Ten Commandments

Parshat Yitro. Exodus chs. 18, 19, 20

Parshat Yitro.

Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Jethro, the Rechabites, and the Ten Tribes in Britain
3. A Social Re-Organization Suggested by Jethro
4. The Ten Commandments in the Bible
5. The Ten Commandments in the USA
6. The Ten Commandments and Divine Revelation in the Israelite Sub-Consciousness

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1. Introduction

The Parashah of "Yitro" (Jethro) encompasses Exodus chapters 18, 19, 20. The subject matter speaks of Jethro the father-in-law of Moses, and of the Ten Commandments and matters connected with them.
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2. Jethro, the Rechabites, and the Ten Tribes in Britain

Jethro the father-in-law of Moses is described as a Priest of Midian (Exodus 3:1), and a Midianite (Numbers 4:29), and as a Kenite (Judges 1:16).
The Kenites were a Canaanite people (Genesis 15:19). Jethro was a Midianite. The Midianites were descendants of Abraham but Jethro may have also had a connection with the Keni.
It is not certain if Jethro received the name "Keni" because he was of Kenite Canaanite stock or for some other reason. The term 'Keni' may also connote 'blacksmith.'
Jethro may also have been known as 'Hobab' or else 'Hobab' was a son of Jethro and brother-in-law of Moses.
Jethro in effect was eventually to convert and become part of the Israelite people together with members of his clan.

[There is a joke about Jethro.
Jethro had seven different names.
Why?
Because he had seven daughters.
Everytime he had to marry one of his daughters he took a new loan from the bank under a different name.]

Another version (heard from Rabbi Mordecai Makles) is that each daughter expressed a different aspect of the personality of Jethro that became apparent after the daughter was born and in the course of his being a parent to her.

At all events the descendants of Jethro and his followers became known as Kenites.
In Semitic tongues the root "Ken" was associated with the workers of metal, thus we have "Tubal-kain," "the forger of every sort of tool of copper and iron" (Genesis 4:17-22).
"Sayce (in Hastings, Dict. Bib., s.v. Kenites) draws the conclusion that the Cinites [Kenites] were "a wandering guild of smiths."
Balaam spoke of the Kenites (Numbers 24:21-22).
There it says that the Kenites would be exiled with the Lost Ten Tribes and return with them. Here the term 'Kenites' is considered the descendants of Jethro.
http://britam.org/Moses/Moses-6.html
Some identify the Kenites with the Druse people. The Druse revere Jethro.
Kenites were to be found both in the south and in the north of the Land of Israel (Judges 4: 11, I-Samuel 15:6).
They are recalled as being in the south of Judah (in the region of Simeon) where "the Cities of the Kenites" are mentioned alongside "the Cities of Jerahmelites" (1-Samuel 30:29). A portion of the Kenites descendants of Jethro were otherwise known as "Rechabites."
The Rechabites were Kenites but considered part of Judah (Jeremiah 35).
In Jeremiah 35 the Almighty praises the Rechabites.
http://www.britam.org/Jeremiah33to36.html

[Jeremiah 35:19] THEREFORE THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF ISRAEL; JONADAB THE SON OF RECHAB SHALL NOT WANT A MAN TO STAND BEFORE ME FOR EVER.
The Rechabites will be rewarded.

Despite the association with Judah, Jewish Tradition links the Rechabites with the Lost Ten Tribes. The Bible also associates the Kenites with the Lost Ten Tribes.

[Numbers 24:22]
http://www.britam.org/numbers/7balak2.html
NEVERTHELESS THE KENITE SHALL BE WASTED, UNTIL ASSHUR SHALL CARRY THEE AWAY CAPTIVE.
This verse may be interpreted differently as the Rabbinical Commentators have done:
Rashi:
##EVEN IF YOU SHALL BE WIPED AWAY KEIN FOR A PERIOD WHEN ASHUR [ASSYRIA] TAKES YOU CAPTIVE [YOU SHALL RETURN WITH THE TEN TRIBES! # #
The Kenites here are those who were to convert together with Jethro and attach themselves to the Children of Israel. They always remained as a somewhat separate group. They were exiled by the Assyrians with the Ten Tribes. They are destined to return with them (Rashi).

