The Ten Commandments
Monuments of Memory, Belief, and Interpretation

Presents a new translation, analysis, and history of the Decalogue based on a comparison to ancient Levantine monuments.

Timothy S. Hogue (Author)

9781009366892, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 September 2023

340 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.6 cm, 0.66 kg

'This radical challenge to the interpretation and method of dating the Decalogue cannot be ignored.' Anthony Phillips, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

The Decalogue, commonly known as the Ten Commandments, is usually analysed as a text. Within the Hebrew Bible, however, it is depicted as a monument– an artifact embedded in rituals that a community uses to define itself. Indeed, the phraseology, visual representations, and ritual practices of contemporary monuments used to describe the Ten Commandments imbue them with authority. In this volume, Timothy Hogue, presents a new translation, commentary, and literary analysis of the Decalogue through a comparative study of the commandments with inscribed monuments in the ancient Levant. Drawing on archaeological and art historical studies of monumentality, he grounds the Decalogue's composition and redaction in the material culture and political history of ancient Israel and ancient West Asia. Presenting a new inner-biblical reception history of the text, Hogue's book also provides a new model for dating biblical texts that is based on archaeological and historical evidence, rather than purely literary critical methods.

Introduction: monuments, monumentality, and the Decalogue
1. Levantine 'I Am' monuments
2. The Decalogue in the Book of Exodus
3. The Decalogue in the Book of Deuteronomy
4. The afterlife of the Decalogue in the postmonarchic period
Conclusion: the monumentality of the Decalogue.

Subject Areas: Biblical studies & exegesis [HRCG]