Why only 10 commandments?

Question

How come they are called the "10 commandments" when there are 13 of them? Why not the 13 commandments? For those who don't believe me here are the 13 commandments (they can be found in both Exodus and Deuteronomy):

1. I am God (by the way, what if somebody else wrote this?)
2. Thou shalt have no other gods.
3. Thou shalt not make a false idol.
4. Thou shalt not worship the false idol (that you shouldn't have made in the first place)
5. Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain.
6. Remember (Exodus)/protect (Deuteronomy) the Sabbath (can I choose which one?)
7. Honor thy mother and father.
Thou shalt not...
8. ...murder
9 ...commit adultery.
10. ...steal
11. ...bear false witness
12. covet thy neighbor's wife
13. covet thy neighbor's house

Why are they called the 10 commandments when there's more than 10? Is it because 10 is a round number?

I know that different sects group them differently, but why group them like that instead of just having 13?

Fireball 226: 12 and 13 are not the same, according to most protestants.

brian8906: Only Catholics and Lutherans group the first 3 into a single commandment.
Also "It just says "Thou shalt not make thyself an idol" is not true... If you have a bible go get a copy and read the text. it says not to worship false idols in the next sentence.

Jason J: I know they're the same rules separated differently, my question is: Why the separations? Why not just accept 12-13 commandments?

mzjakes: 'aseres hadibros' is what I was looking for... but does this mean that God couldn't count? Why would God say he was giving them 10 statements and then make 20-30 statements? Was he messing with Moses? Or was Moses just too drunk?
I guess he really is a vengeful God...

And to the person who asked how needy God was, of course he's needy! He says so in several places in the Bible. Apparently, God needs our prayers despite his "omnipotence"

Answer 1

you're right....depending on how one counts, there are as many as 15 commandments in the 'ten'. To be more correct, the verses of the these commandments are introduced as 'aseres hadibros' which literally mean 'ten statements'. And while these are commandments in their own right, they are also the general categories into which all the other commandments fall.

In fact, there are 613 commandments in the Bible for Jews and just 7 for non-Jews.

Answer 2

The poor math skills by the OT authors is the reason that there are three different versions of the "10 commandments" between Catholics, Protestants, and Jews. It all depends on how you group the 13 into 10.

Actually there are 4 versions. The final version of the 10 commandments can be found in Exodus 34, and is never used, despite being the final draft.

If I were writing ten commandments, I would have dropped one of the stupid narcissistic ones and added something about rape in there. I would also drop the coveting thing (good personal advice but not a morality question) and maybe forbid slavery, for pete's sake.

In fact, I will categorically state that I could come up with a far, far better ten commandments than the authors of the OT claim that God did.

Answer 3

According to the Judeo-Christian tradition, the various commandments that you correctly indicate include more than 10 specific statements, are listed as follows:
1. I am the Lord thy God
2. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol
3. Thou shalt not make wrongful use of the name of thy God
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
5. Honor thy Mother and Father
6. Thou shalt not murder
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
8. Thou shalt not steal
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.

There are a variety of reasons put forth by bibical commentators as to why we ended up with the traditional "10 commandments", though Wikipedia provides a good religion-neutral treatment of the topic.

Answer 4

Most religions take the first 3 you listed and make that one...

Go here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments

Click on "division of the 10 commandments"

There is a chart that shows which way the different churches divide them...

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Also, don't know what church you belong to, but "thou shalt not make a false idol" and "thou shalt not worship the false idol" aren't 2 seperate ones...

It just says "Thou shalt not make thyself an idol".....maybe you should get it right, because there are only "12" commandments.

Answer 5

Normal your # 3 and 4 are considered to be one commandment - don't make or worship idols - not two separate ones. They are connected by a literary device called parallism. It is similar to being one paragraph in English.

And your number 12 and 13 are considered one, do not covet is followed by a list of items not to covet, but only one command - do not covet. I notice that you skipped the other items that you are told not to covet in the list.

So they are normally classes as 10 separate commandments. They are part of 614 total commandments that are given in the Law of Moses.

Answer 6

Interesting list! I guess you're referring only to the original Jewish list rather than the summary which Christians would expect to abide by:-
"Love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul & all your strength, and your neighbour as yourself"
Now is that 1 extra command or is it 2 - God & neighbour, or 3 - God, neighbour & self, or could you multiply it by the 3 ways i.e. heart, soul & strength, making 9 in all? Or does the 3 ways apply only to God & 1 way apply to neighbour & self, making 5?
You could max it out & say that the 13 commandments plus the 9 in the summary comes to 22 in all.
Well, as they say "there are lies, damned lies & statistics", none of which are commanded, so I'll give up counting the numbers now!

Answer 7

You are using the verse numbers for the commandment number..

The 10 Commandments - God's Revelation in the Old Testament
The 10 Commandments are found in the Bible's Old Testament at Exodus, Chapter 20. They were given directly by God to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai after He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt:



"And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the LORD your God…

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

SIX: 'You shall not murder.'

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

Answer 8

The Bible is full of God's Commandments.

"Go forth and multiply" was God's first commandment (much earlier), to Adam & Eve, way back in the "Garden of Eden", before there was even a 3rd human on earth!

The 10 that God wrote in stone, by Hs own hand, are a (Readers' Digest version) "summary" of His commands.

Jesus summarized the list even farther:
1) Love GOD with all your heart, mind and soul.
and (2) Love others as yourself.

Answer 9

It wasn't enough that Moses showed them perfectly clear signs from the lord was it..........because that would have confused the total heck out of all of them more than they already where, don't forget there was a massive orgy going on in the name of the golden calf and the lord said I turned them all into detested apes.. it don't matter if he gave them 1 or 100... they where doing all those things irrigardless of what lord brought.. a trip that should have taken 40 days took 30 years... they need more than that, but they could never even handle one of them.

Answer 10

3 and 4 are one in the same as well as 12 and 13. Also number one is that we shall have no other Gods besides Him for he is the ONLY God. Saying "I am God" is not a command to do something---but saying "You shall have no other Gods before me" is a command--- make sense?