6The Torah Is Not Man-Made
138Education
7Man-Made or God-Made: Why It Matters
139Art
8How Was the Torah Transmitted?
140Love
9Reason, Torah, and God
141Reason
10Why Read This Commentary?
142Religion and Faith
11Did the Exodus Happen?
143Money
12A Few Details
144Does God Really Get “Jealous”?
13Why Exodus Is Volume 1
145Does God Punish the Children of Bad People?–I
14BC or BCE?
146Does God Punish the Children of Bad People?–II
15God as “He”
147Essay: The Worst Sin Is Committing Evil in God’s Name
16On How to Read This Commentary
148Essay: Why the Sabbath Commandment Is Unique
17The Use of Post-Biblical Jewish Sources
149Work Is Noble
18Preface
150Slaves, Animals, and Strangers Must Also Have a Sabbath
19The Story Thus Far
151The Sabbath: The Ritual that Affirms the Creator
20Chapter 1
152The Personal Impact of the Sabbath
21Essay: The Jews: A Second Creation
153The Uniqueness of the Commandment to Honor Our Parents
22The Jews: God’s Third Attempt to Create a Moral World
154Essay: We Are Not Commanded to Love Our Parents
23Why Didn’t God Give the Ten Commandments to the First Human Beings?
155Honoring Parents: The Only One of the Ten Commandments that Specifies a Reward
24Why Do People Think There Are So Many Jews in the World?
156Essay: Only If There Is a God, Is Murder Wrong
25The Indispensable Importance of Remembering
157Essay: The Sixth Commandment Prohibits Murder, Not Killing
26The Individual and Massive Evil
158Essay: Why Is Adultery in the Ten Commandments?
27The Guilt of the Egyptian People
159Essay: The Unique Importance of the Commandment against Stealing
28Were the Midwives Who Disobeyed Pharaoh Egyptians or Hebrews? I
160Stealing Human Beings
29The Torah Gives the Midwives’ Names, But Not the Pharaoh’s
161Stealing Property
30Essay: The Moral Significance of Fearing God
162Stealing Another Person’s Reputation, Dignity, Etc.
31Were the Midwives Who Disobeyed the Pharaoh Egyptians or Hebrews? II
163Societal Corruption
32When Lying Is Moral
164The Ninth Commandment: Lies Cause the Greatest Evils
33Essay: Moral Absolutes, Moral Relativism, and Situational Ethics
165What the Ninth Commandment Prohibits
34More on the Midwives: Egyptian or Hebrew? III
166The Meaning of the Tenth and Last Commandment
35Chapter 2
167The Only Commandment against Thought
36The Preeminent Role of Women in Moses’s life—and in the Torah
168At Least with Regard to Coveting, People Can Control How They Think
37There Is No Miracle in Moses’s Birth
169Chapter 21
38Why Moses Was Saved In the Same Type of Vessel Noah Was Saved In
170Essay: Why Didn’t the Torah Abolish Slavery?
39The Daughter of the Israelites’ Killer Saves the Man Who Will Save the Israelites
171A Torah Contrast to the Code of Hammurabi
40Our Mother Is the Woman, and Our Father Is the Man, Who Raises Us
172Were Daughters Really Sold into Slavery?
41Why Moses Will Be Chosen to Lead Is Already Apparent
173Unintentional Homicide
42God Apparently Strongly Approved of Moses’s Act of Homicide
174Unlike in Other Cultures, There Is No Sanctuary for Murderers
43Moses’s Three Responses to Injustice
175Hitting a Parent Is a Grave Offense
44If God Intervened During the Exodus, Why Didn’t He Intervene at Other Times?
