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.

Number Three

"Do not bow down to such gods or worship them. 

I am God your Lord, a God who demands exclusive worship. Where My enemies are concerned, I keep in mind the sin of the fathers for their descendants, to the third and fourth generation.

But for those who love Me and keep My commandments, I show love for thousands for generations."

Exodus 20:5-6

Italics - but only if they follow their father's ways; cf Deuteronomy 24:16 

My Tanach

"You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

And showing mercy to thousands of those who love me, and keep my commandments."

King James Version 

"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

In this one, we begin to see where translations and versions can begin to alter the meaning of the text.

In the featured version, it says that God will love one thousand generations of the people who love Him and keep His commandments.

In this new source that I found called the JPS Bible or the Jewish Publication Society Bible, the translation is similar:

"and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments."

These two versions make more sense than the KJV and My Tanach, as it continues along the generational theme and makes more sense as a comparison. When you want someone to see how great the difference is, you use the same measurement for each example. This is why I believe that the JPS translation is more accurate.

Back to what it is saying.

So should a person do wrong in the eyes of God, and fail to be forgiven before dying, then that dislike will be passed on for three or four generations of the family, but only if the children follow the ways of the father/parent.

On the other hand, a person who loves God and keeps his commandments will receive the love of God for one thousand generations, assuming that this too is only if they follow the ways of their parents.

While this can be a bit conflicting in the sense that if you had a father who did keep the commandments and loved God, and he had a son who did not, the father has earnt 1000 generations of love, but the son has earnt three to four generations of hate, or at least dislike.

If every other generation acts differently to the previous, do any receive the love or disapproval of God?

One could argue that it simply accumulates. The more members who are loved by God, the less the impact of those who all out of his good graces. This could be a sound reason for why some good people have many hardships in life, and others do not. It may all boil down to a case of religious heritage, and if your more recent ancestors lived by the commandments and loved God.

That would be amazing to look into.

Another way of looking at it that, in some ways, is more believable, is that this isn't literal but just an analogy or way of trying to get across how much more beneficial it is for someone to follow the commandments than not. 

While three or four generations doesn't seem like a long time to be out of God's good graces compared to one thousand, the one thousand generation long blessing is much more appealing for those who value their family and descendants. Which they did very much so in the Old Testament.

While I have written out everything for all of the commandments, I don't want my posts to be so massively long, so I'm going to spread it out over three days.

I hope you liked the first installment!

 

 

 

Sources

Navigating the Bible II

http://bible.ort.org/books/torahd5.asp?action=displaypage&book=2&chapter=20&verse=2&portion=17

The featured verses are from here.

Bible Gateway

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20&version=KJV

King James Version verses.

Jewish Bible (JPS 1917)

http://www.breslov.com/bible/Exodus20.htm#2

JPS Bible verses 

Babylonian Talmud

http://www.come-and-hear.com/shabbath/shabbath_73.html

Further insight into the 39 categories of work in regards to the Sabbath day.

Christian Answers - Adultery

http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/adultery.html

Adultery - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adultery

Google - definitions

www.google.com.au

Picture One - Fame, Money, Power

http://www.gospelgumbo.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/no-other-gods-before-me.jpg 

Picture Two - The Golden Cow

http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/files/2014/06/idolatry-608x462.jpg

Picture Three - Idolatry

https://daughterbydesign.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/idolatry-put-god-first.jpg?w=788