Commandments 11-15?

Factual Questions
1

There’s an ad for Adobe Acrobat that has run in a bunch of magazines recently that shows Moses holding THREE stone tablets labeled, in Roman Numerals, 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15. The writing on the tablets is (I presume) in Hebrew.

So…what does the text on the third tablet say? Did they actually think up some new commandments (Like, thou shalt not pirate software?) or is it just a nonsense stew of Hebrew letters? Anyone know?

I tried searching at the Adobe site, but I couldn’t find any mention of the ad or a link to an on-line copy of the ad, sorry.

2

I bet it’s a still from a scene from Monty Python’s “History of the World, Part II” Moses comes down from the Mount bearing three stone tablets and exclaims “God has sent with these 15…” [drops one of the tablets, which shatters “…errr…ten. ten Commandments!”

3

Or maybe that was Mel Brooks?

4

[hijack]
Actually, It’s History of the World, Part I and it was a Mel Brooks movie, not a Python movie.
[/hijack]

5

Nevermind the movie, what about the third tablet?

6

They must be pretty cruddy tablets if they break apart like moon dust when they’re dropped rather than rend earth asunder.

7

The surprising thing is that even though it is tradition that there are ten commandments and that they are the ones starting on Exodus 20:2, there is no clear stop in the number of commandments in the chapter! After some chitchat with Moses about the scary special effects, the commandments do continue:

Followed by Judgements that do sound like commandments also!
Including the famous:

Since many judgements deal with slavery and God not condemning it, I see why those rules are not mentioned anymore.

8

Actually, GIGObuster, there is. You just didn’t look in the right place. Dueteronomy 5 makes it clear that only these 10 were given publicly among the “special effects.” In addition Dueteronomy 4:13 also specifies that only 10 commandments were written on the tablets.

Zev Steinhardt

9

StarvingButStrong, do you have a link to the ad? Or at least could you mention magazines and page numbers, so someone who reads Hebrew can look at it?

You can’t translate what you don’t have.

10

How about the OP’s question? I saw that ad, too, and wondered the same thing (right after noting they were mutating an old Mel Brooks gag). For that matter, do the first two tablets really say anything? It’s an Adobe print ad. I found the image online, but unfortunately, the resolution isn’t quite good enough to read them:

http://www.esc2000.com/Newsletters/Artwork%20Newsletter/Moses1.jpg

The image has been captioned here for use in a job search advice article in an online newsletter.

I saw the ad in a doctor’s office, in “Fortune”, I believe. This link suggests that it ran in the New Yorker recently, and shows a picture of the New Yorker cover in question (scroll down to “Thursday”):

http://www.planetpdf.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=2205

11

Why on earth would they bother creating actual Hebrew text and then numbering it with Roman numerals?

12

It’s not really the ten commandments. First of all, #4 is simply much too short to hold the Sabbath commandment. In addition, commandments 6-8 are only two words in Hebrew, far too long for the script in the picture.

As for what language it is, I can’t say because the script is too small. However, I doubt they would mix Hebrew characters (which are read right to left) with English characters (which are clearly readable in the Roman numerals and are read left to right).

Zev Steinhardt

13

The ad has run several times in Time and Newsweek. I have a copy I ripped out of the 1/27 Newsweek, unfortunately there is no page number on it. OTOH, I do have the page, and would be happy to snail it to any volunteer Hebrew reader.

14

If you like, you can send it to me. However, I already offered my opinions above based on the online available copy. If the hardcopy is more legible, I’ll be happy to take a look at it.

Zev Steinhardt

15

Note that in spite of the historical anachronism, it has been common artistic practice for Moses to be depicted with tablets bearing Roman numerals, and sometimes, as in this case, lettering which is either the Hebrew alphabet or intended to strongly suggest same.

The question becomes whether the artist:

1 - Just made some squiggles thought to look right.

2 - Looked at the Hebrew alphabet, and just copied some characters.

3 - Used some Hebrew equivalent of “lorem ipsem” text.

4 - Actually said something.

4 is probably the least likely. I think Zev settled that it can’t be the real 10 commandments text.

16

Zev I agree that Deuteronomy says that but the word comandments is used later in exodus, also with the context of the tablets:

To me it shows that what the Ten Commandments were is something that was settled down later. And as I see the differences between the Ten Commandments among Christians, Catholics and Jews the answer is: It is not settled yet.

As for the OP: that ad for sure was a joke, but I think one can not ignore that the Bible is very flexible with the commandments so you can safely add 5 more from the bible if you choose.

Now go, and don’t eat beef stroganoff. :slight_smile:

17

Another useless thing on this topic:

According to a Shel Silverstein cartoon, God actually gave Moses 20 commandments. He chiseled off 10 because it was too heavy to carry. The missing ten were:

  1. Thou shalt not compromise.
  2. Thou shalt not judge.
  3. Thou shalt not seek rewards.
  4. Thou shalt not follow leaders.
  5. Remember every day, to keep it holy.
  6. Honor thy children.
  7. Thou shalt not destroy thy body before its time.
  8. Mind thine own business.
  9. Thou shalt not waste thy time.
  10. Thou shalt not lay guilt upon the head of thy neighbor.

So the idea of “extra commandments” and what Moses did to them has been around for a while. (Brooks did it first, but Silverstein’s is funny, too.)

18

Considering that in Jewish tradition there are 613 commandments, it’s a good thing that they weren’t all on the tablets. Poor Moses would have had a hernia. :smiley:

Zev Steinhardt

19

And thou shalt watch the parking meters …

20

I googol’d not once, nor twice yet even thrice and could not find that Adobe ad, though I did find sites that mentioned it.

When I think of documents that will last forever, ChiseledMarble.com comes to mind. If that site does not exist - DriedMud.com and/or Adobe.com are good too.

I’d still like to know why God’s tablets were both heavy and breakable.