#3: Sacred Texts - The Ten Commandments

In which religions do the Ten Commandments play a role?

The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue, are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and Christianity.

What are the Commandments about?

They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, theft, dishonesty, and adultery. Different groups follow slightly different traditions for interpreting and numbering them.

Where were the Ten Commandments given to Moses?

According to the story in Exodus, God inscribed them on two stone tablets, which he gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. In which parts of the Torah (Hebrew Bible) are the Ten Commandments referenced?

The Ten Commandments appear twice in the Hebrew Bible, in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy.

When Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments how long was he gone? Forty days and forty nights. What major event happened while Moses was away on Mount Sinai? Why do you think this happened? The Hebrew people waited for Moses to come down from the mountain. Before the full forty days expired, the children of Israel collectively decided that something happened to Moses, they fashioned a golden calf, built an altar, and "worshipped" the calf. What was Moses' response to this event? Why do you think Moses responded this way? After the full forty days, Moses and Joshua came down from the mountain with the tablets. As soon as Moses came into the camp, he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands, and broke them. (Exodus 32:19) How did The Lord respond to Moses anger?

After the events in Exodus 32 and 33, the LORD told Moses to get two more tablets of stone and he would write on these tables the words that were in the first tablets (Exodus 34:1). The tablets were rewritten on the replacement stones and placed in the ark of the covenant.