How many
commandments were on the two Tablets from Mount Sinai’s revelation, and exactly
what were they?
While this
may seem a silly question, it is not.
How many?
There were
only 10 commandments inscribed on the two stone tablets at Mount Sinai.
They are
called in Exodus 34: 28 עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים - which literally translates as “the 10 speakings”.
And that is
the name Moses uses in his final sermons to the new generation in Deut. 4:13 and Deut. 10:4.
This name choice highlights a key point: that these 10 central
commandments were unique not because they were etched into stone but because
they were spoken aloud by the thunderous voice of God Himself and heard
by the entire nation at Mt. Sinai (Exod. 20:14, Deut.4:12).
Only thereafter were they carved onto two stone tablets. The
first time in Exod. 32:16, then smashed to the ground by Moses in Exodus 32:19,
and re-created in stone in Exod. 34:1 and 38.
Jews since Talmudic times commonly use its
Aramaic form: [i]עשרת הדברות .
How are they divided up?
For some of
the “10 speakings”, where one ends and the next commandment begins has long
been subject to dispute and interpretation.
Hertz in his
Chumash[ii]
commentary notes that the division of the first verses of the 10 Commandments into
separate commandments is not self-evident.
Jewish
tradition – based on the Talmud, Midrash and Targum -- consider the opening
commandment to be the first, single sentence, and treats the next two sentences
as the 2nd commandment[iii]. So the prohibition of worshipping other
deities and making images or idols is one commandment.
However, the
modern, Yemenite Jewish Orthodox organization Mechon-Mamre[iv]
in its translations of Exodus ch. 20 and
Deuteronomy ch. 5 (see texts below) print the section “no other gods” as part
of the 1st commandment.
In fact, the
Mechon-Mamre division mirrors the so-called
"Philonic Division", which dates to the first century, as found
in the writings of Philo and Josephus, as noted by Monk Preston (see
below).
Finally, all
Jewish traditions – even Mechon-Mamre -- consider as the 10th
Commandment the entire section on “thou shalt not covet ...”: even
though the adultery aspect is separately highlighted as a stands alone sentence
in Moses’ review sermon Deut. 5: 17.
As for Christian denominations, they divide up the
Ten Commandments in various ways.
Below are two
chart summarizes of such variations: one from Monk Preston and a more detailed
and broader one from Wikipedia.
The Roman
Catholic and Lutheran divisions are the most radical.
They seem to
work backward using the Deuteronomy ch.5 version, which lists coveting
someone’s wife as a separate commandment from coveting property. They then work up.
Why?
Because the
Catholic, and eventually Lutheran, position follows Augustine of Hippo (354-430
CE) and his concern with the loose sexual morality which was common in the
Roman Empire times.
As
is clear from his Questions on Exodus,
question #71, 2nd paragraph[v], he mistakenly believed sex outside of
marriage received special emphasis at Mount Sinai as recorded in Exodus ch. 20.
I
say mistakenly as Augustine was only familiar with the Septuagint Greek
translation[vi]
which, as explained in the previous blog Masoretic Torah, the Septuagint and the Nash Papyrus, placed Adultery as the first
commandment of the Social Contract Tablet in Exodus ch. 20.
The Septuagint, copying Moses’s Deuteronomy,
also lists ‘coveting a neighbour’s wife’ first and separate from his
other ‘possessions’ in Exodus ch.20.
This ‘incorrect’
translation of the Exodus ch 20 and the order of the Social Contract as given
at Mount Sinai -- and Augustine’s own youthful pagan sexual exploits as
acknowledged in his The Confessions
--ultimately led him to forsake marriage and become celibate: and
thereafter fixate on sex as the ‘real’ Original Sin of Adam and Eve[vii].
The Catholic Church
has always emphasizes Augustine’s view that only sex between a husband and wife
– and only for procreations purposes -- is not a sin.
