THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
This is an attempt to reconstruct what the actual text of the Ten Commandments possibly looked like as they were written on the tables of stone by the
finger of God.
It obviously wasn't modern Hebrew. Nor was it Paleo-Hebrew but very possibly close which dates back to the 10th century BC. God gave the tables of the Ten
Commandments to Moses about 1500 BC.
Note: this would have been read from right to left so Table 1 is on the right and Table 2 on the left.
Note: this would have been read from right to left like modern Hebrew.
And he gave to Moses, when he had made an end of speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Exodus 31:18.
References:
The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, also spelt Palaeo-Hebrew alphabet, is a variant of the Phoenician alphabet. Like the Phoenician alphabet, the Paleo-Hebrew
alphabet contains 22 letters, all of which are consonants, and is described as an abjad. The term was coined by Solomon Birnbaum in 1954; he wrote,
"To apply the term Phoenician to the script of the Hebrews is hardly suitable". Still, the script is nearly identical to the Phoenician script.
Archeological evidence of the use of the script by the Israelites for writing the Hebrew language dates to around the 10th century BCE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-Hebrew_alphabet
The Phoenician alphabet, called by convention the Proto-Canaanite alphabet for inscriptions older than around 1050 BC, is the oldest verified alphabet.
The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet is a local variant of the Phoenician alphabetical script.
The earliest known alphabetic (or "proto-alphabetic") inscriptions are the so-called Proto-Sinaitic (or Proto-Canaanite) script sporadically attested in
the Sinai and in Canaan in the late Middle and Late Bronze Age. The script was not widely used until the rise of new Semitic kingdoms in the 13th and
12th centuries BC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_alphabet#Origin
The Phoenician alphabet is also considered to be the parent system to the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet.
There is some debate about this with one group favouring something that looks more like Egyptian Hieroglyphics since Egypt was where the Hebrews were
for about 400 years.
However, considering that current Hebrew looks like, well, Hebrew, which can be traced back to Paleo-Hebrew which is known to be a child alphabet system of
the Phoenician alphabet I feel the simplest solution is to go with it. Incidentally, Paleo-Hebrew and Phoenician look nearly identical with some very small
differences. I have tried to carefully transcribe the current Hebrew letters in the text of the Ten Commandments back to Phoenician and accept full
responsibility for any errors. Hopefully there aren't any but this was a far from simple undertaking.
Stephen Buckley
E-mail:
Page last revised: 29 Nov 2019.
Page constructed: Approx 5 Sep 2019.
The actual Law of God?
Written on tables of stone and given to Moses approximately 1500 BC. However...
13.772 billion years is as good a guess as any using NASA's estimate of the age of the universe.
But in all honesty, God is a lot older than that. So no, we don't really have a finite figure we can put here.
Note: the Law of God has never been revised or modified though some people have attempted to do this.
Companion pages:
God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone and gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai. This page gives the text for the Ten Commandments.
God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone and gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai. So just what would they look like? These table pictures show a
'Hebrewised' style of text but it's English so you can read it.
God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone and gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai. But just what did Moses do with the two tables of stone? Where
did they go or where did Moses put them? For their wilderness wanderings God told the Israelites to construct a portable tabernacle or tent structure which
consisted of two compartments inside a courtyard. The Ten Commandments were put inside this tent. This page gives some good information about this tent
structure. And we are told this tent was a copy of an original in heaven. It would seem reasonable that there would also be an original copy of the Ten
Commandments in heaven. Where in heaven would they be?
This is a very curious study showing Moses' wilderness tent structure in the Old Testament was symbolic of the Heart of God. The interesting connection
here is that the Law of God was placed in this tent structure and that God has said that He would write His laws into our hearts. Also it would be pretty
obvious that God's Law would also be in His Heart.