*Which* Ten Commandments?

Well, today I was reading this thread and it got me thinking about the actual wording of the first commandment in the Ten Commandments. So wanting to check, I opened up Google(my search) and the first entry got my attention, *Which* Ten Commandments?.

So being the curious person I am, I checked it out. It lists the Protestant, Catholic, and Hebrew versions of the Ten Commandments.

But below that it tells of two different sets of the Ten Commandments which I thought was interesting. And I then decided I would check them myself in my own bible instead of one online. I'll now post them.

Exodus Ch. 20
(1)And God spoke all these words:
(2)"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
(3)"You shall have no other gods before me.
(4)"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. (5)You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, (6)but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
(7)"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
(8)"Remember the Sabbath day be keeping it holy. (9)Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10)but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord you God. On it you shall not do anywork, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor you animals, nor the alien within your gates. (11)For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
(12)"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
(13)"You shall not murder.
(14)You shall not commit adultery.
(15)"You shall not steal.
(16)"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
(17)"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Then everyone knows that after that was written down and Moses came down the mountain, he broke the tablets they were on and made new ones and went back up and this is what he came down with the second time:

Exodus Ch. 34 (I'll be starting at verse 14)
(14)"Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jelous, is a jelous God.
(15)"Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitue themselves to their gods and scrifice them, they will invite you and you will eat their scrifices. (16)And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
(17)"Do not make cast idols.
(18)"Celebrate the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. For sevn days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt.
(19)"The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whterther from the herd or flock. (20)Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.
"No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
(21)"Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and havest you must rest.
(22)"Celebrate the Feast of the Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. (23)Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Isreal. (24)I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord you God.
(25)"Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.
(26)"Bring the Best of the firstruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
"Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk."
(27)Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." (28)Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant--the Ten Commandments.

To make it a little easier to read, I'll quote what this website had in its list of the comparison of the two.

First Tables of Stone (Exodus 20)
("which Moses didst break")

1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.

2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother.

6. You shall not kill.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet.

Second Tables of Stone (Exodus 34)
("the words that were on the first")

1. Thou shalt worship no other god (For the Lord is a jealous god).

2. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

3. The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep in the month when the ear is on the corn.

4. All the first-born are mine.

5. Six days shalt thou work, but on the seventh thou shalt rest.

6. Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even of the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.

7. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread.

8. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning.

9. The first of the first fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God.

10. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.

So which should we follow?

Use the ones that really "control" the people. Thats wha they were originally intended for.

It worked 2000+ years ago...work the same today.

I can't wait untill people decided to be free....


There is no friend anywhere - Lao Tse

in chapter 34 it does not lay out the entire 10 commandments. Since God was going ot write on the new tablets. moses brought up. because of the circumstances in the breaking ofr the first ones, God repeated three of them dealing with worshipt to him and to stay away from false gods/idols. They were talking about a new covenent (promise) of God to drive out all the people from the promised land.

this is a false comprison ment to decived and cast doubt, read chapter 34 yourself, espcially verse 1-13 which were ommited in the quote

34:1 The LORD said to Moses, "Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke..

34:28 Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

also the commandments in Exodus chapter 20 are repleated in Dueteronomoy chapter 5, and in part by Jesus in Mark 10:19, and ROmans 13:9 which brings further doubt to the so called commandments in exodus 34 as pointed out by the site in question

voice_of_doom my soul has been set free, has yours?

[edit on 9/2/2005 by Jehosephat]

Thanks for the reply Jehosephat. I didn't really read the first 13 versus, just skimmed over them, so I will go back and read them.

I may not agree with everything in the bible, but there is some rational things that I do believe everyone should adhear to.

Originally posted by hatchedcross

So which should we follow?

Neither of course. They are both nothing more than the mushroom induced delusions of sunstroked ancient goat herders with political agendas.

the commandments can be boiled dow to the 2 greatest commandments, love God with all of your heart, and love your neighbor

Originally posted by Jehosephat

the commandments can be boiled dow to the 2 greatest commandments, love God with all of your heart, and love your neighbor

True indeed.

This is why they are the most difficult Commandments for most of us to carry out, because we have not eliminated our animal desires; which is due to the ego trapping our Consciousness, that is the crux of our Monad who is The Self Soul.

The Twelve Commandments


Mark 12: 28-34 (Jesus):

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him:

"Which commandment is the first of all?"

Jesus answered, "The first is this:

‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'

The second is this:

‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.'

There is no other commandment greater than these."


And the scribe said to him:

"You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbour as one self, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

And when Jesus heard that he answered wisely, he said to him:

"You are not far from the kingdom of God."


And after that no one dared to ask him any question.


Samael Aun Weor from The Mystery of the Golden Blossom:

"It is not irrelevant to emphasize the transcendental idea that two more Commandments exist in the Esotericism of Moses.

I am referring to the eleventh and twelfth Commandments which are intimately related with the Arcana XI and XII of the Kabbalah.

The first of these, that is to say the eleventh, has its classical expression in the Sanskrit Dharman Chara: ‘Perform what is thy duty.'

Remember beloved reader that it is your duty to quest for the strait, narrow and difficult path, which leads unto light.

So, the Arcanum XI of the Tarot reveals this duty: The marvelous strength that can dominate and hold back lions of adversity is essentially spiritual. For this reason this Arcanum is represented by a beautiful woman who, without any visible effort, opens the terrible gullet of Leo, the terrifying puma, the furious lion with her lovely hands.

The eleventh is related and interlaced with the twelfth commandment of the Law of God illustrated by the Arcanum XII: 'Make Thy Light To Shine.'

In order for the light that constitutes the Essence, which is bottled up within the ‘I,' to really sparkle and shine, it must be liberated. This is only possible through the Buddhist Annihilation, by dissolving the Ego."

