I've taken the liberty of copying and pasting the commandments below. It seems to me that #1 and #2 are pretty meaningless in 20th century N. America, where the competing traditions are various kinds of monotheism, acephalous deism, and atheism. These rules assumed a polytheistic environment that no longer exists. Believers have (appropriately imo) salvaged the text by interpreting 'false gods' metaphorically. But that does not in any way make these two particular rules 'universal', if by that we mean that all or most humans would adhere to the ethical principle implicit here.
I also suspect that #3 and #4 does not convey any 'universal' principle.
Murder (#6), theft (#8), false accusations (#9) are I would assume universally condemned, though I suspect that human ethical systems show remarkable diversity in what kinds of killing constitutes 'murder' and in what circumstances transfers of property ownership are unacceptable.
The others (#5 honouring your parents; #10 coveting) are probably good advice for a happy life. But they are of a rather different order than many of the others, wouldn't you say?
But can I take this a step further. I hope that I will not be struck down by lightning for this, but without serious exegesis and allegorization, the Ten Commandments are not a very useful list of ethical precepts. Nothing about telling the truth generally (only false accusation is prohibited by #9). Nothing about assault. Nothing about wearing socks with sandals. Nothing about selfishness. Nothing about compassion. Nothing about civility.
Not of course that these principles are found elsewhere in the Bible: they are. It's just that they're not explicit here. Which of course raises the question of why does anyone think that putting up these signs will do anyone any good? And do you honestly believe that people will read them? Or is this like the Krishna prayer wheels: that the repetition of sacred texts, no matter how mechanically done, has some unseen saving effect?
And surely you can't be serious when you say that the cost will be negligible. There must be half a million schools and courts in the US. It'll cost 100 million at least to produce and install these signs.
For reference:
1.(3)You shall have no other gods before Me.
2.(4)You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
3.(7)You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
4.(8)Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5.(12)Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
6.(13)You shall not murder.
7.(14)You shall not commit adultery.
8.(15)You shall not steal.
9.(16)You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10.(17)You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox, or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. |
