Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Ten Commandments

The Decalogue: A Summary of Torah

(2000; revised 2011)
this document can be found here as a pdf

Christian attitudes toward the law generally range from ambivalence to hostility, with those who see law as a threat to God's grace advocating the more extreme view. Most, however, make special concession for the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments),1 attributing to it a higher morality or authority than other precepts. This argument relies chiefly on what proponents claim is the special attention God gave the Ten Commandments:2 
  • He spoke them.
Exod 20:1 And God spoke all these words:
  • He did so directly to the people.3
Deut 5:22a These are the commandments the LORD proclaimed in a loud voice to Your whole assembly.... • He wrote them on stone tablets.
Exod 31:18b ...he gave him...the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
  • He placed them in the ark.
Deut 10:2b Then you are to put them in the chest.... 5 Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the LORD commanded me, and they are there now. 
Such distinctions, however, do not make the Decalogue superior to the rest of Torah, which God also authored.4
  • He gave a larger corpus to the nation.
Exod 25:22b I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.
  • He instructed Moses to record the larger corpus.
Exod 24:4a Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.
  • He made the larger corpus available for reference and instruction.5
Deut 3 1:11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing.... 12b so they can listen and learn to...follow carefully all the words of this law.
  • He expected His people to obey the larger corpus.
Deut 30: 10a ... obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law....
Moreover, that larger corpus is a unified code, not subject to the excision of one section to the exclusion of others. Jesus regards the whole law as having abiding relevance.6
Matt 5:18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19a Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
He also recognizes the elevated position of other (non-Decalogue) commandments.
Matt 22:37 Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' [Deut 6:5] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' [Lev 19:18b]
Is the Decalogue the epitome of God's law, as some claim,7 or is it merely a summary? The latter is more likely the case for at least four reasons.
  • First, the commands in the Decalogue appear not only in the two lists of Exod 20 and Deut 5 but scattered throughout the Pentateuch! If God had intended the Decalogue to stand apart from the rest of Torah, it is odd that He would repeat its precepts elsewhere, often linking them to other commands with no indication of relative priority.
  • Second, the Decalogue cannot be the highest expression of God's will, because it omits the two greatest commands: loving God and loving one's neighbor ("Fourth" below).9
  • Third, the Decalogue is only one of several legal compilations in scripture. According to rabbinic calculations, the LORD originally gave 613 commandments (365 negative, 248 positive),10 which Moses recorded in the Torah (Pentateuch) and for which other biblical authors have offered various summaries.11
  • Fourth, neither Jesus nor the NT writers give the Decalogue pride of place in Torah. They cite other commands that have divine authority as well as abiding validity.12
The Ten Commandments are not the epitome of God's law but seem rather to be an almost random selection of the hundreds God gave.13 The Decalogue is more likely a representative summary14—a Reader's Digest version of Torah.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the intended recipients of God's law—of the Decalogue in particular and of the greater legal corpus in general—are the ones God designated as His people, Israel.15 This is clear in the original biblical context.
Exod 19:3 Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."16
It is also clear in subsequent biblical commentary.17
Deut 4:8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
Ps 147:19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. 20 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD.
God gave the law at Sinai to make Israel different not to make everyone else the same. This purpose is (to be) especially evident in the precept God designates as a "sign" of Israel's separation.
Exod 31:13 "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
Hence, the Decalogue is not a universal requirement, and the attempt by some Christians to make it so contravenes God's intention.18

The Ten Commandments had special status during the Second Temple Period. The sectarians at Qumran included them in their phylacteries (Rabinowitz 1972:904), and the priests recited them in the daily morning liturgy.19 Outside the temple, however, people did not say them in order to avoid lending support to heretical factions that claimed the Decalogue was the only valid part of Torah.20 Despite such attempts to avoid misunderstanding, the error continues to this day, as the Christian interpretation cited above indicates.

Bibliography


Endnotes

(1) This designation appears in the following passages:
Exod 34:28b And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
Deut 4:13 He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments.. .then wrote them on two stone tablets.
Deut 10:4a The LORD wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments....
 There is no biblical mention of them as such outside the Pentateuch.

