The Ten Commandments Make Little Sense!

The Ten Commandments are embraced by millions as the paragon of law and virtue. American religionists declare the nation was founded upon them. Have any of these people actually read and logically considered them?

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.

There they are, the vaunted Ten Commandments from the King James Version of the Bible. Read them and wonder.

The Ten Commandments haven’t aged well. Come to think about it, they didn’t start off so gracefully, either. Reportedly, some 3300 years ago, Moses dashed the first tablets to bits when he saw that his tribe was violating Nos. 1 and 2, as he came down the mountain.

Why would Moses do this? After all, it’s not every day God gives you something so precious and important as the very laws of the land, inscribed by his own finger. How many times in history has this happened? Only twice, that we know… both on the same day.

So Moses freaks and smashes the laws to smithereens. The man obviously had serious anger management issues. Lots of questions about the whole affair. Why didn’t God see what was going on down below, anticipate that Moses would blow his top and trash the tablets… and just provide him two copies…. or, hey it’s God, just make them out of steel to begin with? As it was, Moses had to trudge back up the mountain and ask for a new set. How did that conversation go? Who should have felt more sheepish, Moses or God? But before Moses went back up, he commanded Aaron and the Levites to rampage “back and forth through the camp” of Israelites slaying “brother, friend and neighbor.” Had Moses even the read the Commandments? About 3,000 people died that day. I am not making this up. This is all right there, glowingly depicted, in the “Good Book.” Does anyone perceive anything just a tad incongruent in this story? Apparently, violating Commandments 1 and 2 simultaneously is far worse than violating № 6 singularly. Wouldn’t most rational souls agree that killing is far the worst crime? Yet killing, mass murder even, is exactly what Moses commanded, to which his loyal lieutenants complied, before the tablets were even dry. So far as is reported, God does not seem to have had a problem with any of this bloody debacle, His sensitive longing for respect being of supreme importance, apparently.

Whew! What a day that was. Inarguably one of the worst in human history. And one that still plagues us today.

Today, of course, no one really takes the Ten Commandments seriously. Some pretend to, but don’t. They put them on an altar, and then ignore them. That № 10 commandment must be the most violated law in the history of the Universe. But that doesn’t stop them from being an obsession of the faux righteous… and a tool for religious brainwashing and bullying.

The Ten Commandments should comfort no one if seen on the courthouse lawn. The prospect of being judged by the values of the Old Testament is terrifying. Those were the people who thought wearing mixed fibers was an abomination before the Lord, and would stone to death, in front of her father, a bride who had not proven to be a virgin on her wedding night. Knocking out teeth, plucking out eyes, cutting off fingers, hands and arms were apt punishments in those days of yore. Woe be upon the defendant who comes under the jurisdiction of a modern Moses.

The Commandments, themselves fall into three categories: 1) a bare few which are common-sensical, long-standing legal precepts which far predate the Old Testament, and are shared by almost every culture and every other religion; 2) those which are poorly-written, impractical and/or nonsensical, 3) those which spring from the demented jealousy, anger and neediness of an obviously psychopathic, insecure, pathetic god. Who would want to worship a god who is so needy as to demand to be worshiped? We would call Protective Services if a neighbor dad demanded the same of his children. Taken altogether, the Ten Commandments are a rational and ethical mess.

It would seem that only three of the Ten Commandments really hold much legal, ethical, moral weight. Don’t kill. Don’t steal. Don’t lie. The rest are vague guidelines at best, psychotic blather at worst. The first four of the Commandments are God demanding that his ego be stroked. You should be (but, in Judeo-Christian-Islamic dogma, are not) forgiven for wondering why God would be so insecure. OK, so “He” has issues.

The edict to “have no gods before me,” suggests that “He” is acknowledging the threatening actual existence of other gods, among which “He” demands to be first. Of course, there were many other gods around back then… almost all of them long forgotten or considered fictional these days. Why would a real god worry a twit about non-existent things? The Ten Commandments seem to stress that this god is thoroughly bugged by and jealous of those other gods. So those first four commandments serve as a potent prelude to the ridiculousness of the entire list.

Worse than what is in the Ten Commandments is what is missing. Couldn’t the Big Dude give up one of those wholly self-serving commands to make the official case for disallowing genocide? Slavery? Kidnapping? Rape? Torture? Wanton destruction of the Creation? War? That might have changed history. Did old Jehovah not anticipate these common human crimes? That would mean “He” is not all-knowing, or knew but did not want to change history, meaning “He” is not all-good? Ah, we’ve bumbled into the old Problem of Evil conundrum. Hey Evangelicals… wouldn’t you think God could have included a law against abortion? Seems He wasn’t (nor His Son) nearly as obsessed with the issue as are you.

