EXOD1051 Religion and Ethics Inseparable. If we understand them as a moral system, it makes little difference whether we call them Ten Words or Ten Commandments. A Jew, however, must on some occasions, at least, use the designation Ten Words, because for him they are more than a moral system. They are the conditions of the covenant between God and Israel. (Exodus 34:27-8) They are, thus, ethics in the context of a covenantal relationship. Such an ethic we may call covenant ethics. In covenant ethics in particular, as in Judaism in general, the religious and the ethical are inseparable. The awesome religious experience has an enduring ethical content. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, but “Thou shalt not” was heard. (Exodus 19:16-18) The noblest ethical teaching has a powerful religious dimension: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18) Religion and ethics inseparable! In every single word there is both the duty to God and the duty to persons. The first two words proclaim the authority and sovereignty of God. But they also commend freedom and established priorities. The third word proscribes the misuse of God's name. But it also involves, in the making of an oath, the obligation to keep our promises. The fourth word sets aside the seventh day for God, but the manservant, the maid servant, the stranger and the cattle must share in it. Parents are the subject of the fifth word, but God is remembered as the ultimate giver. Then comes that powerful series of ethical commands, four staccato imperatives and then the concluding fifth, behind each word the authority of a commanding God. Each word is religious. Each word is ethical. A human being and God meet on a bridge of Ten Words.