Moses said: “These words that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Teach them diligently to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” Even as the Ten Commandments are written on a tiny scroll rolled up inside the mesuzah adorning the entrances to Jewish homes and synagogues, so should they be allowed on plaques in or outside buildings, government or not, for they are simply Keys to a Happy Life. Most people don’t realize that the representation of two tablets are identical listings of the same ten laws, for Jews require two copies of any covenant.
I’m a lifelong Liberal Democrat but I didn’t agree that displays of the Ten Commandments should be removed from government sites. Yes, I believe in Separation of Church and State, with specific religious beliefs not involved in legislation, execution, or adjudication of Law and Justice. G-D is not Church, and those Jewish verses (Deuteronomy 5:6-18[21]) aren’t representative of any one religion, but are basic tenets of every religion. Even polytheistic faiths believe in ONE G-D Who is Creator of LIFE on our planet (as Prajapati in Hindu, the Golden Seed), and while they may worship other Gods as sources of protection and blessings in their lives, all Human Beings, indeed, all Lifeforms, animals and plants. are products of H-S (Havah-Simon) Creation, also having both Positive and Negative Energies in H-S Presence and Power.
America was formulated to be a godly union of states, and because of this, our Federal monuments and all currency bear the words IN GOD WE TRUST. Sure, our Constitutional forefathers were Christians of several denominations, and some were agnostics and atheists, but they agreed that there’s a Higher Power of Omniscience to be honored. This concept is borne out in the first three Commandments, beginning with “I AM the Lord your GOD. You shall have no other Gods before ME.” Apparently, there are lesser Gods, but only ONE Who is LIFE Everlasting. We honor no other God, Saint or Guardian Angel in priority over G-D our Creator, Who has many Names in all of Earth’s languages.
The Second Commandment is one that Jews and Muslims still honor, but like some Pagans, Christians long ago violated, that we “do not make any graven image of anything that’s in Heaven, on Earth or in the sea.” Of course, Catholics get around this by saying we don’t actually worship the statues of Jesus, Mary or the Saints, and it doesn’t mean we can’t draw a fish or a man. But we unconsciously can find ourselves falling victim to forces that trigger inner fear by superstition Evil laid in childhood, and attribute miracles and other answers to the intercession of a molten or carved image, yet we all must be accountable on the Last Day. As a characteristic of Human Nature, G-D is jealous for our affection, and as a parent, HE (HavahEzra) punishes us for the sins of our fathers to the third and fourth generation, yet HE also blesses us to the thousandth generation.
We’re told in the Third Commandment, “Don’t use the Name of G-D in vain,” or misuse H-S Name in cursing or condemnation, but saying “God” in expression is common practice today. Yeshua told us that cursing a name (or a fig tree) doesn’t condemn us, but we’re condemned by cursing H-S SPIRIT and H-S WORD (not a book, but a Message). Jews forbid using one’s voice when reading HaShem’s Holy NAME, Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh (English translation — Jehovah or Yah-Weh), as it’s to be silent, too holy for the Human tongue. Messiah Yeshua called Almighty G-D Adonai Tzva-ot, Adonai Elohenu (Lord G-D), and HaShem (the NAME), among many other Names, as El Shaddai, HE Who Provides. The Muslim Name of G-D is Allah, from El-Ah in the pre-Hebrew language of Father AvRaham, and that Name has been used in modern times during countless acts of violence and injustice, crying “G-D is Great!” But in the past armies of Christians killed many in the Name of Jesus, and some continue to fear, hate and threaten his own bloodline of Jacob’s twelve tribes.
The Fourth Commandment orders us to “Honor the Sabbath Day, and keep it holy,” for on the Seventh Day G-D rested from H-S Creation of LIFE on Planet Earth, and we should honor the last day of the week by not doing any work. (The Hebrew word “Yom” literally translates as “Day” but is an unspecified period of time.) We know that Day One through Day Six took millions of years, and Mankind was born at the end of the Sixth Day. The word Shabbat means Seven, the Sabbath being Saturday in English, but Christians chose Sunday as their Day of Rest to honor Resurrection Day. Constantine chose the celebration of Easter Sunday to bring together his Empire’s religions, but the day Yeshua returned was actually three days and three nights after his death for Pesakh (Passover). That year, it was on the first day of the week, but Passover runs on the Jewish calendar, not our current Roman Gregorian calendar. Followers of Islam chose Friday to be their Day of Rest, and in most “mixed” neighborhoods, each respects another’s holy days.
The first four Commandments were to honor G-D, but the remaining six teach us Human interrelations, as Messiah Yeshua said — Love G-D most of all, then “love your neighbor as you love yourself,” and who is your neighbor? Everyone! The parable of the Good Samaritan says it the best, for devout Jews, even rabbis, didn’t stop to help the poor injured Jew alongside the road, but a traveler from Samaria, a non-Jew, carried the man to an inn, cared for his injuries, and gave the innkeeper extra money to make sure the man could recover. He also promised to return to pay for any further expenses incurred. Yeshua told us that if someone asks us for something, give it to them — if it’s your cloak, give them your coat also, and if someone asks you to walk a mile with them, walk two miles with them. Everyone should be treated as a beloved brother or sister, father or mother, son or daughter, regardless of our physical or societal differences.
Come, let us go up to the mountain of Adonai, to the House of the G-D of Jacob. There HE will teach us H-S Ways, and we will follow H-S Paths. Mikhah 6:2