Read Exodus 20:8-17 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Exo 20:8-11 {s} Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart
Exo 20:12 {s} Honor your father and mother
Exo 20:13 {s} You shall not murder
Exo 20:14 {s} You shall not commit adultery
Exo 20:15 {s} You shall not steal
Exo 20:16 {s} You shall not bear false witness
Exo 20:17a {s} You shall not covet your neighbor’s house
Exo 20:17b {p} You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor’s
Exo 20:8-17 {sx7+p} Chiastic structure
Let’s unpack the 2B sub structure first. The chiasm seems to indicate that the seed which bears the fruit of the actions of adultery or theft, is coveteousness. We saw that coveteousness comes from the root of discontentment, or not being satisfied with one’s possessions, status, or situation. The red flags waving on the top of a mountain of the seed of coveteousness, are complaints. When we start hearing ourselves think or say complaining thoughts or words, we need to check ourselves and repent, so that we do not plant seeds bearing the fruit of adultery or theft.
The 2B structure deals with the 7th-10 commandments, and have the common denominator of honoring and respecting that which belongs to others. Even the affection of our heart no longer belongs to us, if we are married, but when we entered the covenant of marriage, we vowed the affection of our heart to our spouse “till death do us part.”
I have been meditating on the central axis of not bearing false witness, and its connection to honoring that which belongs to others. The Torah is teaching us that our neighbor has a fundamental human right to expect truthful, accurate, and fair words and dealings from us, just as we ourselves have a fundamental human right to expect truthful, accurate, and fair words and dealings from them. Our neighbor’s reputation and character, in other words, is something that belongs to them, that we damage or destroy when we bear false witness against them.
The B pair, then, is teaching us how to honor others: our parents, first, and our neighbor, second. Parents who teach their children to honor them are laying a foundation, not only for their children to be able to honor God as they grow up, but also for their children to be able to honor others, everyone else outside the home, as they grow up. It is the prescriptive medicine which inoculates children from growing up to be selfish, rude, belligerent, discourteous and disrespectful teens and adults.
The C pair is where the Golden Rule comes from, I realized. Do you want your own days to be long on the earth (1C)? Then do not cut short another’s days on the earth (2C) but honor the sanctity of life.
The central axis is teaching us that we and others are on this earth as a gift from God, so as a result we treat ourselves and others with respect and care. When we respect and care for ourselves and others, we respect and care for God, who is the ultimate gift- giver.
Strong theme
Exo 20:8-17 {sx7+p} How we love ourselves and others
For further study
Exo 19:1-20:7 strong theme {sx3+p} How YHVH has loved us and we love Him
Ten commandments index
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