Ten Commandments (Words): Rare Biblical Phrase
Edward Pothier
TEN COMMANDMENTS (WORDS): A RARE BIBLICAL PHRASE
Edward Pothier August 1999
Nowhere in the Biblical texts (in either occurrence of the
so-called Ten Commandments in the Old Testament -- in Exodus 20 and
Deuteronomy 5!) are the commandments themselves explicitly numbered.
Nor is there a "heading" *immediately* before them saying "these are
the ten commandments". We will look below at a few other verses which
*do* mention the "ten".
Note that there are more than just 10 imperative verbs in the
listings (Ex 20; Dt 5). Any such grouping or numbering is a result of
*a* tradition -- and there are a variety of traditions which are not
taken as of being major significance. However, all the traditions
agree on the total number being 10.
[One of the major parts of the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (CCC)
is based on the "Ten Commandments" and it continually refers to the
Nth commandment (which is OK, but only within a purely Roman Catholic
context). CCC section 2066, however, points out the "problem" of this:
CCC 2066: "The division and numbering of the Commandments have
varied in the course of history. The present catechism follows
the division of the Commandments established by St. Augustine,
which has become traditional in the Catholic Church. It is also
that of the Lutheran confessions. The Greek Fathers worked out a
slightly different division, which is found in the Orthodox
Churches and Reformed communities."]
The actual occurrence of the phrase "ten commandments" is
quite rare in the Bible.
(Exod 34:28)So Moses stayed there with the LORD for forty
days and forty nights, without eating any food or drinking
any water, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the
covenant, the ten commandments.
(Deut 4:13)He proclaimed to you his covenant, which he
commanded you to keep: the ten commandments, which he wrote
on two tablets of stone.
(Deut 10:4)The LORD then wrote on them, as he had written
before, the ten commandments which he spoke to you on the
mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the
assembly. After the LORD had given them to me, ...
In all three of the above passages the phrase shown as "ten
commandments", in the NAB translation used above, was "literally" in
Hebrew "ten words", using the usual word with the "dbr" root. I
checked a number of other English translations and almost all of them,
including the Jewish Publication Society's version known as the
TANAKH, used "ten commandments" in these passages (with some
variations on capitalization). One exception (there are almost
certainly others as well) is the NEW JERUSALEM BIBLE which used "Ten
Words" in all three places.
It is interesting that in Exodus 20:1, immediately preceding
the list of the commandments, most English translations do use "Then
God spoke all these words". The NAB is consistent with its other usage
in the "ten commandments" by also using "all these commandments" in
Exodus 20:1.
The idea of "ten words", certainly wider than in the NJB use,
is the origin of the word "decalogue" we often use for the ten
commandments. This is from the Greek for "ten words" -- "word" here
meaning passage or saying, not just a single simple lexical unit. We
use "word" in this extended way also when we speak of the Seven Last
Words of Christ from the Cross, meaning the seven *sayings* we obtain
by concatenating the sayings from all four of our Gospels (none of
which has more than 3 [Lk and Jn, 3 apiece], and two share a single
one [Mt, Mk]).
--
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= Edward L. Pothier epot...@lynx.dac.neu.edu _ _ =
= 3 Delore Circle [PREFER: pot...@neu.edu] IC | XC =
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