MOSES
2. There are two distinct parts to the Mosaic Law: the Law of God as promulgated on Mount Sinai and the civil or disciplinary law decreed by Moses. The first is invariable; the other, being appropriate to the customs and character of the people, modifies itself with time.
The Law of God is formulated on the following ten commandments:-
I. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in Heaven above, or that is in the Earth beneath, or that is in the water under the Earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them.
II. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. III. Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it Holy.
IV. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
V. Thou shalt not kill.
VI. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
VII. Thou shalt not steal.
VIII. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
IX. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.
X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox nor anything that is thy neighbours.
This Law is for all times and all countries and because of this has a divine character. All other laws were decreed by Moses, who found it necessary to restrain his people through fear due to their turbulent and undisciplined nature, and also to combat the abuses and prejudices acquired by them during the period of slavery in Egypt. To give authority to his ]laws, be had to give them divine origin, as did other legislators of primitive peoples. The authority of man needed to base itself an the authority of God. But only the idea of a terrible God could impress ignorant peoples in whom the sentiments of true justice and morality were very little developed. It is evident that He Who included amongst His commandments 'Thou shalt not kill or cause damage to your neighbour' could not then contradict Himself by making extermination a duty.
