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If you look at the OT you will find a passage where Moses has the scene set for god to speak direct to the hebrews. They are aghast at the proposal and say something to the effect of "let not god speak to us lest we die, Moses you speak to us". Then all the remaining commandments begin with the preamble, " And the Lord said unto Moses..."
It is pretty obvious from there on who the authors were. I often wondered as far as the sex crimes, were there sex police that would peep into the tents or did they do it out in the open like dogs?
Pretty much anyone caught in adultery, it seems the tradition was to bring the woman to "justice". The alleged adulteress woman passage with jesus suggests this. The obvious question he should have asked is not where are your accusers or he who is without sin cast the first stone, it really should have been, "where is the adulterer?"
The system of marriage and divorce then was such that if a man got tired of his wife he simply put her away. This was a disgrace to her and her family and unless she was taken back by her father and mother or siblings, she really had only one option to survive, prostitution.
The text of the adulteress is contested as not being part of the originals and a later add on. By rights and the definition of the law which jesus was supposed to adhere to, he would have been obliged to let it be enacted as I suggested with the other party also present. As there is so much concerning temple prostitution and the like with the merger of the newly invented faith called xianity, the temple prostitutes probably needed to be spared from the jewish law.
I no longer have my book marks to this info but google will take you to the right place to see for yourself.
The general perception in this country is that the "Ten Commandments" are part of the common religious heritage of Judaism, Catholicism and Protestantism, part of the sacred scriptures that we all share, and should not be controversial. But most people involved in the debate seem to have missed the fact that these three religions divide up the commandments in different ways! Judaism, unlike Catholicism and Protestantism, considers "I am the L-rd, your G-d" to be the first "commandment." Catholicism, unlike Judaism and Protestantism, considers coveting property to be separate from coveting a spouse. Protestantism, unlike Judaism and Catholicism, considers the prohibition against idolatry to be separate from the prohibition against worshipping other gods. No two religions agree on a single list.
Known as the Aseret ha-Dibrot, here is the original Jewish list:
1. Belief in G-d
This category is derived from the declaration in Ex. 20:2 beginning, "I am the L-rd, your G-d..."
2. Prohibition of Improper Worship
This category is derived from Ex. 20:3-6, beginning, "You shall not have other gods..." It encompasses within it the prohibition against the worship of other gods as well as the prohibition of improper forms of worship of the one true G-d, such as worshiping G-d through an idol.
3. Prohibition of Oaths
This category is derived from Ex. 20:7, beginning, "You shall not take the name of the L-rd your G-d in vain..." This includes prohibitions against perjury, breaking or delaying the performance of vows or promises, and speaking G-d's name or swearing unnecessarily.
4. Observance of Sacred Times
This category is derived from Ex. 20:8-11, beginning, "Remember the Sabbath day..." It encompasses all mitzvot related to Shabbat, holidays, or other sacred time.
5. Respect for Parents and Teachers
This category is derived from Ex. 20:12, beginning, "Honor your father and mother..."
6. Prohibition of Physically Harming a Person
This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not murder."
7. Prohibition of Sexual Immorality
This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not commit adultery."
8. Prohibition of Theft
This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not steal." It includes within it both outright robbery as well as various forms of theft by deception and unethical business practices. It also includes kidnapping, which is essentially "stealing" a person.
9. Prohibition of Harming a Person through Speech
This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." It includes all forms of lashon ha-ra (sins relating to speech).
10. Prohibition of Coveting
This category is derived from Ex. 20:14, beginning, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house..."
Who are the Ten Commandments binding on?
The Aseret ha-Dibrot are the chapter headings, so to speak, under which the other 603 Mitzvot (Commandments) are organized.
The 613 Mitzvot (Commandments) are binding on those at Sinai, their descendents and those who voluntarily accept them through conversion. The only Mitzvot (Commandments) binding upon gentiles are the seven Noahic commandments.
Obviously, it is not to rest but to spend the day dedicated to stroking his ego.
And the penalty for not resting, but getting in the crops before the rains or the freeze hits, or milking the cows or goats is death.
