1Why This Commentary?
115Why God Mentions the Exodus at the Beginning of the Ten Commandments
2Who Is This Torah Commentary For?
116Why God Didn’t Introduce Himself as the Creator of the World
3To Jewish Readers
117Why Are the Words “House of Bondage” Added to Describe Egypt?
4To Christian Readers
118Essay: False Gods
5To Non-Religious Readers
119Education
6The Torah Is Not Man-Made
120Art
7Man-Made or God-Made: Why It Matters
121Love
8How Was the Torah Transmitted?
122Reason
9Reason, Torah, and God
123Religion and Faith
10Why Read This Commentary?
124Money
11Did the Exodus Happen?
125Does God Really Get “Jealous”?
12A Few Details
126Does God Punish the Children of Bad People?–I
13Why Exodus Is Volume 1
127Does God Punish the Children of Bad People?–II
14BC or BCE?
128Essay: The Worst Sin Is Committing Evil in God’s Name
15God as “He”
129Essay: Why the Sabbath Commandment Is Unique
16On How to Read This Commentary
130Work Is Noble
17The Use of Post-Biblical Jewish Sources
131Slaves, Animals, and Strangers Must Also Have a Sabbath
18Preface
132The Sabbath: The Ritual that Affirms the Creator
19The Story Thus Far
133The Personal Impact of the Sabbath
20Essay: The Jews: A Second Creation
134The Uniqueness of the Commandment to Honor Our Parents
21The Jews: God’s Third Attempt to Create a Moral World
135Essay: We Are Not Commanded to Love Our Parents
22Why Didn’t God Give the Ten Commandments to the First Human Beings?
136Honoring Parents: The Only One of the Ten Commandments that Specifies a Reward
23Why Do People Think There Are So Many Jews in the World?
137Essay: Only If There Is a God, Is Murder Wrong
24The Indispensable Importance of Remembering
138Essay: The Sixth Commandment Prohibits Murder, Not Killing
25The Individual and Massive Evil
139Essay: Why Is Adultery in the Ten Commandments?
26The Guilt of the Egyptian People
140Essay: The Unique Importance of the Commandment against Stealing
27Were the Midwives Who Disobeyed Pharaoh Egyptians or Hebrews? I
141Stealing Human Beings
28The Torah Gives the Midwives’ Names, But Not the Pharaoh’s
142Stealing Property
29Essay: The Moral Significance of Fearing God
143Stealing Another Person’s Reputation, Dignity, Etc.
30Were the Midwives Who Disobeyed the Pharaoh Egyptians or Hebrews? II
144Societal Corruption
31When Lying Is Moral
145The Ninth Commandment: Lies Cause the Greatest Evils
32Essay: Moral Absolutes, Moral Relativism, and Situational Ethics
146What the Ninth Commandment Prohibits
33More on the Midwives: Egyptian or Hebrew? III
147The Meaning of the Tenth and Last Commandment
34The Preeminent Role of Women in Moses’s life—and in the Torah
148The Only Commandment against Thought
35There Is No Miracle in Moses’s Birth
149At Least with Regard to Coveting, People Can Control How They Think
36Why Moses Was Saved In the Same Type of Vessel Noah Was Saved In
150Essay: Why Didn’t the Torah Abolish Slavery?
37The Daughter of the Israelites’ Killer Saves the Man Who Will Save the Israelites
151A Torah Contrast to the Code of Hammurabi
38Our Mother Is the Woman, and Our Father Is the Man, Who Raises Us
152Were Daughters Really Sold into Slavery?
39Why Moses Will Be Chosen to Lead Is Already Apparent
153Unintentional Homicide
40God Apparently Strongly Approved of Moses’s Act of Homicide
154Unlike in Other Cultures, There Is No Sanctuary for Murderers
41Moses’s Three Responses to Injustice
155Hitting a Parent Is a Grave Offense
42If God Intervened During the Exodus, Why Didn’t He Intervene at Other Times?
156Cursing a Parent Is Also a Grave Offense
43Essay: Belief in God is a Choice—and Why to Make It
157If a Slave Is Beaten and Dies
44The Only Sovereign States that Have Ever Existed in Canaan were Jewish States
158Essay: The One Mention of Premature Birth in the Torah
45God’s Name Is a Verb—“To Be”
159Essay: Abortion
46Moses’s Third Objection
160The Jewish View
47One of the Most Influential Leaders in History Didn’t Speak Well . . .
161The Christian View
48. . . And Didn’t Want to Be a Leader
162Essay: “Eye for an Eye”—One of the Great Moral Advances in History
49Why Doesn’t Moses Tell His Father-in-Law about His Encounter with God?
163Why Kill an Ox That Killed a Person?
50Did God Deprive Pharaoh of Free Will?
164Another Torah Rejection of the Laws of Its Time
51Essay: The Difference between Belief in God and Faith in God
165When Bad Things Happen, There Isn’t Always a Villain
52Where Did All the Elders Go?
166Essay: The Torah and Premarital Sex
53Moses Doesn’t Talk to Pharaoh as He Was Told To
167Three Polytheistic Practices That Merited the Death Penalty (At Least in Theory)
54Moses Then Says What He Was Told to Say
1681. Sorcery
55It Can Be Difficult to Love Both Humans and God at the Same Time
1692. Bestiality
56It Is OK to Get Angry with God
1703. Sacrifices to Other Gods (The Torah Bans Behavior, Not Thought)
57Why Seven Is the Most Important Number in the Torah
171Laws Regarding the Most Vulnerable
58Essay: Prominent Parents and Their Children
172The Non-Jewish Resident Must Not Be Oppressed
59The Plagues Had Three Major Purposes
173Essay: The Unique Moral Power of Empathy
60Essay: Is There Such a Thing as Collective Guilt?
