THIS IS HOW IT USED TO BE!
It was the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. No contraceptives yet. Women gave birth often, maybe 5 to 15 times, but the world’s population was not increasing. Why?
Because only 10% of children survived to adulthood.
Every person every day was trying to solve the main problem, i.e. to get food in order not to die. To kill, so as not to die, or to steal, so as not to die, those were legitimate behavior. Death of starvation and death during fighting for food – that was the reality people faced every day. Murder was an ordinary and usual event.
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MENTAL REVOLUTION
It was the middle of the 17th century B.C. Forefather Jacob’s family, driven by hunger, came to Egypt and settled in the land of Goshen, which was the most fertile area of Egypt.
Under the direction of Joseph, the Jews built the canal connecting the Nile River with Qarun Lake. This canal still exists nowadays and is called as (Arab) بحر يوسف [bahr yusuf] = (Eng) the Sea of Joseph (See the article “Exodus: Behind the Scenes“).
Joseph’s Canal was a branched irrigation system. It allowed (and allows nowadays) to replenish Qarun Lake with water from the Nile River, and because of that, agriculture around the lake became stable. DEATH FROM HUNGER was not threatening the Jews in Egypt any more. As a result, child mortality rate dropped significantly, which in turn led to an unprecedented increase in population growth, i.e. at the time of the Exodus the number of the Jews in Egypt reached 4 million (See the article “The Numbers“).
The Jews lived in Egypt 430 years. During that period, 15 to 20 generations of people, who forgot about the threat of death from hunger, changed each other. Mentality of the Jews changed – killing and stealing stopped being a legitimate behavior.
Only the man who is not afraid of death from hunger is able to understand that “man shall not live by bread alone”. Only the man who is not hungry can devote time to his spiritual and intellectual development. Exactly in such a period of time among the Jews, a phonetic alphabet, which allowed to write down the sounds pronounced in ANY language, was invented (See the article “Why Does Europe Write Left-to-Right?“). The alphabet, which consisted of 22 letters, was available to all people, and by that was fundamentally different from other ways of writing existed in the world that time, which were the privilege of the elite.
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THE COMMANDMENTS
In 7 weeks after the beginning of the Exodus, the Ten Commandments were given to the world.
They were written on stone tablets with the letters of the Jewish phonetic alphabet. Since then, the font has changed (See the article “Why Does Europe Write Left-to-Right?“). Below you can see the text of the Commandments written in the modern square font:
תורה, ספר דברים
ה,ו אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים: לֹא-יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, עַל-פָּנָי
ה,ז לֹא-תַעֲשֶׂה לְךָ פֶסֶל, כָּל-תְּמוּנָה, אֲשֶׁר בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל, וַאֲשֶׁר בָּאָרֶץ מִתָּחַת–וַאֲשֶׁר בַּמַּיִם, מִתַּחַת לָאָרֶץ. ה,ח לֹא-תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה לָהֶם, וְלֹא תָעָבְדֵם: כִּי אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֵל קַנָּא–פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבוֹת עַל-בָּנִים וְעַל-שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל-רִבֵּעִים, לְשֹׂנְאָי. ה,ט וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד, לַאֲלָפִים–לְאֹהֲבַי, וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי מצותו (מִצְוֹתָי)
ה,י לֹא תִשָּׂא אֶת-שֵׁם-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, לַשָּׁוְא: כִּי לֹא יְנַקֶּה יְהוָה, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-יִשָּׂא אֶת-שְׁמוֹ לַשָּׁוְא
ה,יא שָׁמוֹר אֶת-יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת, לְקַדְּשׁוֹ, כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוְּךָ, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ. ה,יב שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּעֲבֹד, וְעָשִׂיתָ כָּל-מְלַאכְתֶּךָ. ה,יג וְיוֹם, הַשְּׁבִיעִי–שַׁבָּת, לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ: לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה כָל-מְלָאכָה אַתָּה וּבִנְךָ-וּבִתֶּךָ וְעַבְדְּךָ-וַאֲמָתֶךָ וְשׁוֹרְךָ וַחֲמֹרְךָ וְכָל-בְּהֶמְתֶּךָ, וְגֵרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ–לְמַעַן יָנוּחַ עַבְדְּךָ וַאֲמָתְךָ, כָּמוֹךָ. ה,יד וְזָכַרְתָּ, כִּי עֶבֶד הָיִיתָ בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, וַיֹּצִאֲךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ מִשָּׁם, בְּיָד חֲזָקָה וּבִזְרֹעַ נְטוּיָה; עַל-כֵּן, צִוְּךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, לַעֲשׂוֹת, אֶת-יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת.