I'm not arguing for or against god, but merely pointing out the irrational concept of what people believe about some god. I haven't made any of this stuff up, I've just shown a light on it to show it for what it is.
I see what you're saying, but it's giving credibility to the idea of a God that actually existed, rather than approaching the Bible for what it was written for; it's preaching to a certain choir, who won't listen to you anyways because of your approach.
I would never object to anyone shining a light on the subject, but it gets diffused when looked at in a narrow lens. Of course, it's impossible for everyone to go out and learn about the Ancient Near Eastern background to certain traditions and legal precepts that influenced the biblical authors, but the information is available - and once it's learned, it should be taken into consideration.
I just find it strange that you would apply all sorts of personal mental traits to this god that paints him in an unflattering light, esepcially given the human authorship of the bible. If humans wrote the books, then it's highly unlikely that they would portray their god in as negative a light as you portrayed him (some authors did - but I woldn't say in this case) - they had every reason to portray him as a competent god, a good god, a god that looked out for them. They had the power to write whatever they wanted to, so I think it's better to look for a more positive psychological picture of God, as portrayed by the writers. Whenever we read a section and are tempted to view God as a psychopath - it's time to step back, and do a little research into why the biblical author is giving you that impression. The first impression is probably wrong.
The Sabbath punishment is pretty severe, I agree - but not any more severe than many other laws of that time. Many scholars feel the Sabbath Law was a late (Exilic) introduction to Law Code, so the authors included the death penalty to help make sure it stuck. It's quite a social change, and it would have been very tempting to break it.
I would not say that it's "Obvious" that it's ego-stroking, though. We are still living with this Sabbath Law to this very day, and probably wouldn't have a weekend without it.
6. Prohibition of Physically Harming a Person
This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not murder."
It seems to me that your title greatly expands a commandment that specifically only prohibits murder. In fact, one of my criticisms against the Ten Commandments is that it says nothing about physical abuse short of murder.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Walter Greenspan
9. Prohibition of Harming a Person through Speech
This category is derived from Ex. 20:13, saying, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." It includes all forms of lashon ha-ra (sins relating to speech).
This too seems to greatly expand a commandment that specifically only prohibits bearing false witness (i.e., lying about a person). One of my criticisms against the Ten Commandments is that it says nothing about emotional abuse except for bearing false witness against your neighbor.
Tell me, how are you able to expand those commandments to include all forms of physically harming someone and all sins relating to speech?
It seems to me that your title greatly expands a commandment that specifically only prohibits murder. In fact, one of my criticisms against the Ten Commandments is that it says nothing about physical abuse short of murder.
This too seems to greatly expand a commandment that specifically only prohibits bearing false witness (i.e., lying about a person). One of my criticisms against the Ten Commandments is that it says nothing about emotional abuse except for bearing false witness against your neighbor.
Tell me, how are you able to expand those commandments to include all forms of physically harming someone and all sins relating to speech?
The Decalogue was not the end-all of the law - the rest of the Torah is practically filled with individual laws. I posted a quote in which the Ten Commandments is compared to a "pre-amble" to the actual code, covenant, whatever....
Walter is probably deriving his "interpretations" from later rabbinic Oral Tradition, which interpreted the Written Tradition to make it less vague. In addition, he could be drawing from the vast amount of legal material found in the Torah that is not the Ten Commandments.
The website probably claims that the Oral Tradition was given to Moses along with the Written Tradition - but this is an "Always-So Story": taking a later development and claiming for it an antiquity that it does not have.
In addition to the Torah (Five Books of Moses) there is the "Oral Torah," a tradition explaining what the Biblical scriptures mean and how to interpret them and apply the 613 Mitzvot (Commandments).
This tradition was maintained in oral form only until about the 2d century C.E., when the oral law was compiled and written down in a document called the Mishnah.
Over the next few centuries, additional commentaries elaborating on the Mishnah were written down in Yerushalyim (Jerusalem) and Babylon. These additional commentaries are known as the Gemara. The Gemara and the Mishnah together are known as the Talmud. This was completed in the 5th century C.E.
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