Actually, according to Exodus 34, there were other commandments considered, but none of the alternates a clear mind and good heart might recommend. Instead, God, was insistent that his devotees must keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and, also, the Feast of Weeks, and, of course, the Feast of Passover. Is that three commandments right there, or just one with three clauses? Subjects must sacrifice to Him the “firstling” among cattle, ox and sheep (a lamb can be substituted for the firstborn ass). So, obviously, the charred animal carcass is really important to the Big Guy in the sky. This is problematical for modern sensibilities. Likewise, the first fruits should be sacrificed to Him. Fruits? Fine, give Him fruits, if that will control his jealousy and temper. How many fruits would He swap in exchange for not burning one ass colt? The Bible doesn’t postulate. He commands that all the “menchildren” of Israel appear before the Lord God three times a year (how and where is not explained). Do not not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk. Why not? Wait, is this the rare glimmer in the Bible of some semblance of care and concern for a non-human life form? Maybe, though this fertile line of deeply spiritual thought is never much pursued in the Bible. Somehow, none of these commands made the famous list we know today, though this alternate batch is the only group actually referred to in the Bible as the “ten commandments.” Go figure.

Paradoxically and ironically, for those Christians who insist that the Jewish Ten Commandments be taught in school, the actual Christ, Yeshua (is the name he would have recognized), essentially rendered the Commandments obsolete when he prioritized “Love One Another.” Though far superior to the Ten, that one commandment is still rather simplistically anthropocentric… an even more advanced Mono Commandment, often expressed in Eastern and indigenous spiritual traditions, would be, “Love the World.” Wouldn’t a creator want his various conscious creations to love all of the rest of creation in all of its magnificent diversity and beauty and goodness? Not just dote on one species, quite conveniently being our own species (and even having a mighty struggle with that)? In the light of modernity, much less higher spirituality, the Ten Commandments just don’t seem very well conceived. That’s strange, coming from a god. An astute ten-year-old could come up with something more tenable. How is it possible for God to flub something as simple as two clay tablets when “He”/She/it did such a sublime job conceiving the rest of the Universe? Something is out of whack here, and it’s not the Universe.

With the Ten Commandments in mind, Christians like to believe that America was founded on “Christian law,” as if there even is such a thing. That notion is sheer poppycock. Aside from “Love One Another” what else would be “Christian law?” And if Christians can’t seem to bring themselves to obey that one, great “Christian law,” why would they need or want others? Anyway, just because right-wing zealots have been posting the Ten Commandments in public places for 150 years doesn’t prove their point. Indeed, even the attempt to enmesh the Bible with American ideals suggests that the propagandists have not read one or the other, or either. Nor, funnily enough, do they seem to appreciate that the Ten Commandments are not specifically “Christian,” but Jewish in origin, meaning and intended audience.

It turns out there are precisely zero exclusively or specifically biblical or Christian legal constructs or ideology encoded in America’s foundational ideals, Declaration of Independence, Constitution, subsequent Amendments, laws or system of government. If anything, the American system is a radical and emphatic rejection of the “divine right of kings” and religion-government entanglement which comprise the core of Abrahamic (Jewish-Christian-Islamic) cultural tradition. The theocracy for which American Christians dream is un-American and unconstitutional (these not always being one and the same, but an American theocracy insults them both).

But let’s humor these Christian “patriots” for a moment. If the Ten Commandments are the lodestar of Christian law, the proclaimed basis of American law, surely these rock-of-ages precepts are to be prominently found in America’s founding documents, ideals or federal legal system, Let’s take the commandments one by one for a look-see.

Commandment № 1: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me?” Sorry, nowhere to be found in the American system.

№ 2: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image?” Totally absent, while graven images abound throughout the land (notably, especially around Christmas and Easter time).

№ 3: “Do not misuse the name of the Lord?” Nope. Actually, a “god-damn” is uttered every ten seconds in America, often, certainly, by Christians.

№ 4: “Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy?” So-called “blue laws” were once popular, and are still in effect in some locales, but there is nothing about this in America’s founding documents or federal law. Meanwhile, Sunday is more fun day for the vast majority of modern Christians and Jews.

№ 5: “Honor thy father and mother?” Usually a good and loving idea (though not all are deserving, and not a few should be locked up), but there is nothing so regarding in America’s founding documents or federal law. Indeed, American Christian culture in sum has long been mediocre, at best, in honoring parents and ancestors in comparison with Asian and other non-Christian cultures.

№ 6: “You shall not murder?” Now we come to crimes that every society regards as bad and illegal; so no bonus points for the God of Judaism and Christianity (and Islam) for these. “He” has nothing on Rama, Inanna, Ahura Mazda or any other number of other gods who do not seem to be quite as psychotic.

