Will someone bring the real Ten Commandments forward?

Last year, a decision was made that a monument containing the Ten Commandments was to be removed from the grounds of the Oklahoma Capitol building. Removing similar monuments and statues, containing the Ten Commandments, from public grounds is nothing new. In fact, one judge from Alabama, Roy Moore, decided to defy an order to remove a display of the Ten Commandments form the state's judicial building's rotunda many years ago. I have no doubt that many conservative Christians support Moore's decision to defy the Court of the Judiciary's order. If I could have a conversation with Mr. Moor and his supporters, I would love to ask them a simple question: which Ten Commandments do you want to see in (or outside of) courtrooms and on state legislative buildling grounds?

I ask this because the fact of the matter is, is that the Bible contains two different and irreconciable sets of "Ten Commandments". One is found in Exodus 20 and is the one that many Americans are quite familiar with. However, another and contrary set is found in Exodus 34( I will use the New American Standard Bible throughout this post to show this). One set, often called the "Ethical Decalogue" is found in Exodus 20: 1-17:

Then God spoke all these words, saying,

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

8 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

However, a different and contrary set, known as the "Ritual Decalogue", is given in Exodus 34: 11-26:

11 “Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. 12 Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 13 But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 —for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— 15 otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods.

17 You shall make for yourself no molten gods.

18 “You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

19 “The first offspring from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the first offspring from cattle and sheep. 20 You shall redeem with a lamb the first offspring from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. None shall appear before Me empty-handed.

21 “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest. 22 You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. 23 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.

25 “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning.

26 “You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God.

“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

One can see that these sets are different from each other. In the "Ethical Decalogue", for instance, the final commandment is against coveting anything that belongs to a neighbor. The final commendment in the "Ritual Declaogue" is against boiling a young goat in its mother's milk. The "Ethical Decalogue" contains commandments against adultery and murder yet none are found in the "Ritual Decalogue". The "Ethical Decalogue" doesn't contain any commandments about celebrating the Feast of the Unleavened Bread or the Feast of Weeks, which are commanded in the "Ritual Decalogue".

That the "Ritual Decalogue" is meant to be understood as the Ten Commandments can be seen from the next two verses. Verses 27-28 reads:

 27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments."

So we see here a clear indication that the "Ritual Decalogue" is to be understood as the official Ten Commandments. I have put "the Ten Commandments" in bold lettering above to emphasize the definitive article before the two words to indicate that the writer meant to convey that an official list was being given.

Does this mean that the "Ethical Decalogue" is not meant to be understood as the official Ten Commandments? The answer is a resounding: no!

That the "Ethical Decalogue" is meant to be the official Ten Commandments can be seen from the following passages. First, consider the following from Deuteronomy 4: 9-14:

Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’ 11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice. 13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them in the land where you are going over to possess it.

According to this passage, the Hebrews were gathered on the day of the assembly at Horeb and Yahweh spoke to them from the midst of fire and they heard his voice. Then Yahweh proclaimed his covenant, that is, the Ten Commandments. I highlighted, in bold, "the Ten Commandments" in verse 13 above. What Moses is allegedly recalling in this passage are the events narrated in Exodus 20, on the "Day of the Assembly".

But is there any evidence that the Ten Commandments spoken in this passage quoted from Deuteronomy 4 are, indeed, the "Ethical Decalogue" and not the "Ritual Decalogue"? There is! In the next chapter, chapter 5, we read the following from verses 1-27:

Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them:

“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today. 4 The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire, 5 while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said,

6 ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
7 ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.

8 ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

11 ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

12 ‘Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.
16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you.

17 ‘You shall not murder.

18 ‘You shall not commit adultery.

19 ‘You shall not steal.

20 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

21 ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

22 “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23 And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. 24 You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives. 25 Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. 26 For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’

Here, the "Ethical Decalogue" is repeated and beginning with verse 22, it is described as occuring on the day that the assembly gathered at the mountain. There was a cloud, a fire on the mountain, and they heard God's voice. Further, the words given were written on two stablets of stone and were given to Moses, and, according to Deuteronomy 4: 13, these words spoken to the assembly are explicitly called, "the Ten Commandments".

So, there we have it. We have two decalogues and both are described by the Bible as officially being the "Ten Commandments" and yet they are irreconciably different. This is one example, out of many, many, discrepancies in the Bible.

Perhaps a believer in biblical inerrancy would like to respond, trying to reconcile these two different sets and show that no true discrepancy exists.

Welcome to the New Skeptical Review

                                              The New Skeptical Review

With this opening blog post, I'd like to welcome everyone to The New Skeptical Review. The purpose of this blog is to continue the work began by the late Farrell Till. Mr. Till was a Church-of-Christ preacher who, after many years of intensely studying the Bible, came to believe that the Bible was a flawed book, containing many errors, absurdities, failed prophecies, discrepancies, and other flaws. After having worked as an English instructor at Spoon River College, he went onto retire and started a publication titled The Skeptical Review. It started as a printed publication but later became a website. Many articles from the printed edition now appear on The Skeptical Review's website. Till even posted his own story of how he went from a preacher in Chuches of Christ to being a Bible skeptic.

Unfortunately, Mr. Till died on October 3, 2012. There are probably man more articles he wanted to write and publish but probably never got around to doing it. The world lost a valuable voice of reason as well as champion for freethought and biblical skepticism. This blog was started to honor his legacy and carry on his work. Honest and informed biblical criticism is needed more than ever and there are many people out there who need to be educated because they have been indoctrinated, and even brainwashed by religious propaganda. This blog exists as an antidote to religious propaganda, particularly doctrinal nonsense like biblical inerrancy.

Please note as you read these blog entries that I am not (yet) a biblical scholar. I have, however, spent years reading the works of biblical scholars and I have done my best to educate myself on biblical scholarship. I am confident that the information that I post on this blog is backed up by critical Bible scholarship and I am confident that anyone who takes the time to read these posts can independently verify for themselves that the information in these blog posts is accurate. Now this blog is primarily devoted to biblical inerrancy although, from time to time, other topics such as popular arguments in Christian apologetics will be addressed. Not all holy books will be scrutinized on this blog. Given that conservative Christianity seems to be the predominant religious faith in America, this blog will be devoted mostly to critiquing conservative Christianity.

This blog will allow comments. If you wish to leave any feedback to this blog, please be a registered user and please try to be civil. Rude, nasty, and abusive commentary will generally not be allowed. I realize that when posting on controversial topics, people can lose their cool and sometimes lash out. That is fine as long as people lashing out apologize. I appreciate people at least trying to be civil. However, if you want to be a jerk and enjoy being one, you will simply have to find another blog because cruel and disrespectful commentary will not be tolerated after the offenders have been fairly warned. Again, I realize that sometimes we get rubbed the wrong way, sometimes we have bad days, and sometimes people just push our buttons.

Finally, I hope that this blog will serve as an educational tool. If a believer, especially a conservative Christian, reads the posts on here and still believes despite being challenged to look at their beliefs critically, that's fine. I have more respect for people who open their Bibles and other books and try to read carefully and critically than people who blindly believe whatever a preacher may say and read books like the Bible very selectively. If this blog can help at least one person see through the folly of believing that the Bible is the "inspired", "inerrant", and "infallible word of God", I will consider this endeavor well worth undertaking. I don't mind conservative Christians becoming more liberal believers after reading.

Enjoy!

Robert Engersoll