in which Moses, sad about G-d’s irrevocable
decision to bar him from entering the Promised Land, retells the story of G-d
speaking to the us on Mount Sinai and the laws and commandments given to us
there. Moses reminds us how G-d showed himself to us but we could not stay with
him long, for fear of death in his overpowering presence, so he sent us to our
tents, and gave Moses the laws he wants kept. Moses gives us the 10
commandments and the text of Sh’ma.
This is what Moses wants us to remember:
· We have to know in our hearts every second of our lives that
G-d is unique and all-powerful and there is nobody else like him.
· G-d’s living contact with us was a unique event in the history
of the Universe.
· G-d showed himself to us on the Mount Sinai, without being
seen, and we knew his glory. If we could always keep this knowledge in our
hearts, things would go well with us, always.
· G-d made a covenant with us, all of us living then, today, and
in the future, that he will not abandon us, in the worst of our distress, for a
thousand generations (around 20,000 years), but we should be faithful to him
and obey his commandments.
· If we sin, our sins will be visited on our children for 3 to 4
generations but if we keep the commandments, thousands of our next generations
will be blessed. If we break the law, we will not remain in the Promised Land
very long, but will be exiled. In exile we will serve false idols but will
yearn for G-d and will eventually find him.
· G-d showed himself to us, but we would die if we had to be
with him longer, so we were sent to our tents and Moses stayed to write down
G-d’s commandments.
· The laws must be kept precisely, without adding to them or
subtracting from them.
· The laws are going to get the Jewish nation respect among other
nations.
· Jews are to teach the laws to their children and to preserve
in their heart the memory of direct contact with G-d who, unseen but heard,
commanded to learn the laws and keep them.
· To give us the Promised Land, G-d will drive away other nations,
the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizites, Hivites and
Yebusites - seven nations more numerous and powerful than we are. When that
happens – we must utterly destroy those nations and not intermarry with them
and not adopt their ways.
· When we come to the Promised Land, we need to administer
humane justice and thus G-d has designated 3 cities of refuge for accidental
killers.
The 10 Commandments:
1. Since we heard but did
not see G-d during contact, we should not make statues, male or female, or that
of any creature on earth, underground, in water or in the sky. We are not to
worship anything visible, like the sky, the sun or stars.
2. We are not to take G-d’s
name in vain.
3. We are to observe the
Sabbath, because we are no longer slaves.
4. We are to honor our
Mother and Father.
5. We are not to commit
murder.
6. We are not to commit
adultery.
7. We are not to steal.
8. We are not to testify as
a perjurous witness against our neighbor.
9. We are not to desire our
neighbor’s wife
10. We are not to desire our
neighbor’s posessions
 |
| Judith Prays |