What is the invitation that the sculpture refers to? The following four metaphors, relating to different physical aspects of the sculpture, cast light on this question.

Hands: an invitation to relationship
The inside faces of the 10 pillars resemble human fingers; one can imagine a giant pair of hands emerging from the ground. The pillars also represent the Ten Commandments, which in their written form often seem rigid, formal and impersonal. Yet the sculptor depicts these laws as fingers – warm, open and inviting. A closer look at the Old Testament text shows that the Decalogue begins with the statement that God delivered the Israelites from oppressive slavery and brought them into liberty, because of his compassion and love for them. The divine invitation stills stands – to discover God’s nature and character through the laws he has made, and to realise that law and grace flow together from the heart of God.

Circle: an invitation to freedom
The pillars of the sculpture form a circle, suggesting that law acts as a boundary marker, defining the point beyond which attitudes or actions become harmful and destructive. Inside the circle there is freedom. The Decalogue is an invitation to live in a space of liberty and flourishing, which touches all areas of life – spiritual, social, economic and cultural. The metaphor of a circle contrasts with postmodern thinking, by suggesting that law is not the contradiction of freedom, but is actually the condition of freedom.

Double-sided pillars: an invitation to ethical reflection
The sculpture reflects the principle of dual consequences, the outcomes of living on either the right side or the wrong side of God’s law. If a person or a society lives by this law, it will generally go well with them, especially over the long term. This is expressed by the warm, positive shape of the inside of the pillars. But if a community persists in disregarding the law, there is a sharp warning that things will turn out badly in the end – the other side of the columns are like raised swords. When such things happen it is not so much an act of arbitrary judgment as the inevitable consequence of violating the law by which the universe is held together.

Massive columns: an invitation to build
The sheer size and weight of these pillars suggest that the Decalogue is greater than a mere legal code for a small country way back in history. There is something universal about it, as it offers a guide for developing communities and society in any nation or generation. When faced with the collapse of an institution – a failed state, a broken marriage, a banking system close to meltdown – the Decalogue invites us to evaluate our theories, policies and actions from its ethical framework, and offers a stronger foundation for rebuilding institutions and society, one that has stood the test of time and the evolution of civilisations.