The nine commandments : uncovering a hidden pattern of crime and punishment in the Hebrew Bible / David Noel Freedman ; with Jeffrey C. Geoghegan and Michael M. Homan ; edited by Astrid B. Beck. [print]

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The first and second commandments : you shall have no other gods before me ; you shall not make your yourself an idol -- The third commandment : you shall not lift up the name of Yahweh your God in vain -- The fourth commandment : remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy -- The fifth commandment : honor your father and mother -- The sixth commandment : you shall not steal -- The seventh commandment : you shall not murder -- The eighth commandment : you shall not commit adultery -- The ninth commandment : you shall not bear false witness -- The tenth commandment : you shall not covet.

"David Noel Freedman delves into the Old Testament and reveals a pattern of defiance of the Covenant with God that inexorably led to the downfall of the nation of Israel, the destruction of the Temple, and the banishment of survivors from the Promised Land. Book by book, from Exodus to Kings, Freedman charts the violation of the first nine Commandments one by one - from the sin of apostasy (the worship of the golden calf, Exodus 32) to murder (the death of a concubine, Judges 19:25-26) to false testimony (Jezebel's charges against her neighbor, Naboth, I Kings 21). Because covetousness, Freedman shows, lies behind all the crimes committed, each act implicitly breaks the Tenth Commandment as well."

"In a powerful and persuasive argument, Freedman asserts that this hidden trail of sins betrays the hand of a master editor, who skillfully wove into Israel's history a message to a community in their Babylonian exile that their fate is not the result of God's abandoning them, but a consequence of their abandonment of God. With wit and insight, The Nine Commandments boldly challenges previous scholarship and conventional beliefs."--Jacket.