The first rule of speaking to The Lord is that you cannot talk with him directly. He will only go through an intermediary. You can approach the mountain, but you may not go up, on pain of death. So saith The Lord Moses. Also, don’t have sex.

I don’t need to summarize the Commandments, but I’ll do the usual: count the number of civil laws and secular moral laws.

Civil Laws: Don’t murder. Don’t steal. Don’t bear false witness.

Moral Laws: Honor your parents. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t covet.

Four others laws are fit for a bronze age god, mostly about being jealous of the other gods.

Next chapter, we start getting into the details. Starting with how to properly deal with slaves. The Hebrew males only serve six years, but the females are children are for life. Here are some of my other favorites:

If you beat your slave to death, you will be punished. But if he recovers in a day or two, it’s okay.

If an ox gores a man to death, the ox must be stoned to death.

And this is for my children:

And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

And here is an excellent summary of the slave laws.

Tomorrow: Exodus 22-24