ours.)
The Soncino Press PENTATEUCH & HAFTORAHS – Hebrew Text English Translation & Commentary,Edited by Dr. H. H. Hertz
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No religious document has exercised a greater influence on the moral and social life of man than the Divine Proclamation of Human Duty, known as the Decalogue. These few brief commands—only 120 Hebrew words in all—cover the whole sphere of conduct, not only of outer actions, but also of the secret thoughts of the heart. In simple, unforgettable form, this unique code of codes lays down the fundamental rules of Worship and of Right for all time and for all men.
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The ‘Ten Words’ or Commandments, or the Decalogue (from deka, ten and logos, word), are supreme among the precepts of the Torah, both on account of their fundamental and far-reaching importance, and on account of the awe-inspiring manner in which they are revealed to the whole nation. Amid thunder and lightning and the sounding of the shofar, amid flames of fire that enveloped the smoking mountain, a Majestic Voice pronounced the Words which form that day to this have been the guide of conduct to mankind. That Revelation was the most remarkable event in the history of humanity. It was the birth-hour of the Religion of the Spirit, which was destined in time to illumine the souls, and order the lives, of all the children of men. The Decalogue is a sublime summary of human duties binding upon all mankind; a summary unequalled for simplicity, comprehensiveness and solemnity; a summary which bears divinity on its face and cannot be antiquated as long as the world endures. It is at the same time a Divine epitome of the fundamentals of Israel’s Creed and Life; and Jewish teachers, ancient and modern, have looked upon it as the fountain-head from which all Jewish truth and Jewish teaching could be derived. ‘These Commandments are written on the walls of Synagogue and Church; they are the world’s laws for all time. Never will their empire cease. They prophetic cry is true: the word of our God shall stand for ever’ (M. Joseph).
The most natural division of the Ten Commandments is into:
- man’s duties towards God, the opening five Commandments engraved on the First Table;
- and man’s duties to his fellow-man, the five Commandments engraved on the second Table.
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FIRST TABLE: DUTIES TOWARDS GOD
FIRST COMMANDMENT: RECOGNITION OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
I am the LORD thy God. Jewish Tradition considers this verse as the first of the Ten Words, and deduces from it the positive precept, To believe in the existence of God.
“I” – Heb. anochi. The God adored by Judaism is not an impersonal Force, an It, whether spoken of as ‘Nature’ or ‘World-Reason’. The God of Israel is the Source not only of power and life, but of consciousness, personality oral purpose and ethical action.
“thy God” – the emphasis is on thy. He is the God not merely of past generations, but of every individual soul in each generation.
“who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” God is not here designated, ‘Creator of heaven and earth’. Israel’s God is seen not merely in Nature, but in the destinies of man. He had revealed Himself to Israel in a great historic deed, the greatest in the life of any people: the God who saved Israel from slavery had a moral claim, as their Benefactor and Redeemer, on their gratitude and obedience. ‘The foundation of Jewish life is not merely that there is only one God, but the conviction that this One, Only and True God is my God, my sole Ruler and Guide in all that I do’ (Hirsch). The first Commandment is thus an exhortation to acknowledge the sovereignty of God,( lit. ‘the taking upon ourselves the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven’).
The reference to the redemption from Egypt is of deepest significance, not only to the Israelites but to all mankind. The primal word of Israel’s Divine Message is the proclamation of the One God as the God of Freedom. The recognition of God as the God of Freedom illumines the whole of human history for us. In the light of this truth, history becomes one continuous Divine revelation of the gradual growth of freedom and justice on earth.
SECOND COMMANDMENT: THE UNITY AND SPIRITUALITY OF GOD
Jewish Tradition (based on Talmud, Midrash and Targum) makes v. 3 the beginning of the Second Commandment.
thou shalt have no other gods. Because there are no other gods besides God. The fundamental dogma of Israel’s religion, as of all higher religion, is the Unity of God.
before Me. Or, ‘besides Me’; or, ‘to My face’ (Koenig). Nothing shall receive the worship due to Him. Neither angels nor saintly men or women are to receive adoration as Divine beings; and the Jew is forbidden to pray to them. This Commandment also forbids belief in evil spirits, witchcraft, and similar evil superstition. Furthermore, he who believes in God will not put his trust in Chance or ‘luck’.
a graven image. This verse forbids the worship of the One God in the wrong way. Judaism alone, from the very beginning, taught that God was a Spirit; and made it an unpardonable sin to worship God under any external form that human hands can fashion. No doubt this law hindered the free development of plastic arts in ancient Israel; but it was of incalculable importance for the purity of the conception of God.
