Ten Commandments Part 4
The
Commandment Numbering System
The
Hebrew Bible doesn’t number the Ten Commandments. They are merely a list of ten sayings. There are two different ways in which the Ten
Commandments are numbered. This has
caused considerable confusion in how to refer to them. For instance, is the commandment “You shall
not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” the 2nd or the 3rd
commandment. The Protestant, Anglican,
and Orthodox traditions follow the Jewish way of numbering the
commandments. Catholics and Lutherans
follow the numbering system devised by St. Augustine.
It is
impossible to determine categorically that either of these two systems is the correct
one. There are reasons for both. Part of the problem is that the Ten
Commandments are listed in both Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. The two versions are slightly different. Deuteronomy 5:21 reads “Neither shall you covet your neighbor’s wife; and you
shall not desire your neighbor’s
house . . . .” Two different Hebrew
words are used. Exodus 20:17 reads “You
shall not covet your neighbor’s
house; you shall not covet your
neighbor’s wife . . . . .” The same
Hebrew word translated “covet” occurs twice in Exodus but only once in
Deuteronomy.
Lutherans and Catholics base their
numbering system on the Deuteronomy passage while Jewish, Orthodox, Anglican,
and Protestant (hereafter referred to as “Protestant”) base their numbering on
the Exodus passage.
The
early Church Fathers are not much help.
Several spoke of the commandments, but few gave them any numbering. Clement of Alexandria, in the 3rd
century, used the Jewish numbering system.
St. Augustine, at the end of the 4th century, devised the
numbering system which Catholics and Lutherans use.
How
are the two numbering systems different?
St. Augustine concluded that the 1st commandment contains
both the prohibition to have no other gods before God and to not make any
graven image. Since by St. Augustine’s
time the Roman Empire had become Christianized, the making of idols was not the
same problem that it was in earlier times.
It made it easy to combine them. Under
his system, the prohibition of taking God’s name in vain becomes commandment
two. Coveting and desiring in
Deuteronomy 5:21 becomes the 9th and 10th
commandments. A distinction is made between
coveting property from coveting a person.
The Protestant numbering system divides the first commandment described
above into two commandments. “You shall
have no other gods before me” becomes commandment one and “You shall not make a
graven image” becomes commandment two.
Basing their numbering on Exodus 20:17, the two mentions of “covet”
become the 10th commandment. The chart below points out the
differences.
Does it really make much difference which numbering
system is used? In one sense it doesn’t make a lot of difference as all 10 commandments
are there. By separating coveting into
two, Catholics and Lutherans point to a greater respect for the marriage
bond. The Protestant numbering places is
more balanced in the horizontal and vertical relationships discussed in last
week’s entry. Four commandments are
vertical and six horizontal. The
Catholic and Lutheran numbering has only three verticle. Also
the double usage of the word “covet” in the Protestant numbering places a
heightened emphasis on the danger of coveting.
In
another sense it does make a difference. When we touch on the affected
commandments I will highlight this. Although
I much prefer the Protestant numbering, I will use the Catholic and Lutheran
numbering since I’ve been in those traditions for most of my adult life. As we discuss each individual commandment I
will reference both numbering systems, with the Protestant number listed in
parenthesis. When we get to the 9th
and 10th commandments (Protestant 10th) I will explain
why I prefer to Protestant numbering. With these introductions, we are ready to
begin with commandment one next week.
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