PROGRESSIONS IN EXODUS 20

 

I am always amazed at the new things I learn about the Bible even at my advanced age. Here is a quick insight that came from Sunday's sermon at Anacortes Christian Church.

The Ten Commandments outlined in verses 1-17 can be viewed as two progressions operating in different directions. Verses 1-11 demonstrate a forward advance in which one begins with belief in one God and ends up receiving life:

    Have no other gods before God (1-3)

        Do not worship idols (4-6)

            Do not take God's name in vain (7)

                Keep the Sabbath (8-11)

                    Honor your parents (12a)

                        Long life (12b)

However, if one starts out as if he or she is the ultimate god, then that can only lead ultimately to death, perhaps of others, but certainly spiritual death for oneself:

    Coveting everything for oneself (17)

        Bearing false witness (16)

            Stealing (15)

                Committing adultery (14)

                    Death (13)

There are additional correspondences between these two halves of the Ten Commandments, and they are presented almost a perfect in a mirror-image arrangement to one another. Thus, we might note that:

    The first series above consists of mainly positive admonitions while the second one contains all negative commands.

    Worshiping God is the opposite of worshiping oneself (coveting).

    Both the taking the name of God in vain and bearing false witness are sins of the mouth.

    Honoring one's parents and avoiding adultery are both necessary in order to preserve the proper family bonds.

Actually, the only thing which prevents this whole passage from being a perfect chiastic (i.e. mirror-image) construction is the lack of any obvious correspondence, negative or positive, between keeping the Sabbath and stealing (taken as kidnapping by some commentators). I will leave that as a challenge for my readers to see if you can find any such relationship between the two commandments.