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THE LAW OF GOD
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.

Image:Table 2   Image:Table 1
Note: this would have been read from right to left so Table 1 is on the right and Table 2 on the left.
Image:Table 1

Image:Table 2
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.


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Stephen Buckley
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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:

THE LAW OF GOD--text 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.

THE LAW OF GOD--picture 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's Sanctuary 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?

The Heart of God 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.