613 >> 10

There are three places in the Book which mention the Hebrew words עשרת הדברים (roughly, Aseret ha-Dvarîm, or 'ten words'). The Greek translation of this is δεκάλογος (mostly transliterated 'decalogue'). For some reason, ever since the English got their hands on the Bible, these phrases have been translated 'The Ten Commandments'.

The problem, of course, is that these ten words are not numbered explicitly anywhere in the Bible. In fact, there is considerable dispute about what the Ten Commandments are supposed to be. Catholics, Protestants and Jews all count them differently, with most Orthodox agreeing with the Protestant stand. A summary of the whole mess can be found here.

One thing is for sure though. There are certainly more than ten commandments in the long form of the law laid down from the holy mountain by God. The full list, or 613 mitzvot, can be found here.

The account given in the Bible about the writing of these commandments is also quite interesting. Nowhere does it say that Moses wrote only ten words. In fact, by Exodus 24, it is already 'The Book of the Covenant' that Moses reads to the people after transcribing all God's words. And in Exodus 31:18, it is the finger of God that has engraved all of the Testimony (which would be every commandment given from Exodus 20 to Exodus 31) on two tablets of stone (traditionally, each tablet would have a complete set for legal purposes).

But in Exodus 32, the Israelites make a golden calf, and this angers God (32:7-10), who had just told Moses that one of the ten points of the covenant was not to make idols. Moses begs God to reconsider and God relents completely (32:11-14).

Then the unthinkable happens. Moses descends the mountain with the two copies of the Law in his hands, and then he completely loses his temper. He smashes the tablets and orders the deaths of 3000 people, saying that this is what God wants (although God says nothing of the sort).

In the aftermath (Exodus 34), Moses is commanded to receive another set of tablets, again engraved by God. It takes forty days and forty nights (34:27-28), during which God actually tells Moses to do some writing. This is certainly more than ten words. It is the entirety of the Law.

When Jesus, in the New Testament, refers to the Law, he means the complete set of 613 commandments. The ten words that start the set are a kind of summary, the main headings, so to speak. A careful reading of the sections of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy that follow the 'ten words' will show that the rest of the Law is the main body. Jesus, an assiduous scholar of the Law, knew every bit of it.

So for those who like quoting the Ten Commandments as if they are all of the Law, I'd like to challenge you to do the full set of 613. And if you can't, remember the grace of God is mighty indeed.

The Ten Not-Commandments

Occasionally I think about the vast body of myth and legend that accretes on top of other stuff, like the layers of an ever-increasing pearl. Ever since the time the Israelites wandered in the desert, the story has been retold in Sunday schools an youth fellowships until what is 'known' bears no resemblance to the original text. Bear in mind that modern English chapters and verses have little relation to the original textual divisions, which were generally found in continuous scrolls.

In Exodus 20, God tells Moses a few things. He starts by making a few general statements, which have for some reason been elevated to commandments. They are actually a preamble to a legal contract, and are found in Exodus 20:2-17.

Thus, a good reading of the material that follows will clearly demonstrate that Exodus 20:22-26 amplifies and clarifies Exodus 20:2-7, about what exactly constitutes the authority and status of the first party in this contract. This form is repeated; in Exodus 21-23, amplification and detail are added. People who don't read this don't get it.

That's why people misinterpret Exodus 20:12, for example. The verse reads, "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." It is meant to be clarified by Exodus 21:15,17: "And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death... And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death." Obviously, if you do either of these two things, that is what constitutes actively dishonouring your parents, and your days will therefore be short.

The same is true for Exodus 20:13, the much-misunderstood "Thou shalt not kill." This is used as a prime directive, without differentiation, by a lot of bad readers of the Bible. However, this is clarified in Exodus 21:12-22:2; these verses clearly distinguish between murder and accidental killing — for example, if a man 'lies in wait' for another and then kills him, that's murder. It even talks about death resulting from accidental causes and under what circumstances a man can be held reliable — if an ox gores a person to death, then the ox will be stoned to death, but if the ox had a previous history of aggression, then the owner will also be put to death. Similarly, kidnappers and slavers (21:16), and thieves who break and enter (22:2), can be put to death. A person who has read these verses would not be such a sloppy handler of 'Thou shalt not kill' since the subsequent chapters make it obvious how that verse should be interpreted.

The last example I'll give is Exodus 20:15, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." This has nothing to do with lying in general and everything to do with perversion of justice, as Exodus 23:1-9 makes clear: "Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment: Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause."

That last line means that you should not let someone off just because he is poor, and sounds terribly unjust to the modern ear. However, reading the rest of it shows that the burden is placed primarily on the landowners and owners of animals. And verse 8 is an explicit injunction not to take bribes.

