Are there two (or three) different versions of the Ten Commandments?/fr

⮜ Questions avec réponses

C'est l'une de ces affirmations qui pourraient faire frémir un chrétien qui ne l'a jamais rencontrée auparavant. De nombreux chrétiens ne peuvent pas citer les dix commandements, mais cette affirmation va plus loin. Trois versions différentes?

Bien sûr, la première réponse à quelqu'un qui fait une telle demande est - comme d'habitude - "Qu'est-ce que vous voulez dire par là?"

Souvent, quelqu'un se contente de réutiliser une affirmation qu'il a vue dans une argumentation en ligne (mais qu'il n'a pas recherchée lui-même). Ils comptent sur l'ignorance des chrétiens quant à la loi de Dieu. Vous pouvez introduire une certaine humilité dans leur attitude en leur demandant de s'engager sur des détails. Découvrez dans quelle mesure ils comprennent la revendication qu'ils font.

Même s'ils savent de quoi ils parlent, vous aurez besoin qu'ils s'engagent sur une créance particulière, afin que vous puissiez ensuite la débouter correctement. Il y a au moins trois façons de comprendre cette revendication ("différentes versions des dix commandements").

Numérotation différente des mêmes commandements

Si la revendication n'est qu'une divergence entre la numérotation des commandements, alors la revendication est tout simplement fausse. Les dix commandements n'étaient pas numérotés dans les écritures hébraïques. La numérotation est une imposition extérieure au texte. Différents groupes juifs et chrétiens leur ont appliqué des numéros variables, et ils n'ont pas opté pour un système coordonné.

Dans les deux principaux passages de l'Écriture qui "énumèrent" les dix commandements (Exode 20 et Deut. 5), il y a plus de dix phrases normatives. En fait, il est possible de diviser les "dix commandements" en plus de dix commandements (peut-être jusqu'à quatorze), si l'on voulait les diviser en phrases normatives individuelles. Essayez un peu, et vous verrez de quoi je parle.

Mais traditionnellement, les commandements ont été divisés en dix. Les Juifs les ont divisés d'une façon. Les catholiques et les luthériens l'ont divisée d'une autre manière. D'autres groupes protestants l'ont divisée d'une autre manière encore.

Different commandment motivations/explanations

As I mentioned, there are two main passages in which the Ten Commandments are presented: Exod. 20, and Deut. 5. Every Christian ought to take the time to compare the two different passages, just to see the (minor) differences between the two.

There are not different commandments between these two passages. The same commandments, as abstracted into the ten discrete principles, are found in the following passages (I follow the typical Protestant division/numbering):

1. You will have no other gods before YHWH: Exod. 20:3, Deut. 5:7.
2. You will not make any graven images and worship them: Exod. 20:4-5, Deut. 5:8-9.
3. You will not use God's name in vain: Exod. 20:7, Deut. 5:11.
4. You will remember/observe the sabbath, to keep it holy: Exod. 20:8-11 ("remember"), Deut. 5:12-15 ("keep/observe"). Different motive clauses given.
5. You will honor your father and mother: Exod. 20:12, Deut. 5:16.
6. You will not kill: Exod. 20:13, Deut. 5:17.
7. You will not commit adultery: Exod. 20:14, Deut. 5:18.
8. You will no steal: Exod. 20:15, Deut. 5:19.
9. You will not bear false witness: Exod. 20:16, Deut. 5:20.
10. You will not covet: Exod. 20:17 ("house" comes before "wife"), Deut. 5:21 ("wife" comes before "house").

As you can see from the list above, there are some wording differences, but the differences are either superficial, or located in the supporting language (like the motive clauses). These differences simply augment our understanding. There is no disagreement between the versions.

A third Ten Commandments list?

Modern Critical "scholarship" spends their time figuring out ways to split apart the Torah into various authors, redactors, time periods, and motivations. One of the fruits of this foolishness is the so-called "Ritual Decalogue" (which they locate at Exod. 34:11-27), which is supposed to be a different version of the "ten commandments." Modern scholars -- who are not committed to the divine inspiration of the text -- will claim that this list of commandments was composed at a different time, by a different author/redactor, and for a different purpose than the Ten Commandments with which we are familiar.

Here is the (so-called) Ritual Decalogue:

1. 12 Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you; 13 but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles; 14 for you shall worship no other god; for YHWH, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15 “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice; 16 and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods. Exodus 34:12-16WEB
2. 17 “You shall make no cast idols for yourselves. Exodus 34:17WEB
3. 18 “You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt. Exodus 34:18WEB
4. 19 “All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20 You shall redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons.... Exodus 34:19-20WEB
5. ²⁰ ... 20 No one shall appear before me empty. Exodus 34:20WEB
6. 21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. Exodus 34:21WEB
7. 22 “You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end. Exodus 34:22WEB
8. 23 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord YHWH, the God of Israel. 24 For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before YHWH, your God, three times in the year. Exodus 34:23-24WEB
9. 25 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The sacrifice of the feast of the Passover shall not be left to the morning. Exodus 34:25WEB
10. 26 “You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of YHWH your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” Exodus 34:26WEB

If you want to read more about it, there is a wiki page:

Ritual Decalogue

The bottom line is: Exodus 34 contains a list of commandments, which were just as important for the Israelites to keep as the Ten listed in in Exodus 20. But this set of commandments is not a general summary of moral principles in the way that the Ten are. It is an arbitrary grouping by modern scholars who do not understand the unity of purpose behind Biblical law.

If this Ritual Decalogue is what your interlocutor is talking about, then you can explain it to him by saying something like:

"Eh bien, il y a des centaines de commandements dans la Torah. Si je prenais plusieurs groupes de 10 commandements (sur les centaines), et que je prétendais ensuite qu'il y a plusieurs versions différentes et contradictoires des 10 commandements, pensez-vous que ce serait une représentation équitable de la religion israélite?"