A Midrash associates the Rechabites with the Land of Sinim which area we identify we identify with Australia?

Britain in the Mythology of the Middle East (even in Assyrian times? see "Zeitscript fur Assyriologie", 1909, 1929), and later of the Gauls and Romans was known as the Isle of the Dead. Ireland was called the Isle of the Happy or the Isle of the Blessed or Britain and Ireland together were known as "Isle of the Blessed." Jewish and Jewish-Arab traditions traced the Lost Ten Tribes, the Rechabites, and the Children of Moses to these areas as well as to Gaul (i.e. France and the North).

The Rechabites were believed to be in the Atlantic Ocean area.
http://britam.org/now2/1411Now.html#Rechabites
Syriac MS B "The History of the Sons of Jonadab, the Son of Rechab, who are in the Midst of the Ocean, the Great Sea, When God Showed Them to Zosimus, the Virtuous Hermit"

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3. A Social Re-Organization Suggested by Jethro
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The portion of Yitro (Jethro) tells us how Jethro brought Zipporah and the Children of Moses to the Israelites while they were in the Wilderness. Apparently Moses while he was in Egypt had sent his famly back to the Land of Midian for safe-keeping. Now they had come out of Egypt so Jethro was bringing them to Moses. Later Jethro was to return to Midian and then come back again tot he Israelites and join up with them together with other members of his clan. We are presenting these events in the sequence of their presentation in the Bible. There are however opinions that the whole account concerning Jethro actually took place later. It is presented in non-chronological order for purposes of the narrative.

At all events Jethro sees how Moses is wearing himself out in judging the people and adjudicating between them. Jethro advises Moses to only judge the important cases and deputize worthy men to stand him in less important matters. Moses takes this advice. He appoints heads of thousands, hundreds, and tens.

Exodus 13:
25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
27 And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

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This organization of the Israelites into units of tens and hundreds is found elsewhere in the Ancient World. It was also practiced by peoples we associate with the Lost Ten Tribes.
Terry Marvin Blodgett, 'Phonological Similarities In Germanic and Hebrew' (Utah 1981), quotes from 'Black's Law Dictionary' by Henry C. Black (1968). In regards to the Franks, Danes, English and Continental Saxons, Black said that 'ten freeholders with their families ....were all knit together in one society, and bound to the king for the peaceable behaviour of each other. In each of these societies there was one chief or principal person, who, from his office, was called `teothing-man', now `tithing-man'.' The ten families were part of a 'hundred' each 'hundred' being governed by a high constable. Each hundred was divided into two groups of fifty. An indefinite number of hundreds made a 'shire' governed by a 'sherif'.
This arrangement was especially noticeable amongst the Saxons. This organizational-pattern had been known amongst the Israelites being instituted by Moses himself: 'So I took the chief men of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes' (Deuteronomy 1:15).

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4. The Ten Commandments in the Bible

Following the incident of Jethro and the Judges we come to the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments are each Injunctions in their own right. In addition several authorities (e.g. Saudia Gaon, Nachmanides) consider the 10 Commandments to be GENERIC Categories into which all the other commandments fit. Traditionally the number of commandments is 613. Many of the Commandments however concern such matters as Temple sacrifices and Purity and are not applicable today.
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Aryeh Kaplan ('A Handbook of Jewish Thought,' volume 1,1979) says:

'The number of commandments which apply to everyone under all condition is 270. Of these, 48 are positive, and 222 are negative.'

Kaplan also says,

# 5. 17 The Torah and its commandments were given only to Israel. It is thus written, 'Moses bound us by the Torah, an inheritance for the community of Jacob' (Deuteronomy 33.4). Similarly, 'God declared His word to Jacob, His decrees and laws to Israel. He has not done this to any other nation' (Psalms 147: 19, 20).

