Where were the ten commandments handed down to the Hebrews?

Answer 1

This was at Mt Sinai:- Exodus 31:18"And to Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, He gave two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God."

However, the actual location of that Mt Sinai where the Commandments were handed down is in dispute.

(i)

The traditional location for Mt Sinai is Mt Sinai in the south-central Sinai Peninsula. At about 2,288 m (7,500 ft) high, this is thought to be the peak on which Moses received the Ten Commandments which were then presented to the Hebrews assembled at the foot of the mountain. The traditional location in the Sinai Peninsula didn't "come into being" until almost 2,000 years after the Exodus: "The origin of the present Monastery of Saint Catherine on the NW slope of Jebel Musa is traced back to A.D. 527, when Emperor Justinian established it on the site where Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, had erected a small church two centuries earlier." (The Interpreter's Dictionary of The Bible, 1962, p. 376.) "There is no Jewish tradition of the geographical location of Mt. Sinai; it seems that its exact location was obscure already in the time of the monarchy....The Christian hermits and monks, mostly from Egypt, who settled in Southern Sinai from the second century C.E. on, made repeated efforts to identify the locality of the Exodus with actual places to which the believers could make their way as pilgrims. The identification of Mt. Sinai either with Jebel Sirbal near the oasis of Firan...,or with Jebel Musa, can be traced back as far as the fourth century C.E.". (The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 14, p. 1599.) In 1761-1767, Von Haven, the member of a Danish expedition to the traditional site wrote, as reported in "Arabia Felix: The Danish Expedition of 1971-1767, by Thorkild Hansen: "I have observed earlier that we could not possibly be at Mount Sinai. The monastery [of St. Catherine] was situated in a narrow valley, which was not even large enough for a medium-sized army to be able to camp in, let alone the 600,000 men that Moses had with him, who, together with their wives and children, must have come to over 3,000,000."

[From "The Traditional Mt Sinai ?" http://www.wyattmuseum.com/mount-sinai-07.htm]

(ii)

[a] The actual location of Mt Sinai would have to be in Midian. When Moses killed the Egyptian he fled to Midian:-

Exo 2:15 KJV Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

[b] Moses' refuge of Midian is on the EAST coast of the Red Sea. In their Commentaries on this verse Exodus 2:15 , 'Adam Clarke' says that 'the land of Midian' means:-

" A country generally supposed to have been in Arabia Petraea, on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, ... This place is still called by the Arabs the land of Midian or the land of Jethro. Abul Farajius calls it the land of the Arabs"

and 'Jamieson, Faucett, and Brown' say it is:-

"situated on the eastern shore of the gulf of the Red Sea and occupied by the posterity of Midian the son of Cush."

The "Oxford Bible Atlas' [Oxford University Press, 1984 (ISBN 0191434515)] on "The Exodus' (p.59) places Midian on the eastern shore of that part of the Sea now known as the Gulf of Aquaba; Midian was a strip of land that extended from the bottom tip of the Gulf of Aquaba (ie the bottom of modern Yemen) to the very top of the Gulf of Aquaba at Ezion-Geber.

[c] Horeb is in Midian:-

Exo 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. (v.2) And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. (v.3) And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

[d] The Commandments were given at Horeb:-

Deuteronomy 4:10 "Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children." 4:15 "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:" 5:2 "The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb." [c] While some Bible scholars consider references to Sinai and Horeb to be different names for the exact same place, others such as "Nave's" say Horeb is the name of that range of mountains and Sinai is the name of the tallest peak:-

"Horeb - A range of mountains of which Sinai is chief."

[d] Paul said that 'Mt Sinai' was in Arabia:-

Gal 4:25 MKJV For Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem which now is, and is in slavery with her children.

In his Commentary on this verse in 'Notes On The Bible' Albert Barnes says:-

" In Arabia - Mount Sinai is situated in Arabia Petraea, or the Rocky."

and the 'International Standard Bible Encylopedia' [ISBE] for the article 'Arabia' says:-

"The peninsula of Arabia was divided by the ancient geographers into three parts: Arabia Petrea, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix. The first of these names, which is found in Ptolemy, means, not Arabia the Rocky, but that part of Arabia in which is situated the city of Petra"

[e] As Petra is located in the country which is now known as Jordan, this means that Mt Sinai has to be on the Jordan-side of the Gulf of Aquaba. Tthere is no way the real Mt Sinai and Horeb can be in the Sinai Peninsula: it is the wrong side of the Gulf of Aquaba. Also the Sinai Peninsula was part of Egypt since in Mose's time and he wanted to flee away from the vengeful Pharoah, it only makes sense that he would not stay in the Sinai Peninsula, but would cross the Gulf of Aquaba as this would then be non-Egyptian territory.

[f] This makes 'Jebel-el-Lawz' in modern Saudi Arabia the most likely location for the site of the real Mount Sinai.

Answer 2

both sets were stored in the ark Another answer

There were only 10 commandments. There was a Mel Brooks comedy movie once in which Moses had a second tablet of 10 more commandments, then dropped and shattered one, then announcing there were only 10. (I think the movie was "History of the world Part I") Comment Of course there were only ten commandments. But after Moses shattered the first ones, he brought down a second, identical set.

Answer 3

The Ten Commandments were handed down to the Hebrews by Moses on Mount Sinai.