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***UPDATE*** (Originally posted 11 April 2006 @ 6:48 pm)

Scott Meyer and I have been discussing this topic further in the Comments section below. As the post is no longer on the first page, most readers are probably not privvy to Mr. Meyer’s excellent and insightful interaction. Be sure to check it out and join in the discussion.

For years network television dedicated three hours around the time of Passover to show the ::amazon(B000CNESNA,Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston)::. This year, however, ABC aired a new version of the Ten Commandments (see preview).

Although many inaccuracies are found in the new movie (as in the old ones); this post will address popular errors surrounding the covenant document. DH.com readers are welcome to add to the comments other fallacies from the movie(s) if they wish.

Ten “Commandments” misconceptions:

• The name of the covenant document, that is the stone tablets, was not ???????? ?????????? “the Ten Commandments,” but ???????? ??????????? “the Ten Words.”  Each of the three verses that most English Bibles translate “the Ten Commandments” (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13, 10:4) reads “the Ten Words” in the MT.  Additionally, the appellation—Decalogue—comes from the LXX translation, δ?κα λ?γους “ten words.”
• The size of the document would have been significantly smaller than depicted by the movies unless God also gave Moses superhuman strength lest we forget that rocks are heavy.

"These things are heavy"

• The writing on the document covered both sides of the tablets (Exodus 32:15).
• The reason for two tablets was not because all ten words would not fit on one stone, but that there were two copies of the same ten words. