Difference between revisions of "Ten Commandments"

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The Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue, is a set of laws which, according to the Bible, Moses said were given to him by God.

There are two versions, generally similar but somewhat different in wording: Exodus 20:3-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The version in Deuteronomy adds the detail of Moses saying that God "wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me."

The Bible itself refers to there being "ten commandments" in Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 4:13, but it is not clear how to parcel out the fifteen or sixteen verses into ten commandments, and different religious groups have done this in different ways. For example, "You shall have no other gods before me" and "You shall not make for yourself an idol" are sometimes considered to be two different commandments and sometimes as two parts of the same commandment.

Protestants assign the Fifth Commandment to "honor your father and mother," but in Catholic texts this is the Fourth Commandment.^[1] The Jewish tradition is to call that requirement the Fifth Commandment.

However,in Jewish law, the Old Testament actually contains not ten, but 613 positive and negative commandments. Thus, when Jesus is asked (at Matthew 22:34-36) which is the greatest commandment in the Law (i.e. the first five books of the Bible), he picks two of the other 603: 'You shall love the Lord thy God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength' (Deuteronomy 6:5) and 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself' (Leviticus 19:18).

New International Version (NIV)

1. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

2. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Differences Between Translations

King James Version (KJV)

The famous King James translation uses the old-fashioned wording "Thou shalt" instead of "You shall," and this wording is often used when quoting or referring to the Ten Commandments.

Some translations, such as the King James Version and the Jerusalem Bible, translate the sixth commandment as "You shall not kill." Other translations, such as the New International Version and the New English Bible, translate the sixth commandment as "You shall not murder." This is an important point to make because some Christians will say that all war is wrong because the Bible says not to "kill." This issue is mainly a matter of conscience among Christians. A dictionary entry of the Hebrew word used in this verse is shown below:

Ratsach

1. to murder, slay, kill

a. (Qal) to murder, slay

1. premeditated

2. accidental

3. as avenger

4. slayer (intentional) (participle)

b. (Niphal) to be slain

c. (Piel)

1. to murder, assassinate

2. murderer, assassin (participle)(subst)

d. (Pual) to be killed

The movie

The Ten Commandments is also the title of a famous 1956 motion picture, produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Charlton Heston as Moses. It tells the story of Moses essentially as told in the Book of Exodus, with a few changes.

As publicity for the film, and in conjunction with a project of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Paramount helped finance the placement of hundreds of stone tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments. These were placed at courthouse squares, at city halls and in public parks, and became a center of controversy, particularly in recent years, as to whether they violate the separation of Church and State^[2] In recent years, liberal attorneys and judges have opposed the display of the Ten Commandments on public property by exploiting the judicial system.

References

1. ↑ An atheistic website provides an interesting comparison among faiths with respect to the Ten Commandments, and many sources: http://www.positiveatheism.org/crt/whichcom.htm
2. ↑ Ten Commandments Monoliths, from the March 2002 issue of Eagle Magazine[1]mar_2002_ten_commandments.html