(2) Additional passages include:
  • He did so directly to the people.
Deut 4:13a He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments....
Deut 5:4 The LORD spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain....
  • He wrote them on stone tablets.
Exod 32:16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
Exod 34:1 . . . Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets.... 28b And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
Deut 4:13b . . .then wrote them on two stone tablets.
Deut 5:22b Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
Deut 9:10 The LORD gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God. On them were all the commandments the LORD proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.
(3) When the LORD addressed the people directly, it was not to highlight particular precepts but to validate Moses' authority as spokesman for God, which was precisely what the recitation accomplished.
Exod 19:9a ... "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you."
Deut 5:23 When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leading men of your tribes and your elders came to me.... 27 Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey."
Judah ha-Levi comments. "henceforth the people believed that Moses held direct communication with God, that his words were not creations of his own mind" (Sefer ha-Kuzari 1:87, quoted by Greenberg 1972:1436).
(4) Additional passages include:
  • He gave a larger corpus to the nation.
Deut 5:31 But you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, decrees and laws you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.
Deut 6:1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,
  • He instructed Moses to record the larger corpus.
Exod 34:27 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."
  • He made the larger corpus available for reference and instruction.
Deut 31:9 So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests.. .and to all the elders of Israel.... 26a Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God.
(5) The reason for placing the "Book of the Law" outside the ark was probably more an indication of practicality than of priority. The complete compilation would have been too large to fit inside the ark and would, in any case, need to be readily accessible not simply archived.
(6) Likewise, Paul and James regard the law as an indivisible corpus.
Gal 5:3 ...I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
Jms 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
(7) This usually precedes the assertion that the Decalogue is a universal code, not for Israel alone. 
(8) In addition to the near verbatim repetition in Deut 5, all of the Decalogue appears elsewhere in the Pentateuch:
1. No other gods
Deut 6:14a Do not follow other gods....
2. No idols
Lev 19:4a Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves.
Lev 26: la Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves....
Deut 4:16a . . .do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape.... 23b do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden.
Deut 27:15a Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol....
3. No blasphemy
Lev 19:12a Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God.
Lev 24:15b 'If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; 16a anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death.
4. Remember the Sabbath
Exod 31:14a 'Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you.
Lev 23:3 'There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.
5. Honor parents
Lev 19:3a Each of you must respect his mother and father....
Cf. Lev 19:32a Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly....
Exod 21:15 Anyone who attacks his father or his mother must be put to death.... 17 Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.
6. No murder
Gen 9:5a And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.... 6a Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed....
Exod 21:14 But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to death.... 20 If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished.... 29 If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull must be stoned and the owner also must be put to death.
Lev 24:21b . . . whoever kills a man must be put to death.
Num 35:16b the murderer shall be put to death.... 17b the murderer shall be put to death.... 18b the murderer shall be put to death.... 30a Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer....
7. No adultery
Lev 18:20a Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife....
Lev 20:10 If a man commits adultery with another man's wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
8. No stealing
Lev 19:11 a Do not steal.
Cf. Lev 6:2 "If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the LORD by deceiving his neighbor about something entrusted to him or left in his care or stolen, or if he cheats him, 3 or if he finds lost property and lies about it, or if he swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that people may do—
Lev 19:13a Do not defraud your nei2hbor or rob him.... 35a Do not use dishonest standards
Deut 25:13 Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. 14 Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small.
9. No false testimony
Exod 23:7a Have nothing to do with a false charge....
Lev 19:11 b Do not lie.... 12 Do not swear falsely by my name....
Deut 19:16 If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man of a crime....
1 8b . if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, 19a then do to him as he intended to do to his brother.
10. No coveting
Deut 7:25 The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the LORD your God.
(9) For a definition of the term "neighbor," see Manuel 2007.
(10) This is a common enumeration.
b Mak 23b R Simlai [late 3d c.] said: Six hundred and thirteen precepts were communicated to Moses, three hundred and sixty-five negative precepts, corresponding to the number of solar days [in a year], and two hundred and forty-eight positive precepts, corresponding to the number of members [joints or bones] of man's body.
(11) The Rabbis identified several such summaries in the OT.
  • God reduced them to twelve.
Deut 27:15 Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol—a thing detestable to the LORD, the work of the craftsman's hands—and sets it up in secret.... 16 Cursed is the man who dishonors his father or his mother.... 17 Cursed is the man who moves his neighbor's boundary stone.... 18 Cursed is the man who leads the blind astray on the road.... 19 Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow.... 20 Cursed is the man who sleeps with his father's wife, for he dishonors his father's bed.... 21 Cursed is the man who has sexual relations with any animal.... 22 Cursed is the man who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.... 23 Cursed is the man who sleeps with his mother-in-law.... 24 Cursed is the man who kills his neighbor secretly.... 25 Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.... 26 Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out....
  • David reduced them to eleven.
Ps 15:2 He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart 3 and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, 4 who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, 5a who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
Cf. b Mak 24a David came and reduced them to eleven [principles], as it is written....
  • God further reduced them to ten (see Urbach's discussion [1979:360-364], which includes later rabbinic references).
Exod 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before me. 4a "You shall not make for yourself an idol.... 7a "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.... 8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.... :12a "Honor your father and your mother.... 13 "You shall not murder. 14 "You shall not commit adultery. 15 "You shall not steal. 16 "You shall not give false testimony.... 17 "You shall not covet.... [= Deut 5:7-21]
Cf. Philo On the Decalogue § 154 . . . the Ten Commandments are summaries of the special laws which are recorded in the Sacred Books and run through the whole of the legislation. [See further n. 14 below.]
b Hag 6a-b R Ishmael said: The general directions were given at Sinai, and the details in the Tent of Meeting.
  • Solomon reduced them to seven.
Prov 6:16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
  • Isaiah reduced them to six.
Isa 33:15 He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil
