The Ten Commandments as Root Values

The first and sixth commandments have to do with the value of personal identity. To have another “god before God” is to deny God’s personhood, God’s relational character. It reduces God, at least within the scope of one’s own experience, to non-being. Obviously to take the life of one’s neighbor reduces the neighbor to non-being.

The second and seventh commandments have to do with the value of commitment. It defines a process of healthy interaction. The prophets commonly associate idolatry with adultery. Adultery violates mutually agreed upon expectations between covenant partners. It erodes the bond of trust, which serves as the only genuine link between people who would share life together.

Commandments three and eight hold up the importance of personal boundaries. Taking the name of the Lord in vain fails to honor God’s autonomy. It attempts to access God’s power apart from relationship with God. In a similar way, stealing attempts to access the power of one’s neighbor outside of relationship with the neighbor. It fails to respect the neighbor’s personal authority.

The value expressed in the fourth and ninth commandment is more subtle. Sabbath keeping is both a call to community as well as a challenge to remember and to speak the truth about the nature of reality. The justification for Sabbath keeping in Exodus 20 centers on God’s role in creation. In Deuteronomy 5, Sabbath justification centers on God’s role in redeeming the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. In both instances, the Sabbath invites the community to perceive the world from the perspective of the creating, redeeming God. To bear false witness is to misrepresent the human experience. The truth is made known as each bears witness to what they perceive. Thus, the common value shared between each commandment is an orientation to the Truth that is communal in nature and explored in the dialogue with others.

The value expressed in the fifth and tenth commandment is also rather subtle. To honor mother and father is to honor the bearers of tradition, the history of the family and the community. It expresses a certain orientation to the past. Covetousness also expresses a certain orientation to the past, one’s personal past. It honors the parent of the present moment, if you will. Longing or dissatisfaction over one’s present condition seeks in someone else’s experience what one wishes for one’s self. This dishonors one’s personal history. It refuses to embrace and to learn from the past, preferring to nurture resentment for not having had the opportunity to be possessed of the experience of another. The common value shared here is an appreciation for the past as a source of wisdom.