Quite a few politicians and citizens want the government to display the Ten Commandments on public grounds and in various government buildings, like schools. In such a situation, it becomes reasonable to ask: What exactly are these “Ten Commandments”? What many don’t realize is that there aren’t really “the” Ten Commandments; instead, there are multiple versions of the Ten Commandments.
Ten Commandments: Standard Version?
Any time someone chooses to place a listing of the Ten Commandments in a home, office, church, or public space, they will be making choices. They will have to choose which biblical passage to rely upon, which translation to use, and typically which shortened version to use. These are all religious, linguistic, social, cultural, and political choices.
Ten Commandments: Originals & Sequels
As many people are aware, but perhaps tend to forget, the Ten Commandments had to be written down twice. Moses got them once, but upon his return to camp he found that people had started the party without him. Naturally incensed, he made the blunder of smashing the tablets upon which God had written his commandments. This was God's first work as an author, and now it was lost! But God, being God, felt capable of salvaging the matter. He told Moses that he'd write them down again, exactly as they had been written originally.
Protestant Ten Commandments
Protestants (which here refers to members of the Greek, Anglican, and Reformed traditions — Lutherans follow the “Catholic” Ten Commandments) usually use the form which appears in the first Exodus version from chapter 20. Scholars have identified both Exodus versions as having probably been written in the tenth century BCE.
Catholic Ten Commandments
The use of the term “Catholic” Ten Commandments is meant loosely because both Catholics and Lutherans follow this particular listing which is based upon the version found in Deuteronomy. This text was likely written in the seventh century BCE, around 300 years later than the Exodus text which forms the basis for the “Protestant“ version of the Ten Commandments. Some scholars believe, however, that this formulation could date back to an earlier version than the one in Exodus.
Catholic vs. Protestant Commandments
One interesting difference occurs in how Catholics translate the Deuteronomy verses into actual commandments. In the Butler Catechism, verses eight through ten are simply left out. The Catholic version thus omits the prohibition against graven images. The Protestant versions of the commandments retain the prohibition against graven images, but it seems to be ignored since statues and other images have proliferated in their churches as well.
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