The REAL Ten Commandments!

[Ladsin2]

I saw a question on here asking about the Ten Commandments, and it reminded me that many people don't know the Sunday school version of the Ten Commandments that they remember are actually not the true Ten Commandments.

According to Exodus Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt and came to the foot of Mt. Sinai. Beginning in Exodus 20 God descended upon the mountain and left many commandments to Moses. Not once is the phrase "10 Commandments" mentioned, nor are there only ten given. Instead I counted about 50, but they are as follows:

First there's the ten you're familiar with, but it follows with making an altar of earth and not building stairs or God may see your genitals. The Laws continue in Exodus 21 with laws regarding the treatment of servants and personal injuries. Hebrew male servants are to go free in the sixth year; whereas, female servants do not. This is also the section where "an eye for an eye" comes from. Exodus 22 continues with property and general social laws. If a burglar breaks into your home at night and you kill them you are protected, but if it's after sunrise you are not. As a society you can't allow a sorceress to live. Exodus 23 is the laws of Justice, Mercy, Sabbath, and Festivals. Exodus 24 is the consummation of the covenant. Moses then goes up the mountain for 40 days and nights. The next several chapters are issues regarding worship, building altars etc. Finally in Exodus 31 Moses begins to descend the mountain. Unbeknownst to Moses as he was on the mountain the Jewish people created a golden calf and started to worship it in Exodus 32. Moses comes down the mountain and casts the stones of the covenant into the earth and breaks them. Following which Moses had the Levites put everyone to the sword and God sent a plague to tear through presumably whatever people remained. Now finally in Exodus 34 we get to the important part. This is where we actually get the Ten Commandments.

• Do Not Make Treaties With Those In The Surrounding Land
• " Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous"
• Do Not Make Any Idols
• Celebrate The Feast Of Unleavened Bread
• The First Offspring Of Every Womb Belong To The Lord
• No One Is To Appear Before Me Empty Handed
• Keep The Sabbath
• Celebrate The Festival Of Weeks And The Festival Of Ingathering
• Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Festival remain until morning
• Do Not Seethe A Goat In It's Mother's Milk

Exodus 24:27 "Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments."

So there you have it. Clearly the Ten Commandments you thought were real weren't. That's what's really real.

First MyTake hope it wasn't too disjointed.

[CrazyGirl2]

I think it’s a great MyTake, and not disjointed at all. But I must respectfully disagree with you as these are not the “Real Ten Commandments” at all! You really should be more careful when you say that they are “REAL”. I’m guessing you are a Baptist, or a non-denominational “Charismatic” Christian, because what you wrote only appears in the New International Version (NIV), New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), and a few other lesser well know versions worded like that. It also appears in the Torah, but is not only worded differently, there are more than 10 ritual commandments, as follows:

0. And He said: "Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been wrought in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, that I am about to do with you, that it is tremendous.
1. Observe that which I command you this day: behold, I am driving out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
2. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither you go, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you.
3. But you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim.
4. For you shall bow down to no other god; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
5. Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go astray after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and they call you, and you eat of their sacrifice.
6. And you take of their daughters unto your sons, and their daughters go astray after their gods, and make your sons go astray after their gods.
7. You shall make no molten gods for yourselves.
8. The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
9. All that opens the womb is Mine; and of all your cattle you shall sanctify the males, the firstlings of ox and sheep.
10. And the firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty.
11. Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
12. And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, even of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
13. Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
14. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man covet your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year.
15. You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
16. The choicest first-fruits of your land you shall bring unto the house of the LORD your God. You shall not seethe a kid in its mother's milk."

The version of what you call the Ten Commandments you provided is known as the Ritual Decalogue, and you correctly pointed out they are found in Exodus 34:10-26. But this version is different, and distinct from the widely recognized Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, which are often referred to as the Ethical Decalogue. The Ritual Decalogue focuses more on the ceremonial of the religious observances, rather than moral or ethical commandments everyone is familiar with. It is typically found in translations of the Bible that include Exodus 34 in its entirety, such as the aforementioned New International Version (NIV), as well as the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), and others more associated with fundamentalistic Christian sects.

In Judaism, the Ethical Decalogue (Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5) is central to our religious teaching and practice. The passage in Exodus 34 is recognized as part of the Torah but is not emphasized as the Ten Commandments. Instead, it is understood within the broader context of covenantal law, and actually contains MORE than ten ritual commandments. So as a Jew, Jesus himself would have been taught to observe the “Ethical decalogue” which are the Ten Commandments, not the “Ritualistic decalogue", which is not taught as being the Ten Commandments, let alone the REAL Ten Commandments! If or no other reason, than there are not ten items in the Ritualistic Decalog. If we consider the historical and religious context, Jesus would have been familiar with the Torah as a whole, including both Exodus 20 and Exodus 34, since these texts are part of the Hebrew Scriptures. However, the Ritual Decalogue in Exodus 34 would have been understood as part of the more broader Mosaic Law rather than a separate set of commandments like the Ethical Decalogue, is and is universally recognized in both Christian and Jewish teachings as not only the “REAL” , but the ONLY Ten Commandments today.

In my opinion, you have misinterpreted two separate lists of religious instructions. and in my opinion and knowledge as someone having been raised Jewish, and studied the Torah but who began the conversion to Christianity. But simply never went through with the “My Personal Lord and Savior” prayer, claiming that the Ritualistic Decalogue is the “REAL Ten Commandments” is misleading and likely to confuse someone new to the Christian faith, or dissuade someone considering getting “saved”’ and becoming a Christian, if they are close to that point in their life.