# 5.18 Therefore, no law appearing in the Torah is binding on any people other than Israel. The only exceptions are the universal laws, which are known as tradition to be binding on the entire human race. This is usually indicated by a special redundancy, where the commandment is repeated especially for gentiles.

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Ten Commandments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments#Judaism

The biblical narrative of the revelation at Sinai begins in Exodus 19 after the arrival of the children of Israel at Mount Sinai (also called Horeb). On the morning of the third day of their encampment, "there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet [SHOFAR] exceeding loud", and the people assembled at the base of the mount. After "the LORD[37] came down upon mount Sinai", Moses went up briefly and returned and prepared the people, and then in Exodus 20 "God spoke" to all the people the words of the covenant, that is, the "ten commandments"[38] as it is written

[The Sages explained that Exodus 19-20 describes the people of Israel as having directly heard fromt he ALMIGHTY the First Part of the Decalogue. The rest of the laws 9at their request) were passed to them through Moses.]

Exodus 19:
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
6 and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD. 9 And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

The people were afraid to hear more and moved "afar off", and Moses responded with "Fear not." Nevertheless, he drew near the "thick darkness" where "the presence of the Lord" was[40] to hear the additional statutes and "judgments",[41] all which he "wrote"[42] in the "book of the covenant"[43] which he read to the people the next morning, and they agreed to be obedient and do all that the LORD had said. Moses escorted a select group consisting of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and "seventy of the elders of Israel" to a location on the mount where they worshipped "afar off"[44] and they "saw the God of Israel" above a "paved work" like clear sapphire stone.[45]

The traditional Rabbinical Jewish belief is that the observance of these commandments and the other mitzvot are required solely of the Jewish people and that the laws incumbent on humanity in general are outlined in the seven Noahide laws, several of which overlap with the Ten Commandments. In the era of the Sanhedrin transgressing any one of six of the Ten Commandments theoretically carried the death penalty, the exceptions being the First Commandment, honouring your father and mother, saying God's name in vain, and coveting, though this was rarely enforced due to a large number of stringent evidentiary requirements imposed by the oral law.[63]

Exodus (MEV) 20:

1 Now God spoke all these words, saying:

2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 You shall not make for yourself any graven idol, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water below the earth.
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of them who hate Me, 6 and showing lovingkindness to thousands of them who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes His name in vain.

8 Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or your sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

13 You shall not murder.

14 You shall not commit adultery.

15 You shall not steal.

16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.

18 All the people witnessed the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. 19 They said to Moses, 'You speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.'

20 Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear, for God has come to test you, so that the fear of Him may be before you so that you do not sin.'

21 The people stood a distance away as Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Exodus (AKJV) 20:
18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. 21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

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5. The Ten Commandments in the USA

The Ten Commandments have had great significance in America. Many Americans consider the Ten Commandants to represent the principles of Moral Responsibility and Believe in the Almighty.
Statues and representations of the Ten Commandments are often found in public paces. There is a public controversy as to whether this should be allowed.
Something about the Ten Commandments resonates with the American self-image of who they should strive to become and how they should act.

Breaking the Ten Commandments: A Short History of the Contentious American Monuments
By Jenna Weissman Joselit | August 1, 2017
https://religionandpolitics.org/2017/08/01/breaking-the-ten-commandments-a-short-history-of-the-contentious-american-monuments/

Extracts:

Louder and mightier yet resounded that one great and powerful word of the Almighty, which was freedom. Freedom! Freedom! trumpeted Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise in 1883, lyrically holding forth on the relevance of the Ten Commandments to modern-day Americans. From where he sat, on the pulpit of Cincinnatis leading Reform synagogue, nothing better illustrated Americas virtuousness than its fidelity to these ancient dos and donts.