Cf. b Mak 24a Isaiah came and reduced them to six [principles], as it is written....
  • Micah reduced them to three.
Mic 6:8b-c [W]hat does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Cf. Matt 23:23b But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.
b Mak 24a Micah came and reduced them to three [principles], as it is written....
  • Isaiah further reduced them to two.
Isa 56: la This is what the LORD says: "Maintain justice and do what is right....
Cf. Isa 1: 17a learn to do right! Seek justice
b Mak 24a Again came Isaiah and reduced them to two [principles], as it is said....
  • Solomon further reduced them to one.
Prov 3:6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Cf. b Ber 63a Bar Kappara expounded: What short text is there upon which all of the essential principles of the Torah depend? "In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths."
  • Amos reduced them to (a different) one.
Amos 5:4 This is what the LORD says... "Seek me and live.... 6a Seek the LORD and live....
Cf. b Mak 24a Amos came and reduced them to one [principle], as it is said....
  • Habakkuk reduced them to (a different) one.
Hab 2:4b . . . the righteous will live by his faith.
Cf. b Mak 24a But it is Habakkuk who came and based them all on one [principle], as it is said....
This abbreviation continued into the NT period.
  • They reduced them to two, a summary Jesus endorsed.
Luke 10:27 [The teacher of the law] answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself."
Cf. T Iss 5:2a Love the Lord and your neighbor....
T Dan 5:3 Throughout all your life love the Lord, and one another with a true heart.
Matt 22:37 Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." [= Mark 12:30-31]
  • James reduced them to (a different) two.
Jms 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
  • Hillel reduced them to one.
b Shab 31a What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbor, that is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary....
Cf. Tob 4:15a And what you hate, do not do to any one.
Sir 31:15 Be [as] considerate to your companion as [to] yourself, and be mindful of all you detest.
2 Enoch 61:2 And just as a person makes request for his own soul from God, in the same manner let him behave toward every living soul....
Ep Arist 207 . . . Insofar as you do not wish evils to come upon you, but to partake of every blessing, (it would be wisdom) if you put this into practice with your subjects, including the wrongdoers, and if you admonished the good and upright also mercifully.
  • Paul and James reduced them to one.
Rom 13:8b he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments.. .are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." ... 10b Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Gal 5:14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Jms 2:8 ... keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself"...
  • Later Rabbis and the Church Fathers reiterated this reduction to one.
m Abot 2:10 R. Eliezer [early 2nd c.] says: Let the honor of your fellow be as dear to you as your own. How so? This teaches that even as one looks out for his own honor, so should he look out for his fellow's honor; and even as no man wishes that his own honor be held in ill repute, so should he wish that the honor of his fellow shall not be held in ill repute.
Sifra on Lev 19:18 R Akiba [early 2 d c.] said: That is the greatest principle in the Law.
Gen Rab 24:7 Ben Azzai [early 2nd c.] said: "This is the book of the descendants of Adam" is a great principle of the Torah.
R Akiba [early 2 d c.] said: "But you shall love your neighbor as yourself" is even a greater principle.
Did 1:2 . . . whatever you would not have done to yourself, do not to another.
Justin Dialogue 93 And the man who loves his neighbor as himself will wish for him the same good things that he wishes for himself, and no man will wish evil things for himself. Accordingly, he who loves his neighbor would pray and labor that his neighbor may be possessed of the same benefits as himself. Now nothing else is neighbor to man than that similarly-affectioned and reasonable being—man.
(12) Twenty-one other commands from Torah appear in the NT, some more than once. All are quotes unless indicated as paraphrases [P] or allusions [A] [+] indicates explicit approval.
Exod 12:46c Do not break any of the bones.
John 19:36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"
Exod 13:2a Consecrate to me every firstborn male.
+ Luke_2:22b Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"),
Exod 21:17 Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.
+ Matt 15:4b 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' [= Mark 7:lOb]
Exod 22:28 Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.
+ Acts 23:5 Paul replied, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.'
Lev 19:2b Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
+ 1 Pet 1: 15b But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Lev 19:12a Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God.
+ P Matt_5:33 . . . it was said... 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.'
Lev 19:13b "Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight.
+ l Tim 5:18 For the Scripture says... "The worker deserves his wages."
Lev 19:18 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.
+ Matt 5:43 You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
+ Matt 19:17c If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.... 19b 'love your neighbor as yourself."
+ Matt 22:39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' [= Mark 12:31 +Luke 10:27 He answered: ...'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
+ Rom 13:9 The commandments.. .are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
+ Gal_5:14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
+ Jms 2:8 . . . keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself"...
Num 30:2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.
+ Matt_5:33 . . . it was said... 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.'
Deut 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
+ Mark 12:29 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
Deut 6:5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
+ Matt 22:37 Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' [= Mark 12:30]
+ Luke 10:27 He answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'....
Deut 6:13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only....
+ Matt 4: 10 ... it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' [= Luke 4:8]
Deut 6:16 Do not test the LORD your God....
+ Matt 4:7 ... "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' [= Luke 4:12]
Deut 17:6a On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death....
AHeb 10:28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Deut 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.
+ AMatt _17:5 . . .a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
+ Acts 3:22 For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.
Deut 19:15b A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
+ AMatt 18:16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'
+ John 8:17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.
+ A2 Cor 13:1 This will be my third visit to you. "Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses."
Deut 21:23b Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse.
+ Gal_3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
Deut 24:1 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house,
+ PMatt_5:31 "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.'
+ Matt_19:7 "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" [= Mark 10:4]
Deut 24:15a Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it.
+ P1 Tim 5:18 For the Scripture says... "The worker deserves his wages."
Deut 25:4 Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.
+ 1 Cor 9:9a For it is written... "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain."
+ 1 Tim 5:18a For the Scripture says, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,"
Deut 25:5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.
Matt 22:24 "Teacher," they said, "Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. [= Mark 12:19; Luke 20:28]
(13) After explaining how the Ten Commandments are similar to other Sinaitic legislation, Weinfeld seems to reverse himself, calling them "a set of fundamental conditions that every Israelite was obliged to know and learn... .a sort of Israelite creed. . . the epitome of Israelite moral and religious heritage" (1991:40-41).

