LET'S GET REAL ABOUT THE TEN COMMMANDMENTS

WARNING: EXECUTION FOR BREAKING THE SABBATH

CONTEXT: ~ 1250 BCE The characterization of the Ten Commandments as the foundation of Western Civilization is sketchy and also scary.

 “Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.” 

– Ex. 35:2

If you plan on teaching this material in schools, don’t forget to warn the third graders about the consequences of playing soccer on Sunday.

I just read yet another commentator who has taken the position that (as a teacher) they saw no problem with mandatory posting of the Ten Commandments in schools because they don’t refer to any specific religion.  That is utter nonsense and particularly disturbing if they are truly a teacher. A great amount of scholarship isn’t necessary to understand the essentials of the so called Decalogue1. It isn’t ambiguous or tricky.

The fact is that one can't have actually read the Decalogue even once and make such as statement. Either the writer has never read the laws, or was intentionally blowing smoke up the readers’ butt knowing that people are too lazy to find their Bible.  
 

The first four commandments (depending on the scriptural flavor you choose) are either specifically about the ancient Hebrew battle god YHWH, or have nothing to do with ethical or moral behavior. To be painfully clear: these rules are not universal, they are apply only to the god of the Jews. They are not “Western” at all, but rather, the laws of an Asiatic deity from the Arab desert. 

Let’s take a look at a few commandments 

“I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shall have no other gods before me.”

That sentence pertains only to YHWH , god of the Old Testament. It doesn’t refer to the rebranded Christian god (God), nor to Allah, nor to elephant headed, multi-armed polytheistic pantheons that populate Hinduism, nor to practitioners of indigenous spirituality, nor to Buddhists not to Taoists. YHWH doesn’t translate to “god.” That’s his name, as ‘splained to Moses at the Burning Bush.

If the Ten Commandments are read to a Muslim student in school, can we count on them to identify with slaughtering Egyptian children in the night?
 

This commandment certainly has no positive meaning for the 28% of Americans who identify as “no religion.”

The Protestant zealots of the Reformation were especially disappointed in the statues and iconography of the Catholic Church. They reviled the papists as idolaters back in the day and still do in many parts of the world. It is no surprise there is no “graven image” commandment in the Catholic Bible, except to non-Catholics. 

So the burning question is: will the graven image prohibition be a big problem in Catholic Schools in Louisiana or are they exempt? If the Louisiana government chooses the Protestant version of the Decalogue for schools (and appropriates the funds from the Department of Education), the second commandment target to Catholic statuary and even crucifix jewelry. The graven image thing is very tricky, but however you interpret it, it has nothing to do with any ethical or moral behavior. 

Two down.

Most people think this speech control warning applies to general swearing, but that’s not the case.2 The original admonition was to make sure the sacred name of YHWH could not be used to cast enchanted spells. In other words, it was a prohibition against competing priests/shamans usurping Levite power. It wasn’t about the F word or the S word. It was about magical competition, like stealing a spell at Hogwarts 

Which Sabbath shall we celebrate, Saturday or Sunday? And this is important for you sinners out there who sneak out to work on the Sabbath, because YWHW proclaimed the death penalty for those who work on the Lord’s day.
 

“Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.” – Ex. 35:2.

Clear enough?
 

Shut down that lawn mower and get inside before He notices, y’all.

_________________________________ NOTES_________________________________

1. The Decalogue found in the Book of Exodus 20 is the most popular version of the Ten Commandments, although it is far from the only one.

2. H-E- double-hockey-sticks is a good hack that always fools the Lord. The Creator of the Universe is all like: “I know they’re up to something….but I can’t quite figure it out.”