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When we gather these four categories together, their sum constitutes the laws our Lord has commanded us.
He has bound us to knowledge of Him, worship of Him, and sincere devotion to Him, as the first wise man said: 'And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing soul' (1 Chr. 28:9).
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Then He forbade us from receiving Him with vile insult — even though it does not harm Him — because it is not befitting wisdom to permit such.
And He did not permit some of us to transgress against others or wrong them, as He says: 'You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another' (Lev. 19:11).
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These three categories and what attaches to them constitute the first type of legislation. To the first belong: humbling oneself before Him, worshipping Him, standing in His presence, and the like.
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To the second belong: not associating partners with Him, not swearing by His name falsely, not attributing base qualities to Him, and the like.
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To the third are added: practicing truth, righteousness, justice, and fairness; avoiding the killing of rational beings; the prohibition of adultery, theft, deception, and fraud.
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And that one love for his brother what he loves for himself, and all that falls under these headings. Every category that is commanded has been planted in our minds as something we esteem good; every category that is prohibited has been planted as something we find repugnant.
The second type consists of matters concerning which reason does not, of itself, judge them good or repugnant.
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Of themselves — yet our Lord added commands and prohibitions concerning them to multiply our recompense and happiness through them, as He says: 'The LORD desired, for the sake of His righteousness, to make the Torah great and glorious' (Isa. 42:21).
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Thus what is commanded of them became good, and what is prohibited became repugnant — by virtue of the obligatory worship involved — and the second category came to resemble the first.
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And yet, upon reflection, these too must have some partial, rationally discernible benefits and reasons — just as the first type has great benefits and extensive rational grounding.
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Section 2. I should address the rational laws first. I say: it is wisdom to protect the lives of rational beings and not permit them to destroy one another.
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For beyond the pain they experience, it would destroy the purpose for which the Wise One designed them — killing would cut them off from that for which He created and employed them.
It is wisdom to prohibit adultery, lest rational beings become like animals, each one not knowing his father so as to repay him for raising him.
It is wisdom to prohibit theft — for if some people were permitted to subsist by stealing others' property, they would neither cultivate the world nor earn wealth.
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And it is wisdom — indeed one of its first principles — to speak truth and abandon falsehood, for truth is speaking about a thing as it is and as it stands.