The following is the results of your search for COMMANDMENTS, THE TEN.
Commandments, The Ten: (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 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
(Exodus 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
(Exodus 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"
(Exodus 34:1) These tables
were afterwards placed in the ark of the covenant
(Deuteronomy 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9)
Their subsequent history is unknown. They are as a whole called "the
covenant"
(Deuteronomy 4:13) and "the tables of the covenant"
(Deuteronomy 9:9,11)
(Hebrews 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.
