Young Australian Skeptics

All I did was read the Bible from beginning to end. The first time, I got to the end of Exodus 34 and decided to start again, only this time I wrote down anything which did not add up. Here is an interesting anomaly which I am surprised more people do not make a fuss about.

Exodus 20 contains what is commonly known as the Ten Commandments but in the order of accuracy I will refer to them by the literal Hebrew translation ‘eser dabar = ten of the words’ or the ‘Ten Words’. Exodus 20 however, never refers to them as the Ten Words, Exodus 34:28 is the first time the phrase ‘Ten Words’ is used to describes what Moses had written while on Mount Sinai for the second time. So where is the problem?

As some may be aware of the story, after receiving the well known Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, Moses returns from Mount Sinai in Exodus 32 and sees the Israelites have sinned in worshipping a golden calf. Moses is so angry he smashes the two tablets and has to go back up the mountain to receive them again. Exodus 33 is dedicated to God dealing with the Israelites sin, and Exodus 34:1 is where God commissions Moses to “Carve out for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I must write upon the tablets the words that appeared on the first tablets, which you shattered. And get ready for the morning, as you must go up in the morning into Mount Si´nai and station yourself by me there on the top of the mountain. So here we have Yahveh telling Moses that he will write an identical set of tablets to the first, but no matter which way you dice it, the second set are oh so obviously different from the first set. There is an overlap in three places however.

Out of the Ten Words in both Exodus 20 and 34 three clearly overlap, briefly put;

1. Worship no other gods other than Yahveh
2. Do not make any idols, molten images to worship (something some churches cutely ignore)
3. Keep the Sabbath (Exodus 34:21 never calls it the Sabbath but is clearly referring to it)

Keeping in mind the dividing up of the commandments here is not as simple as found in Exodus 20. I have divided them due to partly how the ancient Hebrew phrases these scriptures and how I think the preamble and the following scriptures logically fit together. I did not try to make them add to ten (I would like others to give it a go and see what number they amount to). Some fit together and are not two separate commandments as in Exodus 34:19, 20 which is explaining all the first born animals belong to Jehovah, 20 then goes on to say how they should be redeemed but if redeeming is not an option then break its neck. The commandments which are different to the ones in Exodus 20 are as follows;
1. “The festival of unfermented cakes you are to keep. You will eat unfermented cakes, just as I have commanded you, seven days at the appointed time in the month of A´bib, because it was in the month of A´bib that you came out of Egypt.” (Exodus 34:18)
2. “Everything that first opens the womb is mine, and, as regards all your livestock, the male firstling of bull and of sheep. And the firstling of an ass you are to redeem with a sheep. But if you will not redeem it, then you must break its neck. Every firstborn of your sons you are to redeem. And they must not appear before me empty-​​handed.” (Exodus 34:20)
3. “And you will carry on your festival of weeks with the first ripe fruits of the wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year.” (Exodus 34:22)
4.“Three times in the year every male of yours is to appear before the [true] Lord, Jehovah, the God of Israel.” (Exodus 34:23)
5. “You must not slaughter along with what is leavened the blood of my sacrifice. And the sacrifice of the festival of the passover should not stay overnight until the morning.” (Exodus 34:25)
6. “The best of the first ripe fruits of your soil you are to bring to the house of Jehovah your God.’’ (Exodus 34:26a)
7. “You must not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Exodus 34:26b)

They are very different from the commandments given in Exodus 20. So what makes one think these are even the Ten Words? The following verses say it all, Exodus 34:27, 28 states:

And Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “Write down for yourself these words, because it is in accordance with these words that I do conclude a covenant with you and Israel.” And he continued there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights. He ate no bread and he drank no water. And he proceeded to write upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.’’

And let the apologetics start! One fundamentalist explained that those commandments are different because they are not the Ten Words, so I point out the end part of 34:28. His reply was in a letter so I am able to quote him, he writes;

’When, at Exodus 34:27, Moses was told, ‘’Write down for yourself these words,’’ reference was not to the Ten Words themselves, but, rather, as on a previous occasion (Ex 24:3, 4), he was to write down some of the other details pertaining to the covenant regulations. Hence, the pronoun ‘’he’’ in Exodus 34:28b refers to Jehovah when it says: ‘And he [Jehovah, not Moses] proceeded to write upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.’’

Read the verse, is that what it says? To say the least I would describe it as wishful thinking, but just in case let’s see what the ancient Hebrew says. Literally translated this verse reads, ‘’and he is becoming there with Yahveh forty day and forty night bread not he ate waters not he drank and he is writing on the tablets words of the covenant the ten words.’’ In light of the ancient Hebrew, the apologists attempt to obscure this passage to fit their reasoning becomes clear, it is undoubtedly talking about Moses’ actions, not Yahvehs. Why was Moses heading back up the mountain? We’re told it’s because he needed to receive the Tens Words again as he smashed the first set, so is it just coincidence that he is given ten? I think not. Just admit it, this does not add up!

Some apologists do try to explain these differences by referring to them as the ritual Decalogue Ex 34 and the ethical Decalogue, you might like to think that’s right but is it what the bible says? Nope. Scholarly work on this type of inconsistency brought about the Documentary Hypothesis and as one reads Exodus (and the Torah) in it’s entirety it becomes clear that it is nothing more than a patchwork quilt of different traditions and stories awkwardly woven together and edited in an attempt to harmonize the book. As with many things in the Bible, take away the ‘divine inspiration’, as the scholars did with their Documentary Hypothesis, and it all begins to make sense, of course true believers never take away divine inspiration, but if the shoe fits. The ones I have encountered would rather be intellectually dishonest and speculate as appose to evidence based logical consistency. Perhaps in the future I’ll blog about why I think Exodus (and the Torah) is more of a patchwork quilt rather than a continuous logically consistent story.

I love reading into the Bible just as many love reading into the works of Plato and Homer, I just don’t see as many distorting what Homer says in the Odyssey, but i am actually an undergraduate scientist and only have studied electives in NT and OT studies so all the usual disclaimers apply.

Tags: Religion, Skeptic, Ten Commandments

This entry was posted on Monday, December 29th, 2008 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Education, Religion, Skeptic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.