The middle words of the Decalogue

The middle of the 10 Commandments has impressed itself on my mind these past several months. It focuses for me the attack on both precedent and truth that hit us forcibly in the years from 2016-2020. Such attacks are much more common than the obvious ones in these years. I have listed commands 5 to 8 (depending on how you count them).

Are these commandments or promises? Is this the foundation of a mandate for reasonable social order? Or is reality a free-for-all at anyone's expense or a structure of lies embedded in institutions? 

It so reminds me of the book of Jonah, both Nineveh at the opening (their evil has come up in my face) and poor Jonah at the end with his anger overcoming him.  The appeal to Torah in Jonah consists of the one brief reference to Exodus 34:6.

Aside: Another purpose of the Psalter is to reveal the character of God, that we might learn to love Yahweh's instruction. A good God gives good laws, worth entering into as promises. It's all relational - make it a conversation. 

Exodus 20:12-15

כַּבֵּ֥ד אֶת־אָבִ֖יךָ וְאֶת־אִמֶּ֑ךָ לְמַ֙עַן֙ יַאֲרִכ֣וּן יָמֶ֔יךָ עַ֚ל הָאֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לָֽךְ ס		12 Glorify your father and your mother, so that prolonged are your days on the ground that Yahweh your God gives to you.
ib cbd at-abiç vat-aimç lmyn iaricun imiç yl hadmh awr-ihvh alohiç notn lç s	11 26	cbd at ab\ic v/at am\c lmyn i/arc\vn im\ic yl h/adm\h awr ihvh alh\ic ntn l\c
לֹ֥֖א תִּֿרְצָֽ֖ח ס		13 ♪f You will not murder.
ig la trxk s	3	la t/rxk
לֹ֣֖א תִּֿנְאָֽ֑ף ס		14 ♪B You will not commit adultery.
id la tnaf s	3	la t/nap
לֹ֣֖א תִּֿגְנֹֽ֔ב ס		15 ♪B You will not steal.
'tv la tgnob s	3	la t/gnb

The 10 commandments are incredibly compact. I have, by the way, no idea why tradition translates cbd in verse 12 as honour. Perhaps glory (cbd) and honour (hdr) are identical, but the words are different. In fact tradition overlaps words frequently in this domain, glory, majesty, honour, beauty are all jumbled in the KJV and the authorized tradition that stems from it. One can get away with random synonyms sometimes, but there are places where the whole tone of a book is destroyed by such careless work. 

Deuteronomy 5:16-19

כַּבֵּ֤ד אֶת־אָבִ֙יךָ֙ וְאֶת־אִמֶּ֔ךָ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוְּךָ֖ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ לְמַ֣עַן יַאֲרִיכֻ֣ן יָמֶ֗יךָ וּלְמַ֙עַן֙ יִ֣יטַב לָ֔ךְ עַ֚ל הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לָֽךְ ס		16 Glorify your father and your mother as Yahweh your God is commanding you, so that prolonged are your days, and so that it may be good for you over the ground that Yahweh your God is giving to you.
'tz cbd at-abiç vat-aimç cawr xivvç ihvh alohiç lmyn iaricun imiç ulmyn ii'tb lç yl hadmh awr-ihvh alohiç notn lç s	22 31	cbd at ab\ic v/at am\c c/awr xv\c ihvh alh\ic lmyn i/arc\n im\ic v/lmyn ii/'tb l\c yl h/adm\h awr ihvh alh\ic ntn l\c
לֹ֥֖א תִּֿרְצָֽח ס		17 ♪f You will not murder.
iz la trxk s	3	la t/rxk
וְלֹ֖֣א תִּֿנְאָֽ֑ף ס		18 And you will not commit adultery.
ik vla tnaf s	4	v/la t/nap
וְלֹ֖֣א תִּֿגְנֹֽ֔ב ס		19 And you will not steal.
i't vla tgnob s	4	v/la t/gnb

You can see that the instructions in verses 13-15 of Exodus 5 and 17-19 of Deuteronomy 20 are almost vanishingly short! Sing them. Note the differences. The 4 shortest verses in the Hebrew Bible are two words and three syllables. (Shorter than what Wikipedia reports. My list includes their Genesis 26:6 tied for 39th place if I drop the music, but 192nd place if I don't.)

And ponder. The first of these, the fifth commandment addresses us as children of parents. The seventh addresses us as adults. The point of view changes rapidly. We know what Jesus made of the one in the middle on murder - he related it to the heart of anger. How will we 'be angry and not sin'? (This is a NT verse, Ephesians 4:26. It is not a reference to Psalms 4:5 which reads more accurately, Shudder and do not sin.)

If we fail on the seventh, we will make the fifth difficult for our children. We may also make failure on the sixth easier. Crimes of passion. What will we do with such responsibility and power? It is much easier to count syllables.