The Bible Book

82 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

The rocky heights of Mount Sinai,

where Moses is said to have received

the Ten Commandments. Holy places

are often also high places, where the

human is nearer to the divine.

regard for them, and now God gives

them commandments to protect

this new identity, recognizing that

it would be too easy for them to fall

back into godless ways.

More than ten

The Ten Commandments form

the backbone of God’s relationship

with Israel. There are many other

instructions that Moses receives

from God to pass on to the

Israelites, including instructions

for constructing the Tabernacle,

and these additional rules are

necessary for the application of the

Ten Commandments in everyday

life. Over time, this larger body of

commands and teaching become

known as torah, which is still the

fundamental set of laws governing

Judaism today.

In this episode in the Bible,

Moses is presented as God’s great

lawgiver, and the law is often called

Mosaic Law. Today, however, the

ten laws have a less prominent

position within Judaism than they

did in Moses’s time. According to

the Babylonian Talmud, a collection

of interpretations of the torah and

Jewish law compiled in the 4th

century ce, priests ceased their

recitation of these commandments,

due to assertions by opponents,

possibly early Christians, that

they were the only laws imparted

to Moses on Mount Sinai. This

had led to the neglect of more

than 600 other commands.

Open to interpretation

As with many verses in the Bible,

the Ten Commandments are seen

differently by various groups.

Not only do interpretations of the

laws themselves differ—does,

for example, adultery refer to sexual

acts outside of marriage, or only to

the infidelity of married couples?—

but different denominations place

emphasis on different laws.

The Catholic Church, for

example, following the medieval

Roman tradition, does not include

the commandment concerning the

creation of images of God and also

specifies as its own commandment

that you must not covet your

neighbor’s wife. The prohibition

The Torah

Hebrew for “instruction” or

“teach i ng,” torah refers to

the Ten Commandments

and the other instructions

given to Moses on the top

of Mount Sinai. The Israelites

understand that God’s torah

has rescued them from the

restrictive and vindictive rule

of Pharaoh and see it as a gift

and a blessing.

Throughout the Bible, torah

is recognized as God’s good

commandments: following the

torah will enable humankind

to flourish within appropriate

boundaries. Torah is also used

as a collective term for the

first five books of the Bible:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,

Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

These books, often called the

books of Moses, are of

foundational importance to

Jews because they tell the

story of how the Israelites

came to exist as a nation and

contain God’s rule for life. In

every synagogue, the Torah is

handwritten on parchment

scrolls that are kept in the Ark

of the Law, symbolizing the

Holy of Holies in the ancient

Temple of Jerusalem.

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