The ten words are truly amazing. It was just three months after Israel was delivered from slavery that God gives them a charter to live by – a sort of divine “bill of rights” to govern their new society and teach them what it means to love God and neighbor. Throughout the Pentateuch these words are expanded and extrapolated into case law, but these ten words remained foundational – simple enough that the youngest child could memorize them, comprehensive enough that they could form the basis for thinking through difficult real-life situations that arise.