The First Commandment is about maintaining freedom and prosperity
“You will have no strange gods before me.” — Exodus 20:3
The first commandment is about maintaining freedom and prosperity. It comes in two verses, the second one listed above. The first verse reminds the reader that it took an act, a series of acts, by God, to free the Hebrews.
“I am the Lord they God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” — Exodus 20:2
The first commandment is telling us that once we lose our freedom, it is hard to gain back. If we want to remain free, we have to do what is morally right… What is right based on God’s definition of what is right.
By extension, this would bring us prosperity. Prosperity contributes to a civilization’s strength.
God’s definition of what is right?
“Strange gods” is consistent with the fruit of forbidden knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). This is symbolized by “darkness” and by “night” throughout the Bible.
“Me” references the fruits that Adam was told he could eat (Genesis 2:16). These fruits are symbolic of the 10 commandments and of the rest of the commandments based on these commandments. This is also symbolized by “light” and by “day” throughout the Bible. When God said, “Let there be light”, he created the true, moral, definition of what is right.
His doing his work during the daytime represents his doing work guided by doing what is morally right. We are expected to do the same in our work.
The first commandment is the keystone commandment to the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments are collectively the keystone to the rest of the commandments given throughout the Bible. They are symbolized in the Bible as a foundation, rock, fortress, shield, sword, the way, the path, the gate, cornerstone, etc.
These are the blueprint for success that God gave us to both be free and be prosperous. This is what’s meant by guiding our actions on God based morality.
Our Founding Fathers understood this concept when hammering out the Constitution.
Category: Society
Going a little farther back in history, a new book by Titus Kennedy, an archaeologist that looks like a young Indiana Jones, it’s titled Unearthing the Bible. A great reference too.
Also a book titled Reading Moses and seeing Jesus is interesting, especially when they mention Yoma 39b of the Talmud, a nice rabbit trail.
The Lord does work in mysterious ways!
I’ve read the entire Bible, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation. This wasn’t my first time doing it. The more you read and understand the Bible, the more the meanings jump at you.
It also helps being a history buff.
Other people who have read the entire Bible have been coming up with similar conclusions. I’ll be posting more like this in the future.
One of the many benefits of doing this is that you get a better understanding of what the Founding Fathers wrote and argued.
“…His wonders to Behold”.
Just because I may act like a heathen doesn’t mean I am one. Would rather go thru life believing in the Supreme Being and find out there’s not one, than to go thru life NOT believing and finding out there is.
“Duty is is sublimest word in the dictionary. Do your Duty in all things. You can never do more. You should never do less.” Robert E. Lee
Pascal’s wager: “With all Eternity as the stakes, it is a better bet to believe in God than not.” (If you believe and there is no God, you wasted some time and effort. If there is a God, you get eternal salvation. If you don’t believe, and there is no God, nothing – but if you disbelieve and there is a God, you are damned forever. If you disbelieve, the BEST you can get is nothing… if you believe, the WORST you can get is nothing. So with eternity as the stakes, it’s best to believe.)
A very wise man once said about Christ: “He is either a lier, lunatic or the Son Of God.
Choose only one.
But, choose wisely.
Have A nice day/night.
If memory serves that’s called the ‘Lewis Trilemma.’ I believe CS Lewis wrote that in his book ‘Mere Christianity after talking about it in a BBC interview.
You are correct.
C.S. Lewis had a brilliant mind coupled with an outstanding gift for putting thoughts into words “normal” people can understand.
This was one of his summations that clearly states why there is no riding the fence when it comes to Who Jesus Is.
The nonbeliever stands to lose a lot more if he’s wrong than the believer.
Even if you didn’t believe in any sort of God and that we are just bits of carbon based goo that somehow achieved sentience, it would be hard to argue that Christianity is not the best guide for a happy life and society. All the people who want to act badly (sleep around, do drugs, sit around and do nothing all day getting government [i.e. taxpayer] money) think Christian rules are a bad idea because behaving badly is fun. It might be, but only for the time being. Rarely does one do bad behavior for a long time and not regret it – or even die. I bet all of those 27 year old rock stars thought they were having a blast most of the time (maybe) until they didn’t make it to 28. As for the “what about other religions” crowd, yes, people can be wonderful people in other religions. No other religion, however, has strictures requiring being as good to others as Christianity. (Here the skeptics laugh and point out all of the bad that has been done in the name of religion. I do not deny that bad things have been done – I am only talking about Christianity if put into practice the way it should be.) So yes, there are peaceful Muslims, but Islam does not entreat its members to turn the other cheek or pray for enemies. It directs its adherents to spread itself by any means. Judaism was the foundation of Christianity, but it is more specific to the Jewish people and once again, splits the world into believers and non-believers. Yes, Christians do that as well, but are told not to treat non-believers badly. Eastern religions have many rules about being peaceful it is true. They do not have the world wide reach that Christianity has so they can have the same impact. I admit to not knowing as much about them as the others. Once again, the peace that comes out of Christianity is all dependent on people doing it right. People are flawed and that means flawed execution but as… Read more »
There are two Commandments that sum up the rest: Love God and love your neighbor. They are good rules to live by.
From Matthew 22
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
“This is the first and great commandment.
“And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
“On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Thank you thebesig.
Excellent summation, thebesig.
A couple of things you may (or may not) enjoy:
https://idlecogitations.wordpress.com/2021/04/12/idle-cogitations-no-3/
https://idlecogitations.wordpress.com/2021/04/30/idle-cogitation-10/