174Measure-for-Measure: The Torah’s Obsession with Justice
61Specific Egyptian Gods Targeted by the Plagues
175Loans
62Worship of Nature vs. Worship of God
176God Declares Himself Compassionate
63Why the Torah So Opposes Magic
177Respect for Judges and Leaders
64The Plagues Follow a Pattern
178A Ban on Spreading Rumors
65Chapter 8: Essay: The God of the Torah: The Most Important Idea in World History
179The Majority—The “Herd”—Is Too Often Morally Wrong
66The Unique Significance of Remembering
180Judges Are to Enforce Justice, Not Compassion
67On Taking Care of Your Own People
181Essay: How to Treat One’s Enemy
68Was the Plague Natural or Miraculous?
182Corrupt Judges Destroy Societies
69Why Pharaoh Admitting He Sinned Means Little
183Essay: The Terrible Power of Corruption
70Was the Plague of Darkness a Solar Eclipse?
184The Sabbatical Year
71What Does It Mean to Worship God?
185Humans Are to Sanctify the Sabbath; Animals Are to Rest on It
72Sacrificing an Egyptian God
186Essay: Why Not “Boil a Kid in its Mother’s Milk”? The Meaning of an Obscure Law
73The Virtue of Delayed Gratification
187No One Was “Annihilated”
74Essay: Do All Believers in One God Believe in the Same God?
188The Torah’s Attitude Toward Idolatry in the Land of Israel
75Essay: The Six Commandments of Remembrance in the Torah
189Do God’s Promises of No Sickness Conform to Reality?
76Leavening Represents Death
190The Devaluing of the Old Means Wisdom Isn’t Valued
77What Does Karet—“Cut Off”—Mean?
191Essay: Doing and Understanding God’s Will
78There Are Seven Holidays Designated as Holy Days in the Torah
192Why the Unparalleled Amount of Detail Here?
79Educating One’s Children Is a Divine Law
193Essay: In Religious Ritual—Unlike in Ethical Behavior—Intentions Matter
80How Many Israelites Left Egypt?
194Essay: Beauty Can Bring People Closer to God
81God Is Glorified When He Is Perceived as Just
195Where Is God?
82Is It Worth Dying to Be Free?
196Essay: Without Standards, Everything Good Will Fail
83Why Did God Use Winds to Split the Sea?
197The Ten Commandments: The Most Important Words in the Torah
84The Difference between Belief in God and Trust in God
198The Cherubim
85Essay: Is It Moral to Celebrate the Death of Evildoers?
199Once Again, the Importance of Aesthetic Beauty in the Worship of God
86To Be a “God of Love,” God Must Also Be a “God of War”
200One God, One Sanctuary
87The Israelites’ First of Four Crises in the Desert
201Chapter 27: Essay: Was Animal Sacrifice in the Torah Immoral?
88Essay: God Doesn’t Protect Religious People from Illness
202Essay: The Benefits of a Hereditary Priesthood
89Miracles Bring People to Faith in God—For a Very Short Time
203The Role of the Priest
90Do People Prefer Liberty—Or to Be Taken Care Of?
204The Priesthood as a Male Institution
91The Israelites Do Not Seem to Differentiate between God and Moses
205Essay: The Importance of Clothing
92Even the Most Devout Have Doubts about God Intervening on Their Behalf
206Capital Punishment for Violation of the Sabbath
93We Should Relate to God as Adults Relate to Parents—Not as Children Do
207The Word “Work” in the Torah
94Another Non-Jewish Hero in the Torah
208Essay: Reason and Belief
95The Torah Repeatedly Identifies Jethro—A Midianite Priest—as “Moses’s Father-in-Law”
209Miracles, Faith, and Gratitude
96The Origins of the Expression Baruch Hashem (“Blessed Be the Lord”)
210Essay: Faith and Works: How We Know Whether People Really Believe in God
97On Caring about Loved Ones before Strangers
211The Complete Absence of Ethnic Chauvinism in the Torah
98Not by Might: God Is Not God because He Wins Battles
212Moses’s Three Arguments to Persuade God Not to Destroy the Israelites
99An Example of the Antiquity and Historicity of the Torah Narrative
213The First Argument
100Essay: How to Respond to Advice and Criticism
214The Second Argument
101The Two Types of Faith—in God’s Existence and in God’s Goodness
215The Third Argument
102Is God’s Love Unconditional?
216What Has Distinguished—and Sustained—the Jews?
103“Chosen” Does Not Mean Superior
217Can Humans Change God’s Mind?
104God Chooses Whom He Chooses
218Essay: Is God Good or Is God Love?
105The Meaning of the Word “Holy”
219Does God Have a Face?
106The Importance of Clothing
220Essay: The Attributes of God
107Any Place Can Be Made Holy (Or Unholy)
221Only in the Holy Land Must Pagan Places of Worship Be Destroyed
108Fear Is Part of Relating to God . . .
222Prostitutes Are Not the Worst Form of Prostitution
109. . . And So Is Love
223The Problem with Marrying Canaanite Women
110God, Not Moses or Anyone Else, Gave the Ten Commandments
224Why We Need Religious Rituals
111The Ten Commandments Are Unique
225The Sabbath Demands Sacrifices
112The Ten Commandments Were Deliberately Not Given in the Land of Israel
226Chapter 35: Essay: Why No Fire on the Sabbath?
113The Ten Commandments Constitute a Form of Absolute Morality
227Notes
114Four Defining Characteristics of the Ten Commandments