№ 7: “Thou shalt not commit adultery?” A few conservative states still define adultery as a crime (usually a misdemeanor, hardly deserving of being one of the big Ten). This may be an admirable guideline, shared by cultures around the world, but there is nada about this in American founding documents or ideals. Nor is this commandment obeyed by shocking numbers of Republican politicians or Christian pastors, priests and televangelists. In adoring Donald Trump, conservative Christians have decreed this crime no big deal for their “sent by God” champion.

№ 8: “Though shalt not steal?” Another universal no-no, so, again, no points for Judeo-Christian-Islamic law.

№ 9: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor?” Rather vague, don’t you think? Why couldn’t this one have been as plain spoken and straightforward as “Though shalt not lie?” Lying is generally considered corrosive to society in all cultures (except Trumpland, where it is the most important feature), so no points in any case. But there is something quite odd in this commandment. It bizarrely specifies lies against your neighbor. What about your parents? Your children? Your wife or husband? Your friend? Your boss? Your teacher? Is false testimony OK against anyone other than neighbors? How close does someone have to live to you to be a “neighbor?” Still, lying to your neighbor, or anyone other than law enforcement or a court of justice, is not generally an actual legal crime. All in all, a confusing commandment… doesn’t seem very divine, and not an issue taken up by the founding fathers.

№ 10: “Thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s house, his wife, his servant, his ox or his ass? Yet another very sloppy commandment. Again, the neighbor gets special consideration. Others? No specific Judaic/Christian prohibition. Go right ahead and covet their stuff, presumably. Like the Israelites did with Canaan (come to think of it, perhaps that’s why there is no biblical prohibition of genocide… once quite a fashionable pursuit. I am not making this up). This one is woefully dated. Couldn’t God have had the foresight to just say Don’t covet other people’s “stuff?” Today we might at least substitute McMansion, big screen TV and Tesla for servant, ox and ass. Thankfully, there is nothing remotely referring to this commandment in American founding ideals and documents. It is not illegal to covet anything, be green with envy or as greedy as sin. But, if you are willing to dare God… think about what this Commandment means. The concept of criminalizing thought and desire is downright evil. Every living thing desires something. What kind of tyrant is this “God” character, and what kind of trap these “Commandments?” Recalling that tree of bait in the Garden of Eden… it seems as if this Dude is ever trying to trap people in sin. Even another god (there must be some… or why be so jealous?) could not find a surer snare than by making thought itself that trap. How many souls through history, adults and children, have been tormented by the prospect of hell because they thought or desired something? This is a prime example where it becomes clear that religion is nothing if not diabolically cruel.

The American founding fathers were wise to stay well clear of biblical “wisdom” and law… and so would be we. Diametrically opposite of this tradition (thankfully), the United States of America is rationally (not faith) based upon English common law, as established principally by the Magna Carta (1215), Constitution of 1657, Habeas Corpus Act (1679), and Bill of Rights (1689). These in turn draw not from biblical governmental philosophy, but from pagan Celtic, Nordic, Saxon and Roman law, as well as inspired admiration of ancient Greek democracy. While there is no place for Moses in the American legal system, Plato gets in a word or two. Other important inspirations for the novel U.S. system were obtained from Enlightenment and utilitarian philosophers, principal among these the English philosopher John Locke, as well as French champions of the common man’s rights and qualities: Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu. Also, it is said that Benjamin Franklin brought ideas from the Iroquois Confederacy’s form of democracy into the original discussions of American government, particularly the aspect of each tribal unit being semi-autonomous yet bound to a larger federal whole: a league of united tribes/states. That’s a great story, even if it may not be true. It’s fun to imagine that native “savages” (as they were called at the time by Christians) had more influence on the American system than the entire Bible! These sources and influences are all the founding fathers needed to craft the founding documents and birth a nation. Just as with the development of the Universe and evolution of life, no religion, no god even, was necessary.

Then we must consider….

If the founding fathers had intended to create a Christian country they most certainly would have included the five letters J-E-S-U-S or the six letters C-H-R-I-S-T or the nine letters C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N somewhere — anywhere — in the nation’s bylaws. But no, they did not. Did they just forget Jesus? Well yes, they did. They intentionally forgot Jesus, and left out Christianity, and the Ten Commandments, for very good reasons.

Thank God they did. Or, rather, thank good common sense and higher moral and spiritual aspiration. A Christian America is not an America anyone would recognize, or long appreciate. Even Christians might get a little queasy, depending on how authentic the “Christian” system turned out to be. They tend to forget that Jesus and his followers, including the Christian community in Jerusalem following the crucifixion, were essentially… communists!

Copyright 2020, Rusty Reid