The Hidden Logic of the Ten Commandments: From Heart to Action

There is an important and revealing idea embedded in the order of the Ten Commandments.

The first commandment is: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Shemot 20:2).

The tenth commandment, which concludes the five commandments between one person and another, is: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his servant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Shemot 20:13).

In Devarim, in the portion of Va’etchanan, the Torah completes the prohibition of “You shall not covet” with the words “and you shall not desire” (Devarim 5:17).

“You Shall Not Covet”: A Commandment of the Heart

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that the commandment “You shall not covet” is God’s seal upon the commandments between man and his fellow. Why is this so?

A human king can command: “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not commit adultery.” But only the Creator of the world can command the heart and say: “You shall not covet.”

God examines the kidneys and the heart. Not only actions are revealed before Him, but also the inner stirrings of thought and desire. Therefore, only God can command restraint over craving and longing of the heart.

Human Justice Versus Divine Justice

Human beings can legislate only against the act of the crime itself. Once the crime is committed, the criminal is brought to justice. But human systems have no tools to uproot the source of wrongdoing, which is “cooked” within the heart.

This is true of all judicial systems in the world. Many people harbor thoughts, schemes, and desires that ripen into potential actions. Often, the only thing that prevents them from acting is fear of the police or the courts.

As a result, human justice systems are built on a weak foundation. They restrain behavior from the outside, not from the root.

The Torah, by contrast, commands not only the elimination of harmful outcomes, but the purification of the root itself: do not covet in your heart. A person will ultimately be judged for failing to strive toward this inner refinement. When the heart is whole, the structure built upon it is firm and stable. (Many commentators, including Ibn Ezra, explain how this commandment can be practically fulfilled.)

The Structure of the Two Tablets

The Ten Commandments do not possess intrinsic holiness or importance beyond any other mitzvah in the Torah. However, when we examine their structure, we discover a guiding idea that illuminates all the commandments.

The first tablet opens with “I am the Lord your God” and concludes with “Honor your father and your mother.” The second tablet opens with “You shall not murder” and concludes with “You shall not covet.”

The first commandment is a commandment of inner recognition: the awareness in the heart that “I am the Lord your God.” This is not externally visible. The second commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me,” is likewise a commandment of the heart.

From there, the Torah demands that this inner awareness find outward expression:

• Through speech: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”

• Through action and labor: “Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it.”

Observance of Shabbat is the practical expression of faith in the Creator.

The final commandment on the first tablet, “Honor your father and your mother,” serves as a concrete means of transmitting tradition and passing the torch of faith from one generation to the next.

Thus, the first tablet begins with inner awareness and ends with practical expression.

From Action Back to the Heart

The second tablet, which governs interpersonal relationships, begins with action: “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not commit adultery.”

It then moves to speech: “You shall not bear false witness against your fellow.”

Finally, it reaches the inner realm of thought and desire: “You shall not covet.”

The underlying idea here is profound.

Commandments between man and God, such as faith, are nearly meaningless if they do not translate into concrete action. It is easy to believe in the heart and even print “In God We Trust” on every dollar bill, but such belief is empty if it does not govern our speech and deeds.

In commandments between one person and another, the same principle applies, but in reverse. Ethical behavior in society is hollow if it remains external and does not penetrate the heart and purify thought itself.

Every good and upright deed must emerge from the inner heart, and every noble stirring of the heart must ultimately find expression in action.

This idea unites the two tablets — the commandments between man and God and those between man and his fellow, and forms a cornerstone of the entire Torah.

The Torah demands integrity of heart and integrity of action, bound together as one.