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    Thirteen Commandments
    Thirteen Commandments
    Thirteen Commandments
    Ebook130 pages2 hours

    Thirteen Commandments

    By Rick Hoover

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    About this ebook

    At Eden, Adam and Eve turned from God's design and order, deciding their own eyes offered a clear view and their own minds could provide a reliable critique of what was safe and good to do. What followed was a mixed bag (Number One son killed Number Two son) but there is undeniable progress on display in the early history of man recorded in the Bible. Why wasn't that good enough?

    Job, considered by many scholars to be the oldest book in the Bible, can be seen as a first response to the rebellion at Eden. You think you can discuss the basic principles guiding My Decisions?, God asks Job. You don't even understand all you can see! Indeed, God brags on Job initially precisely because Job is such a trusting servant. In the end, this is the position Job chooses to retain. It is the opposite position to the one bequeathed us by Adam and Eve.

    When Moses has led the children of Israel out of their Egyptian slavery, God is ready to spell out His guidance for mankind. The very first commandment deals with the question of Who we are to listen to and obey. And everything flows from that.

    The Rev. Rick Hoover takes us through the Ten Commandments Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai, the two commands Jesus said summed them up, and the additional "new commandment" that Jesus delivered to his disciples at the Last Supper. Are they meant to define boundaries of behavior? Or are they better understood as the best orientation toward greater fulfillment in life?

    "Such a great book! You have written a wonderful account of Jesus' teachings." - Jacki Nash

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPelican Wings
    Release dateDec 2, 2015
    ISBN9781311035639
    Thirteen Commandments
    Author

    Rick Hoover

    I'm a retired deacon in the Episcopal Church. I served at a parish in central Florida. I've worked in radio, television and several jobs that included public relation efforts. As a Christian, I have discovered one of the things I enjoy most is spending time in a prayer closet with Jesus, learning to be still so He has space to speak. I shared about my first month as a Smashword author at my blog:https://deaconrick.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/editing-the-author/

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      Book preview

      Thirteen Commandments - Rick Hoover

      Psalm 119:5 Oh that my ways were steadfast to obey your statutes!

      6 Then I wouldn’t be disappointed, when I consider

      all of your commandments.

      THIRTEEN COMMANDMENTS

      by Rick Hoover

      Copyright © 2015 by Richard Hoover

      Smashwords Edition

      EBOOK ISBN: 9781311035639

      Thank you for downloading this ebook! If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient at Smashwords.com. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Cover design: Rick Hoover

      Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible™, a Public Domain translation available at worldenglishbible.org.

      CONTENTS

      Introduction

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Chapter Thirteen

      Final Thoughts

      About the Author

      Dedication

      I wrote this book in the most stressful year of my 41 year marriage, after suffering a stroke that forced me to an early retirement. Writing became very nearly all I was still able to do. During that year my wife became my round-the-clock caregiver both at the hospital and at home. It became ever clearer to me that she had completely mastered these commandments, especially the last one.

      With more love than ever and on this exceptionally appropriate Thanksgiving Day, I dedicate this book to you, Melanie.

      Rick Hoover

      Thanksgiving 2015

      THE THIRTEEN COMMANDMENTS

      Deuteronomy 5

      1 Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn them, and observe to do them. 2 Yahweh our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 Yahweh didn’t make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today. 4 Yahweh spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, 5 (I stood between Yahweh and you at that time, to show you Yahweh’s word; for you were afraid because of the fire, and didn’t go up onto the mountain) saying,

      6 "I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

      7 "You shall have no other gods before me.

      8 "You shall not make a carved image for yourself—any likeness of what is in heaven above, or what is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me; 10 and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

      11 "You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God; for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.

      12 "Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Yahweh your God commanded you. 13 You shall labor six days, and do all your work; 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God, in which you shall not do any work— neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore Yahweh your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

      16 "Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God commanded you; that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

      17 "You shall not murder.

