"...We have lacked perfection since the original sin of Eden, and through millennia God has been intent on reclaiming and restoring us to himself, the source where all of our needs are met.
We encounter a huge part of that reclamation effort within the direct communication drawn by God and delivered by Moses, but what we seldom realize is this: all of the commandments are simply an expansion of the very first commandment - the one about gods and idols. The command is given primacy not because the Creator is insecure and in need of constant attention, but because it is the one commandment that, if obeyed, renders all of the others quite nearly moot. Were we not continually making idols of the objects of our desire - all of those shiny things we cannot resist grabbing on to - nothing would be cluttering up the space between us and God; the lines would be straight and the crooked letters rendered unnecessary.
The 'you shall nots' are less a list of restrictions and limitations than an invitation to keep turning back to God, who will 'satisfy the desire of every living thing' (Ps. 145:16) The 'shall nots' say, 'Don't steal that; look at me. Don't objectify her with lust; look at me.Don't nurse your anger unto death! Look at me. Do not look out there, not even to your past, be it good or bad; and do not look to your earthly desires. Look at me, and let me love you, and you will have no need of the rest.'"
- Elizabeth Scalia in Strange Gods: Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life., pages 21-22
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