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Lectures on the Torah Reading

by the faculty of Bar-Ilan University

Ramat Gan, Israel

Parashat Ki Thisa

A project of Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Jewish Studies, Paul and Helene Shulman Basic Jewish Studies Center, and the Office of the Campus Rabbi. Sponsored by Dr. Ruth Borchard of the Shoresh Charitable Fund (SCF). Published with assistance of the President's Fund for Torah and Science. Permission granted to reprint with appropriate credit.

Inquiries and comments to: Dr. Isaac Gottlieb, Department of Bible, gottlii@mail.biu.ac.il

Parshat Ki Thisa 5758-1998

What was Written on the Two Tablets?

Dr. Meshulam Margaliot

(Emeritus, Dept. of Bible)

This question seems superfluous, for the Torah explicitly says that [G-d] "wrote down on the tablets the terms of the covenant, the Ten Commandments" (Ex. 34:28). Moreover, one has but to look at the embroidered designs and representations of the Tablets found in almost every synagogue, above the ark or on the ark curtain (parochet), to see precisely (although in abbreviated form) the first five commandments on one tablet (I am the Lord..., You shall have no other..., You shall not make..., You shall not swear..., Remember..., Honor...), and the next five on the second tablet (You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness..., You shall not covet). This division is very ancient and has appeared in Jewish art for centuries; its origins apparently stem from Midrash.

In the Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael (Tractate de-ba-Hodesh 5) we read: "How were the Ten Commandments given? Five on one tablet and five on the other. 'I am the Lord' written across from 'You shall not murder'... This is according to R. Hanina b. Gamaliel, but the Sages say ten on one tablet and ten on the other" (Horowitz-Rabin ed., p. 233, and parallel versions listed there). The second opinion, that of the Sages, essentially means that the Ten Commandments were given in double form. There we also find a tradition of the first commandment being juxtaposed to the sixth, the second to the seventh, etc. These two traditions are maintained in Midrash Rabbah on Exodus, sec. 47.6, where the same controversy is ascribed to the Amoraim, R. Judah (arguing for five on each) and R. Nehemiah (saying there were ten on each). It should be noted that in both these midrashim and in parallel versions, no exegetical explanation of the Biblical text is given in favor of one or the other arrangement of the Ten Commandments.

How do we resolve this issue and distinguish legend from fact, or peshat from derash? To get at the peshat, or simple meaning, we must take account of the historical context in which the Ten Commandments were given. According to Ex. 19, this was done in the course of establishing a covenant-- a berit-- between the Lord and Israel. Hence, we are dealing with the text of a covenant, a type of contract between two (or more) parties. For obvious reasons, it is customary for every written contract or agreement to be issued in duplicate, each party receiving a complete copy of the agreement, contract, or covenant.

This was also the practice in the ancient Near East. The most famous example of two copies of a diplomatic agreement between two kingdoms is the treaty containing the pact made between the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II and the Hittite King Hattusilis III, c. 1270 B.C.E. The Egyptian copy was found in Egypt, and the Hittite one in the capital of the Hittites, in eastern Turkey. The contents of both copies are identical.

We are told of two Rabbis, Rabbi ben bar-Hana and Rabbi Ashi who tried to reintroduce the Commandments into the liturgy, but they were unsuccessful 4. The exclusion of the Commandments was justified on the ground that each clause of the Shema' represented one of the Commandments. Thus "Thou shalt not covet" was to be found in "Thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thine neighbor. Thus "Thou shalt not covet" was to be found in "Thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thine house", thine, not thy neighbor. W. Knox points out that certain Rabbinic prayer books still print the Ten Commandments as exegesis of the Shema' and so preserve a memory of this debate6.

When the Decalogue was dropped from the liturgy, it also disappeared from the phylacteries. This we know from rabbinic writings, and confirmation has come in recent times from the Qumran and Murabba'at caves. Phylacteries found in cave 4 at Murabba'at contain the texts which later become normal, and the text is that of the Massoretes. The order is, however, not the Biblical order, which became normal after the time of Maimonides (Exodus 13,1-10. 11—16, Deuteronomy 11,13—21; 6,4—9). They do not contain the Decalogue. This material is of the period of the revolt under Hadrian, and shows clear evidence of the work of the reformers of Jabneh7.