According to Judeo-Christian tradition, as related in the Bible, the Ten Commandments were revealed by God to Moses and form the fundamental moral component of God's covenant with Isra'el. The Ten Commandments appear in 2 places in the Old Testament -- Exodus 20: 1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21; the phrasing is similar but not identical. The expression "Ten Commandments" does not appear in Hebrew, which instead says (Deut 4:13, etc) simply "the Ten Words." The Decalogue differs from all the other legislation of Moses in that it alone of all the Torah was transmitted under circumstances of the most appalling majesty and solemnity. These Ten Words stand out in the midst of Torath Moishe as the epitome of divine revelation inscribed for God's people by the divine finger itself. In Jewish literature, these Ten Words are regarded as the fountainhead of all other laws. And to whom shall we liken this man Moses? Of all the Hebrew Old Testament, this man stands above all the rest as Israel's lawgiver prophet deliverer. Christ himself declared that not one jot nor one tittle should pass from the Law till all be fulfilled. And it was Moses alone, of all the characters of the Old Testament, to whom Christ compared himself. See Deuteronomy 18: 15. Webpage Moses: the enigma and the legend.
Most Protestant, Anglican, and Orthodox Christians follow Jewish tradition, which considers the introduction ("I am the Lord ...") the first commandment and makes the prohibition against idolatry the second. Roman Catholic and Lutheran tradition follow a division used by Saint Augustine, which combines I and II and splits the last commandment into two that separately prohibit coveting of a neighbour's wife and a neighbour's goods. |
זְכֹר יְמוֹת עוֹלָם, בִּינוּ שְׁנוֹת דֹּר-וָדֹר; {ס} שְׁאַל אָבִיךָ וְיַגֵּדְךָ, זְקֵנֶיךָ וְיֹאמְרוּ לָךְ. {ר} Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee: thy elders, and they will tell thee.
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