Why are there TWO different sets of "10 Commandments" in the Bible?

Question

Here is a bigger question: WHICH 10 "Commandments"? (they are not called commandments in the bible)

It's amazing how many people don't know, or ignore the fact that there were TWO sets of stone tablets!

Don't believe me? Read both Exodus 20 (the tablets Moses broke) and Exodus 34 (the second set, with....different commandments???).

Then, just to make things more confusing, try reading the different TRANSLATIONS of the 10 Commandments:
Protestant, Catholic, Hebrew

Whew! Exhausting!

To the girl who thinks I don't know what I am talking about:
I have obviously read the bible; and you???
I am asking a legitimate question, so read your own bible and you will see that it is true, there were 2 sets of tablets (everyone knows that Moses broke the first set). My question is, why (ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE) are they DIFFERENT?
Small mindedness and blind following of dogma are 2 things that really got under Jesus's skin!

To Tom: Why are you getting bent out of shape and calling me ignorant (Christian comapssion?) And how dare you call me a non-believer because I ask a question!

READ THE VERSES! This is a legitimate questions. WHY ARE THEY LISTED TWO DIFFERENT TIMES USING SOMETIMES VERY DIFFERENT WORDS?
I didn't write the thing, I want to know why it is so confusing!

Answer 1

Both Exodus 20:1ff & Deut. 5:6ff lists the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 34:1-4 does not list them, but only mentions that a second tablet was made of the commandments. Later on in the chapter (verses 10-23), a covenant is made and some of these commandments (the first four) are mentioned with some added commentary from God.

Ancient Judaism (found in the Septuagint), most Protestants & Eastern Orthodox all share the same grouping of the commandments.

The best known Protestant Version is in the KJV, which can be obtained via a google search (opps...I mean yahoo).

My understand is that some religions have purposely combined the first two commandments to hide the commandment that we are not to make images of God. To preserve the number '10' divide the 10th commandment into two.

Answer 2

A close reading of Exodus 20 & 34 reveals that the commandments were not "edited" in any way. Exodus 20 lists the 10 Commandments. Exodus 34: 1-4 says Moses was to cut out new stones God would re-write them on after Moses broke the first stones. The following verses of ch 34 are not new commandments. They were already recorded in Ex 20 so they are not written down for us again here. Many times God spoke to Moses. Each time was not an addition or change to the 10 Commandments, but were statutes, and judgments, etc that God told Moses to write and became known as the Mosaic Law.

If the numbering confuses you, don't worry about that. People have tried to change them to make their particular sin less glaring. Just read them, put them in your mind and ask God to put them in your heart, too. It's not all that exhausting for someone seeking truth....only to those who try to make it seem difficult.

Answer 3

They are in Exodus 20:2-17, mentioned in Exodus 34, and listed in Deuteronomy 5:6-21.

Answer 4

The LORD said to Moses, "Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Ex34:1. They said the same things.

Answer 5

You are correct. The first set of tablets given to Moses contained a higher law of the gospel, probably similar to what Jesus taught some 1500 years later. When it became clear from the partying and idolatry of the Israelites that they were not ready for the higher law, then God gave Moses the lesser law contained on the second set of tablets. That law of outward ordinances was a preparatory law full of symbolic references to the sacrifice of the Savior to be accomplished by Christ. If they lived the Mosaic law and contemplated its meaning, then they would be prepared for the law of the gospel taught by Christ when it came. Unfortunately, the leaders did not understand the symbolism well enough to accept Christ when He came. Thus, the humble followed HIm but the proud leaders rejected Him, even though their Mosaic Law testified of Him.

Answer 6

Moses saw that the Israelites had "defiled themselves", and that his brother, Aaron, had made a Golden Calf and an altar in front of it. Moses, in terrible anger, broke the tablets.God later had Moses carve two other tablets, to replace the ones he smashed.God himself appears as the writer. This second set, brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses,was placed in the Ark of the Covenant, hence designated as the "Ark of the Testimony."

Answer 7

So then, you would propose, since you obviously disbelieve in God in the first place, that it is impossible that God remembers what He told Moses in the first place? What a cloth-eared nonsensical notion! I suppose you would accuse the Almighty of short term memory loss, n'est ce pas?

Lastly, the idea that the translations of the protestant, catholic and Hebrew decalog is so different as to not be trustworthy either proceeds from a dishonest heart, or else from just plain ignorance. If I approach a catholic or a Jew and tell them they have violated one of those commandments and quote the relevant verse, I will be met with recognition.

Where on earth do you think you are going with this? The next time you want to post something of this nature, try doing something other than a two pronged bent fork of ignorance and omission.

Tom

Answer 8

For two different generations. The first time Moses gave the commandments to the generation that left Egypt they disobeyed God and so God declaired that the older generation would not enter the Promissed Land. So moses gives the commandments to a second generation of Israelites who didn't get a chance to hear it the first time or were simply too young to remember.

Answer 9

Well, you see, they were not command-MENTS, but command-MINTS. God sent moses down with tablets, but they were not STONE, they were MINT tablets.

These are similar to the Valentine's Day candy hearts that say things like,

"Be Mine",

or

"I Wub You".

The difference here, is that the mints say things like,

"Thou shalt not kill",

and,

"Thou shalt become blind if thou whackest thine own tallywacker".

So you see? The second set was the new edition with:
NEW! longer lasting freshness!

Answer 10

The tablets Moses destroyed - self explanatory, God made another set for the people to follow. It is up to you and God as to which translation you follow. God and the Bible will guide you. If you are still searching then maybe you don't believe in the ones you are currently following.