Moses, in the Ten Commandments gives us instruction as to what is the very basis of Christianity. These commands were not given to us as arbitrary rules showing divine authority, with a demand for blind obedience thereto, but, on the contrary, they reveal to us, through Moses' tenderest solicitude for the welfare of the children of Israel, in accord with his inspiration from on high, the law of God which when understood and obeyed results in absolute freedom from all that claims to bind and oppress. This point is made very clear in the verse just preceding the First Commandment, which says, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt [darkness], out of the house of bondage." The fact that the Commandments were engraved on stone is an indication of their enduring quality and also of their importance as the foundation for righteous living throughout all ages.
In the study of the Commandments the first important point is a correct concept of God, and naturally of the word "Commandment" itself. The two concordances to Mrs. Eddy's works refer us, under the words "Commandment"—"Commandments"—and "First Commandment," to a wealth of material upon which to base our study. One helpful thought is that the first four Commandments set forth man's relationship to God, and the remaining six, man's relationship to man, and that Jesus summed up the entire ten in two; the first four as follows: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," and he added: "This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it." Then he sums up the remaining six in the second: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," and concludes with the statement, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Jesus, however, presented a much higher concept of the divine law than did Moses, recognizing Love as the foundation of all true obedience, as stated in John 13:34, wherein he says, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Mrs. Eddy tells us, in our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 30), "Rabbi and priest taught the Mosaic law, which said: 'An eye for an eye,' and 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.' Not so did Jesus, the new executor for God, present the divine law of Love, which blesses even those that curse it." Paul also, in the thirteenth chapter of his letter to the Romans, sums up the last four Commandments as did the Master, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," concluding with this statement, "Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
