Rules and Regulations for Religious Life—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 19A/Proper 22A (Exodus 20)

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

20 Then God spoke all these words,

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ³ you shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

⁷ “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁸ When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” ²⁰ Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”

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                What does God require of me? That’s a question posed and answered by the prophet Micah. So do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). It’s as simple as that. Well, it might depend on the context. When asked to identify the greatest commandment, Jesus gave the two love commands—love God and love one’s neighbor—as his answer (Matthew 22:34-40). Of course, one might ask how love is defined and put into practice. When God made a covenant with the people of Israel as they crossed the desert after escaping from slavery in Egypt but before arriving in the Promised Land, God gave Moses a set of rules and regulations that would help define what living in a covenant entailed. This set of rules is often known as the Ten Commandments. You know those tablets that Charleton Heston received from God. Of course, Moses (not Charleton Heston) received more instructions than just these ten words, it’s the ten that most of us have in mind when we think of God’s laws.

        There are two primary collections of rules that have come to be known as the Ten Commandments. One is found here in Exodus 20, while the other is found in Deuteronomy 5:1-22. There are some differences, but for the most part, they are the same. In Deuteronomy, the commandments are explicitly connected to the covenant God was making with Israel at Horeb. Here in Exodus, the ten words are shared as part of a consecration ceremony, in which the people met God at the foot of Mount Sinai. It is in this context that God speaks the ten words/commandments.

The first of these commandments serves as a revelation of God’s identity—"I am the LORD (YHWH) your God who brought you out of Egypt.” With that word of identification God makes the first demand: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:2). There might be other gods and divinities, but the people are not to embrace them. This is likely an expression of what is known as henotheism. The scholarly consensus is that long before the people of Israel became monotheists, they were henotheists. They recognized the existence of other divinities but understood that their loyalty should be given only to Yahweh (think marital monogamy as opposed to forms of polygamy). Everything that follows is rooted in this first commandment. Whether the Founders of the United States borrowed from or assumed elements of the Ten Commandments as one of the foundational elements of our legal system, is immaterial because these rules are connected to one’s relationship with God not one’s relationship to a secular state.

The first commandment leads into the second. If we are told that if we embrace Yahweh as our God and no others, the second addresses the question of idols or images. It’s important to remember that most deities were imaged in some way. The people of Israel lived in that context, whether in Egypt Canaan, or Babylon. So, this prohibits any form of image, whether an image draws from things in heaven or on earth or the earth beneath or even the water beneath the earth (that age assumed that the circle that is the earth floated on a form of water. The rule is pretty explicit, covering every possible image. Now, the lectionary selection from Exodus 20 omits verses five and six, which present an expansion of the rule on images. Not only should you not create images, but you should not bow down to them or worship them. Why? Because Yahweh is a jealous God and will punish those who break the rule, including their children to the fourth generation. However, Yahweh will show steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love Yahweh and keep Yahweh’s commands. I can understand why these verses are omitted. We don’t want to think of God being jealous or punishing people for their image-making and worship. Nevertheless, if you’re going to be in a covenant relationship with God, you can’t go around flirting with other deities. Again, think in terms of God being monogamous. To worship other gods and bow to their images is to commit adultery. As we ponder both the promise of punishment and steadfast love, depending on our level of commitment to the covenant, we might find this application by Anathea Portier-Young helpful.

In a modern context it can remind us that our own idolatries are not free of consequences for our children and children’s children. The world we leave to them has been stripped of its natural resources and polluted by our greed. Meanwhile, children around the world labor as slaves to provide cheap goods for our continued consumption. Yet our sins cannot erase God’s covenant love or the hope it holds for the future. [Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship (p. 793). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition].

Getting back to the word about images and their creation, it would be good to remember that according to the first Creation story, God created humanity to serve as God’s image/icon. As God’s image/icon humanity is charged with caring for God’s creation (Gen. 1:26-27). Furthermore, from a Christian perspective, Jesus is understood to be God incarnate. Thus, to see Jesus is to see God.