All in all, anyone who thinks that a moral code is based primarily on something called the Ten Commandments is not making sense. It is quite clear that the Ten Commandments are not the be-all and end-all of the Mosaic covenant; they are only a preamble, a list of key points, a sort of introductory PowerPoint slide, to be elaborated upon at length and not to be treated as the main presentation.

It is also clear that Moses broke the tablets of the law (Exodus 32:19) with only Joshua as a witness to this perfidy, and then proceeded to kill 3000 Israelites without God telling him to do so (read Exodus 32:14-28). It was one of many sins of anger that Moses perpetrated, but which God forgave.

Perhaps it's a good thing for professing Christians to read more carefully the entire burden of their scriptural heritage before engaging in unedifying arguments about all kinds of strange things.

Joshua, Admin Hero

I was looking at the biblical Joshua, successor to Moses. Amazing guy won battles by pure logistics. Just by marching his entire army across the Jordan without any loud Mosaic threats of fire and brimstone, he made his opponents' morale collapse. His farewell speech, just chapter 24 of the book that bears his name, is succinct and boring, but it contains a masterpiece of reverse psychology that ensured his people never strayed from the straight and narrow in that short period between his death and the death of the last of his peers.

That short speech is tiny compared to Moses' huge rambling farewell that is the book of Deuteronomy. The style is markedly different. Moses is all about blame and guilt; Joshua is all about getting a good job done. Moses is inspiring at times, a psalmist, lawgiver, prophet, master of rhetoric and friend of God. Joshua is not inspiring, but he is solid, dependable, convincing.

I can't help thinking of the difference between certain founding fathers and their immediate successors. Heh.

In Aegyptum

And it came to pass that Wolff, once a knight, made his way to the land of Egypt. He had not been there long when he found to his dismay that stepping into another river may yet bring one strangely almost home. For denial is not just the source of annual floods and wet fertility, and and good pharaohs are hard to find.

While he ponders these truths about rivers and gypsies, he is interrupted by a fellow with a pointy hairdo.

Ho! What are you doing here in the land of the God Of The Burning Gaze, He Who Gives And Takes Away, He Who Has The Divine Spark In His Colon Which Must Be Cleaned By A Special Slave Each Day, Upon Whom The Sun Rises And Sets For He Is The Son And Avatar Of The Sun?

Wolff found all this rather hard to digest. He was about to frame a reply, when the impatient functionary cracked a whip at him and said, Make haste to answer, else the Slayer Of Set will wreak a terrible havoc upon you! Do you wish this to happen?

Nasser! But I am sad at this invasion of my privacy. I am a quiet man, a warrior by training but a teacher by choice.

A warrior! Ha! I will beat and berate and bastinado you, you son of a slave! I will take all bonus, benefit and benevolence from you and leave your tortured corpse for the vultures!

Wolff, now a man of peace, resigned himself to a beating. As the first blows fell, he put his pain into a far place and surrendered to the will of the Highest. And so it was, for a distantly painful while. Then, surprisingly, the blows stopped and there was blood everywhere.

Hello, stranger! I cannot stand for a son of the serpent to be beating fellow Israelites. Unfortunately, I have killed him. I hope you are able to walk?

He was looking at a slim, well-built and slightly choleric fellow. He felt an immediate kinship.

My name is Moses.

A Service, With Lessons

Today I sat in a high place, denying myself the kingdoms of the world in faith. And the reading for today was taken from that tumultuous book of the Torah which is called Shemot. In that book are many stirring words, and none more so than these, which I shall take as a remembrance of Charlton Heston as well as guidance for myself:

Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

And the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honour over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."

And when I came down from that high place of memory, I was left with thought, and then with forgetfulness, but never with regret.

Intimidating

Just before midnight, someone I appreciate very much told me that I was once a 'rather intimidating individual'. That person no longer feels that way in such a negative sense. This occasioned a moment of reflection. Why, and how?

The word 'intimidating' means 'inspiring of fear', from the Latin timeo - to fear. It literally means 'to put fear into'. It isn't quite flattering, although further inquiry absolves me from being a source of true phobia. The Good Book says that perfect love drives out fear; this would seem to imply that fear is an unhealthy emotion between people who are supposed to have an agapean relationship - whether in one direction or both. The same verse links fear to punishment; this implies that if I were intimidating, it would be because of my capacity as someone in authority.

In this last capacity, I confess I believe that the ability to inspire fear is an important gift. From our enlightened and rational post-modern vantage, we view fear as an unnecessary impediment to civilisation, a shadowplay of ancient superstitions and primordial fantasies into which we regress under stress. But I believe that fear is no impediment; our overweaning sense of self is a far greater burden. The same people who tell us that the universe dwarfs us into obscurity will also tell us that we should have a large sense of the grandeur of humanity. The two are compatible only as a last-ditch defence against atheistic insignificance. For the odd thing is that it is a sense of the fear of God which actually tells us how valuable we are.

