Sefer HaIkkarim, Maamar 3

Inasmuch as the divine law is a rule and a guide for the human race, emanating from God, it necessarily points to a bond and a union between God, who is the author of the commands, and man, who is the subject of them. Hence it is clear from this aspect that hearing a command from God necessarily proves that there is such a thing as prophetic inspiration, divine revelation, and that there is a God who is the author of the law and who exercises providence. This is especially true when one hears the first two commandments of the decalogue, for they denote essentially these three dogmas, as we explained before. Nevertheless God desired to let Israel hear from His mouth the ten commandments so as to indicate all those duties which a man becomes liable to by reason of this bond between God and him, both from the point of view of the master who is the author of the command, and from the point of view of the servant, who is the subject. For this reason they were expressed in two separate tables, to indicate that these two aspects are different from each other. Those five which have reference to God, the Master, are in one table, while the five which concern specially man, who is the servant, are in the other table, to show that both are necessary for the attainment of human perfection.

The ten commandments are general rules embracing the two classes of commandments, as follows: The first table contains the first five commandments, which a person is obliged to follow by reason of his acceptance of the divine being. Take the following instance: A king builds a city, then frees a body of slaves and settles them in the city, and then comes to speak to them in order to induce them to accept his lordship. Clearly the first thing he has to tell them is that he is the master who cared for them and liberated them from bondage. This is the meaning of the first commandment in the decalogue, “I am the Lord thy God …” It behooves you to accept My lordship because I made you free. Then he commands them that they shall not give the power to any one else, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” Similarly he commands them not to rebel and set another king over them, “Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness.” Then it is proper to command them that they should show him honor, and not treat him with disrespect, as by swearing falsely in his name, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Then it is necessary that he should fix a mode of commemorating the building of the city. For in this way they will remember that they have a lord who built the city, and that they had been freed from slavery and settled therein. For this reason He commanded them to keep the Sabbath, which bears allusion to the creation of the world and the deliverance from Egyptian bondage.

The Rabbis say, “Remember” and “Keep” were pronounced in one statement. The meaning is this The Sabbath is not intended merely to signify the existence of an agent who created the world, as is indicated in the commandment beginning with the word, “remember.” The phiosopher, too, believes in the existence of such a being, and no one denies it except the sect of Epicurus. The main reason for the Sabbath is to show that there is a being who acts with will continually, even after the creation of the world. This is alluded to in the commandment beginning with the word, “keep,” mentioning as it does the deliverance from Egypt, from which it became known that God acts with will and desire. And not only at the time of the creation of the world, but even after the world has come into being, He exercises providence and changes nature, compelling it to perform His will and desire at all times, as He did in delivering Israel from Egypt, to refute the notion of those who say there is nothing new under the sun. Hence the Rabbis say that the commandment beginning, “remember,” which calls attention to the existence of a divine agent, and the commandment beginning, “keep,” which calls attention to the existence of a divine agent who acts continuously with will and exercises providence, both were said in one word or command, i. e., in the word which commands the Sabbath. For the purpose of the Sabbath is to call attention to the existence of a divine agent continually acting with will and exercising providence, and not merely to teach the existence of a divine agent.

Consider this carefully, for it is a wonderful interpretation of the rabbinic passage, which I have not seen adequately explained by any of the commentators. Some say that the word “remember” denotes a mandatory commandment, while the word “keep” signifies a prohibitive or negative commandment, as the Rabbis say: “ (take heed, lit. keep thyself), (lest) and (do not …) are indications of prohibitive commandments.” Accordingly the meaning of the passage in question is that the precept of the Sabbath necessarily embraces both a positive and a negative commandment, a positive commandment alluding to the creation of the world, and a negative commandment, viz., cessation from work, as a memorial of Israel’s deliverance from bondage. For as a slave can not cease from work, cessation from work is a memorial of the deliverance from Egypt. But according to this explanation, the version of the commandment beginning with the word “remember” should not contain the prohibition to do work. And since it does contain that prohibition, what need is there of saying that “remember” and “keep” were pronounced in one commandment?

