The mind-boggling part of the Ten Commandments is the multitude of versions. In Hebrew alone, there is the original Exodus version, the Deuteronomy version, and even a Dead Sea Scrolls version. In English translations, there are quite a number.
Translated versions are driven for multitude of reasons; theology, accuracy and brevity are all factors. These versions are important. Some have been offered up in the United States to be posted up in public school classrooms.
Translations matter. A particular translation can either impact or create culture.
Within the abundance of English translations, there is a unique one; it was authored by Moshe.
From Moshe to Moshe to Moshe?
A particular Ten Commandments’ translation comes from a Moshe. Not the Moshe aka Moses of the Pentateuch nor from Moses ben Maimon, the renown medieval scholar. Rather, a Moses from modernity is worthy of this honor: Moshe Weinfeld.
Moshe Weinfeld was a scholar’s scholar. He was one of the most well-respected scholars of the Hebrew Bible. He authored works such as Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School (1972) and Deuteronomy 1-11 (1991) [Note: This was a new translation and commentary on those Deuteronomy chapters.]
Moshe’s Ten Commandments
In Deuteronomy 1-11, Professor Weinfeld offers up a reconstructed the Ten Commandments. He opined that the Ten Commandments involved expansions and revisions. For that assertion, he pointed to the differing explanations for the Sabbath observance.
With that in mind, his Ten Commandments translation is as follows:
“1. I, the lord, am your God; you shall have no other gods besides me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a sculpture and image.
3. You shall not swear falsely by the name of YHWH your God.
4. Remember to keep the Sabbath day.
5. Honor your father and mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet the house of your neighbor.”
Deuteronomy 1-11, at P. 247.
Translation Takeaways
Weinfeld’s translation’s divorces itself from theology, history, commentary, and explanation. This separation serves as a pedagogical tool to view the meat and the bones of the commandments. What Weinfeld stripped from his version is as important to study as what remains.
One can argue that the stripped-down version presents an Individual Code of Conduct. Arguably, what Weinfeld opines as expansions and revisions are the items which transform the Decalogue into a Community Code of Conduct.
In essence, the Ten Commandments’ underlying message is that the community- or nation- is dependent up their compliance with the rules. Specifically, the commandment to Honor One’s Parents is tied to land [“so that your days will be extended on the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you. Exodus 20:12.] Thus, compliance with the commandments was existential to Israelite nations.
Conclusion
With Weinfeld’s stripping down the Ten Commandments, one can see how the Ten Commandments served multiple purposes. The Ten Commandments with the alleged expansions and revisions serve as a Community Code of Conduct. It was something that resonated with the Decalogue’s scriptural audiences. Those ready to enter the Promised Land, those during King Josiah’s reign in which there was regional threats, or to Ezra’s audience upon return to the Promised Land from exile, understood that the Commandments connected them to the land. For the modern audience, the stripped down Ten Commandments, reveals a different understanding. Rather, the Commandments come across as an Individual Code of Conduct.
Be well!!
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