Catholics Delete Commandment 2 From Ten Commandments?

[dcana]

Here’s the best explanation of the division of the 10 Commandments that I’ve run across. It’s by Jimmy Akin.

ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/NUMBERNG.HTM

 

[chosen_people]

God and the Jews fundamentally changed the way all people regarded religion. Until the Jews, religion was something that dealt with man’s relationship to God. The Jews irrevocably changed that concept.For Jews religion dealt not only with man’s relationship to God but also man’s relationship to other people.

The second revolution was the connection between laws and commandments and God. The concept of laws was already well known. However, with God’s revelation to the entire Jewish nation at Sinai, we establish the concept that these laws and commandments are not merely rules to be followed but a Divine imperative.

If we understand those concepts we can understand the division of the ten commandments.The first five commandments (having faith in God’s existence, prohibition of idolatry, prohibition of vain oaths, the Sabbath and honoring parents [which in Judaism is equal to honoring God] - all deal with the relationship between man and God. The second five commandments (prohibition against murder,prohibition against adultery,prohibition against kidnapping [usually misunderstood to mean simple theft],prohibition against bearing false witness and prohibition against coveting) - all deal with relationships among people.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Another thing to note about the graven images forbidden in the past is this. Back then, idols were carved out of images. Unlike modern use of religious statues, these statues were treated as the gods themselves. People believed that these statues have actual power. Because they have these statues, they have the god or wield the power of the god with them. Think lucky rabbit’s foot. Those who use it think the actual foot of a rabbit brings them good luck. That is idolatry.

We do not assign the same thing to the statues we use. We use them as a reminder of to whom we pray. We use them to inspire us through visual representation. I don’t believe that Jesus is with me just because I have a statue of Him in my car or in my room. I believe that regardless. The statue is there to remind me about Jesus. It can remind me of his presence as well. Many of us forget or take less seriously those that our senses do not perceive. These physical representations just help us tune our senses to the reality that our senses are incapable of realizing.

 

[GloriousOrder]

I believe the Catholic listing, as presented here, is better for two reasons!

1. In forbidding us to have gods before the One God, all worship of graven images is already precluded. The very first clause in the initial commandment says that we shall have no names before His Name. Why should this need any further clarification with regards to worshiping idols and graven images? If those are treated as gods in of themselves, then they are preempted by God’s command to honour none before Him. There’s no need to elaborate, as the second clause you’re stating is already implicit in the first clause: if we have no gods before God, we will have no ‘holy’ idols.
2. The Catholic listing is also better because it makes a strict distinction between the neighbour’s wife and the neighbour’s goods, possessions, land, and animals. Given that Adam was created from slime, but Eve was created from the already-sentient and holy Adam, we can conclude that God sees women as our sisters, not as our dirty toys to be possessed. Listing women in a separate commandment from listing possessions is actually very beautiful and shows us just how much woman must be respected. Setting her apart as a whole ninth commandment, separate from the ownership of mere petty things and properties, is very holy of God.

Two separate things together, making up the 10 Commandments according to Catholicism, are more theologically rich and holy.

 

[ConstantineTG]

1. The Catholic listing is also better because it makes a strict distinction between the neighbour’s wife and the neighbour’s goods, possessions, land, and animals. Given that Adam was created from slime, but Eve was created from the already-sentient and holy Adam, we can conclude that God sees women as our sisters, not as our dirty toys to be possessed. Listing women in a separate commandment from listing possessions is actually very beautiful and shows us just how much woman must be respected. Setting her apart as a whole ninth commandment, separate from the ownership of mere petty things and properties, is very holy of God.

Awesome explanation. It is indeed good to make a distinction of coveting another’s spouse, and another’s material property.

 

[crazzeto]

One more consideration, the first thing (in Exodus) that God tells the Israelites to do after telling them not to make “graven images”, is have them make graven images of not just animals (doves, of course representing the Holy Spirit) but also Angels. In the temple there were also many.

The making of graven images is clearly connected to the worship of such images, rather than merely making a statue. More over, if you take this as seriously as many protestants do, then they are in big trouble for merely making a statue… of anything… Yet they do exactly this.

The commandment is tied directly with worship, and in this context the Catholic Church deleted nothing, thou shalt have no false gods before Me.

 

[GloriousOrder]

Actually, I’ll have to rescind my opinion and say that the current categorisation is incorrect. Putting away any feminist ideals that might have accidentally crept into my head, I re-read the passages in both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 (Douay-Rheims). Our Lord gave these commandments, and in Exodus 20 lists the first three as “neighbour’s house, wife, oxen”; in Deuteronomy 5, God our Lord lists “wife, house, fields”. These are all given in one grammatical breath within the literature. On the other hand, both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 place the “thou shalt not make for thyself graven images nor bow to them” commandment on its own paragraph/verse.

How could this most-Catholic translation place such a huge emphasis on the injunction against images, then place the bit about coveting one’s wife aside? There is an erroneous conclusion or slip-up somewhere!

 

[crazzeto]

Actually, I’ll have to rescind my opinion and say that the current categorisation is incorrect. Putting away any feminist ideals that might have accidentally crept into my head, I re-read the passages in both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 (Douay-Rheims). Our Lord gave these commandments, and in Exodus 20 lists the first three as “neighbour’s house, wife, oxen”; in Deuteronomy 5, God our Lord lists “wife, house, fields”. These are all given in one grammatical breath within the literature. On the other hand, both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 place the “thou shalt not make for thyself graven images nor bow to them” commandment on its own paragraph/verse.

How could this most-Catholic translation place such a huge emphasis on the injunction against images, then place the bit about coveting one’s wife aside? There is an erroneous conclusion or slip-up somewhere!

There is no error, I would recommend you read primarly, the CCC about the 10 commandments. But in addition, this should also help:

davidmacd.com/catholic/10_commandments.htm

weaknesses. For example, the Origen system (that most Protestants use, except the Lutherans) lumps coveting your neighbor’s wife under the commandment of coveting his possessions. But the opening chapters of Genesis make it plain in the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden that a woman is not a man’s “possession” like a horse or livestock. He is the bone of his bones and the flesh of his flesh. (Gen 2:23)

So although the Bible tells us that there are 10 Commandments, it does not tell us how they are numbered. Perhaps this is not an essential thing. What is important is that we follow all of what is written in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, not just the one sentence statements that we have numbered.

When we look at Scripture, even Deuteronomy and Genesis have differences in emphasis on different commandments.