Featured A Nuanced Examination of Exodus 20:1-17

This topic turned out to be a popular one with many people participating from many different perspectives.

The previous iteration of this thread was "There Are Only Nine Commandments". Consider this nuanced examination a "2.0" of the previous thread. I will link the previous thread here:

There Are Only Nine Commandments

Today's questions are simple (or maybe not so simple).

How many commandments are there and what are they?

At first glance, the scripture reveals either 9 or 11 commandments that we can see with our eyes depending on how you look at it. However, the scripture also states explicitly that there are 10 of them.

It turns out that this much more interesting than one would expect. I grew up believing that there were ten and believed there were ten all my life until I started looking into this.

I prefer the New American Bible so I'm going to be working with the text from that version. But feel free to use your own!

I'm also including an important footnote. Please read it.

From
Bible Gateway passage: Exodus 20:1-17 - New American Bible (Revised Edition) (italicized and bold text is mine)

1Then God spoke all these words:

(Could this be the missing commandment?)
2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

(Verses 3-6, one or two commandments?)
3 You shall not have other gods beside me.4 You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; 5 you shall not bow down before them or serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; 6 but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 You shall not invoke the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord will not leave unpunished anyone who invokes his name in vain.

8 Remember the sabbath day—keep it holy. 9 Six days you may labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work, either you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your work animal, or the resident alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

12 Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

13 You shall not kill.

14 You shall not commit adultery.

15 You shall not steal.

16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

(One or two commandments?)
17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Read full chapter
Footnotes

1. 20:1–17
   The precise numbering and division of these precepts into “ten commandments” is somewhat uncertain. Traditionally among Catholics and Lutherans vv. 1–6 are considered as only one commandment, and v. 17 as two. The Anglican, Greek Orthodox, and Reformed churches count vv. 1–6 as two, and v. 17 as one. Cf. Dt 5:6–21. The traditional designation as “ten” is not found here but in 34:28 (and also Dt 4:13 and 10:4), where these precepts are alluded to literally as “the ten words.” That they were originally written on two tablets appears in Ex 32:15–16; 34:28–29; Dt 4:13; 10:2–4.
   
   The present form of the commands is a product of a long development, as is clear from the fact that the individual precepts vary considerably in length and from the slightly different formulation of Dt 5:6–21 (see especially vv. 12–15 and 21). Indeed they represent a mature formulation of a traditional morality. Why this specific selection of commands should be set apart is not entirely clear. None of them is unique in the Old Testament and all of the laws which follow are also from God and equally binding on the Israelites. Even so, this collection represents a privileged expression of God’s moral demands on Israel and is here set apart from the others as a direct, unmediated communication of God to the Israelites and the basis of the covenant being concluded on Sinai.

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At first glance, I see simply nine commandments:

Verses 1-2 are introducing the passage. (Not commandments)

1. Verses 3-6: No other gods.
2. Verse 7: Name in vain forbidden.
3. Verses 8-11: Sabbath day holy.
4. Verse 12: Honor father and mother.
5. Verse 13: Murder forbidden.
6. Verse 14: Adultery forbidden.
7. Verse 15: Theft forbidden.
8. Verse 16: False witness forbidden.
9. Verse 17: Coveting forbidden.

However, I began warming up to verse 2 as the possible missing commandment.

Here is a link to 37818's perspective on verse 2:
The original 10 commandments.

My take on verse 2 is that it implies "Thou shall not be a slave" or "Thou shall be free".

 

Yes, the Bible does say there are ten but my eyes tell me there are nine. So there's a gap. We have a missing commandment on the loose! So, if I want to get to ten, I have to do something fancy.

 

So my current vote is both for simply 9 and for adopting verse 2 as the tenth.

 

It's not that I'm refusing to accept scripture. It's that I'm choosing to understand it. I know that I'm a little bit unorthodox but I really am passionate about connecting with God through the Bible.

So the question is:
If my eyes see nine, then how do I number and/or divide the verses to get to ten?

 

I really like the verse 2 theory.

How do you divide them?

 

It's all in the opinion piece.

Let me ask this differently. If I were to hand you all 12 Commandments

1 Verse 2
2. Verse 3
3. Verses 4-6
4. Verse 7
5. Verses 8-11
6. Verse 12
7. Verse 13
8. Verse 14
9. Verse 15
10. Verse 16
11. Verse 17 sentence 1
12. Verse 17 sentence 2

Then which ones would you combine together or discard as commandments to get to ten?

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The verse 2 position states that we adopt verse 2 as the missing commandment.

 

It's not a hill at all for me. It's just a fascinating topic. I've never studied the ten commandments so closely in all my life.

 

One of my favorite verses. Jesus reduced them down to just two.

 

So, How do each of you divide the verses in Exodus 20:1-17?

I'm assuming you both subscribe to ten commandments. How do you guys get there? Verse 2? Verse 3? Verse 17? Or some other way?

 

What are they? Can you list them? Because I'm curious how you guys divide them.