The Ten Commandments are a cultural icon in the western world. Yet for all their fame, there is much disagreement about what they actually are. For example, the Torah calls them the aseret hadevarim, the ten words, sometimes translated “ten utterances.” Nothing about “commandments.” Also, the Christian world itemizes the ten differently. For Jews “I am the Lord your God” is the first of the utterances; for the Christian world this is only an introduction and “You shall have no other gods…” is the first utterance.
We find a second set of these ten words in Deuteronomy. They are similar to the version given at Sinai in Exodus, yet any change of wording might make us wonder about their immutable divine origin. Other Ancient Middle East versions of our “Ten Commandments” only add to the question of origin and divine speech.
I am struck, therefore, by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld’s comment, “It is the encounter, not the content, that is crucial about Sinai.”
Consider the context. We have just left Egypt after decades (by some account, centuries) of slavery. We barely trust our leader Moses. We are already hungry, thirsty and discouraged. How can we possibly create a new way of life that allows us to make best use of our freedom? A way of life that gives us inspiration, meaning, structure, laws and ethics?
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