(14) It is not a summary as Philo conceived, however, who traced each of God's other precepts to one of the Ten.
On the Decalogue §19 Now we find that those which He gave in His own person and by his own mouth alone include both laws and heads summarizing the particular laws, but those in which He spoke through the prophet all belong to the former class... 154 . . .the Ten Commandments are summaries of the special laws which are recorded in the Sacred Books and run through the whole of the legislation.
On the Special Laws I § 1 The Ten Words, as they are called, the main heads under which are summarized the Special Laws, have been explained in detail in the preceding treatise. 
Neither is it a summary as some of the rabbis envisioned, in which the Ten imply all the others (R. Saadia Gaon, Rashi, R. Moses ha-Darshan, in Urbach 1979:362). Rather, the Decalogue is representative of what the rest of Torah contains.

Some Christian advocates of the Decalogue as the universal embodiment of God's will also adopt the view that this compilation subsumes the rest of the law and that it is possible to place all other commands under one of the ten. For example, the instructions for proper business relations (e.g., having fair weights and measures) fall under the prohibition against coveting. It may be possible to group some commands with one of the ten, but it will not work for all. Even with considerable squeezing or stretching, many commands are too different (e.g., instructions about sacrifices). While the ten cover several circumstances, which is probably why God selected them, they do not cover every circumstance, which is why it is necessary to be familiar with the rest of the law.