In the years following Rabbi Wises address, the imprint of the Ten Commandments on American society grew more and more pronounced. Before long, representations of the biblical rules were just about everywhere: in houses of worship, private homes and courthouses; on the street, in the school, in the subway and on the interstate. Drawing on every conceivable mediumpaper, stained glass, metal and film stock, Americans fashioned the Ten Commandment into bookends and bookmarks; hung lavishly illustrated chromolithographs in their parlors and schoolhouses; made several movies about them and dangled lightweight, metallic versions from their wrists in the form of charm bracelets.

The most richly imagined of all biblical passages, the Ten Commandments loomed large. Literally. Americans kept the commandments close at hand, their presence vital to their national identity. We have no civilization, no form, no character, no distinctiveness, without them, affirmed journalist George E. Sokolsky, explaining the nations affinity for the ancient text.

Americans of the 1950s and early 1960s outdid their predecessors in their collective affection for the Decalogue by erecting and welcoming large-scale stone versions in an estimated 100 cities across the country, from Redondo Beach in California to Trenton, New Jersey. Like origin stories everywhere, accounts differ on how this came about. Some credit filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, the Zeus of Hollywood, suggesting that he alighted on the idea of planting what one wit called granite movie posters as a way to extend the popular reach of his 1956 film, The Ten Commandments. Others of a decidedly less cynical cast of mind cite the contribution of Judge E. J. Ruegemer of Minnesota, who, only a few years earlier, had successfully embarked on a campaign to post paper versions of the Ten Commandments in juvenile courts throughout the land where, he hoped, their presence might set youthful offenders on the right path.

Still others pin the project on the Fraternal Order of Eagles, of which Judge Ruegemer was a member. Established in 1898, the organization prided itself on being a national force for good, a champion of causes that ranged from unemployment insurance to fighting juvenile delinquency. Promoting the Ten Commandments, or what it characterized as the ten basic rules for living, was of a piece with its mission.

Somewhere along the line, these three trajectories: Hollywood savvy, judicial optimism and institutional know-howconverged, giving rise to a national campaign to cast the Ten Commandments into the limelight. Long ago on Mount Sinai God gave Moses His Law, the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone. Todays Gods words are again being written in stone, declared the Fraternal Order of Eagles, even going so far as to make sure that the stone from which its tablets were quarried bore a strong resemblance to that of Mount Sinai.

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6. The Ten Commandments and Divine Revelation in the Israelite Sub-Consciousness

At the Giving of the Ten Commandments God revealed Himself to All Israelites.
There is an interesting Midrash (see below, Midrash Shemot Rabah, 'Yitro,' 28:6) and other sources saying that:
All the souls of israelites who were destined to be born as well as the souls of all Gentiles who were destined to convert and attach themselves to Judah and Israel were present.
Not only that but ALL prophecies of the Prophets and all Revelations and Inspired teachings of the Sages were given together with the Ten Commandments. When later these were openly enunciated
they were given expression to something that the souls of Israel had already been exposed to but had previously not been made conscious of.

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Midrash Shemot Rabah, 'Yitro,' 28:6:

# Rabbi Isaac said, "What the prophets were destined to prophesy in every generation was received from Mount Sinai, since Moses tells Israel (Deuteronomy 29:14), 'It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and this oath, 15 but with he who is standing with us today before the LORD our God, and with him who is not here with us today.'
# It is not written '[but with he who is standing with us today before the LORD our God], and with him who is not STANDING here with us today,' but rather 'with him who is not here with us today.' These are the souls that are destined to be created in which [at that moment] there was no substance. It was therefore not said 'standing here' in connection with them. Even though at that moment the concept of 'standing' did not apply to them, each one received its portion.
# The Prophet Malachi says (Malachi 1:1) 'The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel at the hand [Hebrew: 'be-yad'] of Malachi.'
# It was not said 'In the days of Malachi,' but rather 'at the hand of Malachi.' The Prophesy had already been given unto him from Mount Sinai but until that time he had not received permission to utter it'.