1947/01/01 by Robert M. Grant · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Biblical Studies and Interpretation #Historical and Linguistic Studies #Archaeology and Historical Studies
paper · doi:10.1017/s0017816000026213
Tannaite rabbis were accustomed to summarize succinctly the 611 or 613 commandments of the Law in from one to eleven general precepts; but these summaries were merely private halakoth . Until the second century A.D. there were read in the synagogue service the Ten Words which God himself spoke directly to his people, without the mediation of Moses. A Hebrew papyrus from about 200 B.C. includes the Decalogue with the Shema. And Philo goes so far as to declare that “the Ten Words are summaries of the special laws which are recorded in the sacred books.”