Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
*Links mentioned in this episode*
bartehrman.com/hbdeal - To celebrate the launch of Misquoting Moses, we’re offering 50% off Joel’s course, "The Hebrew Bible: Exploring the Literature of Ancient Israel," all through August.
*Episode Outline:*
0:00 The Bible gives us multiple versions of the Ten Commandments, so who actually wrote them?
1:20 Where the Ten Commandments appear in Exodus and Deuteronomy
3:19 Did Moses write the tablets, or does Exodus say God wrote them himself?
5:51 Why the Exodus and Deuteronomy versions point to different authors and sources
10:39 The four major literary sources scholars identify within the Pentateuch
15:30 Why scholars cannot simply assign each source to a precise stage of Israelite religious evolution
20:55 Is there actually a third version of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 34?
25:30 What role did the Ten Commandments originally play within Israelite law?
30:19 “You shall have no other gods before me” and why it was not originally a statement of monotheism
33:53 Why Joel dates the Ten Commandments to the seventh century BCE rather than the time of Moses
38:00 Lost in Translation: does the Hebrew commandment really say “Thou shalt not kill”?
40:35 Why “You shall not murder” is a more accurate translation of the Hebrew commandment
*Overview*
Welcome to Misquoting Moses, the series where we explore the Hebrew Bible, its complex history, and the ancient world that produced it. In this episode, host Megan Kraege is joined by renowned Hebrew Bible scholar Dr. Joel Baden to unravel one of the most famous stories ever told: the origin of the Ten Commandments.
Most people are familiar with the dramatic scene from the Book of Exodus: Moses ascends a smoke-filled Mount Sinai to receive God's law, inscribed by the divine finger onto stone tablets. But as Dr. Baden explains, that's only part of the story. The Ten Commandments don't just appear once in the Bible; they appear twice in full, once in Exodus 20 and again in Deuteronomy 5. While they tell the same core story, the details and even the wording of the commandments themselves are noticeably different.
Why do these differences exist? Dr. Baden unpacks how these two versions serve as a perfect entry point into one of the most important discoveries of modern biblical scholarship: the Documentary Hypothesis. This theory posits that the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) were not written by a single author like Moses, but are a masterful weaving together of at least four distinct, earlier source documents. The variations in the Ten Commandments aren't mistakes; they are telltale signs of different authors with their own unique styles, vocabularies, and theological perspectives. Dr. Baden walks us through how scholars identify these sources—from the priestly, systematic account that opens Genesis 1 to the narrative-driven source of Genesis 2, and the separate, oratorical style of Deuteronomy.
The conversation then tackles a surprising "third" version of the commandments found in Exodus 34. After Moses smashes the first tablets in anger over the Golden Calf incident, he returns up the mountain for a new set. The text promises God will write the same words as before, but what follows is a list of laws that looks nothing like the famous Ten Commandments. Dr. Baden explains this as a later scribal insertion—an editor adding their own preferred laws into a convenient narrative space, a practice that reveals how the biblical text was a living document, edited and shaped for centuries.
Perhaps the most groundbreaking part of the discussion is the historical context of the commandments. Dr. Baden argues that the Ten Commandments, as we know them, were likely composed in the 7th century BCE by the author of Deuteronomy, long after the traditional time of Moses. At that point, Israel was not yet monotheistic: “You shall have no other gods before me” expressed monolatry, requiring exclusive worship of Yahweh while still acknowledging the existence of other gods.
*Three Key Takeaways from the Episode:*
1. *The Ten Commandments Are a Prime Example of Multiple Authorship:* Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 contain different versions of the Ten Commandments. These differences support the view that the Pentateuch was compiled from multiple literary sources rather than written by a single author.
2. *The First Commandment Was Not Originally Monotheistic:* “You shall have no other gods before me” originally demanded exclusive worship of Yahweh rather than denying the existence of other gods. Full monotheism developed later in Israelite history.
3. *"Thou Shalt Not Kill" Is a Mistranslation:* The Hebrew word ratsach more specifically means “murder” or unlawful killing. The commandment therefore does not prohibit every form of killing, including warfare or state-sanctioned punishment.
