More than 10 words . . .

We call them the 10 Commandments.  A better translation would be, simply, "The 10 Words"—a "word" meaning an idea.  These are 10 "words" to the ancient Hebrews, inspiring 120 chapters of interpretation and a summary in Leviticus (19:18), repeated by Jesus, feeding millennia of attempts to live them out.  These are 10 "words" that shape the covenant and still reverberate today.

I've never written about these "words," but as part of a sermon series this fall, I found myself preaching on these "words."  Got me thinking.  More than one hearer asked me to publish my "summary interpretation."  I resist, not wanting to be so arrogant as to think I can "revise" these classic, inspired, words.  So, I won't presume to do that.  But I will do what I told folks I was doing in the sermon:  offer one view of the impulses that makes each "word" possible, or allow us to apply them to other parts of our lives.  What is the horizon of meaning the individual commandments suggest, or what practice (or principle) of living must make sense of these words?  Maybe you'd have different thoughts.  Maybe a different time would call for different approaches.  But here's my take.

First, the historic text, from the New Revised Standard translation of Exodus 20 (numbering not in the text):

Ex. 20:1-17

Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;

1. you shall have no other gods before me.

2. 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. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

3. 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.

4. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

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

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

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

Now here are my thoughts on habits we might want to cultivate to make sense of these 10 words. 

1 - Focus on the One Giver of life and not the many things of life.

2 - Restrain yourselves, so you won't think you can make your own god.

3 - Don't trifle with God, as if you may speak in any way you choose about what is true.

4 - Practice sabbath rest, not for your sake but for God's sake, so God might reach you and hold you and treasure you.

5 - Honor heritage, so you may be a multi-generational people, at peace with the earth, stewarding each other as you are stewards of creation.

6 - Honor life.

7 - Honor promises.

8 - Watch your eye, for it can wander.

9 - Watch your tongue, for it can lie.

10 - Watch your heart, for it can deceive.

These are the ways of being that the 10 commandments seem to imply.  As hard as they can be in a complicated world, we're still asked to let them shape us.