Approaching the West — Page 159
A pproaching the West—159 11 The Decalogue Enhanced Approximately three thousand and four hundred years ago, Moses and his followers, after escaping from Egypt and arriving at Mount Sinai, received the Ten Commandments. According to Deuteronomy 5:22, the entire assembly of Israel heard the great voice of God, ‘out of the midst of the fire, of cloud, and of the thick darkness. ’ The Ten Commandments, thus received directly from God, could be grouped into two sections. The first four commandments related to God Himself, and the remaining six concerned man’s relation to his neighbor. May be that’s why the finger of God inscribed the Decalogue on two separate stone tablets (Exodus 31:18). With the passage of time, many supportive rules and rituals were developed around the Ten Commandments and a rigorous legal regulatory system was formed. Jesus retained the Mosaic dispensation of Law, but he did not preach its literal implementation. He emphasized the essence of Law, that is, the element of unconditional love for God and for one’s neighbor. He summed up the Mosaic Law into two great commandments. When asked by one of the Pharisees, a lawyer, which was the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus replied,