Fearing the impersonal universe is nothing. Fearing a person is to understand something about the nature of self and of intelligence and of society. Fearing a personal God is to understand how mighty the things of the spirit are, and how great we are in our smallness, that we can apprehend the Almighty at all. In a purely physical universe, scale is scale, size is truth. In a metaphysical universe, scale is irrelevant and being is all.

Which leads me back to the person who once felt intimidated, and no longer does. It is a mature relationship of minds and hearts which takes away the element of fear. Moses spoke to God as a man speaks with his friend - and he risked much in that relationship, but feared nothing in it. It is my dearest wish that I might be able to intimidate when necessary, but that it will never become gratuitous to me, and never an obstacle to genuine friendship.

To you who inspired these thoughts, my thanks. I know that you have mentioned my 'force of personality', and others have complained about other elements of my nature. It was never my desire to inspire overmuch fear, but to guide with a firm hand; this time of reflection will help me do that.

Days Of Our Lives

We're all days, and this is a truth from the beginning. As the temperament of a day goes, so too are there people to go with it; the Bard himself has remarked, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate." (Sonnet 18)

Cultures from all over the world have their counting-rhymes for the days and seasons; it is that tradition which has given us that infamous blight and self-fulfilling prophecy of the day of the week which is said to control the destiny of a child. (For the record, I was born on Vendredi, or Freya's Day.)

There is something which calls to us from the nature of a day - its fresh and dewy beginning is like a baby's innocence, while its parched and richly darkening end is like the complicated diversity of our various and separate drawings-down of blinds. In the noonday of one's life, one might think of Apollo and Mithras, of the Sun in Splendour, or of le Roi Soleil.

In the North of the world, where the days are often far longer or far too short, people are at their sunniest and gloomiest - bright fair people with grim sagas; it reminds me of what the Good Book says - "As your days, so shall your strength be." (This last speaks to my heart in particular because my late grandfather's last words were an exact quotation of verse 27 of that passage.)

The days of our lives are threescore and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore, all their strength is suffering - so says Moses from the elegiaic height of his disappointment, as he contemplates the failing of his sixscore years with no hope in this life of entering the Promised Land. His advice is probably sound; all we can do in the end is to number our days aright, and do our best with what we have.

On a lighter note though, here is a song from that odd and entertaining group, the Bee Gees...

Ooh you’re a holiday, such a holiday
Ooh you’re a holiday, such a holiday

It’s something I think's worthwhile
If the puppet makes you smile
If not then you’re throwing stones
Throwing stones, throwing stones

Ooh it’s a funny game
Don’t believe that it’s all the same
Can’t think what I’ve just said
Put the soft pillow on my head

Millions of eyes can see
Yet why am I so blind
When the someone else is me
It’s unkind, it’s unkind

de de de de de de de de de de de de de
de de de de de de de de de de de de de

Yet millions of eyes can see
Yet why am I so blind
When the someone else is me
It’s unkind, it’s unkind

Ooh you’re a holiday, ev’ry day, such a holiday
Now it’s my turn to say, and I say you’re a holiday
It’s something I think's worthwhile
If the puppet makes you smile
If now then you’re throwing stones
Throwing stones , throwing stones

de de de de de de de de de de de de de de

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Yes, indeed. And just in case he feels left out, I shall dedicate this post to my one student whose name sounds suspiciously like the day on which we have chapel services in school. You (now) know who you are; be at peace with your nature, OK?

Changing The World

If positive change to the world is at all to be desired, one source of such desire is here. Here is the secular core, the framework of the world in which our spiritual reality is given its temporal and temporary bearings. And it isn't as bad as 'secular' seems to connote where spiritual things are concerned.

Yet I suppose we should remember that good management ideas aren't necessarily good spiritual ideas. I have cringed many times when preachers persist in treating the story of Jethro (Moses' father-in-law) as a paean to the benefits of the delegation of authority. Delegation is a great secular solution, but in this particular case, Jethro was high priest of Midian - and thus the spiritual leader of a tribe of pagan animists.

If you should decide to read Exodus 18, the extent of Jethro's perfidy (deliberate or not) becomes clear. Jethro is clearly impressed with Moses' God. He goes so far as to offer sacrifices and say that this God is greater than all other gods. But he adroitly switches the topic of conversation the next day to how onerous Moses' work must be for God, and how much less strenuous it would be if he farmed it out (Exodus 18:13-23). Moses agrees, in verse 24. And it is this decision which creates a community capable of defying Moses' God later on (see Exodus 32).

God's work is never delegated except through obvious and outstanding representatives. His task to you is His word to you alone. It hardly ever comes through an intermediary, and even if well-meaning (or seemingly well-meaning) people offer you a great-looking secular solution (one which makes life easier for you; or gains you plaudits, gold or glory), it may not be what God had in mind. The cost of Moses following his pagan father-in-law's advice was a disaster for his people. It was a disaster that almost changed the world - in a bad way.