ה,טו כַּבֵּד אֶת-אָבִיךָ וְאֶת-אִמֶּךָ, כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוְּךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ–לְמַעַן יַאֲרִיכֻן יָמֶיךָ, וּלְמַעַן יִיטַב לָךְ, עַל הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ
ה,טז לֹא תִרְצָח
וְלֹא תִנְאָף
וְלֹא תִגְנֹב
וְלֹא-תַעֲנֶה בְרֵעֲךָ עֵד שָׁוְא
ה,יז וְלֹא תַחְמֹד, אֵשֶׁת רֵעֶךָ; וְלֹא תִתְאַוֶּה בֵּית רֵעֶךָ, שָׂדֵהוּ וְעַבְדּוֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ שׁוֹרוֹ וַחֲמֹרוֹ, וְכֹל, אֲשֶׁר לְרֵעֶךָ
Torah, Book 5 Deuteronomy
5,6 I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 5,7 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, even any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5,8 Thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate Me, 5,9 and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments. 5,10 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. 5,11 Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD thy God commanded thee. 5,12 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; 5,13 but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD thy God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. 5,14 And thou shalt remember that thou was a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. 5,15 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God commanded thee; that thy days may be long, and that it may go well with thee, upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 5,16 Thou shalt not murder. Neither shalt thou commit adultery. {S} Neither shalt thou steal. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. 5,17 Neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s wife; neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
Let’s try to simplify the text of the Commandments and divide them into groups in the following way:
Group A: Commandments 1, 2, 3, and 4, about the relationship between God and Man:
1. I am your only God forever.
2. Do not worship things.
3. You have the right to appeal to Me only for the most important in your life. If you ask for something less important, you’ll lose that right.
4. Do not think about anything material on Saturday.
Group B: Commandment 5 is a universal formula of the existence of any nation. Pay your attention to the verb “giveth (gives)” in the original text. The verb is written in the Present Tense, and this makes the 5th Commandment ALWAYS actual.
5. A nation exists in its OWN land just as long as it remembers and honors its ancestors.
Group D: Commandments 6, 7, and 8, which distinguish humans from animals:
6. Do not kill.
7. Do not copulate without love. (See the article “About the Love“)
8. Do not steal.
Group E: Commandments 9 and 10, which distinguish good people from bad people:
9. Do not lie.
10. Do not envy.
Commandments from 6 to 10 not only provide a comprehensive formula of modern morality, but determine the order of moral elevation of an individual as well, i.e. from the 6th Commandment to the 10th Commandment.
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ABOUT THE LAWS OF NATURE
It is perfectly natural for the average person to cross the road where it is most convenient for him and when it is most convenient for him, but the law requires a person to cross the road only at the crossing and only on the green light. This is contrary to what the person wants, although the reasons do not need any explanations.
ALL, WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTIONS, LAWS are contrary to human nature! All, without any exceptions, laws forbid a person to do what he wants or, on the contrary, require a person to do what he doesn’t want. Any law is an UNNATURAL phenomenon!
More than 3.200 years ago, on the 50th day from the beginning of the Exodus, the Jews brought into the world the laws, which forbade people to behave naturally, i.e. to kill, to copulate randomly, to steal, to lie, and to envy. It is extremely difficult for mankind to live under such laws. Therefore, the day of the giving of the Commandments, i.e. the holiday of (Heb) שבועות [shavuot], also known in England as the Feast of Weeks, in Russia as Пятидесятница [piatidesatnitsa], and in ancient Greece as Πεντηκοστή [Pentikosty], is a birthday of antisemitism.
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WHY THE JEWS?
For two reasons:
– In the end of the 13th century B.C., the Jews were the only group of people, in which murder stopped being a normal behavior. Therefore, at that time, only the Jews were able to understand and to accept the commandment “Do not kill”.
– In the end of 13th century B.C., the Jews were the only group of people having a universal phonetic alphabet. Therefore, only the Jews could carry out the mission of spreading morality of the 10 commandments all over the world.
Before the beginning of the 20th century, the process of spreading morality was extremely slow – mankind was trying to save itself from hunger, and thus cared not so much about morality.
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THIS CAN BE HARDLY UNDERSTOOD TODAY
Between 1932 and 1933, in the Soviet Union 5 million people died of starvation. Some cases have been reported, when mothers, in order to survive, ate the flesh of their own children who died of starvation.
In the 1930s, in Germany almost all foodstuffs were available only on ration cards.
In 1954, in England ration cards were canceled.
A modern man, living in a civilized country, can hardly believe that very recently, less than 100 years ago, DEATH OF STARVATION was an everyday threat for almost every person on our planet.
A decisive change occurred in the second half of the 20th century:
- Technologies won over hunger in Europe and America.
- The peoples of Europe and America achieved a goal of universal literacy.
The speed of spreading the morality, based on the Commandments, has increased significantly.
Don’t think that people stopped killing, no! However, in our time, in contrast to the past centuries, killing has stopped being a NORMAL behavior in developed countries. Nowadays, murder is considered a BAD deed. A significant part of the population in developed countries is emotionally not capable of killing. Although in questions of promiscuous sexual relations, stealing, lying, and envying mankind has not reached that height, but here and there such a behavior is already considered as indecent.
Dear Reader, please accept my sincere congratulations! We’re the witnesses of a fateful process – a process when humankind and humanity are getting closer.
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