Another explanation is this: rest in general would be a commemoration of the deliverance from Egypt, for a slave can not rest. If the prescribed rest were to take place one day in ten, it would still be a memorial of the deliverance from Egypt. But since the command is to rest one day in seven, it is a memorial of the creation of the world, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and rested.” Hence the Rabbis say that the two versions of the Sabbath commandment were pronounced in one statement. This explanation, however, is not satisfactory. Why not say that the whole is a commemoration of the creation? And if the idea intended in that statement is that there are various reasons for the commandment of the Sabbath, that is no reason for saying that the two versions were pronounced “in one statement.” There are many commandments which have more than one reason, and yet the Rabbis did not say that they were pronounced in one statement.

According to my explanation, however, the two versions had to be pronounced in one statement; the one to indicate that there is a divine agent who brought things into being, and the other to show that He is a voluntary agent, that He acts continually and that He exercises providence. The one is not sufficient without the other. The Sabbath day, therefore, points to both these ideas because they are both necessary for a proper conception of God.

According to the Rabbis, there is still a third idea contained in the commandment of the Sabbath. “All agree,” they say in the treatise Shabbat, “that the Torah was given to Israel on a Sabbath.” If this is true, then the commandment of the Sabbath embraces three principles of religion, existence of a divine agent, providence, and revelation. And at the same time the Sabbath commemorates the day when the King revealed Himself to them in the city and they acknowledged His lordship. Inasmuch, however, as this latter idea is acknowledged only once a year, it was not mentioned explicitly in the Torah. We thus see that the Sabbath is obligatory and necessary for a true conception of God, in the three aspects mentioned.

Then comes the commandment, “Honour thy father and thy mother.” For it is well known that the king who built the city does not reveal himself every day to the men of the city. And while the men of that generation, who saw the king come into the city, remember that he built that city and freed them from bondage, and that they accepted his sovereignty, those who come after them, having never been slaves, and not having seen the king enter the city, may rebel, thinking that the city has always been theirs, and that they have no overlord. There is no way of escaping such folly except by submitting to parents and receiving instruction from them. For the parents will inform their children that they were slaves and that a certain lord freed them from bondage, that it was he who built the city and settled them therein. Hence it was necessary, in order that the rule of the king throughout the city and the benefit he conferred upon them in freeing them from slavery might not be forgotten, that children of every generation should obey their parents and accept their instruction. Hence the fifth commandment, “Honour thy father and thy mother,” teaches respect for tradition, viz., that a person should follow the tradition of the fathers, which is a fundamental dogma of all religions. Their existence can not be conceived unless a person is obedient to the tradition of the fathers and the wise men of that religion.

We did not count it among the primary or derivative principles because it is a particular command. Obedience to parents is expressed in the words, “Honour thy father and thy mother;” obedience to the learned and the wise is taught in the expression, “Thou shalt not turn aside from the sentence which they shall declare unto thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.” This commandment completes all those things which concern the relation of man to God, i. e. the things which the servant must do in relation to the master.

Then the Bible inculcates those general principles which men must have as social and political beings in order that the political group may be perfect. The first commandment is to preserve his fellowman’s body, “Thou shalt not murder.” Then comes the command to preserve his neighbor’s property, “Thou shalt not steal,” which is to be understood literally. Then comes the commandment to preserve that which is intermediate, as it were, between a man’s body and his property, namely his wife. For the wife is in a sense the man’s body, as it were, and in a sense, as it were, his property—“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Then he adds that it is not sufficient if one refrain from injuring his neghbor in his body or his property or his wife, but that he must take care not to injure him even by a word, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour;” nor even by a thought, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his field nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour’s.” This completes the general rules which are necessary for man as a being that must associate with others, as we said in the First Book.

Hence the ten commandments were placed on two tables, to show that though these two classes of commandments are distinct, they are necessary for human perfection, the one for the perfection of man as an individual, and the other for his perfection as being part of the state. The first five were all on the same table to show that they also represent one special class. All commandments are included in these two classes, as is seen on examination. The Rabbis say in “Torat Kohanim:” “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:” says Rabbi Akiba, this is a very important principle of the Torah. Ben Azzai said: “This is the book of the generations of Adam,” is a more important principle, as we explained in the twenty-fourth chapter of the First Book.