(15) It is like other ancient legal systems, such as the Code of Hammurabi, which predates Torah by five hundred years but has a similarly narrow audience and deals with many of the same issues (e.g., civil law: marriage, property, debt; criminal law: murder, theft, assault). The Babylonian (Amorite) king states that he received the Code from the sun-god Shamash and transmitted it to his subjects. Likewise, Moses received the Torah from the LORD and transmitted it to Israel. Neither Hammurabi nor Moses expected a foreigner to adhere to the legal systems they promulgated unless he lived among their respective peoples. Compare, for example, the following laws:
Code 280 If a citizen has purchased in a foreign land the.. . slave of another citizen and when he has arrived home the [original] owner of the. . . slave has identified... his. . . slave, if that.. .slave [is a] native[] of the land, this freedom shall be effected without any money.... 281 If [he is a] native[] of another land, the purchaser shall state... what money he paid... and the owner of the... slave shall.. .redeem [him].
Exod 12:49 The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you.
What extra-biblical law codes demonstrate is the extent of natural law, that standard to which God holds gentiles responsible. Those parallels show that many of the laws God gave to Israel are expectations He has of all people, including His laws in the Decalogue, save one—the Sabbath. The fourth commandment has no parallel in natural law.

16 Later, Moses reiterates Israel's unique position before God.
Deut 7:6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. Deut 14:2 for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.
Deut 26:18 And the LORD has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. 19 He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.
Also Ps 135:4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession.
 Even at the nation's lowest moral point, God did not renounce His calling.
Jer 33:25 This is what the LORD says: 'If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth, 26 then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them."
Cf. Rom 11:29 . . . God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.
(17) Additional testimony includes:
Deut 33:4 the law that Moses gave us, the possession of the assembly of Jacob.
Mal 4:4 Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
Rom 3:1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision'? 2 Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
(18) Christians come under the authority of Torah (not just the Decalogue) by being grafted into Israel, although the extent of their responsibilities seems to be discretionary. Absent such a relationship, God holds non-believing gentiles to a different standard.

The commands God gave to Israel, including most of those in the Decalogue, have relevance for non-Jews when they parallel His expectations through natural revelation or conscience. Whereas God does not often make known His will to gentiles directly as He has to Jews, gentiles often exhibit a moral awareness that proves their familiarity with His will for them.
Rom 2:14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)
Consequently, there are parallels with the Decalogue.

(19) Relevant passages include:
m Tamid 5:1 ...they recited [one benediction, and then] they read the Ten Commandments....
(20) Relevant passages include (see also p Ber 1.5 quoted in Urbach 1979:361): 
b Ber 12a [The priests] recited the Ten Commandments [in the Temple].... Rab Judah [mid-2nd c.] said in the name of Samuel [early 2nd c.]: Outside the Temple also people wanted to do the same, but they were stopped on account of the insinuations of the Minim.
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Relevant and civil comments are welcome. Whether there will be any response depends on whether Dr. Manuel notices them and has the time and inclination to respond or, if not, whether I feel competent to do so.
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