The Ten Commandments Differ
What Christianity & Judaism Has Neglected To Mention
We will notice the differences between the Ten Commandments in Exodus Chapter 20 and those found in Exodus Chapter 34
Something not realized by most Christians today is the difference in the first set and the second set of the Ten Commandments. Most biblical scholars attribute this to the writing of the story two different ways depending on whether you were from the following of Moses or the following of Aaron his brother the first priest ordained by God after the fleeing of Egypt by the Hebrews.
Biblical Facts From Exodus: The Original Ten
The story of the Ten Commandments starts in Exodus 20 as the Lord tells the Hebrew people of the Ten Commandments they are to obey at all times. Here is the list from this chapter: 1. Having no other Gods 2. Not to make idols out of anything 3. Not to use the name of God in vein 4. Remembering to keep the Sabbath holy 5. Honor your Father and Mother 6. Not to murder 7. Not to commit adultery 8. Not to steal 9. Not to lie 10. Not to covet your neighbor’s property. Sounds pretty familiar, right? Then we read on further.
The Story Between The Sets
Starting in Exodus 32 after the telling of specific rules and specifications in the previous eleven chapters we read about what is going on as Moses was away from his people. The people became frightened that since Moses had been away so long, he might have left them or even died, as it states ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ (Exodus 32:1b NIV). After which Aaron instructs the men asking this to gather all of gold adornments from their wives, sons, and daughters and bring them to him, not asking the men to give theirs. Aaron takes the gold and makes them into a cast idol of a calf to which the people, meaning the men, say to him, ‘These are your Gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ (Exodus 32:3b NIV).
Aaron then builds an alter in front of the golden calf and announced that they would have a festival to the Lord the following day. God sees and hears all of this telling Moses that he is to go and let God’s anger burn so that he can destroy the people below and in turn for being faithful and obedient he will turn Moses into a great nation (i.e. Noah and Abraham). Moses here is found to have a more calm temperament and reasoning then God himself by talking God out of destroying the nation of Israel, reminding him that he made a covenant with Abraham about his children being more numerous then the stars. God of course sees the reasoning behind Moses’ thinking and Moses returns to bring the stone tablets back down from Mt. Sinai seeing the people sinning against God. He smashes the stone tablets, scolds the entire nation of Israel, and severely chastises his brother Aaron for this major act of intolerance. Aaron explains to Moses that the people asked him to do this, that he agreed to if they would give him their gold, so they all removed their gold and Aaron threw it in the fire and out came the golden calf, not that he cast it and used a tool to finish it as stated earlier in the same chapter. Moses tells Aaron that he has made himself a laughingstock to the people and after asking for a show of support the priesthood of the Levites all gather to Moses in a show of support against Aaron, with the Levites then doing whatever Moses tells them to the complete discrediting of Aaron.
God further gives Moses a gift of sending out his goodness in front of him so the people will further know that God is with Moses and not Aaron. As this is going on the Lord tells Moses to, ‘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.’ (Exodus 34:1 NIV).
The Revised Ten Commandments
Moses does as God has told him and returns to the top of Mt. Sinai where God rewrites the first tables onto the second. These are the second Ten Commandments: 1. Do not worship any other God. 2. Do not make treaty with anyone that God delivers to you. 3. Do not make cast idols. 4. Celebrate the feast of unleavened bread. 5. God claiming the first born of every womb. 6. Resting on the seventh day. 7. Celebrate the Feast of Weeks. 8. Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice. 9. Bring the best of the first fruits. 10. Do not cook a young goat in the milk of its own mother. After this Exodus 34:28 ends with, ‘And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant – the Ten Commandments.
