Attention Judaic scholars: Why TEN Commandments?

The text on the second set of tablets was identical to text on the first. As it says in Exodus 34:1- “And G-d said to Moses, carve for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke.”

Then Moses does this, and then Exodus recounts Moses’ prayer for G-d to forgive the Jewish people for the sin of the golden calf, which had just happened. G-d relents and makes a covenant with the people, and then gives them some instructions. These include the commandments you mentioned, which are G-d given commandments to the Jews, but they’re not on the tablets. What may be throwing you off is that the Torah doesn’t re-list the tablet commandments at the point in the story where they’re carved again, so the next commandments you see aren’t on the tablets.

The fact that there are more than one enumeration of the 10 commandments is a good reason to not have the govt post them in schools or public places. I can just imagine a religious war over what version to hang.

Catholic Parochial schools were created because the schools in the 1800s used the King James version of the bible rather than the Catholic version.

I see what you mean and you are probably right. But there is room for argument as at the end of the chapter God says "Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel” and then Moses writes the tablets. This seems to be referring to the text above with the kid in mothers milk etc. The text above also refers to keeping the sabbath holy and not worshipping idols which are in the other commandments. But as it seems to leave out some important bits like not killing people, it is likely that these are not the full covenant

There is an accepted thesis with biblical scholars that genesis in particular seems to be an amalgam of two traditions - that was why I was wondering about the text in question.