The Ten Commandments

Many Christians claim that the whole of modern law originates in the Ten Commandments and other laws found in the Old Testament.

Many Christians (particularly in America) ask for the commandments to be placed in public places like schools and lawcourts.

Let's look at these claims and demands.

1. Which ten?
2. Are they good law?
3. Are modern laws based on them?
4. Are there better laws we could post in schools and lawcourts?
5. Origin

Which Ten?

There are three sets of 10 commandments, all different. God had difficulty making his mind up here.

1. Exodus 20 - First of all, god gives Moses a set of laws.   The church today calls the first of these "The Ten Commandments", although those words are not used in the text.  God inscribed these laws on two tablets with his finger.

2. The events are re-told in Deuteronomy 5, with the difference that here the Sabbath is to be kept holy because of the exodus from Egypt, whereas in the first set, the Sabbath was holy because of the rest-day after creation.  That's a significant difference, because it shows that whoever wrote these passages was happy to put words into god's mouth.  The laws are from scribes, not from god.

3. Back in Exodus 34 - Moses has broken the first tablets. So God gives him a second set of tablets - saying "Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke."

So, apparently, we are to be treated to a repetition of the first list?
Yes?
No.
The list is completely different.
But this third list is the only list that is descibed in the text as "The Ten Commandments".

The scribe who wrote Exodus couldn't be bothered repeating all the earlier laws. This was a great opportunity to write down some more laws - with god's authority!

And clearly he had a bee in his bonnet about cookery, especially when it came to goats.

The tenth commandment is now: "Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk".
Here we also learn God's real name: it is in Exodus 34:14 - "Jealous".

So should we be pinning these up in Court-rooms - what do you think? Is this particular culinary tip the foundation of our modern law?

I've included the Ten Commandments below.

On to The Ten Commandments (2)

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:12-28) 1 Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you. You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles 2 You shall worship no other god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.... 3 You shall not make cast idols. 4 You shall keep the festival of unleavened bread... 5 All that first opens the womb is mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty-handed. 6 Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest. 7 You shall observe the festival of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you, and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. 8 You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, and the sacrifice of the festival of the passover shall not be left until the morning. 9 The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. 10 You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. verse 28: "The LORD said to Moses: Write down these words ....  the ten commandments."