What Are The Real Ten Commandments?
I am convinced that there is a discrepancy in the Bible regarding the “Ten Commandments.” Now most readers are probably familiar with a famous scene: God declares the Ten Commandments from Mt. Horeb, Moses is given two large stone tablets and eventually smashes them after the incident with the golden calf. I bet that many people are familiar with the story because the late actor Charlton Heston played Moses in The Ten Commandments. In my view, however, there are actually two sets of these commandments (also called “decalogues”) and I am convinced that they are contradictory and cannot be reconciled.
To illustrate this, we will have to look at the first and more familiar set of “Ten Commandments” in Exodus 20: 1–17 (NASB):
1 Then God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 For six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
This set of commandments is known as the “Ethical Decalogue.”
The Ritual Decalogue
However, there is another set that is known as the “Ritual Decalogue.” This is in Exodus 34: 10–26 (NASB):
10 Then God said, “Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you.
11 Be sure to comply with what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite from you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12 Be careful that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 13 But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones, and cut down their Asherim 14 — for you shall not worship any other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God — 15 otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they would prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons also to prostitute themselves with their gods. 17 You shall not make for yourself any gods cast in metal.
18 “You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.
19 “The firstborn from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the firstborn from cattle and sheep. 20 You shall redeem with a lamb the firstborn from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. None are to appear before Me empty-handed.
21 “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest. 22 And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. 23 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will drive out nations from you and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.
25 “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning.
26 “You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God.
“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
As readers can see from looking at this, this set is nothing like the Ethical Decalogue. In the first one, there are prohibitions against murder, adultery, and coveting that are absent here and there is nothing about the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, or anything about blood sacrifices or boiling a young goat in its mother’s milk in the Ethical Decalogue.
The Discrepancy
But why believe that they are discrepant? The first reason actually is in the next two verses of Exodus 34. In Exodus 34: 27–28, we read the following:
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 So he was there with the Lord for forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Here, Yahweh instructs Moses to write down “these words” because it is by these words that Yahweh is making a covenant with Moses and Israel. These words that Yahweh just gave (Exodus 34:10–26) are the words of the covenant and “in accordance” means that the covenant was made in agreement with these words. In other words, these words constitute the covenant that Yahweh made with Moses and Israel. Notice, however, what we see in verse 28. It says that “he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights”-the “he” obviously refers to Moses. The next clause says “he did not eat bread or drink water” which obviously refers to Moses as well since it was believed that Yahweh needn’t consume bread or water. And the last clause states “and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments” which also refers to Moses.
So Yahweh instructs Moses to write down “these words” because they are the words of the covenant that God is making with Moses and Israel and so Moses is there with God for forty days and forty nights, Moses doesn’t consume bread or water, and Moses writes down the Ten Commandments. So, then, we will conclude that the “Ritual Decalogue” is also called “the Ten Commandments.”
However, there is one last line of evidence to make my case with. This comes from Deuteronomy 5: 1–22 (NASB):
Now Moses summoned all Israel and said to them:
“Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances which I am speaking today for you to hear, so that you may learn them and be careful to do them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, all of us who are alive here today. 4 The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire, 5 while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up on the mountain.He said,
6 ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
7 ‘You shall have no other gods besides Me.
8 ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children even on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
11 ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain.
12 ‘Keep the Sabbath day to treat it as holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 For six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; you shall not do any work that day, you or your son or your daughter, or your male slave or your female slave, or your ox, your donkey, or any of your cattle, or your resident who stays with you, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. 15 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to celebrate the Sabbath day.
16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well for you on the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
17 ‘You shall not murder.
18 ‘You shall not commit adultery.
19 ‘You shall not steal.
20 ‘You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
21 ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male slave or his female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’
22 “These words the Lord spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, from the cloud, and from the thick darkness, with a great voice, and He added nothing more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.”
Readers will notice that this decalogue is the “Ethical Decalogue” given in Exodus 20, nearly word for word. However, notice at the end of this Decalogue, in verse 22, it states that “these words” were the words that Yahweh spoke to the assembly and that “he added nothing more.” This is literally true. In both Exodus 20 and here in Deuteronomy 5, after the Ten Commandments are given, no more commandments are added and in each case, Yahweh speaks directly to the people, and afterward speaks indirectly, through Moses.
So, here is the question. If Yahweh gives the “Ritual Decalogue” to the people of Israel, and tells Moses to write down “these words” because they are the words of the covenant, and Moses writes them down as the Ten Commandments, how can they be a part of the covenant? In verse 27, Yahweh said, “…in accordance with these words, I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” How can the Ritual Decalogue be the covenant, if after Yahweh gives the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5, Moses writes that “he added nothing more.” How is that possible?
What we see then, is that there is a discrepancy between the decalogues in Exodus 20 and Exodus 34. Both cannot be the covenant and yet both of them are. I conclude, then, that we have a major discrepancy.
The Common Objection
The common objection that I have found to this problem from Christian apologists is that critics have misunderstood Exodus 34:28. To recall, it states:
So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
They will argue that the “he” in the second sentence refers not to Moses but to Yahweh. I disagree. For one thing, instead of writing, “And he wrote on the tablets…” why doesn’t it state, “And Yahweh wrote on the tablets.” If apologists are right, why isn’t the name “Yahweh” stated in Hebrew? It just says “And he wrote.”
To my best knowledge, there is a “waw consecutive” attached to the word for “he wrote” which is where the “and” comes from, which I understand, grammatically connects this last clause with the first two clauses in the sentence, so that the third “he” is understood to be the same as the first two. Again, let’s recall verse 27, with this in mind:
So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
So, this should indicate that it was Moses who did all of this. It was Moses who was there with Yahweh, it was Moses who did not consume bread or water, and it was Moses who wrote down the Ten Commandments on tablets.
Conclusion
I conclude, therefore, that there is a discrepancy between the two Decalogues given. Both were meant to be understood as the Ten Commandments. I strongly suspect that they are two conflicting traditions.
There seem to be a number of different conflicting traditions in the Hebrew Bible. There are two different creation stories, two different flood stories, and two different traditions about how long the Hebrews were in Egypt, so I consider the two conflicting Decalogues to be more of the same.
