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por Angélica Reis

The mission of Moses, who embodies the first revelation of God's Law

Emmanuel says that the Mosaic Law was the direct forerunner of the Gospel of Jesus. Termutis’ protégé - after benefiting from the culture that Egypt could lavish on him - was inspired to gather all the elements useful for his grand mission, popularizing monotheism and establishing the Decalogue, under divine inspiration, the determinations of which are to this day the basic building of Religion and Law, although the ancient doctrines had already rooted the belief of one God.

Moses' legislation is embedded in legends and cruelties consistent with his time. However, exempted of all the fabulous comments about him, his figure is in fact that of an extraordinary man, clothed with the highest spiritual powers, because he was the first man to open to the masses the teachings gained at the expense of a long and painful initiation, in which one glimpses the luminous synthesis of great truths.

Moses' life and mission, far from being easy, were instead full of tribulation, betrayal, and distrust.

Over and over again, the Israelite people have shown that they have no confidence in the saving power of the Supreme Lord, sometimes disobeying the Commandments and even rejecting Moses himself, who faced problems even in his own family, as shown by the weakness of his brother Aaron in the episode of the golden calf.

The Decalogue represents the basis of all justice in the world.

A true leader and a lucid Prophet, Moses became a model for all the true prophets who succeeded him until the coming of the one for whom he was the forerunner.

He was called by the Upper Plan not only to lead the people of Israel to the Promised Land, but also to make known the will of our Father, which Moses did in giving us the Ten Commandments.

As the messenger of the Divine Master, Moses sought to concentrate his people on the great journey in search of the Promised Land. An extraordinary medium, he then performed great deeds before his amazed brothers and companions, and afterwards received from the emissaries of Christ on Mount Sinai the Decalogue, which to this day represents the basis of all the justice of the world.

Later, before abandoning the earthly struggles, in the ecstatic vision of the Promised Land, he bequeathed to posterity his traditions in the Pentateuch, beginning - as Emmanuel says - the construction of the highest religious science of all time.

There are two parts in the Mosaic Law; one of them is of divine origin

As Allan Kardec states in his work, there are two distinct parts in the Mosaic Law: God's Law, promulgated on Mount Sinai, and the civil or disciplinary law, enacted by Moses.

One of them - God's Law - is unchanged. The other one, appropriate to the customs and character of the people, changes over time. This is why it is unthinkable in our day to stone to death a woman caught in adultery. Circumcision is another practice that not even the most fanatical supporters of the Bible adopt.

God's Law is tabled in the following Ten Commandments (Ex. 20: 1-17): 

1st.  I am the LORD your God, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make to you any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy to thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

2nd. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.

3rd. Remember to sanctify the Sabbath day. You will work six days, and do all that you have to do in them. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work on that day.

4th. Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long on the land which the LORD your God gives you.

5th.  You shall not kill.

6th.  You shall not commit adultery.

7th.  You shall not steal.

8th.  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9th.  You will not desire your neighbor's wife.

10th. You shall not covet your neighbor' house, you shall not covet your neighbor' wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is your neighbor'.

There are three distinct periods or ages in the Jewish religion.

Even today, according to Caesar Cantu, the Israelites divide their books into Torah [from the Hebrew Torah: The Mosaic Law; the book that encloses it; the Pentateuch] made up of the first five books of the Bible; in Nebum, which are the Prophets, and in Ketubim, or writings in general, that is, any other book.

The Talmud calls di brê caballah, that is, words of tradition, everything that is not part of the Torah. The rabbis say that only the Torah was a real novelty in Israel, because the other books are only partial developments of the primitive hieroglyphic, hidden under that name.

In summary, we can say that, according to Cesare Cantu, there are three periods or ages in the Jewish religion that marked the religious formation of the Israelites: the “golden age”, or of the pure Biblical Hebrew, which comprised the holy books before the transfer to Babylon; the “silver age” or late Biblical Hebrew, which comprised books written after emigration, and the “bronze age” or non-biblical late Hebrew.

One question that arises whenever one studies Christianity concerns the reasons that led Jesus to choose the tree of David to carry out his divine lessons for humanity, a subject that Emmanuel examines in Chapter VII of his book The Path of Light.

Emmanuel then states that of all the peoples of that time, though Israel was the top believer, "it was also the most needy considering its exclusive and pretentious vanity". “Much will be asked of those who have received much, and the Israelites had gained much from on high in matters of faith, and it was right that they were required a corresponding degree of understanding in matters of humility and love”.

 

Nota do Tradutor: A tradução dos Dez Mandamentos foi copiada da versão de King James.


 


Translation:
Eleni Frangatos - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br

 
 

     
     

O Consolador
 Revista Semanal de Divulgação Espírita