In this
regard, it is noteworthy Augustine’s contemporary, Jerome, who was assigned to
make a Latin translation of the Bible, in his Vulgate (published 405 CE) translates Command #10 in Deuteronomy as
ONE SINGLE UNIT.
As well,
following the original Hebrew text, Jerome lists Adultery always as the second
Social Contract crime, i.e., as Commandment #7 in Exodus and Deuteronomy[viii].
Commandment #10 -
Deuteronomy 5: 21 (Vulgate count)
non concupisces uxorem proximi tui non domum non agrum non servum
non ancillam non bovem non asinum et universa quae illius sunt
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife: nor his house, nor his
field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor
any thing that is his.[ix]
If Augustine
had seen these correct translations of the Decalogue, he may have developed a
different view of the ‘Bible’s intent re: wives.
Going back
to the Garden of Eden, Original Sin (as Christian theology stresses) made all
women in future subject to their husband’s command Gen. 3:16, and, in the Christian Bible, it is outlined in
great detail on theological grounds in Ephesians 5:22-24[x].
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even
as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now
as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to
their husbands.”
The
above English translation is from the Catholic Church’s standard
Douay-Rheims Bible.
It is
consistent with the Hebrew text’s approach to Commandment #10 in Exodus -- at
Mount Sinai.
Returning to
the other Decalogue commandments, Catholics see the first commandment as the
entire three opening verses and lump the traditional Jewish commandments #1
and #2 into a single, 3-pronged command.
Lutherans do
not consider the opening verse a commandment, i.e., “I am the Eternal your God
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” [my
translation].
This
Lutheran view is consistent with that of the Septuagint Greek translation (mid-3rd century BCE), the
Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE – c. 50 CE)[xi]
and the view of the early Christian leader, Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE)[xii].
Such a view,
that the opening verse: “I am the Eternal your God …” is not a commandment will
be discussed later on citing Ibn Ezra and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
Lastly,
Wikipedia includes the Decalogue version found in the Samaritan Pentateuch.
The
Samaritans were the peoples brought into the lands of the 10 (Lost) Tribes by the conquering Assyrians (722 BCE).
They believed one must also worship the native deity of the land, and
asked for a ‘teacher’ and Torah scroll.
This is detailed in 2 Kings 17:24-34.
As they
settled around and built a Temple on Mount Gerizim, it is not surprising their
Pentateuch has such a temple as commandment #10.
There was
already a temple to God Eternal in the neighbouring country of Judah: the magnificent
temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem some 200 years before the Samaritan
arrived. The addition of their Mount Gerizim 10th commandment gave
historical (retro-active) legitimacy to their new and separate temple.
They too do
not count “I am the Eternal …” as a commandment.
Ibn Ezra and
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Ibn Ezra,
the Medieval commentator, states that the opening verse of the Decalogue cannot
be a commandment as there is no positive or negative obligation involved. It is simply a statement of fact[xiii].
This was
also debated by Maimonides and Nahmanides.[xiv]
The late
Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Rabbi
Jonathan Sacks agrees with Ibn Ezra and bases his view on the archaeological
evidence from the Near East that has been uncovered in the last century or so.
In his
commentary to the Koren-Sacks Shavout
machzor[xv],
Rabbi Sacks points out that the opening verse is a reduced version of the standard
opening used throughout the Near East for suzerainty
treaties.
In fact, such
treaty arrangements between a powerful overlord and a vassal kingdom underlay
nearly all of the history of the Holy Land (as recorded in the Chumash and Nach) from its beginnings as Canaan[xvi]
and to the end of the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE and Judah in 586 BCE: with
Egypt or the Hittites or Assyrians or Babylonians as overlord.
Wikipedia in
its article “Suzerainty” includes the
various elements and ‘steps’ of the standard format used in Hittite
overlordship treaties.
As Rabbi Sacks
notes, the treaty – or covenant -- would always begin with a preamble
which:
1. Identifies the person initiating the
agreement
2. A historical background reviewing the
relationship between the two parties
The opening
verse of the Decalogue fits these two standard requirements:
“I am the Eternal your God who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
[ my translation].
