George Ricker takes new look at Ten Commandments

A New Look at Old Commandments by George M. Ricker, Eakin Press, Austin, $14.95
George M. Ricker artistically combines the best of biblical scholasticism, the wisdom of 80-plus years of living and clear, concise communication in A New Look at the Old Commandments. He provides 21st century disciples an integrated presentation of ancient belief, existential journey and up-to-the-minute application as he examines the Ten Commandments.
Ricker’s style is engaging; his presentation is informative; and his elucidation is both appropriate to the text and understandable to the reader. His book is valuable to any disciple who desires to better understand and practice scriptural faith. That makes the work especially useful for those who teach Bible studies or lessons in applied discipleship.
Ricker invites readers to find higher ground between the literalists of the word and the hedonists of the world. By recalling the ancient commandments for appropriate life within community, Ricker offers a strong antidote for the permissiveness of 21st century culture.
In the introduction, Ricker points out that “the Hebrew word translated ‘commandment’ in English is more accurately translated as ‘word’ or ‘saying.’” The common usage of “commandment” comes from the King James Bible.
Ricker examines, explains and applies the commandments in a manner that lets “the (10) Words become flesh” for readers.
Ricker initiates the examination of the first commandment by recounting the “basic biblical understanding: God is first known as savior and secondarily as lawgiver.”
Whether salvation is from slavery in a foreign land or from calling on the name of Jesus, it is essential for the disciple to remember that the “commandments” were not God’s first act. Rather, God first brought salvation and provided the law/word/commandment as a means of living a grateful (i.e. graceful) life in response to saving grace/salvation.
Most explications of the Ten Commandments examine the theological commandments (those addressing the nature of God) exhaustively; but each of the subsequent ethical commands (addressing how to live in community with each other) gets less and less attention. “Thou shalt not covet” is reduced to trite, pithy pablum about not being jealous of someone else’s good position, possessions or prospects.
To my utter joy, Ricker applies the “last” commandment not as if it was an afterthought to simply get the number to 10. Instead, Ricker uses covetousness to address the entire scope of human failure to live in the community of which God would dream.
“If there is a universal sin among the last five Commandments,” Ricker writes, “coveting is it. … Envy is nonproductive and begins and ends with self torment.”
“Envy” moves us “from comparison to competition.”
“To covet is both dissatisfaction with oneself and resentment toward some other,” Ricker writes. “The wound of envy is absence of healthy relationships” (the exact opposite of what God would dream for us). “Others are constant threats and reminders of our failures.”
Ricker concludes (and his Wesleyan heritage is never more apparent), “No one has to be envious. The cure or the correction is at hand. When love enters as a ruling passion in one’s life, coveting slips away.”
The high point of A New Look at the Old Commandments for me was the Addenda: Essays on the Commandments. Here, the experienced preacher, prophet and pastor moves from teaching to preaching. Thank God! These essays are worth the publication of the entire book.
A New Look at the Old Commandments is not a book to be read and placed on the shelf as some form of accomplishment. Like the very scriptures upon which the book is based, it bears rereading, reapplying, reteaching and re-examining periodically. It will not cease to bear fruit.