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Date Posted: 20:14:07 11/06/03 Thu
Author: schwabra
Author Host/IP: dialup-67.29.206.175.Dial1.Cincinnati1.Level3.net / 67.29.206.175
Subject: More than rules

The Ten Commandments summarize the most important teachings of the entire Torah. The Torah tells us that these commandments were given on two tablets, five laws on one and five on the other. The reason? They deal with two different categories of religious concern. The first five teach us about our responsibilities to God. The last five summarize our obligations with respect to our fellow human beings.

The latter begin with three warnings that encompass very serious transgressions: You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal. Following these, expressing yet a higher level of moral responsibility, comes the next commandment, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor," teaching us that we can even be guilty for sinful speech.

It is the last commandment, though, that commentators explain is meant to bring us to the highest level of holiness. It demands not only that we control our actions and our speech, but even our thoughts. It addresses a universal human failing and obviously believes that we can overcome it: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."

These five major laws of interpersonal relationships follow an obvious and logical sequence. They're clearly listed in ascending order of difficulty. Not to murder? Pretty easy. Adultery? Well, I'll have to try hard. Not to steal anything, even some paper clips at the office? Very difficult. I can't even share some juicy gossip just because it may not be totally true? You've got to be kidding. And you want me not to covet my neighbor's house or his car? Now that's really stretching it, isn't it?

These laws, just like physical exercises, move to ever more complicated levels. That's a good reason why they follow one after the other.

But scholars suggest another way of looking at the sequence of these commandments. Appearing on the second tablet, laws six through ten can be understood as teaching a profound idea if we study them in reverse order, from bottom to top.

To make it clearer, let's list commandments six through ten:
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....

Looking at them from bottom up, what the Torah is teaching us in a very insightful way is how to understand the root cause of evil. How is it possible for someone to murder a fellow human being? How is it possible to justify unfaithfulness to oneself and to sleep with another's mate?

The sequence of the commandments tells us how to get to the bottom of these seemingly incomprehensible actions. Just like the foundation of a house is at the bottom, so too is the cause of crimes against others in the list of the Ten Commandments. The root of a tree is responsible for everything that goes on above it. So, too, the "root cause" of all major sins is coveting.

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