Thereafter,
treaties go into the terms of the agreement in two stages:
3. The basic principles of the agreement
in broad terms
4. Followed by highly detailed – line by
line - terms that ensue from the broad principles of #3
Rabbi Sacks
sees the 10 commandments of the two stone tables as step #3: the ‘basic
principles of the agreement in broad strokes’.
And the
ensuing positive and negative obligations – the 613 mitzvot – as detailed ‘specifics’ that appear throughout the rest
of the Torah/Chumash.
Rabbi Sacks
could also have noted re: a standard preamble the Mesopotamian Law Code
of Hammurabi – from Abraham’s time – which has survived as it is engraved on a 7
½ feet tall black stone monument[xvii]
called a stella.
It opens
with a very lengthy and detailed explanation of who Hammurabi is and why he is
issuing the code of laws to his people[xviii].
The preamble
is extremely long but fits the ‘formula’ Rabbi Sacks sees in much later treaty
documents and as evidenced in Wikipedia’s “Suzerainty”.
The preamble
begins:
When Anu the Sublime, King of
the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the
fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over
earthly man, and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on
earth, and founded an everlasting kingdom in it, whose foundations are laid so
solidly as those of heaven and earth; then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted
prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land,
to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm
the weak; so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further the
well-being of mankind.
It has a much longer next paragraph in praise of
Hammurabi’s achievements and ends with:
When Marduk sent me to rule over men, to give the
protection of right to the land, I did right and righteousness in . . . , and
brought about the well-being of the oppressed.
To modern
eyes, the closing of Hammurabi’s preamble is all he really needed to
say.
But to meet
the requirements of the standard ‘diplomatic protocol’ for his Code, brevity
was not allowed.
Mesopotamian
love of wordiness and poetic flare, of exalting the King and Law Giver to the extreme, was standard
‘fashion’ even some two millennia BCE.
The two
Tables from Mount Sinai and their laws: set by the Eternal God of Israel, needed
no such flowery and time consuming ‘flattery’ as a preamble.
One precise
verse said it all.
“I am the Eternal your God who brought you out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” [ my
translation].
CONCLUSION re: 1st
Commandment
The first
verse of the Decalogue is not a commandment as Ibn Ezra long ago realized.
And the
Yemenite Orthodox view is best and most accurate in its division.
The first
commandant is highlighted below in YELLOW.
|
ב אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים: לֹא-יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, עַל-פָּנָי.
|
2 I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
|
As a
sidelight, a few years ago I visited the National
Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia and found among its extensive
synagogue artifacts a wooden Ten Commandment double tablet.
Its origin
was not clear but its uniqueness amazed me.
The standard
short form for the first verse: י
י אנכי was written in huge letters and stretched
across BOTH tablets.
This
congregation clearly believed the first verse of the Decalogue was a preamble, one
that applied to BOTH TABLETS.
A clever,
visual reminder that both the Creator tablet and the Social Contract tablet are
equally the will of God Eternal.
Understanding
the text of Commandment #10
When Moses reviewed the ‘10 Speakings’ with the new
generation some 40 years after the Mount
Sinai revelation, Moses made alterations in his speech.
Most notably, he made “covet thy neighbour’s wife’ the
first item, and, in fact, made it a full sentence.
Hence the efforts by some Christians to count it as a
separate commandment.
However, the Mount Sinai experience version -- Exodus
20:13 -- also splits up the last commandment
into two sentences.
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יג לֹא תַחְמֹד, בֵּית רֵעֶךָ; {ס} לֹא-תַחְמֹד אֵשֶׁת
רֵעֶךָ, וְעַבְדּוֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ וְשׁוֹרוֹ וַחֲמֹרוֹ, וְכֹל, אֲשֶׁר
לְרֵעֶךָ. {פ}
|
13 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; {S} thou shalt
not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant,
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. {P}
|
.