      18 "You shall not commit adultery.

      19 "You shall not steal.

      20 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

      21 You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

      Matthew 22

      35 One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. 36 Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?

      37 Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

      John 15:12 This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.

      Introduction

      In this book I review the Ten Commandments Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai, the two commands Jesus said summed them up, and the additional new commandment that he delivered to his disciples at the Last Supper.

      At first they seem simple enough. Then I looked again. That is when I began to have questions about these old, familiar rules.

      We tend to try to analyze things in terms of what our mind can grasp or approve. We tend to reject what we can't understand, even if it's true. So when I began to study them, I noticed something right away about the original Ten Commandments. They seemed to divide into two plain categories.

      The first five on that list were hard for me to understand.

      The last five were too easy to understand.

      That got me thinking about the whole concept of rules and commandments. I had two perceptions about such lists of rules.

      First, they represented hard boundaries. They restricted my freedom. But, at least, (and secondly) they were easy to understand. When I ignored them, I knew exactly why my choice was better! Is it smart or necessary that I should be waiting for the red light to change at two o'clock in the morning with no other traffic in sight? Really?

      This thinking is why, for years, I have assured people that things will be different once I take over as World Dictator. I know how I want things to be and how they should be. And I have no trouble handing out orders!

      True, I noticed something odd about this.

      Although I know how to give directions to others, others do not seem inclined to follow my orders. Indeed, I have found I do not do well at obeying their orders. And I receive many more than I really need. Way too many. Way.

      I justify ignoring those orders because, most of the time, they aren't very clear to begin with. I have found that when I do what people say they want me to do, they often seem to think I have deliberately acted in a thick-headed and uncooperative manner. It goes without saying, any expression of appreciation from them is negligible.

      I sympathize with the computer programmer who got a call from his wife. She said, Please stop at the grocery store on your way home and get a loaf of bread, and if they have eggs, get twelve.

      So he came home with twelve loaves of bread. Tell me he didn't do exactly what she asked him to do, for all the thanks he'll get.

      Now, it's true, the most famous list of Commandments seems to be very clear about the boundaries and limits being stated. One after another, they begin with the words Thou shalt not. These were drilled into me as a child and it was not until I had achieved my full measure of adult wisdom that I realized I couldn't see why God was being so severe. This bothered Mark Twain, too. He worried that if one were to indulge in a helpful murder or two, it might lead to Sabbath breaking. Did both those rules really belong on the same list?

      It's such a short list. It should be easy to follow them. But even when there was only a single commandment, it seemed to be quite a silly and expendable one to Adam and Eve.

      God put one tree and its fruit off limits to them. They responded by saying, It looks good to us! We don't see a problem! So why not...? Of course, they didn't wait for an answer to that question.

      I've come to suspect that God is not required to answer that question for me. But sometimes a little reflection on the matter may help if I want to make a serious effort to obey Him. You know, doing it as an experiment to see if I could learn anything.

      Not that I think the experiment is likely to be successful. For I have also come to recognize that, although I may have a question to ask, it is likely to be the wrong question. I am looking at matters in the wrong way. I am looking at them from the perspective of what I want. What I should be doing instead is asking myself if what someone else wants might be a better question. It's possible. I don't want to rule that out.

      When I finally did reach that thought, I wondered if maybe the Commandments should be considered not as boundaries but as orientation. Perhaps they are not really about immediate limitations. They are about the direction that will take me toward the greatest fulfillment of all. Jesus said he came so we could have joy to the fullest. I'm hungry for that. But it does seem puzzling that, as I reach for what seems to promise me joy, so often Jesus seems to be saying, Stop!

      That is a problem for me. I guess we all tend to reject what we don't understand. And this was when I began to think surely there must be a possibility that even those things which I don't understand could still be true. I needed a deeper way to think about these things. I needed a more contemplative, less instinctive, way to grasp reality.

      In the chapters ahead I'll take up each of the classic Ten Commandments delivered

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