The third rule warns against the wrongful use of God’s name. This is often understood as being a ban on the use of profanity (now personally, I don’t recommend profanity, but that’s not what is in mind here). Such an interpretation really misses the point. A better way of thinking about this relates to what we recite in the Lord’s Prayer, such that we pray that God’s name might be hallowed or made holy. Here we might remember that Jews use Adonai (LORD) as a circumlocution for the divine name so that they do not misuse God’s name. As for the contemporary implications of this commandment, Ron Allen and Clark Williamson provide a helpful reflection: “The way in which presidents wrap themselves in God’s name when in political trouble or trying to build up support for a war come to mind. Empty talk, cheap grace, easy religion, self-interest parading as piety: the church should speak against all wrongful use of the name of God” [Preaching the Old Testament, p. 96]. Is it possible that our use of the words “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance be wrongful?

The fourth and final word relating to the divine-human relationship is the word about sabbath-keeping. We might think of these first four commandments defining the First Great Commandment—the command to love God with our heart, soul, and might (Deut. 6:4-5). The message here is that one should work for six days, and then keep the seventh holy. Once again, the Lectionary creators omit a couple of verses that expand on the sabbath-keeping command. These seem to be important verses because they stipulate that the sabbath command applies to one’s children, slaves (both male and female), one’s livestock, and the resident alien. In other words, it applies to everyone and everything. In addition, we’re told why sabbath-keeping is important. That is because God made the heavens and earth in six days and rested on the seventh. “Therefore, the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it” (Exod. 20:11). Anthea Portier-Young again offers a helpful word regarding the expansion of this call to keep the sabbath holy, something I neglect. “The mandate to rest from labor is grounded in God’s work and rest in creation, anchoring the Decalogue within a broader, cosmic story. It further guides us to value and protect the sacred freedoms of all humans, as well of the animals whose life and labor we benefit from (vv.   8– 11).” [Connections(pp. 793-794). Kindle Edition]. So, by keeping the Sabbath, we honor the rhythm set by God, and this applies to everyone and everything.

As we ponder what is often called the first table of the law, the table focusing on our relationship with the covenant-making God, how does each of us fare? Have we embraced other gods and bowed down to these idols? Do we treat God’s name loosely, failing to keep it holy as we seek to own and manipulate God for our own purposes? Then there’s that word about sabbath-keeping. Are we able to slow down and focus our attention on God for a moment? Oh, and it’s important to remember that the rule applies to everyone, so might it be good for clergy to take a day off and Christian employers to give their employees time off so they too can devote time to God? Again, we might summarize this table with the command to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength” (Deut. 6:5).

                When we move from the first table to the second, we quickly discover that these commandments speak to our relationships with the human community, fulfilling the second great commandment, the one about loving our neighbors as ourselves (Lev. 19:18). So, we begin with parent-child relationships. Honoring parents is accompanied by a promise of long life in the Land that God provides (here it’s the Promised Land toward which the people were heading). It has a very specific application, as Allen and Williamson point out: “This mitzvah is directed to adult children and has to do with their older parents; it expresses the concern of the Torah for the vulnerable. In their old age, we are to see to it that our parents’ needs are cared for. Israel’s social policy was to guard and protect the aged. Can we say that of our social policy?” [Preaching the Old Testament, p. 96]. As an adult child with an elderly parent (and parent-in-law), this speaks to me. Besides, someday in the relatively near future, I will be in that same position.

                The next several commands are stated rather directly and should be self-explanatory, though I fear that we may be neglecting them. We’re told not to murder or kill. I’m assuming this doesn’t just apply to murderers but might include others (stand your ground?). Jeremiah speaks of God’s judgment on those who shed innocent blood (Jer. 22:17) while Ezekiel judges priests who have done violence to God’s teachings and are like “wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain” (Ezek. 22:26-27). Of course, it’s wrong to murder someone, but what about other forms of killing? Are they not included here under the rule of loving one’s neighbor? Let us keep in mind the growing violence in the United States with its largely unfettered gun ownership. You might even say that the Second Amendment has become an idol, to which many bow (especially politicians). Remember that Jesus expanded this to include anger and insulting one’s brother or sister, with a high penalty for breaking the rule (Matt. 5:21-26).

