The ten commandments

In a recent production of Miller’s The Crucible in the local theatre, one could see the play’s protagonist, Proctor, struggle to say the ten commandments during a trial. He is asked by the judge to do so in order to prove that he is, after all, a religious-minded person. Actually, he does quite a good job, but stops at nine. Then his wife steps in to remind him of the one he has forgotten – adultery! Most of us today would probably do worse than Proctor. Actually, this is trickier than one might think. As a matter of fact, there are two passages in the Bible which give the ten commandments, one list (Exodus 20, 1-17) being different from the other (Deuteronomy 5, 6-21). Moreover, the commandments are not numbered, and it is not always easy to tell where one ends and another one begins. Without the numbers, one might as well come up with nine or twelve commandments, and it is really only tradition that makes us think of ten. However, we all “know” that “there are” ten commandments, even those of us who would hardly be able to name a single one.