The Twelve Commandments


The First Mystery is the First Commandment, and everything is hidden in the First Commandment; if we want to go ahead in this work we have to work with the First Commandment everyday;

"To love God with all our head, heart and strength."

The three brains have to be controlled by the consciousness, which is the soul.

As we awaken we enter into the knowledge of God, this is how we know what God is within ourselves.

And in order to perform the First Commandment we need the help of the Divine Mother - the Divine Mother works in the four-and-twentieth mystery, which is the Loom of God. It is also called the Great Work.



To perform the Great Work one needs to perform the Sixth Arcanum, the Arcanum of the Lovers.



We have to put our center of gravity within our Divine Mother who represents chastity, because now the soul is always facing the whore, lust. The Human Soul always looks towards fornication, adultery, so we need to turn our face towards the Divine Mother who represents chastity, willpower, Thelema, in order to perform all of this.

However, there are 12 Commandments:



The Eleventh Commandment:

"Perform what is thy duty."

Gnostics believe in and work in their duty with their Inner Intimate Particular Jesus Christ.

The Christians, the Fundamentalists, wait for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, until now, they wait for the Lord in a very mistaken way, because they ignore what their duty is.

Jesus-Christ, the Venerable Master Aberamentho, came two thousand years ago in order to perform his duty; this is, to teach the doctrine of our Inner Intimate Particular Jesus Christ.

The Adorable Seity called Christ is a formless entity; Christ is neither a divine nor a human person. Christ is a Divine Entity that has no form; Christ is coessential with the Abstract Space, is universal; that is why Gnostic Kabbalists call him the Cosmic Christ.

So, the Cosmic Christ is universal. The goal of any initiate who walks on the Direct Path is to incarnate that Universal Christ in order to make him human. This is to individualise the Cosmic Christ within oneself based on super-efforts and voluntary sufferings.

PISTIS SOPHIA and THE TWELFTH COMMANDMENT:

"Make Thy Light Shine."

Arcanum Twelve, Make Thy Light to Shine: Christ is the way, the light and the life, Christ is an unfoldment of the Father. The Son is born within the womb of the four-and-twentieth mystery (Arcanum 24) at Twelve Midnight (Arcanum 12) thanks to the First Commandment, the Father, Kether, the First Mystery, which is before all mysteries, - the Father in the form of a dove (the Holy Spirit (Abba) in “Daath.”

This is how we create our own particular Jesus Christ, that particular, individual Jesus Christ that we have to form.

Paul of Tarsus stated in Galatians 4:19:

"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed within you."

We form our Own Particular, Individual Jesus-Christ when accomplishing the First Mystery within the Four and Twentieth Mystery by means of the accomplishment of the Sixth Mystery.

In other words, the Son of Man (the Solar Christ) is raised as the serpent (Kundalini) of Moses was raised in the Wilderness from within the twenty-fourth Arcanum (which is the Great Work) which is the First Mystery, Kether, which is the Father.

The First Mystery is hidden within “Daath” that twenty-fourth mystery.

In order to fulfil the First Commandment we have to perform the Great Work, the Self-realization of our Being.

[edit on 3-9-2005 by Tamahu]

We have to first get grounded in the Ten Commandments, before we can even think of completely fulfilling all Twelve; that is to say, the beginning of The Great Work.




Calm Abiding

Ethics and moralities in Sanskrit are called Yama and Niyama which mean "To-do" and "Not To-do," or in other words, things to do and things not to do. Every religion has this.


We in the West are more or less familiar with the Ten Commandments; these are rules of things we should do and should not do.


Monks and Nuns take vows which are actions that they must do and must not do. The most common ethics are summarized in the most basic of Buddhist vows:

a. to abstain from killing any creature
b. to abstain from stealing
c. to abstain from sexual misconduct
d. to abstain from false speech (lying, gossip, sarcasm, criticism, etc)
e. to abstain from intoxicants (alcohol, drugs, etc)

This first stage is given to every Monk, every Nun, every Initiate, in every mystical spiritual teaching that has ever existed. They have always been given an ethical system to follow and it has always been designed (at least originally) to push the student to learn how to pay attention.


So with the lay people, the exoteric side of the various schools, they were given rules such as, "Thou shalt not kill" and so the common churchgoer, the exoteric group, knew that they should not kill anyone. But the ordained ones, meaning the Priests, the Monks, the Nuns, were taught that this rule is much deeper. It goes deeper than just physical action, because we kill with the mind, we kill with the heart.


When we generate hatred and anger toward someone else, particularly if we imagine hurting them, we are creating causes and we are producing results. We are affecting a person, and we are affecting ourselves. And so Monks, Nuns and Priests were always educated to understand that all ethics and moralities apply to more than just physical levels. They apply to the mind and heart. That is why in the Gospels Jesus of Nazareth says:


"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." - Matthew 5:27-28


Mere physical action is only the beginning; if you enact something as a thought, you have committed a crime and thus you have created Karma. This means you are blocking access to the consciousness. You are creating a block, what is called in Tibetan an "aggregate." It is called in 4th way schools an "ego." It is an element of Karma, a packet of energy that traps consciousness and creates suffering.

There is an infinite variety of these defects in the psyche of the human creature, and it is the purpose of meditation to recognize them, understand them, separate the consciousness from them, and finally destroy them, removing them from the individual, thus freeing the consciousness from suffering and giving full expression to the purest, most beautiful part of the Human Soul. This is symbolized in the story of the Phoenix Bird.


Everything we have discussed until now belongs to the first stage of the practice of meditation: Ethics.

PEACE




[edit on 3-9-2005 by Tamahu]