                From killing we move to adultery. The command is simple, just like with killing, it is introduced with the words “You shall not . . .”  As with the command that follows, warning against stealing, in the ancient world these laws relate to disrespecting the property of another. When it comes to adultery, this involves distorted sexual relationships. Since the modern world (hopefully) no longer views wives as the property of their husbands (though there are extremely conservative religious groups that essentially view women as the property of fathers or husbands). Nevertheless, to apply this command to our day, it is better to envision with Walter Brueggemann, sexuality being “practiced respectfully and under discipline.” Walter Brueggemann points out that “the danger of sexuality is that it is capable of evoking desires that are destructive of persons and of communal relations” [“Exodus,” New Interpreter's Bible Commentary, 1:848]. As for stealing, this is again an act of violence against the community. It’s destructive of people. It is a vandalism of shalom.

                The next law—the one that declares “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” —might need to be given greater attention in our day when “alternative facts” have become the order of the day. At one level this rule speaks to one’s word in a court of law. As Brueggemann puts it, “The courtroom must be a place where the truth is told and where social reality is not distorted through devious manipulation or ideological perversion” [NIB 1:848]. It is important that when we serve as witnesses we tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” In line with an earlier command, we’ll forgo the swearing on the Bible and the statement “so help me God.” We don’t want to dishonor the name of God here. Brueggemann is correct in his interpretation of the initial application of the rule, but perhaps we should expand our usage to extend to the way we speak in all things. If this rule is to be understood in terms of how we live together in a covenant community, and that sin is best understood here as vandalism of shalom, that is the peace and harmony of God’s community, then it has broader implications. Just as an example, we might apply this to the way we share things on social media. Do we pass on conspiracy theories and other forms of misinformation (those “alternative facts”)? If we’re people of faith, shouldn’t we be careful about what we share? I see this rule being broken almost every day by Christian friends. Yes, this is a rule to be applied vigorously in our day so that we can abstain from vandalizing God’s shalom on earth as in heaven.

                The first five rules listed on the second table of the Law speak to the way we live with one another in the covenant community. This final rule, the one that speaks to coveting the home, wife, slaves, ox, donkey, or any other piece of property belonging to one’s neighbor, speaks to the heart. This rule speaks to the motivation for actions that lead to adultery, stealing, murder, and bearing false witness. In essence, you break this rule by breaking the other rules. The assumption here is that people steal because they envy or covet what belongs to another. We speak falsely about another person because we covet their reputation. We murder people because we covet their lives. Jesus makes this clear in the Sermon on the Mount. It all starts with the heart and the mind. Of course, we need to consider the original patriarchal context where women are understood to be the property of the men in their lives, whether fathers or husbands. As for me and my household, we’ve tried to abandon the patriarchal dimensions of this law, but the point is clear. Heart and mind matter. It’s why the first command focuses on loving God with our heart, soul, and might (Deut. 6:5). Loving God serves as preventative medicine against coveting since all things belong to God. To fulfill the rules inscribed on the second table of the Law is to fulfill the command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Lev. 19:18).

              The concluding verses of the reading inform us of the people's response to this divine encounter, especially all the thunder and lightning and the smoking mountain. It was a bit too much to handle. The people told Moses that they would rather that he speak to God on their behalf. Then they could experience God's presence vicariously through Moses and not worry about the God who came with such imagery. Moses told the people not to be afraid because God only wanted to let the people know that it wouldn't be prudent to sin. Nevertheless, the people stood back as Moses went into the cloud and talked with God. 

                To be a Christian is to live in a covenant relationship with God and God’s people. Some stipulations accompany this covenant. Most simply it involves loving God with heart, soul, and mind, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. After all, Jesus tells us that “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt. 22:34-40). Of course, there’s a reason why these two commandments get expanded. We often need further instruction. Ultimately the Hebrew Bible includes over six hundred rules and regulations to help clarify what it means to love God and our neighbor.  As we ponder this word about the Law, might we attend to the celebration of God’s law in Psalm 19:

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
    making wise the simple;
⁸ the precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
    enlightening the eyes;
⁹ the fear of the Lord is pure,
    enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
    and righteous altogether.
¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold,
    even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
    and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:7-10)

Cranach, Lucas, 1472-1553. Ten Commandments, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55127 [retrieved September 30, 2023]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:10_Gebote_(Lucas_Cranach_d_A).jpg.