Ten Commandments Tablets
An Artist's Recreation
No one knows what the original tablets of the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God on Mount Sinai (or Horeb) looked like. As Moses brought them down from the top of the mountain, he became incensed that the Hebrew people, with the conscripted collaboration of Aaron, had constructed a calf out of molten gold to worship and make sacrifices to in lieu of Yahweh. When Moses observed the corruption of the people he threw the tablets of the Decalogue to the ground at the foot of the mountain and had to re-ascend the mountain for replacements.
Though we refer to them as the “ten commandments,” they are not enumerated in the text of the Pentateuch where they are recorded in more than one location: Exodus 20:2-17; Exodus 34:1-28; Deuteronomy 5:6-21. They are, however, referred to as δεκάλογος (ten words) in the Greek Septuagint, and the Hebrew phrase עשרת הדברים means “ten words/sayings.” How the ten statements are to be divided, grouped and enumerated is debated among the Jewish scholars and various Christian groups with several different variations.
These recreations of the Ten Commandment tablets utilize the script of the paleo-Hebrew lettering that is the oldest representation of the text that the Hebrew language experts are aware of. Created in Australia, they are an artist’s best attempt to reconstruct what the tablets may have looked like.
Though we refer to them as the “ten commandments,” they are not enumerated in the text of the Pentateuch where they are recorded in more than one location: Exodus 20:2-17; Exodus 34:1-28; Deuteronomy 5:6-21. They are, however, referred to as δεκάλογος (ten words) in the Greek Septuagint, and the Hebrew phrase עשרת הדברים means “ten words/sayings.” How the ten statements are to be divided, grouped and enumerated is debated among the Jewish scholars and various Christian groups with several different variations.
These recreations of the Ten Commandment tablets utilize the script of the paleo-Hebrew lettering that is the oldest representation of the text that the Hebrew language experts are aware of. Created in Australia, they are an artist’s best attempt to reconstruct what the tablets may have looked like.
