These are the Ten Commandments in the order that the ancient Israelites would have counted them.
i. No other gods before me
ii. No graven image
iii. No name of the lord in vain
iv. Keep the Sabbath
v. Honor mother and father
vi. No murder
vii. No adultery
viii. Don’t steal
ix. No false witness against neighbor
x. Don’t covet

You shall have no other gods before me – Since God delivered the Israelites from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, it was now their duty to be loyal to God, and to none other.
No graven image – Israelites initially understood this to mean no representation of humans or animals, hence their artistic expressions were devoid of human or animal subjects. However, this commandment prohibits the making of human or animal objects for worship because an image or idol could never capture all that God is.
No name of the lord in vain – This commandment prohibits the use of God’s name in making oaths, and not just necessarily using God’s name in inappropriate manners such as swearing or “cussing”.
Keep the Sabbath – Since God rested on the seventh day of creation, humans are ordered to mirror God’s behavior. This commandment was taken very seriously in the Hebrew bible as a man was put to death for gathering wood on the Sabbath.
Honor mother and Father – This commandment asks humans to respect and care for parents, especially in their old age. This is the only commandment that carries a promise - to live long. Originally, it thought to have meant a guaranteed tenure for the Israelites in their promised land, but eventually understood to refer to an individual’s life.
No murder – This commandment prohibits the intentional killing of another person without cause.
No adultery – In the Hebrew bible, adultery consisted of sexual relations between a married man and a married woman. Sexual relation between a married man and an unmarried woman technically wasn’t considered adultery since polygamy was allowed in the Hebrew bible.
Don’t steal – Self explanatory. It means don’t take what doesn’t belong to you.
No false witness against neighbor – This refers to accusing someone in a legal context, not just general lying. This was serious in ancient Israel as people were wrongly prosecuted and sometimes executed due to false testimony.
Don’t covet – This commandment borders more on desire, and unlike the rest of the commandments, it’s unverifiable except to God. It’s still important because it seeks to address the motive that contributes to the violation of the other commandments.
Decalogue simply refers to a set of ten rules or words that govern behavior. Ancient Israelites had a Decalogue that explicitly let them know exactly what is expected from them, and how to behave. I don’t think that Xavier University has a specific Decalogue that guides their action, because I’m sure that it would be published on their webpage. However Xavier does have rules that govern their activities. For one thing, there’s the mission statement that states what the University is all about. It’s just not written in sets of ten. I don’t have any personal Decalogue, but I do have rules and morals that govern my daily activities. The one biblical law that I like the most is “love thy neighbor as thyself”. I think that it’s a hard law to practice, especially since your neighbor includes everybody, but if it’s honestly upheld, obeying any of the other commandments would be a breeze. The biblical law that I don’t like the way it was intepreted back in the days is thou shall not commit adultery. It was okay for a married man to cheat on his spouse as long as the woman in question wasn’t married, because polygamy was acceptable back in those days. I wonder if it was okay for a married woman to cheat on her husband as long as the man involved wasn’t married.
The tabernacle to the Israelites was God’s home on earth. It was a place where his presence was manifest, and people could worship and offer sacrifices. It was elaborately made of gold, silver, goat hair, bronze, wood, linen and leather. It was a large rectangular tent enclosed by a 75-x-150-foot courtyard. Inside the holy place right through the entrance were an altar of incense, golden lamp stand or menorah, and a table of showbread. The table of showbread daily held twelve loaves of bread (for the twelve tribes of Israel) and served as an offering to God. The menorah, a seven branched candelabrum remained lit as a symbol of God’s enduring covenant with Israel. The altar of incense symbolized the sacrifices and supplications that ascended to God on behalf of the people of Israel. The inner part of the tabernacle, the most holy place (God’s throne or footstool) contained the Ark of the Covenant. Biblical authors spent so much time describing this tent because it was very vital to the people of Israel. It meant that God was with them. It was a point of communion between Israelites and their God.
“The Divine Warrior in His Tent” by Homan addresses the issue of where the design for the tabernacle could have been obtained from. According to Wellhausen, the priest that wrote about the tabernacle was a fraud, and was only interested in establishing a centralized cult in Jerusalem; hence he halved the temple and used one half as a template for the fictitious tabernacle. However, parallels were drawn between the Egyptian’s (Rameses) military court and the biblical tabernacle. Also, further foreign incorporations had been discovered to be made into the Israelites’ rituals. The way the tabernacle was moved plus the pillar of cloud that led the Israelites are thought to have military basis. So the source of inspiration for the template for the tabernacle wasn’t imagined as Wellhausen thought, but rather a military camp.
Yom Kippur is Hebrew for Day of Atonement. It’s a day for fasting and self-reflection where the priests and society purge themselves of the past year’s sins. It’s a day that the high priest could enter the most holy place and offer sacrifice to atone for Israelites’ sins. The priest first makes himself pure through ceremonial washings, puts on priestly garments and offers a sacrifice for himself and his fellow priests. One of two goats is sacrificed and the priest lays hand on the other goat symbolically transferring the nation’s sins onto the goat. This goat (also called scapegoat) is let loose into the wilderness, taking with it the sins of Israel. If it comes back, then God didn’t accept the sacrifice and Israel lives for another year with its sin. If it doesn’t come back, everyone’s happy because God accepted their sacrifice. However, in recent times, people just fast, reflect on themselves, confess their sins, ask for forgiveness from others, as well as forgive others.
“Liberation Theology” referred to a movement that attempted to change the way Christianity was being marketed to people in South America and other third world countries. The people that lived there were being encouraged that it was noble and christianly to be extremely poor, and suffer all kinds of tribulations and oppression from harsh rulers since they would get to go to heaven in the end. This model served the rich and powerful. The “liberation theology” movement led by Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian theologian sought to neutralize this, and encourage issues of human development, as well as human progress.
“Canaanites, Cowboys, and Indians” an article written by Robert Warrior gives an interesting perspective on the way one views civilization or victory stories. Warrior, who is part Indian and part white, compares native Indians to Canaanites, and Americans to Israelites. He saw Israelites (Americans) as people who fought their way into the Promised Land that Canaanites (Native Americans) were already living in, and pretty much forced them to adopt their way of life to be spared. The same oppression they escaped from in Egypt they meted out to the Canaanites. He said that while people preached liberation, they conveniently ignored the part where Yahweh asks to mercilessly annihilate the indigenous people. The indigenous people had to give up their identity and assume the identity of others, including their religion in order to be spared. Warrior feels that for liberation to really take place, one should look at the situation from the point of view of the Canaanites. I do agree that both sides of the story should be considered in order to come to any meaningful resolution. I don’t really think that African Americans should have a liberation theology because I don’t believe that African Americans are being encouraged to be poor and meekly take oppression in order to live a good Christian life. Maybe if African Americans do live in areas where this is preached, then yes, they need one.

http://www.fabricattic.com/Breast%20cancer%20hearts%20ribbons%20flannel.jpg

Since I’m unable to post my logo, the picture on the above website best summarizes my project, which is to increase breast cancer awareness. Thanks Larry for your suggestions and ideas on how to go about implementing my project. I appreciate it. I’m definitely taking you up on that one. Initially I wasn’t too sure on how to go about this. Also, ShaQuanda, I totally agree that breast cancer is a serious issue and everyone, especially women should get a breast exam done regularly. Also, Brian and Young C, thank you for your comments and suggestions.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 28th, 2006 at 8:51 pm and is filed under Class Comments, Week 05: Respond & Logo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.