Note 2.—Ibn Ezra, in his Commentary on Exodus xx. 9, says: “Rabbi Jehudah ha-levi asked me why it is said in the Decalogue, ‘who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,’ and not ‘who created heaven and earth.’ My answer was as follows: Know that those who believe in God have not all the same kind of faith. Some believe because they were told of His existence by others; those who believe in God because the holy Torah teaches this belief possess a higher degree of faith. If an unbeliever argues with either of these, they are not able to refute his argument. Those, however, who study sciences—Astronomy, Botany, Zoology, and Anthropology—learn to understand the works and the ways of God, and from these the Creator Himself. The words ‘I am the Lord thy God’ can only be understood by the wise and intelligent of all nations. For they all see that God has made heaven and earth. But there is this difference: the Israelites believe that the Creation has taken place five thousand years ago: non-Israelites assume that God has been continually creating [[270]]from eternity. Now, God wrought signs and wonders in Egypt by which He delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, and thus showed them His Divine justice and goodness. In reference to these miracles it is said, ‘Thou hast been shown to know that the Lord is God;’ all Israelites, wise and simple, equally witnessed His miracles. The beginning of the Decalogue, therefore, ‘I am the Lord thy God,’ is well understood by the wise; but for the rest of the nation the words ‘who brought thee out,’ &c., have been added, in order that all without exception should understand it.”

Note 3.—Don Isaac Abarbanel, in his Commentary on Exodus xx., says: “The Ten Commandments are distinguished from the other Divine precepts in three things: they were directly communicated by God to the Israelites, not through a prophet; they were revealed to a whole nation at once; and they were written on the two tables of stone by the finger of God. Such distinction necessarily indicates a greater intrinsic value of the Ten Commandments. My opinion is therefore that they are laws of a general character, and principles including all the 613 precepts which the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to His people. E.g., love and worship of God. sanctification of His Name, submission to His judgment, fear of God, reverence of His sanctuary, and other duties towards God; Passover, Tabernacles, Tefillin, Mezuzah, and such other precepts as are ‘a memorial of the departure from Egypt;’ the separation of the first-born, tithes, &c.—all these duties are implied in the first commandment. Also Rabbi Levi ben Gershon and the Gaon Saadiah assume that all the 613 precepts are implicitly contained in the Decalogue. Although all precepts involving practice (‏מצוות מעשיות‎) are implied in the Decalogue, and even allusions to each one of the thirteen principles of faith may be discovered in it, there is no precept concerning our faith. It has already been proved by Rabbi Chisdai that by the Divine commands we are either [[271]]told to do a certain thing, or told not to do a certain thing; but what we have to believe or not to believe the Almighty taught us through signs, wonders, and revelation. The words ‘I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,’ teach a certain truth, a principle from which many of the 613 precepts may be derived, but which is in itself no commandment.—The Decalogue (‏עשרת הדברים‎) must therefore not be understood as designating ten commandments, but ‘ten words’ or ‘ten paragraphs’ indicated in the Hebrew text by the pauses, or spaces left between two paragraphs.

“The ‘ten words’ were written on two tables, five on each. The first five, containing positive and negative precepts, with the announcement of reward and punishment, were exclusively addressed to the Israelites. The latter five are simple prohibitions without any mention of punishment; because they were addressed to man as man, and include only such laws as are also suggested to him by human reason, without direct revelation.”

Rabbi R. S. Hirsch, in his Commentary on Exodus xx., says in reference to the first commandment: “As this verse is not understood as a mere declaration, but as a commandment (‏מצוה‎), it does not say ‘I am thy God,’ but ‘I, the Lord, shall be thy God,’ and thus contains as the foundation of all our duties towards God an exhortation to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, ‏קבלת עול מלכות שמים‎.

“The so-called ‘belief in the existence of God,’ as ancient and modern theologians generally express this idea, differs widely from that which underlies this fundamental doctrine of Judaism. The truth which affords me the foundation of a Jewish life is not the belief that there is a God, or that there is only one God, but the conviction that this One, Only, and true God is my God; that He has created and formed me, has placed me here, and given me certain duties; that He constantly makes and forms me, preserves, protects, [[272]]directs, and guides me; not the belief that I, an accidental product of the Universe whose First Cause He was millions of years ago, am through a chain of thousands of intervening beings related to Him, but the belief that every moment of my existence is a direct personal gift from the Almighty and All-good, and that every moment of my life ought to be spent in His service; not the knowledge that there is a God, but the recognition of God as my God, as the sole Cause of my fate, and my sole Guide in all that I do, gives me the foundation for my religious life. The response to the exhortation, ‘I shall be thy God,’ is ‘Thou art my God.’ ”

Note 4.—The importance attached to the Decalogue may be gathered from the various attempts made, on the one hand, to classify the Divine laws according to the Ten Commandments, showing that the latter contain all the 613 precepts; and, on the other hand, to find in such important passages as the Shema and Leviticus xix. a parallel for each of the Ten Commandments. (Jerus. Talm. Ber., chap. i.; Rabboth, Vayyikra ad locum.)

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II. General Moral Principles.

The Ten Commandments, flowing as it were from the one source, “I am the Lord thy God,” branch off in all directions, and penetrate all man’s relations, guide him in his conduct towards God, towards his fellow-men and towards himself, and teach him how to rule his thought, his speech, and his actions. When the Almighty proclaims to us, “I am the Lord thy God,” we willingly respond, “Thou art my God.” But this declaration involves also duties on our part, the fulfilment of which is the natural consequence and the verification of our response. If our words, “Thou [[273]]art my God,” come from our hearts, and are not empty sounds, uttered merely by the lips, we must be conscious of the duties they impose on us. These are:—