176Cursing a Parent Is Also a Grave Offense
45Chapter 3
177If a Slave Is Beaten and Dies
46Essay: Belief in God is a Choice—and Why to Make It
178Essay: The One Mention of Premature Birth in the Torah
47The Only Sovereign States that Have Ever Existed in Canaan were Jewish States
179Essay: Abortion
48God’s Name Is a Verb—“To Be”
180The Jewish View
49Chapter 4
181The Christian View
50Moses’s Third Objection
182Essay: “Eye for an Eye”—One of the Great Moral Advances in History
51One of the Most Influential Leaders in History Didn’t Speak Well . . .
183Why Kill an Ox That Killed a Person?
52. . . And Didn’t Want to Be a Leader
184Another Torah Rejection of the Laws of Its Time
53Why Doesn’t Moses Tell His Father-in-Law about His Encounter with God?
185When Bad Things Happen, There Isn’t Always a Villain
54Did God Deprive Pharaoh of Free Will?
186Chapter 22
55Essay: The Difference between Belief in God and Faith in God
187Essay: The Torah and Premarital Sex
56Chapter 5
188Three Polytheistic Practices That Merited the Death Penalty (At Least in Theory)
57Where Did All the Elders Go?
1891. Sorcery
58Moses Doesn’t Talk to Pharaoh as He Was Told To
1902. Bestiality
59Moses Then Says What He Was Told to Say
1913. Sacrifices to Other Gods (The Torah Bans Behavior, Not Thought)
60It Can Be Difficult to Love Both Humans and God at the Same Time
192Laws Regarding the Most Vulnerable
61It Is OK to Get Angry with God
193The Non-Jewish Resident Must Not Be Oppressed
62Chapter 6
194Essay: The Unique Moral Power of Empathy
63Why Seven Is the Most Important Number in the Torah
195Measure-for-Measure: The Torah’s Obsession with Justice
64Essay: Prominent Parents and Their Children
196Loans
65Chapter 7
197God Declares Himself Compassionate
66The Plagues Had Three Major Purposes
198Respect for Judges and Leaders
67Essay: Is There Such a Thing as Collective Guilt?
199Chapter 23
68Specific Egyptian Gods Targeted by the Plagues
200A Ban on Spreading Rumors
69Worship of Nature vs. Worship of God
201The Majority—The “Herd”—Is Too Often Morally Wrong
70Why the Torah So Opposes Magic
202Judges Are to Enforce Justice, Not Compassion
71The Plagues Follow a Pattern
203Essay: How to Treat One’s Enemy
72Chapter 8: Essay: The God of the Torah: The Most Important Idea in World History
204Corrupt Judges Destroy Societies
73Chapter 9
205Essay: The Terrible Power of Corruption
74Chapter 10
206The Sabbatical Year
75The Unique Significance of Remembering
207Humans Are to Sanctify the Sabbath; Animals Are to Rest on It
76On Taking Care of Your Own People
208Essay: Why Not “Boil a Kid in its Mother’s Milk”? The Meaning of an Obscure Law
77Was the Plague Natural or Miraculous?
209No One Was “Annihilated”
78Why Pharaoh Admitting He Sinned Means Little
210The Torah’s Attitude Toward Idolatry in the Land of Israel
79Was the Plague of Darkness a Solar Eclipse?
211Do God’s Promises of No Sickness Conform to Reality?
80Chapter 11
212Chapter 24
81Chapter 12
213The Devaluing of the Old Means Wisdom Isn’t Valued
82What Does It Mean to Worship God?
214Essay: Doing and Understanding God’s Will
83Sacrificing an Egyptian God
215Chapter 25
84The Virtue of Delayed Gratification
216Why the Unparalleled Amount of Detail Here?
85Essay: Do All Believers in One God Believe in the Same God?
217Essay: In Religious Ritual—Unlike in Ethical Behavior—Intentions Matter
86Essay: The Six Commandments of Remembrance in the Torah
218Essay: Beauty Can Bring People Closer to God
87Leavening Represents Death
219Where Is God?
88What Does Karet—“Cut Off”—Mean?
