Ace

I originally posted this as part of a thread in the media forum, but it hasn't gotten any replies, so maybe here's a better place to ask...

When I first learned of the Exodus 34 ten commandments, I was very surprised. However, it seems it is glossed over everywhere else besides atheist/infidel websites and sources. For instance, I remember trying to add a note about the Exodus 34 commandments in Wikipedia, but it was then promptly deleted, and apparently, the Exodus 34 commandments are really the "Ritual Decalogue." The famous Exodus 20 commandments are apparently the "Ethical Decalogue" according to these articles. Now of course, Wikipedia is hardly an academic source, but has anyone heard of this before?

pharoah

It's all just an apologetic two-step. Nowhere in Exodus 34 is there any mention of the other commandments (Exodus 34:1b was probably inserted by the redactor), so there's no basis from reading the text that one could conclude that Moses wrote down TC #1. In fact, one could make actually make a decent argument that TC #2 superseded TC #1! :Cheeky:

moorezw

Absolutely. This was one of the first analyses that I attempted after my deconversion.

The analysis can still be found at Jason Gastrich's (defunct?) forum.

It's my opinion that the Golden calf story is flanked by two parallel "Decalogue" narratives, with the version given in chapter 34 being associated with the original Yahwist cult, and the version given in chapter 20 being associated with the Judahist reform following the Babylonian exile.

Anat

The story of Sinai is a composite of at least 3 sources. See What Really Happened at Mount Sinai? - Four biblical answers to one question to see how they can be untangled.

aa5874

How does one untangle fiction? I am of the opinion that once a Book which claims to be the Word of God is found to be fictitious, it cannot be resolved, and should be discarded.

In Exodus20:18 (KJV) , 'And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off'.

Now if the author of Exodus does not know the difference between the voice of God and a thunder stom, what can be resolved. How can a thunder storm be so completely misunderstood and expected to be believed as the voice of God?

The only resolution I can make with regards to the Christian Bible, is that the Bible contains stories that show the lack of knowledge and understanding of the workings of Nature by the authors.

Anat

What's wrong in understanding how several works of fiction were combined into yet another work of fiction? What's wrong in understanding how a work of fcition evolved? Is it wrong to notice how 2001 A Space Odyssey is an expansion of The Sentinel?

John Kesler

However Exodus 34:1b got into the text, it creates a contradiction with verses 27-28, since the former verse says that Yahweh would write the new version of the 10 commandments, while the latter verses state that Moses wrote it.

BigJim

He also says that He'd write "the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke." (Ex 34:1)

Obviously the wording is not remotely close to the original.

Chris Weimer

The current Decalogue, however, derives from Deuteronomy, and not Exodus. Since in Dueteronomy the ten familiar to us commandments are repeated from Exodus, they aren't, in Judaism, replaced.

moorezw

I've often wondered if the Decalogue in Exodus 20 was imported from the version found in Deuteronomy. Is this a reasonable hypothesis?