The Hebrew addition of a space after רֵעֶךָ (“house”) makes this clear.
As well, the
next part begins by repeating the verb, “Do not covet ...”
Under the rules of Hebrew grammar and the text’s extra
gap,
the Exodus Commandment #10 is made up of two separate sentences.
Yet no one has ever argued that Exodus 20:13 is
actually two separate commandments on such grammatical grounds.
As the Deuteronomy text similarly uses two sentences,
the same ‘logic’ should apply there as well.
Two sentences for ONE commandment.
CONCLUSION
Jews have always started with the Hebrew original Exodus ch 20 Mount Sinai
experience, and count from the start of the list.
Christian groups who count the Tablet commandments
starting ‘from the end’ and relying (in reality) on the Deuteronomy text 40
years after the Mount Sinai event, have unfortunately been misled by the
altered Septuagint translation used by Augustine.
Commandment #10, in Exodus and in Deuteronomy, sees
the ‘sin’ in the act of coveting.
The order of the details -- always presented as two
Hebrew sentences -- is secondary.
*************************************************************
Monk Preston’s table
http://prayerfoundation.org/ten_commandments_different_versions.htm
|
Division of The Ten
Commandments by Religion/Denomination:
|
|
Commandment:
|
Jewish (Talmudic/3rd Century)***
|
Anglican, Reformed, and other Protestant
|
Eastern
Orthodox
|
Roman
Catholic, Lutheran**
|
|
I am the Lord your God
|
1
|
preface
|
1
|
1
|
|
You shall have no other
gods before me
|
2
|
1
|
|
You shall not make for
yourself an idol
|
2
|
2
|
|
You shall not make wrongful
use of the name of your God
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
|
Remember the Sabbath and
keep it holy
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
3
|
|
Honor your father and
mother
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
4
|
|
You shall not murder*
|
6
|
6
|
6
|
5
|
|
You shall not commit
adultery
|
7
|
7
|
7
|
6
|
|
You shall not steal
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
|
You shall not bear false
witness against your neighbor
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
8
|
|
You shall not covet your
neighbor's wife
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
9
|
|
You shall not covet
anything that belongs to your neighbor
|
10
|
Wikipedia chart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments
·
All scripture quotes above are from the King
James Version unless otherwise stated.
Traditions:
·
T: Jewish Talmud, makes the "prologue" the first "saying" or
"matter" and combines the prohibition on worshiping deities other
than Yahweh with the prohibition on idolatry.
·
R: Reformed
Christians follow John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, which follows the Septuagint; this system is also used in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.[52]
·
LXX: Septuagint, generally followed by Orthodox Christians.
·
P: Philo, has an extensive homily on why the order is so important, with the
prohibition on adultery "the greatest of the commands dealing with
persons", followed by the prohibitions against stealing and then killing
last.[53]
·
L: Lutherans follow Luther's Large Catechism, which
follows Augustine but subordinates the prohibition of images to the sovereignty
of God in the First Commandment[54] and uses the word order of Exodus 20:17 rather than Deuteronomy
5:21 for the ninth and tenth commandments.
·
S: Samaritan
Pentateuch, with an additional commandment about Mount Gerizim as 10th.
·
A: Augustine follows the Talmud in combining verses 3–6, but omits the prologue
as a commandment and divides the prohibition on coveting in two and following
the word order of Deuteronomy 5:21 rather than Exodus 20:17.
·
C: Catechism of the Catholic Church, largely follows Augustine. Combines the Exodus language prohibiting
images of God with the command to have no other gods but the Lord, as the first
commandment. Changes "the sabbath" into "the lord's day".
Divides Exodus 20:17, prohibiting covetousness, into two commandments.
