Jason Locke's Blog

"Don't bear false witness." The original context of the 9th Word appears to deal with "courtroom" testimony. Jewish law took great lengths to protect individuals from false witness. A single person's word was never enough to condemn another person. At least two corroborating sources had to agree. The idea of the Ninth Word goes deeper than not lying in court. While deception is the central prohibition, there is much more. God’s people are to exemplify a commitment to truth-telling. Living a lie can wreak mass havoc. Enron hid the truth about their schemes and destroyed the fiscal well-being of countless groups & individuals. Some folks misled the world about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and the world continues to pay a high price for actions even if taken in good faith but based upon those lies. Family relationships and even churches often conceal hidden truths, giving power to the lies that control them. In Death of a Salesman , B...

The 6th & 7th commands are perhaps the most well known: Don’t murder & don’t commit adultery. But does the fact that they are easily identified mean that they are easily lived out?   Just as murder violates one’s neighbor and destroys the social fabric of the community, adultery is also a severe violation of the trust and wellbeing between neighbors. It has a chilling effect beyond the individual actors, damaging the loyalty and affection of the entire community. Loyalty and affection are the primary building blocks of each family, and families in turn are the primary building blocks of a society. Tearing the family through sexual infidelity, therefore, is an attack on the whole community. For Israel, the commandment was clear, but the penalty for breaking it was applied unevenly or not at all. Some texts state that both parties were subject to the death penalty (e.g., Lev 20:10). But it’s not hard to find examples where this was ignored or applied harshly only to ...