5th September 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is missing from the \u2018ten commmandments\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Previous articles are still available on the Premier Christian radio website – https:\/\/www.premierchristianradio.com\/Blogs2\/Yeshua-Explored \u00a0– (until they finally pull the plug!)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Actually, they are not literally<\/em> the Ten Commandments<\/em>. The Hebrew expression within the Scriptures is Aseret ha-Dibrot<\/em>, which takes the meaning of the ten sayings, ten words or ten statements. The expression for Ten Commandments is very different, it would be Aseret ha-Mitzvot<\/em>, in the same way that a bar-Mitzvah<\/em> is a \u201cson of the commandments\u201d. So why has the Church got it all wrong right from the outset? Not too sure, but perhaps \u201cten Commandments\u201d has a sense of immediacy and importance that the literal renditions lack? One thing is clear, though. By viewing them as a list of ten \u201ccommandments\u201d, the Church has missed out an extremely important chunk of Hebrew Scripture, the preamble<\/em>, the first two verses in Exodus 20:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And God spoke all these words: \u201cI am the <\/em>Lord<\/em> your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.\u201d<\/em> (Exodus 20:1-2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n To Jews, this is the first<\/em> commandment. In the vast majority of Christian Bibles, the actual commandments don\u2019t begin until verse 3, you shall have no other Gods before me<\/em>. By doing this the Church has missed two very important things<\/em>, the fact that God was actually speaking these words and that He was declaring His calling card, His identifier, His USP (in marketing parlance) \u2026 or, to take this further \u2026 His supremacy, His uniqueness, His awesome power. The Church missed this, but the Jews didn\u2019t. If the Scriptures were a work of philosophy, God would be explained in some metaphysical sense, as taught by such as Aristotle. But they are not, they are a work of revelation<\/em>, describing a God who has revealed Himself through His acts in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am the LORD your God.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is the same verse, in the ONE NEW MAN Bible, a modern translation that emphasises the Hebraic mindset behind the text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I AM the LORD your God.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nowhere else would the capitalisation of two letters have such significance. This is a translation of the first Hebrew word in the verse, anoki<\/em>, taking the meaning \u201cI am\u201d. This very word is mainly used in the context of a royal<\/em> command, a decree given for everyone. Its literal meaning is Because I Am<\/em> and is used over a hundred times in Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will notice the extra emphasis placed on those two words, \u201cI AM<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 capitalised in the One New Man Bible<\/em>. It is God Himself speaking here and we\u2019re not to forget that. It underlines all that follows and puts a Divine seal on the proclamations that form the \u201cTen Commandments\u201d. These aren\u2019t ordinary<\/em> instructions, these are coming from His very character, part of God\u2019s eternal Word of life for all of us<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n