joedad

To what appears to be a fundamental question I cannot find a definitive answer.

I understand that the Ten Commandments come from the Decalogue and that the earliest translations actually refer to the Ten Commandments as "Ten Words."

My question is simply, "When did the expression "Ten Commandments" take its present form?" There has to be an original translation or usage somewhere and I just can't find it.

My apologies if this comes across as a stupid question. Any help? Suggested readings?

joe

Ojuice5001

I think it doesn't directly come from anything in the Bible. It's like the Sermon on the Mount--that name is nowhere to be found in the Bible. It's a name that came from Christian or Jewish tradition, not from the Bible. I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere.

Toto

Try

<a href="http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/lewis/lewten0c.htm" target="_blank">(more than you ever wanted to know about) The Ten Commandments</a> by Joseph Lewis

Professor Andrew C. Zenos, Dean and Professor of Biblical Theology at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, . . . says:

"The arrangement of the moral precepts in the form of ten commandments was neither demanded by the nature of the subject nor suggested by logical or philosophical considerations. It is the result of deference to the popular regard and conventional value of the number ten, recognized at the time."