Personal note: Why is another post posting so quickly? Rash’s rediscovered box denounced political debate and buried under the coat and cable. Commentary for centuries, waiting to be dusted.
The Ten Commandments are often carried out as if moral signals were filled with red. In some circles, they wave to the school board, courtrooms, and Godless liberals, and become less of a moral guide than a blunt instrument. The laws of the Bible turn into sacred quote pads: You don’t, Full stop. The nuance evaporates. But the very texts, weaponized, are more complex and humane than their biggest champions would acknowledge.
The biblical law itself appeared in the concrete reality of the ancient Near East. It was never written for abstract ethical discussions or modern lawsuits. I spoke to a village based on vulnerable relatives. Rather than placing universal principles, the law is read like a case study. What if a cow finishes on his neighbor or someone moves the boundary stone? The aim was responsibility and restoration, not retaliation. Without a formal court, enforcement was often handled through family, clans and rituals.
Some provisions reflect the Mesopotamian and Egyptian codes – rules that seek fairness, limit power, and define social roles – route Israel’s relationships with people characterized by their concerns in the covenant, their mutual commitment and shared responsibility. Regulations are related. The very fact that the law gives is an act of caution.
These texts do not pass off-the-shelf policies. Their gift is gratitude and recognition. Thanking for rescue from bondage and acknowledging how our community organized life under God’s expectations – how accountability was formed in our world.
When Moses came down from Sinai on his tablet, he expected dedication and found chaos. The golden calves, the desperate dance, the trust has returned to normal. In his wrath, he shattered the stones God had given him. God then told him to carve another set. These new tablets came in the Ark of the Covenant, as did the broken pieces. As the Talmud points out, “Both the entire tablet and the broken tablet lie in the ark.” (Berakhot 8b). Israel carried both the Wilderness: successes and failures side by side.
We like to present the perfect version of ourselves. The Ark claims that it is not: broken things are not destroyed. Early ideals, destroyed hopes, mistakes – they all continue to be part of a sacred story. Truth never excludes human stories.
Midrash, a story of traditional Jewish interpretations, denotes the point. in Shemott Labber 5:9read, “The Lord’s Voice was divided into 70 languages.” Every word of Sinai echoes across every tongue, indicating that this teaching was intended not only for Israel, but for all nations.
Perhaps it is a hidden commandment. Carry it all, it’s broken and broken – and echoing the words far beyond the desert. Leonard Cohen’s “The National Anthem” distills the points:
Ah, the war will be fought again,
The holy pigeon will be caught again –
I bought it, sold it, bought it again.
Doves are never free.Ring the bells that can still ring,
Forget your perfect product.
Everything has cracks –
That’s how light enters.
Cohen figured out how violence would repeat each time a perfect offering was replaced by an honest confession, but he still urged listeners to ring an incomplete bell.
The tablets of the Biblical Laws themselves reflect that plea. Stone can withstand, but the Torah expects interpretation. Prophets, rabbis discussions, and modern scholarships all re-read and renew the contract to the community.
“God is still speaking.” In other words, the law is a living argument. Treating it as a frozen manifesto betrays its lifeline. Even recording biblical texts records revisions, contradictions, and extensions, and revelation invites responses rather than passive readings.
That insight goes far beyond jurisprudence. The family repairs after betrayal, the cities rebuild after the war, and democracy only survives when they acknowledge and adjust to failure. Carrying broken pieces is not a burden. It’s design. If fractures are observed, hope can circulate. Where this is denied, the darkness sways.
Today, Peter Beinart warns of unsealable rifts of Israel’s hard-edge nationalism, from Gaza to the escalating threat to Iran, reflecting Koen’s reminder that light will pass through fractures. Only unflinching calculations, which have joined the justice protecting the sovereignty of Israel’s enemy, can redirect these cracks to the channel of light instead of fault lines to burst the area.
People who equip commandments as fixed signals – red for others, and environmentally friendly in themselves – contemplate deep ethics at the heart of biblical law. Accountability, not control. Not purity, but repairs. Calling a contract (the relationship between trust and responsibility) refuses to carry both whole and broken, but betrays the very narrative they claim to defend.
In these times, sticking to reading the Bible narrowly and punitively does not support justice. That hurts it. The commandments were never intended to sanctify power. They exist to humble it – among the capitals of the world, and among the angry moralists in their homes.
Even our Liberty Bell has cracks.
Notes and reading
“When much of the world plunges into the darkness.” – Leonard Cohen, national anthem Official Live London 2008.
Midrash – Part of the oral law: “It was not conceivable that the sense of God’s law would be at odds with the basic circumstances of Jewish life. The written letters of the holy warrant were not intended to kill spirits. They were intended as containers filled with good, new vintage wine.” – Preface, Midrash Rubber (The Soncino Press, 1983).
As one middrash (Sifre Devarim 49) Say: “Every day, the words of the Torah must be new in your eyes.” Midrash is not just what he was told. This is what can be said when sacred texts encounter curiosity and dialogue. When you read this post, you and I are tapering part in the middle.
I thought about writing “us.” But it only dulls the edge. Abstractly, tradition does not occur. It lives through these encounters.
“God is still speaking.” – The Church of Christ (Protestant denomination to which I belong).
Old Testament Theology: Cultural Memory, Communication, and Humanity – John W. Rogerson (2010). Celebrated for his intellectual sphere and rigor, Rogerson (d. 2018) buried the fields from anthropology to interpretation of the Bible, earning enduring respect for his guidance and integrity.
Jews after the destruction of Gaza: calculations – Peter Binath (January 2025). Beinart, a former major American advocate in Israel, rejected the central doctrine of Zionism, due to the idea that Israel is Jewish and democratic, as it supports the right to return for Palestinian refugees. He advocates a Jewish tradition based on equality rather than hegemony. Cuny’s professor, he previously edited The new republic And now I’m contributing The Jewish flow and New York Times.
“New Texas law requires that all public school classrooms post 10 commandments.” – Politics (June 21, 2025).
timeout – Chaos 2.0
Tip #212 – Fear and hospitality
Approx. 2 + 2 = 5
Source: 2 + 2 = 5 – williamgreen.substack.com
