Fun and helpful comments from David Snapper on CRC Voices.
I started this because I’m doing the HC and was up to the seventh commandment. I remembered Neal Plantinga’s admonition “when you talk about the seventh commandment don’t forget to talk about adultery (by jumping right to lust). Then I noticed what felt like the flow of the commandments. I didn’t notice the inclusio of the land or the chiastic structure Snap highlighted. Very cool.
I also had the circumcision debate rolling around in my head http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/07/10/an-age-of-consent-for-circumcision. Secularism elevates the second table of the law and demotes the first. The Hebrew worldview had God large, and us small.
Many of us are culturally religious enough to understand God being first, the HC hammers that pretty clearly. What is interesting in the order is the priority given to honoring parents (the HC broadens that to all authority) Honoring parents is ahead of murder, and as Snap noted is tied to the land, just like the first commandment (if you embrace that numbering system, remember the numbering system isn’t native to the text and is quite variable over the ages). That’s a pretty strong cultural signal and one in contrast to our own.
Also it’s interesting to note that in Matthew 5 what Jesus does is basically merge coveting with the adultery commandment. Most English translations use the word “lust” which is OK, but the LXX reader will note epithymeo comes right from the 10th commandment. That interest is of course part of the larger argument Jesus is working in the Sermon on the Mount about self-righteousness. Note how Jesus also elevates talk and thought crimes (9 and 10) in the service of the Sermon on the Mount.
It also makes me ponder how we should evaluate sexual sin and property crimes with respect to crimes of allegiance and respect.
About PaulVK
Husband, Father of 5, Pastor
Leadingchurch.com 
Further Comments on the Ten Commandment Order of Penalty
Fun and helpful comments from David Snapper on CRC Voices.
I started this because I’m doing the HC and was up to the seventh commandment. I remembered Neal Plantinga’s admonition “when you talk about the seventh commandment don’t forget to talk about adultery (by jumping right to lust). Then I noticed what felt like the flow of the commandments. I didn’t notice the inclusio of the land or the chiastic structure Snap highlighted. Very cool.
I also had the circumcision debate rolling around in my head http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/07/10/an-age-of-consent-for-circumcision. Secularism elevates the second table of the law and demotes the first. The Hebrew worldview had God large, and us small.
Many of us are culturally religious enough to understand God being first, the HC hammers that pretty clearly. What is interesting in the order is the priority given to honoring parents (the HC broadens that to all authority) Honoring parents is ahead of murder, and as Snap noted is tied to the land, just like the first commandment (if you embrace that numbering system, remember the numbering system isn’t native to the text and is quite variable over the ages). That’s a pretty strong cultural signal and one in contrast to our own.
Also it’s interesting to note that in Matthew 5 what Jesus does is basically merge coveting with the adultery commandment. Most English translations use the word “lust” which is OK, but the LXX reader will note epithymeo comes right from the 10th commandment. That interest is of course part of the larger argument Jesus is working in the Sermon on the Mount about self-righteousness. Note how Jesus also elevates talk and thought crimes (9 and 10) in the service of the Sermon on the Mount.
It also makes me ponder how we should evaluate sexual sin and property crimes with respect to crimes of allegiance and respect.
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About PaulVK
Husband, Father of 5, Pastor