Week 1 Day 2 - What are the Commandments? Pt 2

Back again and today we have Four, Five, and Six.

Tomorrow will be the last Commandment entry and we can continue on the Path of Ponder.

Number Four

"Do not take the name of God your Lord in vain. God will not allow the one who takes His name in vain to go unpunished."

- Exodus 20:7

My Tanach

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain."

King James Version

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

JPS Bible

"Thou shalt not take the name of HaShem thy G-d in vain; for HaShem will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain"

The featured one is the one that differs here, though I can see the benefits of it. To not hold someone guiltless is much less serious than not allowing them to go unpunished.

The featured translation is from Hebrew as is My Tanach and JPS. The King James Version from Latin. As I know neither Hebrew nor Latin, I can only be as reliable as the translations that I am using, so take all these at face value.

This is one that I struggle with, though I am partly relieved to find that using God's name in vain is bad, but doesn't include all cursing. I am still working on not cursing, but glad that I can focus on not using His name freely instead of worrying about cussing.

The featured version notes that in vain can also mean illegally. It primarily forbids false and trivial oaths, but it also prohibits all unnecessary use of God's name. Knowing this, while cursing using God's name is bad, swearing a false or trivial oath in his name is worse.

Probably best to just not say His name outside of worship.

Number Five

"Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.

You can work during the six weekdays and do all your tasks.

But 'the seventh day' is the Sabbath to God your Lord. Do not do anything that constitutes work. This includes you, your son, your daughter, your slave, your maid, your animal, and the foreigner in your gates.

It was during the six weekdays that God made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on 'the seventh day'. God therefore blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

- Exodus 20:8-11

While literally 'the seventh day', it is the Hebrew expression for Saturday.
 
By tradition, in the Jewish faith, there are 39 categories of work (Shabbath 73a). These include carrying (Exodus 16:29), cooking and other food preparation (Exodus 16:23), lighting fires (Exodus 35:3), and all agricultural activities (Exodus 34:21). By tradition, all such activities as writing, making cloth, sewing, making leather, building, laundering, and assembling articles are also forbidden.
 
Most of these make sense for the time, but in the modern context, many of these would be considered hobbies or even leisure activities rather than work, particularly writing and sewing.
 
This was in a time where learning was done with the need for notes or writing down, so there is difference in today where studying normally relates to writing things down.
 
Herein we find the need to find creative ways to teach or study scripture on the Sabbath. Writing is forbidden, but reading and speaking are not and reading something out loud can be more of a memory aid to some people, particularly if you choose to cover only a reasonable amount of verses.
 
I won't include the three other versions for this one, as they are all equally long and don't differ greatly from one another.

• Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
• Get all your work done during the six days prior.
• You and your family and your servants/staff (I hope no one reading this has slaves), and your animals, and anyone who is under your roof or on your property, isn't allowed to do anything that constitutes as work.
• God finished creation on the sixth day and on the seventh He rested and blessed the Sabbath day, making it holy.

 Number Six

"Honour your father and mother. You will then live long on the land that God your Lord is giving you."

- Exodus 20:12

My Tanach 

"Honour your father and your mother; that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you."

King James Version

"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

JPS Bible

"Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which HaShem thy G-d giveth thee."

Very similar translations, but can be read so many different ways.
 
For one thing, it does not say how one honours their father or mother, or what is seen as dishonouring them. Though it may say elsewhere in the texts, with the great detail that God went into for the Sabbath day commandment, he could have cleared up what he meant by 'honour'.
 
You will live long on the land that God your Lord is giving you. This, to me, is talking about the promised land. The land that the Hebrews were promised by God.
 
From a latter-day-saints angle, it could be talking about either Zion or Heaven.
 
Whatever it is referring to, honouring your parents is important in gaining that which is given from God, so it's probably the best idea to do it anyway.

Week 1 Day 1 - What are the Commandments? Pt 1

While we ponder our scripture verses, certain keywords and phrases will stand out, or need to be looked into for us to truly understand and clarify its meaning.

Nephi 17:3 is no different.

Let's take a look at the first sentence in this verse:

"And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled."

Summed up it is saying that the previous verses, detailing how God aided Nephi and his family through the wilderness, is proof enough to keep the commandments.

Which lends itself to a bigger question: What are the Commandments?

The events in 1 Nephi occur before the birth of Christ and so the holy book we turn to is the Torah.

Translations differ but the featured versions, so the versions under the headings, are from navigating the Bible

This translation was interesting because the one I had been reading had been saying 'You shall/not' instead. But lets address them as they come up.

Number One

"Do not have any other gods before Me."
- Exodus 20:3

 I've also seen:
From the 'My Tanach' app,

"You shall have no other gods before me."

 and from the King James Version and Gospel Library

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

What I am getting is do not have other gods around if you worship God. He doesn't accept multiple worship. You only worship Him.

Number Two

"[Do not represent] such gods by any carved statue or picture of anything in the heaven above, on the earth below, or in the water below the land."
- Exodus 20:4

Literally translated it begins with 'Do not make'.

My Tanach

"You shall not make for you any engraved image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth below, or is in the water under the earth;"

King James Version

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth."

I think that this one, the first, and the third, really need to be taken together, because separated this commandment sounds like carving of anything that lives in heaven, underground, or in underground water, isn't allowed.

You could further argue that heavens also includes the earthly sky, so would mean that you aren't allowed to carve birds or suns. Angels are out.

Maybe water under the earth could be taken to mean really deep water so sea creatures are out too.

But that would begin to start sounding like God is forbidding artistic representation of many of His creatures and human concepts. 

Without taking it with the first commandment of only having one God, and the third commandment of not worshipping idols, does this commandment make sense and become clearer. 

It probably could have been one commandment instead of two.

Do not worship representations/idols that you have made.

Week 1 - Nephi on Keeping the Commandments

General Conference was this weekend, one week after it occurred in the US.

From it we recieved an invitation from Devin G. Durrant, First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency.

This invited us to save an amount of money weekly, and to also ponder a verse of scripture weekly.

This is to keep myself on track, and to see where it takes me.

This week I have chosen to ponder 1 Nephi 17:3

“And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.”

And to save $20.

What have I done to achieve this?

This is my new desktop for the week.

By making a new desktop wallpaper each week I aim to re-enforce my determination and dedication to keeping this up.

I also printed the verse out and will put it somewhere I see everyday, most likely somewhere in my room.

I hope to continue this for a long time, and gradually reap the financial and spiritual rewards of continuing to do something over time.

After all, another contender for this weeks verse was 1 Nephi 16:29, namely the last sentence.

"...And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things."