Exodus Chapter 20 שְׁמוֹת Mechon-Mamre version
|
א וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים, אֵת כָּל-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה
לֵאמֹר.
|
1 And God
spoke all these words, saying:
|
|
ב אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ
מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים:
לֹא-יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, עַל-פָּנָי.
|
2 I am the
LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage. Thou shalt have
no other gods before Me.
|
|
|
|
From http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0220.htm
|
Deuteronomy
Chapter 5
ו אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ. , אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם
מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים:
לֹא-יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, עַל-פָּנָי
|
Mechon-Mamre version
6 I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods
before Me.
|
ADDITIONAL NOTE: What did the 2 Tablets
look like?
Every
synagogue has at the front, above the Aharon
Hakodesh where Torah Scrolls are kept, a wooden, metal, stained glass or
other material representation of the two Tablets given at Sinai.
Some Aharon fabric covers also depict these two
Tablets.
The replicas
are always rectangular with rounded tops.
In all
cases, only the first two words of each commandment are presented – not the entire text.
And all are
written in the upright (Ketav Ashuri)
script of our Torah scrolls.
Over the
years, every once in a while I ask myself:
What would a real replica of
the two Tablets look like?
This is not
an idle question.
1. First point is the amount of text on
each tablet.
The count below is for the original Exodus ‘10 Speakings’ at
Mount Sinai, Exod. 20: 1-13.
It is somewhat shorter than Moses’ sermon review 40 years
later in Deuteronomy as Moses adds extra cross references and a few other
words.
But the ‘pattern’ is the same for both.
Tablet #2 has just 25
words.
Tablet #1 has 146 words – almost 6 times as many words.
This should not be surprising as the 2nd tablet
Commandments #6, #7 and #8 are just two words each. And #9 and
#10 do not have the lengthy listing
of reward or punishment as on the 1st Tablet.
So, if the
two tablets were of equal size, the lettering on the first tablet would have had to have been approximately 1/6 the size of those on Tablet #2 to fit.
Maybe the
first word or two –as on our replicas – would have been in large lettering, but
the rest had to be in much smaller lettering.
2. The lettering would not have been in
the upright Ketav Ashuri style we use today. The tablets were given some 850 years[xix]
before the Babylonian Exile of 586 BCE and the subsequent adoption of Assyrian
Aramaic upright lettering. Before then, Hebrew texts resembled more today’s
Modern Hebrew curved handwriting.
The Samaritan
Pentateuch to this day preserves that font from soon after 722 BCE. And going back to
Moses’s era, the Hebrew script was even more
‘rudimentary’ then.
Anyone who has even watched
the Hollywood movie with Charlton Heston as Moses, The Ten Commandments (1956), should have noticed the two tablets Heston carries and breaks have more triangular lettering, a
script archaeologists call proto- Canaanite[xx].
The tablets Heston carries are NOT
the full texts but ‘representative’ as the tablets have only one to four words
per line and only 7 to 8 lines each.
Oddly, Tablet #1 is missing the 3rd
Commandment re: ‘Taking God’s name in vain’ and the 5th Commandment
re: Parents is first on the 2nd Tablet[xxi].
Comparing scripts
To help visualize what the Tablets of
the Covenant actually looked like, below is a modern synagogue standard
replica in Ketav Ashuri, the limestone Gezer Calendar, 10th
century BCE in ancient Hebrew script, and a Samaritan Pentateuch scroll:
parchment with 7th century BCE script.
[ii] J.H. Hertz, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, Soncino Press, London, 1958
[iv] See
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/about.htm)
[xiii] See The Soncino Chumash: the five book of Moses with Hahtaroth (London,
6th impression 1966) commentary pages 457-58
[xvi] Gen. 10:10. highlights Nimrod as the
first king to create an empire Gen. ch
14 recounts the rebellion of Sodom and 4 others against its overlord who attack
with vassal states as auxiliaries. Gen. 14:4 “Twelve years
they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.”
[xx] Origins of the Alphabet:
introduction to archaeology (Palphot Ltd.), page 17.
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