In Search of the Real Ten Commandments

You would think that in His infinite wisdom God would have provided an index for the Bible. But He didn't, and trying to dig any sort of useful information out of this book is a real pain in the ass. Take the Ten Commandments, for instance.....

Christians often recite the Ten Commandments to me. Well, actually ... they often recite "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not kill" to me, and in many cases I think that may be all they actually know. When you stop and think about it, that's actually pretty frightening. I mean, if I were a Christian and thought that the Bible were the actual word of my Creator, I would like to think that I might pick it up from time to time and try to figure out what God is telling me. At any rate, the reason why these two commandments are so often recited to me is that the person reciting them is attempting to convince me that the Ten Commandments are just "good moral guidelines" and should rightfully be displayed in courtrooms, classrooms, etc. Unlike my Christian friends though, I actually opened a Bible and read them for myself. Not only can none of the versions (there are three to four, depending on how you look at it) be regarded as "good moral guidelines," but I don't think I know a single Christian who actually knows what the true Ten Commandments are!

Moses went up the mountain to fetch the Ten Commandments three times. What most people (everyone I know, anyway) think of as the "Ten Commandments" are to be found in Exodus 20:3-17. These commandments, however, Moses didn't inscribe on stone tablets. When he returned from the mountain, he simply communicated them orally to the masses. Furthermore, there were more than ten, although by lumping some together and shaving some off, people make them into ten.

The Commandments of Exodus 20 (verses 3-17) are: 1. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." 2. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." 3. "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." 4. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."

Note that in these first four of what Christians generally accept at the "Ten Commandments" one does not find 'good moral guidelines'. Instead, these first four outline the Supremacy of the Christian god and provide several rules for worshipping that Christian god.

5. "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." 6. "Thou shalt not kill." 7. "Thou shalt not commit adultery." 8. "Thou shalt not steal." 9. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." 10. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."

God then tells Moses to go recite these to the children of Israel:

"And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven." (Exodus 20:22)

But then, in Exodus 20:23-26, God continues, giving further commandments to Moses:

Exodus 20:23-26 - Commandments 11 & 12? 11. "Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold." 12. "An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon."

Commandments Two - The Sequel ...

In Exodus 31, Moses returns to the mountain where God gives him the commandments written on stone tablets. Interestingly, the only commandment that God conveys to Moses orally in Exodus 31 is the commandment about keeping the Sabbath ... and BOY! ... Is God psycho about this one! He repeats it to Moses again and again and again. Isn't it strange that this is most often broken commandment? The Sabbath is Saturday yet most Christians celebrate Sunday instead which was originally a Pagan day of celebration (Sun God).

Exodus 31:12-18 - God goes psycho over keeping the Sabbath: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

While God only speaks of "keeping the Sabboth" in Exodus 31, what was presumably written on the stone tablets that Moses carried down from the mountain was the commandments conveyed to Moses in Exodus 20. Unfortunately, nobody knows because idiot Moses had a tantrum and smashed the stone tablets to bits (Exodus 32) when he came down from the mountain and saw people worshipping Pagan images:

Exodus 32:15-16 "And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables."

Exodus 32:19 "And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount."

Commandments Three - Third Time's a Charm! ...

After breaking the commandments (literally), Moses had to go back up the mountain yet AGAIN and tell God the stupid thing he had done and ask God for another set of stone tablets to replace the ones he broke. So God tells Moses to bring him the stones and He would write upon them:

Exodus 34:1 "And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest."

Exodus 34:4 "And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone."

Only here, when Moses goes back up the mountain a third time to fetch the second set of stone tablets, does God actually say to Moses "These are the Ten Commandments that I am giving you" ...

Exodus 34:28 "And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments."

But now, here's the kicker ... THESE commandments have virtually NOTHING in common with the Commandments provided orally to Moses in Exodus 20!

And STILL it takes a bit of creative counting to make these add up to ten. I would hate to see the Almighty's SAT scores!

The REAL Ten Commandments (Exodus 34) are ... 1. "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:" (Exodus 34:14) 2. "Thou shalt make thee no molten gods." (Exodus 34:17) 3. "The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt." (Exodus 34:18) 4a. "All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male." (Exodus 34:19) 4b. "But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty." (Exodus 34:20) 5. "Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest." (Exodus 34:21) 6. "And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end." (Exodus 34:22) 7. "Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel." (Exodus 34:23) 8. "Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning." (Exodus 34:25) 9. "The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God." (Exodus 34:26) 10. "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk." (Exodus 34:26)

What commandments were written on the original set of stone tablets which Moses destroyed? God tells Moses in Exodus 34:1 that He will write on the second set of stone tablets the same words that were on the first. Since Exodus 34 gives us the commandments of the second set of stone tablets, we must assume that the original tablets also contained the words of Exodus 34.

Deuteronomy 5 suggests otherwise, however. Here, Moses recites the commandments to the Israelites. Moses tells the Israelites (in Deuteronomy 5:22) that these commandments were spoken to the assembly and delivered to Moses on two stone tablets. Yet, these commandments do not sound at all like the commandments of Exodus 34. Instead, they sound like a slightly modified version of the commandments in Exodus 20 ....

The Commandments of Deuteronomy 5 ... 1. "Thou shalt have none other gods before me." (Deuteronomy 5:7) 2. "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." (Deuteronomy 5:8-10) 3. "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." (Deuteronomy 5:11) 4. "Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day." (Deuteronomy 5:12-15) 5. "Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." (Deuteronomy 5:16) 6. "Thou shalt not kill." (Deuteronomy 5:17) 7. "Neither shalt thou commit adultery." (Deuteronomy 5:18) 8. "Neither shalt thou steal." (Deuteronomy 5:19) 9. "Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour." (Deuteronomy 5:20) 10. "Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's." (Deuteronomy 5:21)

Now, do you see why an index in the Bible might have been useful! Yeesh!