The Ten Commandments

Cast

• Peter Sallis
• Tom Bell
• Stephen Murray
• David Langton
• Mary Ure
• Graham Crowden
• Judy Parfitt
• Janet Key
• Anthony Hopkins
• Mary Peach
• Ann Castle
• Adrienne Frank
• George Cole
• Paul Eddington
• June Ritchie
• James Cossins
• Pauline Jameson
• Patricia Brake
• Judy Campbell
• James Grout
• Michael Ridgeway
• Rosalind Lloyd
• Gay Hamilton
• Jeanette Sterke
• Scott Forbes

• Season 1
• Episode 1: Decision to Burn
  UK...
• Episode 2: The Nineteenth Hole
  UK:6 April 1971...
• Episode 3: Be Lucky
  UK:13 April 1971...
• Episode 4: Black Eye on Sunday
  UK:20 April 1971...
• Episode 5: Hilda
  UK:27 April 1971...
• Episode 6: Husband and Friend
  UK:4 May 1971...
• Episode 7: The Catherine Wheel
  UK:11 May 1971...
• Episode 8: An Object of Affection
  UK:18 May 1971...
• Episode 9: As Many as Are Here Present
  UK:25 May 1971...
• Episode 10: A Bit of Family Feeling
  UK:1 June 1971...

• Lyrics: play full screen play karaoke
• The Ten Commandments - Johnny Cash
• The Ten Commandments - Cash Johnny
• The Ten Commandments - The Statler Brothers
• The Ten Commandments - Rick Wakeman
• The Ten Commandments - George Carlin

Moses led God's children out to find the promised land
And on the way he'd stop each day and look to Heaven and
Asked God for help as he could not withstand the task alone
And then one day he looked away and thereby lay a stone
God said write upon this stone these words I say to you
And if you all obey my rules I'll see you safely through
God opened Heaven's door and then He guided Moses' hands
And then He said go and tell my children these are my commands
Go and climb that mountain Moses climb that mountain now and pray
Climb that mountain now and tell us what our Lord has had to say
Thou shalt have no Gods before me is my great command
And thou shalt not make any graven image by thy hand
Thou shalt not take my name in vain if thou would guiltless be
Remember thou to keep the sabbath day alone for me
Honor thy father and thy mother and thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adult'ry and thou shalt not steal
Love thy neighbor as thyself and show thy neighbor peace
Covet not thy neighbor's house nor anything that's his
Go and climb that mountain...
Moses showed these words of God to all the children then
They pulled up stakes and headed out to find the promised land
That Moses had described to them and told of comforts there
The children of oppression thought they'd not find anywhere
But they were soon to part from him and push alone awhile
For it was never meant for him to walk that final mile
The children cried if we must go on Moses without you
Then talk to God just one more time and tell us what to do
Go and climb that mountain...

Moses led God's children out to find the promised land
And on the way he'd stop each day and look to Heaven and
Asked God for help as he could not withstand the task alone
And then one day he looked away and thereby lay a stone
God said write upon this stone these words I say to you
And if you all obey my rules I'll see you safely through
God opened Heaven's door and then He guided Moses' hands
And then He said go and tell my children these are my commands
Go and climb that mountain Moses climb that mountain now and pray
Climb that mountain now and tell us what our Lord has had to say
Thou shalt have no Gods before me is my great command
And thou shalt not make any graven image by thy hand
Thou shalt not take my name in vain if thou would guiltless be
Remember thou to keep the sabbath day alone for me
Honor thy father and thy mother and thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adult'ry and thou shalt not steal
Love thy neighbor as thyself and show thy neighbor peace
Covet not thy neighbor's house nor anything that's his
Go and climb that mountain...
Moses showed these words of God to all the children then
They pulled up stakes and headed out to find the promised land
That Moses had described to them and told of comforts there
The children of oppression thought they'd not find anywhere
But they were soon to part from him and push alone awhile
For it was never meant for him to walk that final mile
The children cried if we must go on Moses without you
Then talk to God just one more time and tell us what to do
Go and climb that mountain...
Thou shalt have no Gods before me...

(Written by Lew DeWitt)
Moses led God's children out
To find the promised land
And on the way he stopped each day
And looked to Heaven and.
Asked God for help as he
Could not withstand the task alone
And then one day he looked away
And thereby lay a stone.
God said write upon this stone
These words I say to you
And if you all obey My rules
I'll see you safely through.
God opened Heavens doors
And then He guided Moses hand
And said go and tell My children
These are My commands.
Go and climb that mountain Moses
Climb that mountain now and pray
Climb that mountain now and tell us
What our Lord has had to say
Thou shall have no gods before Me
Is My first command
And thou shall not make any graven image
By thy hand.
Thou shalt not take My name in vain
And thou wilt guiltless be
Remember thou to keep the Sabbath day
Alone for Me.
Honor thy father and thy mother
And thou shall not kill
Thou shall not commit adultery
And thou shall not steal.
Love thy neighbor as thyself
And show thy neighbor peace
Covet not thy neighbor's house
Nor anything that's his.
Go and climb that mountain Moses
Climb that mountain now and pray
Climb that mountain now and tell us
What our Lord has had to say.
Moses showed these words of God
To all the children there.
They pulled up stakes and headed out
To find the Promised Land.
That Moses had described to them
And told of comforts there
The children of oppression
Thought they'd not find anywhere.
But they were soon to part from him
And push alone awhile
For it was never meant for him
To walk that final mile.
The children cried as we must go on
Moses without you
Then talk to God just one more time
And tell us what to do.
Go and climb that mountain Moses
Climb that mountain now and pray
Climb that mountain now and tell us
What our Lord has had to say.
Go and climb that mountain Moses
Climb that mountain now and pray
Climb that mountain now and tell us
What our Lord has had to say...

