The Definition of the word Commandments, the Ten

Commandments, the Ten

(Ex. 34:28; Deut. 10:4, marg. ten words") i.e., the Decalogue" "(q.v.), is a summary of the immutable moral law. These" commandments were first given in their written form to the "people of Israel when they were encamped at Sinai, about fifty" days after they came out of Egypt (Ex. 19:10-25). They were written by the finger of God on two tables of stone. The first tables were broken by Moses when he brought them down from the "mount (32:19), being thrown by him on the ground. At the command" "of God he took up into the mount two other tables, and God wrote" "on them "the words that were on the first tables" (34:1). These" tables were afterwards placed in the ark of the covenant (Deut. 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9). Their subsequent history is unknown. They "are as a whole called "the covenant" (Deut. 4:13), and "the" "tables of the covenant" (9:9, 11; Heb. 9:4), and "the" "testimony." "They are obviously "ten" in number, but their division is not "fixed, hence different methods of numbering them have been" "adopted. The Jews make the "Preface" one of the commandments," and then combine the first and second. The Roman Catholics and Lutherans combine the first and second and divide the tenth into two. The Jews and Josephus divide them equally. The Lutherans and Roman Catholics refer three commandments to the first table and seven to the second. The Greek and Reformed Churches refer four to the first and six to the second table. The Samaritans add to the second that Gerizim is the mount of worship. (See [122]LAW.)