Editorial September 20, 1919 Issue

The Mosaic Decalogue

Ella W. Hoag

When God talked with Moses on Mount Sinai there was given the law which will stand as long as time, and of which Jesus said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Mrs. Eddy tells us practically the same thing when she says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 174): "The thunder of Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount are pursuing and will overtake the ages, rebuking in their course all error and proclaiming the kingdom of heaven on earth."

Although certain Bible scholars have given minor reasons for presentation of the Ten Commandments to the Hebrew people; although these same scholars have endeavored to explain the origin of these commands in such a diversity of ways as would have resulted in explaining them entirely away had their foundation been intellectualism; although they have proclaimed them to have been received by Moses at different periods; the fact still remains that God's people throughout all ages have held to them as a definite rule of conduct for humanity in its relationship to God and to its fellow men. To the present day they continue to be a voice from God uncovering evil, protecting from evil, destroying evil. As we find them stated in the twentieth chapter of Exodus they constitute a moral law which when perfectly obeyed results in the complete overthrow of all the claims of evil.

God's people have always united in the effort to live in obedience to the Ten Commandments, which they have preached from their pulpits and taught to their children. The human code of laws has been largely based upon them. Their ethics have been considered unassailable, even while they have often been held as beyond the possibility of present demonstration. As is the case in whatever is intended to lift thought into conformity with Principle, a misunderstanding of God and of His requirements has always been the chief obstacle to the practical application of His laws. From the Mosaic standpoint of "an eye for an eye" it had seemed almost impossible to put into practice the demands of the Decalogue. Nevertheless, Christians have constantly persevered in their purpose to live in perfect obedience to it and have felt convinced that eventually an understanding would be unfolded which would enable them to accomplish so great a desideratum.

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