1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 

2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy. 

3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 

4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord your God.

Here we launch into yet another list of commandments from the Lord to the Israelites, many of them echoing laws that we have already heard. It is worth wondering, why so many repetitions of similar instructions? I suppose it could be that these were separate reminders that Moses made at different times to Israel. Perhaps after a year or two in the wilderness they were showing improper tendencies, and God instructed Moses to give them a refresher.

What I personally consider to be more likely, however, is that over the centuries there were multiple records of the laws given by Moses, and rather than trying to determine which accounting was the definitive one, the scribes decided to include both. This current list of commandments will continue into the next chapter, where we will see many of the same exact prohibitions as were in Leviticus 18, though with some alternate details, such as describing specific punishments for sin.

What we have here today seems to be another retelling of the ten commandments, including familiar laws such honoring one’s father and mother (the fifth commandment), observing the sabbath (the fourth commandment), not worshipping idols (the second commandment), and holding only the Lord as their God (the first commandment). It is interesting to note that these are in descending order, meaning laid out in reverse order from what we saw in Exodus 20, and by this today’s verses create a sort of ascension in priority. The original ten commandments are presented with the highest ethics first (worshipping God) and then stating all the other commandments that flow downstream from that: observe the sabbath → honor your parents → don’t covet what your neighbor has. But now we are shown how concern for the lower things (honoring your parents), naturally leads to the higher (having the Lord as your God). Whether we start at the highest ideal and orient everything below according to it or start with what is most immediately good before us and from that raise our aim to what is above, we find the right way of life.