"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not covet', and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." (Romans 13:8–10)"We wrote for [Moses] on theTablets ˹the fundamentals˺ of everything; commandments and explanations of all things." (Quran 7:145)"Thou shalt not get found out" is not one of God's commandments, and no man can be saved by trying to keep it. ~Leonard BaconFor some reason, the most vocalChristians among us never mention theBeatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’sMoses, notJesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that theSermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. "Blessed are themerciful" in a courtroom? "Blessed are thepeacemakers" in the Pentagon? Give me a break! ~Kurt Vonnegut
You shallnot murder. You shallnot commit adultery. You shallnot steal. You shallnot bear false witness against your neighbor. You shallnot covet your neighbor's house: you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox or ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.
We wrote for [Moses] on theTablets ˹the fundamentals˺ of everything; commandments and explanations of all things. ˹We commanded,˺ "Hold to this firmly and ask your people to take the best of it."
H.P. Blavatsky,Isis Unveiled: A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology, Vo. II,Chapter III, (1877)
"Good master, what shall I do that I may have eternal life?" asks a man of Jesus. "Keep the commandments." "Which?" "Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,"(Matthew xix. 16-18) is the answer. "What shall I do to obtain possession of Bhodi? (knowledge of eternal truth)" asks a disciple of his Buddhist master. "What way is there to become an Upasaka?" "Keep the commandments." "What are they?" "Thou shalt abstain all thy life from murder, theft, adultery, and lying," answers the master. ("Pittakatayan," book iii., Pali Version) Identical injunctions are they not? Divine injunctions, the living up to which would purify and exalt humanity... In seeking a model for his system of ethics why shouldJesus have gone to the foot of theHimalayas rather than to the foot of Sinai, but that the doctrines ofManu andGautarna harmonized exactly with his own philosophy, while those ofJehovah were to him abhorrent and terrifying? TheHindus taught to returngood forevil, but the Jehovistic command was: "An eye for an eye" and "a tooth for a tooth."
H.P. Blavatsky,Isis Unveiled: A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology, Vol. II, Chapter III, (1877)
Thou shalt have one God only; who Would be at the expense of two? No graven images may be, except the currency: not at all; for for thy curse Thine enemy is none the worse: church on Sunday to attend serve to keep the world thy friend: thy parents; that is, all whom advancement may befall: Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive Officiously to keep alive: Do not adultery commit; Advantage rarely comes of it: Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat, When it's so lucrative to cheat: Bear not false witness: let the lie Have time on its own wings to fly: Thou shalt not covet; but tradition Approves all forms of competition.
The sum of all is, thou shalt love, If any body, God above: At any rate shall never labour More than thyself to love thy neighbour.
Arthur Hugh Clough, "The Latest Decalogue", in A. L. P. Norrington, ed.,The Poems of Arthur Hugh Clough (1968), p. 60–61
DECALOGUE, n. A series of commandments, ten in number -- just enough to permit an intelligent selection for observance, but not enough to embarrass the choice. Following is the revised edition of the Decalogue, calculated for this meridian.
Thou shalt no God but me adore: 'Twere too expensive to have more.
Take not God's name in vain; select A time when it will have effect.
Work not on Sabbath days at all, But go to see the teams play ball.
Honor thy parents. That creates For life insurance lower rates.
Kill not, abet not those who kill; Thou shalt not pay thy butcher's bill.
Kiss not thy neighbor's wife, unless Thine own thy neighbor doth caress
Bear not false witness -- that is low -- But "hear 'tis rumored so and so."
Covet thou naught what thou hast not By hook or crook, or somehow, got.
"Thou shalt not get found out" is not one of God's commandments, and no man can be saved by trying to keep it.
Leonard Bacon, reported inDictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 511
For some reason, the most vocalChristians among us never mention theBeatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’sMoses, notJesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that theSermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. "Blessed are themerciful" in a courtroom? "Blessed are thepeacemakers" in the Pentagon? Give me a break!
Here's my problem with the Ten Commandments: why are there ten? ... Why not nine, or eleven? I'll tell you why: because ten sounds official. Ten sounds important! Ten is the basis for the decimal system, it's a decade, it's a psychologically satisfying number: the top ten, the ten most wanted, the ten best dressed. So having ten commandments was really a marketing decision. ... I give you my revised list of the Two Commandments: "Thou shalt always be honest and faithful to the provider of thy nookie", and "thou shalt try real hard not to kill anyone, unless of course they pray to a different invisible man than the one you pray to". Two is all you need. Moses could have carried them down the hill in his pocket, and I wouldn't mindthose folks in Alabama posting them on the courthouse wall, as long as they provided one additional commandment: "Thou shaltkeep thy religion to thyself."
Jacob’s descendants, theIsraelites, find their way toEgypt and become too numerous for thePharaoh’s liking, so heenslaves them and orders that all theboys be killed atbirth.Moses escapes the massinfanticide and grows up to challenge the Pharaoh to let his people go. God, who is omnipotent, could have softened Pharaoh’s heart, but he hardens it instead, which gives him a reason to afflict every Egyptian with painful boils and othermiseries before killing every one of their firstborn sons. (The wordPassover alludes to the executioner angel’s passing over the households with Israelite firstborns.)God follows this massacre with another one when he drowns the Egyptian army as they pursue the Israelites across theRed Sea. The Israelites assemble atMount Sinai and hear the Ten Commandments, the greatmoral code that outlaws engraved images and the coveting of livestock but gives a pass toslavery,rape,torture, mutilation, andgenocide of neighboring tribes. The Israelites become impatient while waiting for Moses to return with an expanded set of laws, which will prescribe thedeath penalty forblasphemy,homosexuality,adultery, talking back toparents, and working on theSabbath. To pass the time, they worship a statue of a calf, for which the punishment turns out to be, you guessed it,death. Following orders from God, Moses and his brother Aaron kill three thousand of their companions.
Steven Pinker,The Better Angels of Our Nature (2012)