*Links mentioned in this episode*
bartehrman.com/hbdeal - To celebrate the launch of Misquoting Moses, we’re offering 50% off Joel’s course, "The Hebrew Bible: Exploring the Literature of Ancient Israel," all through August.
*Episode Outline:*
0:00 The Bible gives us multiple versions of the Ten Commandments, so who actually wrote them?
1:20 Where the Ten Commandments appear in Exodus and Deuteronomy
3:19 Did Moses write the tablets, or does Exodus say God wrote them himself?
5:51 Why the Exodus and Deuteronomy versions point to different authors and sources
10:39 The four major literary sources scholars identify within the Pentateuch
15:30 Why scholars cannot simply assign each source to a precise stage of Israelite religious evolution
20:55 Is there actually a third version of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 34?
25:30 What role did the Ten Commandments originally play within Israelite law?
30:19 “You shall have no other gods before me” and why it was not originally a statement of monotheism
33:53 Why Joel dates the Ten Commandments to the seventh century BCE rather than the time of Moses
38:00 Lost in Translation: does the Hebrew commandment really say “Thou shalt not kill”?
40:35 Why “You shall not murder” is a more accurate translation of the Hebrew commandment
*Overview*
Welcome to Misquoting Moses, the series where we explore the Hebrew Bible, its complex history, and the ancient world that produced it. In this episode, host Megan Kraege is joined by renowned Hebrew Bible scholar Dr. Joel Baden to unravel one of the most famous stories ever told: the origin of the Ten Commandments.
Most people are familiar with the dramatic scene from the Book of Exodus: Moses ascends a smoke-filled Mount Sinai to receive God's law, inscribed by the divine finger onto stone tablets. But as Dr. Baden explains, that's only part of the story. The Ten Commandments don't just appear once in the Bible; they appear twice in full, once in Exodus 20 and again in Deuteronomy 5. While they tell the same core story, the details and even the wording of the commandments themselves are noticeably different.
Why do these differences exist? Dr. Baden unpacks how these two versions serve as a perfect entry point into one of the most important discoveries of modern biblical scholarship: the Documentary Hypothesis. This theory posits that the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) were not written by a single author like Moses, but are a masterful weaving together of at least four distinct, earlier source documents. The variations in the Ten Commandments aren't mistakes; they are telltale signs of different authors with their own unique styles, vocabularies, and theological perspectives. Dr. Baden walks us through how scholars identify these sources—from the priestly, systematic account that opens Genesis 1 to the narrative-driven source of Genesis 2, and the separate, oratorical style of Deuteronomy.
The conversation then tackles a surprising "third" version of the commandments found in Exodus 34. After Moses smashes the first tablets in anger over the Golden Calf incident, he returns up the mountain for a new set. The text promises God will write the same words as before, but what follows is a list of laws that looks nothing like the famous Ten Commandments. Dr. Baden explains this as a later scribal insertion—an editor adding their own preferred laws into a convenient narrative space, a practice that reveals how the biblical text was a living document, edited and shaped for centuries.
Perhaps the most groundbreaking part of the discussion is the historical context of the commandments. Dr. Baden argues that the Ten Commandments, as we know them, were likely composed in the 7th century BCE by the author of Deuteronomy, long after the traditional time of Moses. At that point, Israel was not yet monotheistic: “You shall have no other gods before me” expressed monolatry, requiring exclusive worship of Yahweh while still acknowledging the existence of other gods.
*Three Key Takeaways from the Episode:*
1. *The Ten Commandments Are a Prime Example of Multiple Authorship:* Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 contain different versions of the Ten Commandments. These differences support the view that the Pentateuch was compiled from multiple literary sources rather than written by a single author.
2. *The First Commandment Was Not Originally Monotheistic:* “You shall have no other gods before me” originally demanded exclusive worship of Yahweh rather than denying the existence of other gods. Full monotheism developed later in Israelite history.
3. *"Thou Shalt Not Kill" Is a Mistranslation:* The Hebrew word ratsach more specifically means “murder” or unlawful killing. The commandment therefore does not prohibit every form of killing, including warfare or state-sanctioned punishment.
