by him on the ground. At the command of God he took up into the mount
two other tables, and God wrote on them “the words that were on the first
tables” (34:1). These tables were afterwards placed in the ark of the
covenant (Deuteronomy 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9). Their subsequent history is
unknown. They are as a whole called “the covenant” (Deuteronomy 4:13),
and “the tables of the covenant” (9:9, 11; Hebrews 9:4), and “the
testimony.”
They are obviously “ten” in number, but their division is not fixed, hence
different methods of numbering them have been adopted. The Jews make
the “Preface” one of the commandments, and then combine the first and
second. The Roman Catholics and Lutherans combine the first and second
and divide the tenth into two. The Jews and Josephus divide them equally.
The Lutherans and Roman Catholics refer three commandments to the first
table and seven to the second. The Greek and Reformed Churches refer
four to the first and six to the second table. The Samaritans add to the
second that Gerizim is the mount of worship. (See LAW.)
- COMMUNION fellowship with God (Genesis 18:17-33; Exodus 33:9-11;
Numbers 12:7, 8), between Christ and his people (John 14:23), by the
Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14; Phil. 2:1), of believers with one another
(Ephesians 4:1-6). The Lord’s Supper is so called (1 Corinthians 10:16,
17), because in it there is fellowship between Christ and his disciples, and
of the disciples with one another. - CONANIAH whom Jehovah hath set, a Levite placed over the tithes
brought into the temple (2 Chronicles 35:9). - CONCISION (Gr. katatome; i.e., “mutilation”), a term used by Paul
contemptuously of those who were zealots for circumcision (Phil. 3:2).
Instead of the warning, “Beware of the circumcision” (peritome) i.e., of the
party who pressed on Gentile converts the necessity of still observing that
ordinance, he says, “Beware of the concision;” as much as to say, “This
circumcision which they vaunt of is in Christ only as the gashings and
mutilations of idolatrous heathen.” - CONCUBINE in the Bible denotes a female conjugally united to a man,
but in a relation inferior to that of a wife. Among the early Jews, from
various causes, the difference between a wife and a concubine was less
marked than it would be amongst us. The concubine was a wife of
secondary rank. There are various laws recorded providing for their