The “Ten Commandments” occupy an iconic place in popular imagination. Whether as a result of Cecile B. DeMille’s epic 1956 retelling or not, most of us know the basic outline of the story: Moses goes up Sinai where God gives him the Ten Commandments, writing them with His own finger on the tablets. The people, though, scared because Moses stayed on the mountain forty days, made a golden calf. Moses comes down the mountain and in fury breaks the tablets. He soon reascends to receive them again from God, but this time in Moses’ writing. I have the privilege this semester of teaching a course on the Ten Commandments and the other day, in going over the biblical accounts (and DeMille’s movie), I was struck by how firmly this narrative is entrenched. The biblical accounts are actually far more complex, or better, confused. Scholars have long noted these discrepancies (see, e.g., here) but they are worth reviewing. In Exodus 19, Moses ascends the mountain where God tells him to get the people ready. He goes down and does this, then goes back up, then God tells him to go down again and then to come back with Aaron (19:24-25). He […]
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