Space For Doubt

If you believe the standard Ten Commandments are the real Ten Commandments, you have negotiated with the bible. You have not taken it at its word. Sounds crazy right? I’ll get to why, but let’s set the stage.

Growing up I remember this lady (she’ll remain anonymous) handing out copies of the Ten Commandments and telling all of us kids that not only should it be on our bedroom walls, but on every wall of our house and school.

That sentiment is obviously still pretty strong as there’s a few states now that have passed laws that do just that (with schools). Despite a pretty clear stance of our founding fathers that there should be a separation of church and state, the sentiment is “well….this one’s ok, obviously.”

What I would love to do, is be a teacher in one of those states. I would absolutely comply. I would take the ONLY instance of where the bible specifically called the ten commandments, the “Ten Commandments” and post those on the wall.

You may have not heard of this before but the bible lists the “Ten Commandments” in three places. In each they are different, but only in one occurrence are they actually called the Ten Commandments. Let’s have a look at that in Exodus. I’m going to quote the NIV version.

¹⁰ Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. ¹¹ Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ¹² Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. ¹³ Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.^[a] 14 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

¹⁵ “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. ¹⁶ And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.

¹⁷ “Do not make any idols.

¹⁸ “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹ “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. ²⁰ Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.

“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

²¹ “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

²² “Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.^[b] 23 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel. ²⁴ I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God.

²⁵ “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.

²⁶ “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.

“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

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. – Exodus 34:10-28 NIV

What?

What is going on here? These are the Ten Commandments? It sure appears that way. I’ve bolded each one, the clear indication from God Himself, and the final call-out.

Some will say, but wait! My Bible calls the traditional commandments the “Ten Commandments” in Exodus and Deuteronomy!

Actually no it doesn’t, at least not originally. That’s a subheading we see added by the translators 1,000+ years later. The NIV bible specifies this in the preface.

As an aid to the reader, sectional headings have been inserted. They are not to be regarded as part of the biblical text and are not intended for oral reading. It is the committee’s hope that these headings may prove more helpful to the reader than the traditional chapter divisions, which were introduced long after the Bible was written. (NIV 2011 preface)

In both the first Exodus occurrence and the Deuteronomy occurrence, the chapter heading is usually (almost all translations) “The Ten Commandments.” However, in all cases those headings were added well over 1,000 years after the fact.

If we’re going to be bible literalists, we should take it at its word right? We should only use the instance of the actual “Ten Commandments” right? We are supposed to follow what was ultimately written on the stone tablets right?

Of course this goes against the grain of tradition. This goes against everything you were ever taught, and yet….it’s quite biblical.

In Matthew 19:18-19 Jesus repeats five of the traditional Ten Commandments when talking to the rich man.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, ¹⁹ honor your father and mother, and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ – Matthew 19:18-19 NIV

This may lead you to think those are the real “Ten Commandments” however He only repeats five, leaves the most important first ones out, and adds the “Love your neighbor as yourself” part. He also does not call them Ten Commandments.

As I alluded to in my opening, you have to negotiate with the text to arrive where we are today. The whole “take the bible at its word” does not result in our current understanding.

If Jesus, by proclaiming His list of commandments, invalidates the literal “Ten Commandments,” then that would seem to also invalidate all the other traditional Ten Commandments not expressly listed by Him at that time. That means commandment 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10 are invalid. A heinous idea right?

Again, we are negotiating with the text. We are not taking the Bible literally with our traditions.

I’m bringing this up as more of a thought exercise in how “traditional” people really think they are, how “literal” people think they are being with the Bible. It’s also a classic case of source conflation. I.E. the Pentateuch is clearly composed of material from a number of sources that time and time again, do not agree.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t abide by these traditional commandments. They seem to serve a great purpose for society, and by even atheist standards, most would be seen as just logical things to do. Some of the people with the highest morals I know, also happen to be the least religious or even atheist people.

All I know is I’m super excited for all these red states to start celebrating the festival of unleavened bread. Crackers for everyone!

Peace