Spiritual Discoveries

It is odd that anyone should fall into some sort of Gnostic duality. It's heresy. Ethical dualism is not the way of God; He is great, He is of both light and darkness, greater by far than either, making one out of the other and manifesting in both. Light and darkness are not opposites, no matter what people say. Light comprehends darkness; darkness does not comprehend light. Light is reason, the manifestation of the Logos; darkness is what is formless and void. But darkness is not always evil, just as light is not always good.

Here, for example, is Exodus 20: 20-23:

Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites this: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold."

It is clear here that God Himself contrasts His essence with that which is venal and material, not that which is dark. For the light can be as false as the dark; here is II Corinthians 11:13-14:

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

What should we learn from such passages? Perhaps, that we should be careful with what we say about dualism, light and darkness - in case we end up mistaken for Zoroastrians or some sort of Gnostic heretics.

Good Morning, Yesterday

It's the second day of the new year. At this rate, it will go mercilessly fast (or mercifully, for some of us). This year is going to be a very reflective year for me, and hopefully one in which I will recklessly spend the quickly diminishing currency of youth - investing it in the establishment of age.

It's odd how my thoughts oscillate between the scriptural and the secular; yet, it is quite clear to me that the power of the Word is meant to resonate in the World, for the World has its being and its temporal existence predicated on the Word. And so, what comes to mind most readily now is an odd juxtaposition of Psalm 90, a "prayer of Moses, the man of God", and Paul Anka's The Times of Your Life. Here they are, side by side, twin reminders that pushing forty is the point at which the swimmer makes the turn for home.

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The Times of Your Life, by Paul Anka and Moses

Good morning yesterday
Lord, You have been our refuge in all generations.
You wake up, and time has slipped away
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
And suddenly it's hard to find

You turn man to destruction,
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
The memories that you left behind
For a thousand years in Your sight
Remember, do you remember?
Are like yesterday when it is past
And like a watch in the night.
The laughter and the tears

You carry them away like a flood;
They are like a sleep.
The shadows of misty yesteryears
In the morning they are like grass which grows up:
In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
The good times and the bad you've seen
In the evening it is cut down and withers.
And all the others in between

For we have been consumed by Your anger,
And by Your wrath we are terrified.
Remember, do you remember the times of your life?
(Do you remember?)
You have set our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
Reach out for the joy and the sorrow
For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
We finish our years like a sigh.
Put them away in your mind

The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
The mem'ries are time that you borrow
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
To spend when you get to tomorrow
Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
Here comes the setting sun (comes the setting sun)
So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
The seasons are passing one by one

Return, O LORD! How long?
So gather moments while you may,
And have compassion on Your servants.
Collect the dreams you dream today
Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
Remember, will you remember the times of your life?
Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us,
The years in which we have seen evil.
Of your life, of your life
Let Your work appear to Your servants
Do you remember, baby?
And Your glory to their children.
Do you remember the times of your life?
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us,
Do you remember, baby?
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Do you remember the times of your life?
Yes, establish the work of our hands.

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And so, Anka the Lebanese Canadian and Moses the Israelite Egyptian meet across the millennia to speak of time. It's remarkable how little concerns have changed across that span. The bridge of years never fails to evoke a sense of wonder - and it humbles us all.

Moving Along

At 0400h this morning, I officially completed moving house for the eighth time in my life. All the while, I determinedly stuck to my plan of deliberate packing, placement and unpacking. And everything more-or-less worked out, even my rewiring. But in the face of this admittedly traumatic event, I discovered a kind of Zen-like detachment as I threw out stuff and ignored the world of work.

Meanwhile, somewhere at the back of my mind, some lyrics just refused to stop playing...

It seems such a waste of time
If that's what it's all about
If that's movin' up then I'm movin' out.

(from 'Anthony's Song' in Billy Joel's album The Stranger)

This one reminds me of a certain Mosaic individual:

Moving along in our God-given ways,
Safety is sat by the fire,
Sanctuary from these feverish smiles,
Left with a mark on the door,
Is this the gift that I wanted to give?

(from 'Passover' in Joy Division's album Closer)

Mosaic

Here is an intriguing character, a choleric and cynical fellow with an uncooperative and violent attitude to life. For Act One of his life, he is brought up as a prince in a polytheistic society. He commits manslaughter and exiles himself for Act Two of his life to a nomadic pantheistic one. And for Act Three, he becomes the unwilling leader of a bunch of stiff-necked monotheists. He has three thousand of them killed on his own initiative in the early years. He dominates them ruthlessly, curses them, accuses them of making his life miserable - and he becomes an icon forever, in the hearts of these same people.

Go figure. And why do some people say I am a bit like him?