Ten commandments part 2 I m getting tired of having to scroll through several pages to get to the bottom so I m starting a new section Let s take a step back This article is the Ten Commandments That is the verses in Exodus 20 2 17 and Deuteronomy 5 6 21 that are universally called the Ten Commandments the ones that are debated about being placed in public school the ones that are talked about as the fundamental of morality It is not about the list in Exodus 34 The article is not about the use of the words in the Bible it is about a particular Bible list that is called The Ten Commandments This is an important point except that I would go further This article is not about a particular Bible list This is article about a cultural artifact known as the Ten Commandments that is strongly influenced by the Bible Sections of the Bible have been translated moved around edited cropped etc and then declared The Ten Commandments I think that many people think of the 10C as something where you just open the Bible up and there they are That s just not the case The cultural concept of The Ten Commandments is significantly extra bibical Haven t you ever seen that Late Show bit where Letternman takes someone s words and edits them to say something different from what they actually said You can t just say well I ve quoted the Bible so it s a legitimate representation of the Bible You feel that this statement is not sourced Yet I am sure you agree that the number Ten in the title The TEN Commandments comes from the Hebrew phrase aseret had varim even if you personally think that this was a mistake Actually I remain unconvinced of this I have seen no convincing evidence that the Bible using the word ten and people referring to the ten commandments are causally connected I certainly am willing to accede that this may say more about my knowledge of Bible research rather than about the 10C I do not think there is a better way of telling the reader that the etymology of the title The Ten Commandments for the list in Exodus 20 2 17 and Deuteronomy 5 6 21 is from the Hebrew aseret had varim So there are two problems immediately apparent here First you have no cite for the claim that this is the etymology Secondly even if it were the etymology that would be an issue completely separate from whether the Bible actually says that After all the etymology of the term Uncle Tom goes back to a book by Stowe even though the Uncle Tom character is not in fact an Uncle Tom Any reasonable person reading the text as it now is would conclude that the Bible in the Ex 20 and De 5 passages uses the term I don t see why you insist on retaining this misrepresentation This is a notable issue because as you mentioned the Ten Commandments are widely represented as being fundamental to Western Civilization Besides the numerous other problems with that claim the fact that much of the importance given to The Ten Commandments is extrabiblical opposes that view