The "Original" Ten Commandments

 Parshat Vayakhel-Pekudei


Instead of spending another week talking about the tabernacle construction, the topic of this weeks parshah.  I want to go back and discuss some of the hypothesis that explain a confusing set of verses in Exodus 34.  In the process we'll introduce several different authors to explain the odd chronology of events that we looked at last week.

J, E and P

I've briefly mentioned in the past, but I'll state clearly now, the ideas behind the Documentary Hypothesis (or DH).  DH attempts to explain some of the odd inconsistencies of the Torah, both from internal contradictions like we saw last week with the underwear, or with the story of Joseph in the pit, or the use of the names of God and other things like the doublet stories in Genesis.  The explanation is that the conflicting or duplicate stories were originally part of multiple documents, which were later combined.  The specific conventional theory is that J and E represent the two oldest documents, J from the southern kingdom of Judah, and E from the northern kingdom of Israel. These were then redacted into a JE document.  A later document P, so named because of an obsession with priestly ideas, was later redacted with JE into the document that comprises the first four books of the Torah.  (The fourth author D is confined to Deuteronomy, and we'll get to that later.)  A lesser form of DH, would attribute these contradictory elements to multiple traditions that may not have actually been written down.  This is similar to the ideas put forth by Cassuto.  Either one, the full DH, or one of the lesser forms like the supplement hypothesis, is sufficient for this exercise.

In this section of the Torah, from the beginning of the encampment at Sinai/Horeb, to the construction of the tabernacle there are three different authors contributing.  The text surrouding Sinai itself is a mishmash of J and E and has some contentious splitting, so we'll ignore it for now.  We're more interested in the overall story.  We'll start with one version of the story, the one attributed to E.  It begins at Exod 20:18, with the description of the mountain and continues all the way through the legal Hammurabi-like laws.  It continues with the first half of Exod 24 where Moshe (Moses) consecrates the people, and Moshe, Aharon (Aaron) and 70 other people all go up to have a meal with God (Exod 24:11).  After which, Moshe goes alone up the mountain, and there's a break in the E story at Exod 24:15.  We rejoin the story in Exod. 32 and 33 which is the golden calf episode discussed last week and the subsequent aftermath with God revealing himself to Moses.  After that, the E story is completely done.

The J story is shorter.  There are some parts of Exod 19 with the Sinai story.  It picks up at Exod 25 with Moshe warning the people not to try to approach the mountain.  Note that this occurs after Moshe and seventy elders all went up the mountain and had a meal.  It then jumps to Exod 34 with God instructing Moshe to make two tablets.  (Note that in J there is no golden calf, or breaking of the first tablets, so there's some redaction comments to smooth the transition.)  In Exod. 34 God reveals himself again to Moshe, and gives him the tablets with the ten commandments, a different set of commandments, that are specifically referred to as the ten commandments in Exod 34:28.  This is the entirety of the J story.

The P story is probably not a standalone story, but was likely a supplement to the JE story (or perhaps just he E story.) [1].  It includes the commandments about the tabernacle, and the story about Moshe's wearing a mask because his face became disfigured (Exod 34:29-35), and the description of the Sabbath in Exod 35.

The 10 commandments of J (and E)

The 10 commandments in J are written in Exod 34:14-26.  They are the following:

1. Do not worship any other God (Exod 34:14-16)
2. Do not make molten images (Exod 34:17)
3. Observe the festival of Pesach (Passover) (Exod 34:18) [2]
4. Consecrate every firstborn (Exod 34:19-20)
5. Observe the Sabbath (Exod 34:20)
6. Observe Sukkot (Exod 34:22)
7. Appear before God three times a year (Exod 34:23-24)
8. Do not offer blood of sacrifice on leavened bread (Exod 34:25)
9. Bring first fruits to God (Exod 34:26a)
10. Do not cook a kid in its mother's milk (Exod 34:26b) [3]

These differ significantly from the commandments in Exod 20, the ten commandments we are more familiar with.  Only the first two, and the commandments to observe the Sabbath are the same between them.  They represent a possibly older set of commandments concerned predominantly with sacrificial and laws of proper worship.  Some of these laws are repetitive in the laws of the E account written a few chapters earlier.  In fact, E has a section, amidst it's many laws, which has a bunch of very similar laws to those in J written in Exod 23, which has:

• Observe the Sabbath (Exod 23:12)
• Do not mention other gods (Exod 23:13)
• Keep the three festivals (Exod 23:14-16)
• Appear before God three times (Exod 23:17)
• Do not offer blood sacrifices on leavened bread (Exod 23:18)
• Bring first fruits to God (Exod 23:19a)
• Do not cook a kid in its mother's milk (Exod 23:19b)

Some of the words also appear in exactly the same language, especially the last 3.  It is clear that these laws were cultic laws that were central to both forms of the text.  It remains to people who wish to argue that everything is written by a single author to explain why these commandments need to be repeated in exactly the same language.

Where did the 10 commandments we know come from?

There is one remaining question.  To which tradition do the commandments in Exod 20, the ones commonly referred to as the ten commandments come from?  The answer is, probably to none of them.  It is not clear where these commandments came from.  They also appear, in almost similar form in Deuteronomy.  One theory could be that these belong to P, written after D, and inserted into the text here with some minor changes (namely relating Shabbat to the creation rather than the exodus).  Another option is that it's an older and separate document that was inserted into the text here by a later redactor (although probably included by the author of Deuteronomy).  I don't have a solid answer here, there are many acceptable options.

However, without a doubt it can be argued that the commandments listed above, the ones in Exod 34 and Exod 23, are both earlier versions of the divine commandments given by God to Moshe, and that these represent an earlier tradition of what was in the divine covenant.
Looking Ahead

With this week we've finished the second book of the Torah, the book of Shmot (Exodus). The next book represents the "doldrums" of the Torah the book of Vayikra (Leviticus). It is full with detailed descriptions of sacrifices and all sorts of things concerning how the tabernacle, and later the temple, should be run. The first two weeks will focus on these topics. After that we'll have two weeks devoted to Pesach (Passover). But after that, for the rest of the book, I may use some liberal interpretations of what topic to discuss. It should be interesting.

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1. For more on the dependence of P on E, see F. M. Cross "Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic. ^

2. If this law of Pesach is familiar, that's because we saw it way back when talking about Sukkot. ^

3. Just like with the ten commandments in Exod. 20, where the Jewish and Christian disagree on how to divide the ten commandments, it's possible to split these up in different ways. ^