The Ten Commandmentsor “Ten Words”

Dr. Charles M. RixOklahoma Christian University

Austin Graduate School of TheologySpring 2015

2

Necessary Interruption

The Flow of ExodusChapter Subject

1-2 The Birth of Moses

3-4 The Call of Moses

5-11 Contest with Pharaoh

12-13 Passover

14-15 The Exodus / Song of Moses / Miriam

16-19 In the Wilderness / Preparation for giving the law

20 The Ten Commandments (or Ten Words)

21-23 Book of the Covenant

24 Reading of the law

25-31 Instructions for the Tabernacle

32-34 The Golden Calf Episode

35-40 The Tabernacle built

The “new” identity

To you there are no other godsNo idols

No lifting up the name of YHWH to emptinessRemember the Sabbath and keep it separate (holy)

Honor Father and MotherNo murderNo stealingNo adultery

No bearing false witnessDo not covet

Exodus 20:8-11

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 YHWH 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 YHWH made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore YHWH blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Exodus 20:8-11

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 YHWH 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 YHWH made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore YHWH blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

The “stop” day

Remember the stop-day, and keep it separate. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a stop-day 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 make heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the stop-day and mare it separate.

Time: Business as usual

The “TOTALITY” of the Honor and Shame System

• Males:

– protection of property

– Maintaining control over women’s sexuality

• Women:

– maintenance of sexual purity

– Ability of women’s family (men) to protect her sexuality

Women

– Non-property owning males– Foreigners / aliens

– Wives of property owning males– Unmarried women

– Children not yet of marrying age- Orphans

- The “handicapped”

YHWH

Time: Business as usual

Other To Be Seen

PropertyOwningMales

Women

– Non-property owning males– Foreigners / aliens

– Wives of property owning males– Unmarried women

– Children not yet of marrying age- Orphans

- The “handicapped”

YHWH

Time: Business as usual

“Here I am”: The face of YHWH”

PropertyOwningMales

Here I am

The “Other(s)”“Here I am”

Self“Here I am”

YHWH“Here I am”

Time: Business as usual

The Decalogue: Towards an Ethic of Disruption

Sabbath: the disrupting event

Sabbath

Women

– Non-property owning males– Foreigners / aliens

– Wives of property owning males– Unmarried women

– Children not yet of marrying age- Orphans

- The “handicapped”

YHWH

Time: Business as usual

“Here I am”: The face of the Other

PropertyOwningMales

Here I am

Here I am

Here I am

Here I am

Sabbath

Towards an “Ethic of Disruption”Facing “The Other” in Responsibility

You shall have no other gods [before my face].You shall not make yourself images.

You shall not lift up the name of Yahweh to emptiness

Honor your father and your mother.You shall not kill.

You shall not commit adultery.You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife / house.

YHWH

OTHER

Remember the Sabbath and Keep it Holy

On the stop-day

An interruption of the “daily grind”

Everyone rests from performance in social roles

Remembering what God had done

Enactment of the “new identity”

The “heart” of a new identity

You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. (22:21)

You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. (23:9)