220Essay: Without Standards, Everything Good Will Fail
89There Are Seven Holidays Designated as Holy Days in the Torah
221The Ten Commandments: The Most Important Words in the Torah
90Educating One’s Children Is a Divine Law
222The Cherubim
91How Many Israelites Left Egypt?
223Chapter 26
92Chapter 13
224Once Again, the Importance of Aesthetic Beauty in the Worship of God
93Chapter 14
225One God, One Sanctuary
94God Is Glorified When He Is Perceived as Just
226Chapter 27: Essay: Was Animal Sacrifice in the Torah Immoral?
95Is It Worth Dying to Be Free?
227Chapter 28
96Why Did God Use Winds to Split the Sea?
228Essay: The Benefits of a Hereditary Priesthood
97The Difference between Belief in God and Trust in God
229The Role of the Priest
98Chapter 15
230The Priesthood as a Male Institution
99Essay: Is It Moral to Celebrate the Death of Evildoers?
231Essay: The Importance of Clothing
100To Be a “God of Love,” God Must Also Be a “God of War”
232Chapter 29
101The Israelites’ First of Four Crises in the Desert
233Chapter 30
102Essay: God Doesn’t Protect Religious People from Illness
234Chapter 31
103Chapter 16
235Capital Punishment for Violation of the Sabbath
104Miracles Bring People to Faith in God—For a Very Short Time
236The Word “Work” in the Torah
105Do People Prefer Liberty—Or to Be Taken Care Of?
237Chapter 32
106Chapter 17
238Essay: Reason and Belief
107The Israelites Do Not Seem to Differentiate between God and Moses
239Miracles, Faith, and Gratitude
108Even the Most Devout Have Doubts about God Intervening on Their Behalf
240Essay: Faith and Works: How We Know Whether People Really Believe in God
109We Should Relate to God as Adults Relate to Parents—Not as Children Do
241The Complete Absence of Ethnic Chauvinism in the Torah
110Chapter 18
242Moses’s Three Arguments to Persuade God Not to Destroy the Israelites
111Another Non-Jewish Hero in the Torah
243The First Argument
112The Torah Repeatedly Identifies Jethro—A Midianite Priest—as “Moses’s Father-in-Law”
244The Second Argument
113The Origins of the Expression Baruch Hashem (“Blessed Be the Lord”)
245The Third Argument
114On Caring about Loved Ones before Strangers
246Chapter 33
115Not by Might: God Is Not God because He Wins Battles
247What Has Distinguished—and Sustained—the Jews?
116An Example of the Antiquity and Historicity of the Torah Narrative
248Can Humans Change God’s Mind?
117Essay: How to Respond to Advice and Criticism
249Essay: Is God Good or Is God Love?
118Chapter 19
250Does God Have a Face?
119The Two Types of Faith—in God’s Existence and in God’s Goodness
251Chapter 34
120Is God’s Love Unconditional?
252Essay: The Attributes of God
121“Chosen” Does Not Mean Superior
253Only in the Holy Land Must Pagan Places of Worship Be Destroyed
122God Chooses Whom He Chooses
254Prostitutes Are Not the Worst Form of Prostitution
123The Meaning of the Word “Holy”
255The Problem with Marrying Canaanite Women
124The Importance of Clothing
256Why We Need Religious Rituals
125Any Place Can Be Made Holy (Or Unholy)
257The Sabbath Demands Sacrifices
126Fear Is Part of Relating to God . . .
258Chapter 35: Essay: Why No Fire on the Sabbath?
127. . . And So Is Love
259Chapter 36
128Chapter 20
260Chapter 37
129God, Not Moses or Anyone Else, Gave the Ten Commandments
261Chapter 38
130The Ten Commandments Are Unique
262Chapter 39
131The Ten Commandments Were Deliberately Not Given in the Land of Israel
263Chapter 40
132The Ten Commandments Constitute a Form of Absolute Morality
264Notes
