THE THIRD COVENANT. EXPRESSION OF LAW

A "run of DeMille" production

Maimonides, physician to Salidin and renowned Jewish scholar of the late middle ages, stated that for Judaism, Moses was the principal and greatest prophet of all for God's people. 
In today's lectionary choice we follow in the path of the covenants which God instituted with his people. Noah, Abraham and now Moses. For the Jewish people it is the covenant of the law with Moses that brings salvation to those who follow and obey it.
Jesus' distillation of the Ten into two sides of the same commandment regarding God and neighbor transformed the decalogue into a more efficient travelogue of religious ethics for our journey. Though by no means the first code of conduct from the mid-east, the "Top Ten" have remained influential in Western minds up to today. And its placement as public edifice has been the issue of more than several court decisions, even though most of those Ten Commandment displays were placed in parks and public places in the 1950s by Paramount Studios as publicity promotion for what was then described as "The Greatest Event in Motion Picture History." 


In the scriptures from Exodus, how does this illustrate the aspect of covenant (3rd) for the Jewish people. What does it mean for us?


Exodus 20:1-17
20:1 Then God spoke all these words:

20:2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;

20:3 you shall have no other gods before me.

20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,

20:6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

20:7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

20:8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

20:10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work--you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

20:12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

20:13 You shall not murder.

20:14 You shall not commit adultery.

20:15 You shall not steal.

20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.