And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them. And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them. So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them. ¶And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any 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: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 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. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. ¶Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. ¶And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

I have a problem with the Ten Commandments. Here it is: Why are there ten? We don't need that many. I think the list of commandments was deliberately and artificially inflated to get it up to ten. It's clearly a padded list.
Here's how it happened: About five thousand years ago, a bunch of religious and political hustlers got together to figure out how they could control people and keep them in line. They knew people were basically stupid and would believe anything they were told, so these guys announced that God— God personally—had given one of them a list of Ten Commandments that he wanted everyone to follow. They claimed the whole thing took place on a mountaintop, when no one else was around.
But let me ask you something: When these guys were sittin' around the tent makin' all this up, why did they pick ten? Why ten? Why not nine, or eleven? I'll tell you why. Because ten sounds important. Ten sounds official. They knew if they tried eleven, people wouldn't take them seriously. People would say, "What're you kiddin' me? The Eleven Commandments? Get the fuck outta here!"
But ten! Ten sounds important. Ten is the basis for the decimal system; it's a decade. It's a psychologically satisfying number: the top ten; the ten most wanted; the ten best-dressed. So deciding on Ten Commandments was clearly a marketing decision. And it's obviously a bullshit list. In truth, it's a politic; document, artificially inflated to sell better.
I'm going to show you how you can reduce the number of commandments and come up with a list that's a bit more logical and realistic. We'll start with the first three, and I'll use the Roman Catholic version because those are the ones I was fed as a little boy.
• I AM THE LORD THY GOD, THOU SHALT NOT HAVE STRANGE
GODS BEFORE ME.
• THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN
VAIN.
• THOU SHALT KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH.
Okay, right off the bat, the first three commandments—pure bullshit "Sabbath day," "Lord's name," "strange gods." Spooky language. Spooky language designed to scare and control primitive people. In no way does superstitious mumbo jumbo like this apply to the lives of intelligent, civilized human in the twenty-first century. You throw out the first three commandments, am you're down to seven.
•HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER.
This commandment is about obedience and respect for authority; in other words it's simply a device for controlling people. The truth is, obedience and respect should not be granted automatically. They should be earned. They should be based on the parents' (or the authority figure's) performance. Some parents deserve respect. Most of them don't. Period. We're down to six.
Now, in the interest of logic—something religion has a really hard time with—I'm going to skip around the list a little bit:
• THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.
• THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS.
Stealing and lying. Actually, when you think about it, these two commandments cover the same sort of behavior: dishonesty. Stealing and lying. So we don't need two of them. Instead, we combine these two and call it "Thou shalt not be dishonest." Suddenly we're down to five.
And as long as we're combining commandments I have two others that belong together:
• THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.
• THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S WIFE.
Once again, these two prohibit the same sort of behavior; in this case, marital infidelity. The difference between them is that coveting takes place in the mind. And I don't think you should outlaw fantasizing about someone else's wife, otherwise what's a guy gonna think about when he's waxing his carrot?
But marital fidelity is a good idea, so I suggest we keep the idea and call this commandment "Thou shalt not be unfaithful." Suddenly we're down to four.
And when you think about it further, honesty and fidelity are actually parts of the same overall value. So, in truth, we could combine the two honesty commandments with the two fidelity commandments, and, using positive language instead of negative, call the whole thing "Thou shalt always be honest and faithful." And now we're down to three.
•THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S GOODS.
This one is just plain stupid. Coveting your neighbor's goods is what keeps the economy going: Your neighbor gets a vibrator that plays "O Come All Ye Faithful," you want to get one, too. Coveting creates jobs. Leave it alone.
You throw out coveting and you're down to two now: the big, combined honesty/fidelity commandment, and the one we haven't mentioned yet:
•THOU SHALT NOT KILL.
Murder. The Fifth Commandment. But, if you give it a little thought, you realize that religion has never really had a problem with murder. Not really. More people have been killed in the name of God than for any other reason.
To cite a few examples, just think about Irish history, the Middle East, the Crusades, the Inquisition, our own abortion-doctor killings and, yes, the World Trade Center to see how seriously religious people take Thou Shalt Not Kill. Apparently, to religious folks—especially the truly devout—murder is negotiable. It just depends on who's doing the killing and who's getting killed.
And so, with all of this in mind, folks, I offer you my revised list of the Two Commandments:
•THOU SHALT ALWAYS BE HONEST AND FAITHFUL, ESPECIALLY
TO THE PROVIDER OF THY NOOKIE.
And second:
•THOU SHALT TRY REAL HARD NOT TO KILL ANYONE, UNLESS,
OF COURSE, THEY PRAY TO A DIFFERENT INVISIBLE MAN
THAN THE ONE YOU PRAY TO.
Two is all you need, folks. Moses could have carried them down the hill in his pocket. And if we had a list like that, I wouldn't mind that brilliant judge in Alabama displaying it prominently in the courthouse wall. As long he included one additional commandment: