Self Help & Personal Growth

Ten Commandments

This article offers some interesting food for thought on the Ten Commandments ...

All of us are aware of the Ten Commandments. Even those among us who have no idea what the commandments actually are, have at least heard of them. Even non Christians among us have heard of the Ten Commandments in some way or the other. But as far as Christians go, the Ten Commandments are more than a mere list of things that God ordained. They are the literal and figurative guidelines to leading a good and fulfilling life. A tongue in cheek reference to how important the Ten Commandments are can be realized through Microsoft Word. Try typing Ten Commandments in all small letters and the auto spell checker will reference them as a grammatical error!

Jokes apart, the Ten Commandments are said to be the list of ten instructions that God handed Moses the prophet on the top of Mount Sinai. And contrary to popular belief, they are not restricted to Christianity alone. Even some of the other religions like Islam and Judaism make references to the Ten Commandments. That in itself should give you a good idea of how important they are to all mankind. They reinforce the fundamental belief of all prophets that all religions are essentially the same when it comes to the end result – that of leading a happy, content and fulfilling life.

While most of us know and believe that God handed Moses the Ten Commandments carved on two stone tablets, how many of us are aware that they were destroyed by Moses in a fit of rage when he descended the mountain to realize that the Israelites had gone astray. Even more so when he realized that in his absence, his brother Aaron had clearly disobeyed his and God’s exhortation and created the image of a Golden Calf to be worshipped. It is said that God then commanded Moses to re-create the Ten Commandments. So the final Ten Commandments we have were reputedly carved by Moses himself.

There is also some confusion as to how many commandments were carved on each stone. While most people logically assume that since there were two stone tablets, there were five commandments on each, historians and scholars are of the opinion that there were two complete sets of Ten Commandments carved on each of the stone tablets. The reason behind this is that according to the custom of the land, there were two copies made. One for the giver and the other for the receiver. And then again, based on the belief system that one follows, it is said that there are some variations in the two kinds of commandments.

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