correspond to the number of letters in the Ten Commandments. These laws were of various kinds, but the Jews did not ordinarily distinguish between moral, ceremonial, civil, and health regulations, for all were alike commandments from God and religious obligations. Nevertheless it is possible to make legitimate distinctions between various kinds on the basis of form and of the terminology applied to them. Apodictic laws are categorical imperatives or prohibitions declaring “Thou shalt” or “Thou shalt