This was written with the intent to inform, and is not in any way meant to be critical of your beliefs. I have a lot of respect of people’s faith, and I wish you well.

Sincerely, Laura.

[Ladsin2]

Well written and informative, that said I still think I’m correct. In no version that I could find is the “ethical Decalogue” that you reference called the Ten Words, commandments, or any such thing. They are not set apart as different from the other few dozen laws between Exodus 20-23. In point of fact I believe the only place “ aseret ha'devarim” or The Ten Words is used in Exodus is in reference to what you’re calling the ritual Decalogue. Am I incorrect in my assessment?

[CrazyGirl2]

I don’t believe I wrote the words that “ethical Decalogue is CALLED "the Ten Words, commandments.” ” I even read, re-read, and did a text search on my answer, and in no place did I even use the phrase “Ten Words Commandments”. But yes, you are mistaken in your assessment. All you need to do is Google “Ethical Decalogue”, sweetie. (I’ll include a link to it for you below, as the burden of proof is on ME the writer, NOT you the reader.) But I love that you tested my Hebrew. Bravo! Aseret Ha’devarim in hebrew would read "עשׂרת הדברים”, and means the two tablets were inscribed "by the finger of God" on both.

The Ethical Decalogue and The Ritualistic Decalogue are clearly different and distinct with the former being a list of ethical and moral rules by which God commands his people to live by, and the latter being rules for religious rituals. As I understand it. (I do NOT claim to be an expert on religion) I merely grew-up ½ Jewish on my mother's side, (which under Jewish Law makes me Jewish), and ½ Christian on my father's side. As such I went to both a synagogue and a church. I also had my Bat Mitzvah at 12 under Jewish law, and was about to be baptized and pray the prayer of salvation under Christian Law, when I was raped by my uncle! But I have studied the Torah and the Holy Bible, both NKJ, and NIV. I also attended both Hebrew school and Church/Sunday School as well as a Christian Youth Group.

Source for the difference between The Ethical Decalogue & The Ritualistic Decalogue: jewishsacredaging.com/the-other-ten-commandments/

Google definition for “Ethical Decalogue”: https://www.google.com/search?q=Ethical+Decalogue

You are free to disagree with my assessment, that’s okay. But it does come from a place of lived experience in both faiths, as well as research specifically undertaken for this MyTake. While I was familiar with this subject, I obviously didn't know it well enough by rote memory to provide an academic rebuttal to your claim.

Sincerely, Laura.

[Ladsin2]

My brief google search of The Hebrew phrase is “ "Ten Declarations" (i. e., aseret ha'devarim: עשׂרת הדברים”. Your source is also a good explanation on the difference between the two section. You’re actually goes a little further pointing out that the original elder in exodus 20 doesn’t number ten. Rather it’s variably 11-14 (14 per Maimonides). Which is interesting itself.

[CrazyGirl2]

Thanks, I appreciate your interest, and your self research, it is very interesting. As for “declarations vs. commandments” that is merely a textual vs. contextual difference in translation. It’s like what we would call a literal definition, versus a contextual one. A good example would be like how in Spanish "cabeza de gallina” means "chicken head” in English, and is used to describe someone whose hair is standing up (like they have bed-head), which I would often hear from my best friends, most of whom are Cuban or Puerto Rican, when I would sleep at their house or vice versa. But the LITERAL translation is “Head of Hen”. When translating, it’s important to take into account the context or the word, not just the text, or the word itself. Many languages do not have a direct translation, because there is no word in their language that is a direct analog to the word we want to describe. Although I have never heard it translated as “Declarations”, in this context, Ten Declarations IS Ten Commandments as contextually a commandment is a declaration. But great work! Also, I really appreciate your politeness, understanding, and courtesy.

Take care, Laura 🤗 🥰

[CrazyGirl2]

***Correction to line 9***
context OF the word, not just the text OF the word itself

I apologize for my typo, and any confusion it may have caused.

[Ladsin2]

I had some interesting typos on my last comment, but I'll survive. Nice talking to you.

[CrazyGirl2]

Likewise, it was really nice talking with you too. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and a fantastic weekend. Take care.

Laura 🤗 🥰

[Nikki1989]

This is all you need. Anything else is pure bollocks.

[Ladsin2]

The Satanists commandments? Atheism + didn't do such a hot job of keeping to these.

[strateguy632]

"Not once is the phrase "10 Commandments" mentioned" so ignorantly false.

Dueteronmy 4 has the phrase about the stuff said "in fire." So honor your father etc.

[Ladsin2]

Nice to have another comment on this, but I don't think reading is your strong suit. "Beginning in Exodus 20 God descended upon the mountain and left many commandments to Moses. Not once is the phrase "10 Commandments" mentioned, nor are there only ten given. Instead I counted about 50, but they are as follows". If I'm wrong cite the section of Exodus 20 which mentions ten commandments.

[strateguy632]

Just ignore the source i brought Deuteronomy 4.
Atheists are so pathetic!

[Ladsin2]

Which is first Exodus, where the commandments are given, or Deuteronomy, where they're summarized? If there's a contradiction between the two how do you square that circle?

[Inthelines]

Do you believe in God?

[Ladsin2]

Nope, used to be. I just like to read.
Nice battle flag.

[Jeffreyll]

Nice

[Ladsin2]

Did you already know, or learn something new?

[strateguy632]

No, not "nice" the book specified TEN so not 50, and just the ten by the number ten!