nor any manner of likeness. Nor is He to be worshipped under any image, though such be not graven, which the human mind can conceive.
in heaven above, i.e. of the heavenly bodies; such as the ancestors of the Hebrews in Babylonia adored.
in the earth beneath, e.g. of animals, such as the Israelites saw the Egyptians worshipping.
in the water under the earth. The monsters of the deep.
a jealous God. The Heb. word for ‘jealous’ kanna, designates the just indignation of one injured; used here of the all-requiting righteousness of God. God desires to be all in all to His children, and claims an exclusive right to their love and obedience. He hates cruelty and unrighteousness, and loathes impurity and vice; and, even as a mother is jealous of all evil influences that rule her children, He is jealous when, instead of purity and righteousness, it is idolatry and unholiness that command their heart-allegiance. It is, of course, evident that terms like ‘jealousy’ or ‘zeal’ are applied to God in an anthropomorphic sense. It is also evident that this jealousy of God is of the very essence of His holiness. Outside Israel, the ancients believed that the more gods the better; the richer the pantheon of a people, the greater its power. It is because the heathen deities were free from ‘jealousy’ and, therefore, tolerant of one another and all their abominations, that heathenism was spiritually so degrading and morally so devastating.
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. The Torah does not teach here or elsewhere that the sins of the guilty fathers shall be visited upon their innocent children. The soul that sinneth, it shall die proclaims the Prophet Ezekiel. And in the administration of justice by the state, the Torah distinctly lays down, ‘The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin’ (Deut. XXIV, 16). However, human experience all too plainly teaches the moral interdependence of parents and children. The bad example set by a father frequently corrupts those that come after him. His most dreadful bequest to his children is not a liability to the commission of fresh offences. In every parent, therefore, the love of God, as a restraining power from evil actions, should be reinforced by love for his children; that they should not inherit the tendency to commit, and suffer the consequences of his transgressions.
Another translation is, ‘remembering the sins of the fathers unto the children’; i.e. God remembers the sins of the fathers when about to punish the children. He distinguishes between the moral responsibility which falls exclusively upon the sinful parents, and the natural consequences and predisposition to sin, inherited by the descendants. He takes into account the evil environment and influence. He therefore tempers justice with mercy; and He does so to the third and fourth generation.
of them that hate Me. The Rabbis refer these words to the children. The sins of the fathers will be visited upon them, only if they too transgress God’s commandments.
unto the thousandth generation. Contrast the narrow limits, three or four generations, within which the sin is visited, with the thousand generations that His mercy is shown to those who love God and keep His commandments. ‘History and experience alike teach how often, and under what varied conditions, it happens that the misdeeds of a parent result in bitter consequence for the children. In His providence, the beneficent consequences of a life of goodness extend indefinitely further than the retribution which is the penalty of persistence in sin (Driver).
that love me. Note the verb ‘love’ used to designate the right attitude to God; cf. ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might (Deut. VI, 5). Love of God is the essence of Judaism and from love of God springs obedience to His will.
THIRD COMMANDMENT: AGAINST PERJURY AND PROFANE SWEARING
The Second Commandment lays down the duty of worshipping God alone, and worshipping Him in spirit and not through images. The Third Commandment forbids us to dishonor God by invoking His name to attest what is untrue, or by joining His Name to anything frivolous or insincere.
take the name of the LORD. Upon the lips; i.e. to utter.
in vain. lit. ‘for vanity’, or ‘falsehood’; for anything that is unreal or groundless.
God is holy and His Name is holy. His Name, therefore, must not be used profanely to testify to anything that is untrue, insincere or empty. We are to swear by God’s Name, only when we are fully convinced of the truth of our declaration, and then only when we are required to do so in a Court of law. This verse, according to the Rabbis, forbids using the Name of God in false oaths (e.g. that wood is stone); as well as using the Name of God in vain and flippant oaths (e.g. that stone is stone). God’s Name is, moreover, not to be uttered unnecessarily in common conversation.
will not hold him guiltless. i.e., will not leave him unpunished. Perjury is an unpardonable offense, which, unless repressed by severest penalties, would destroy human society. The Rabbis ordained a special solemn warning to be administered to anyone about to take an oath in a Court of law. In various ages, saintly men have avoided swearing altogether. The Essenes, a Jewish Sect in the days of the Second Temple, held that ‘he who cannot be believed without swearing is already condemned’. ‘Let thy yea be yea, and thy nay, nay,’ says the Talmud.
[Next: The 4th Commandment: The SABBATH]
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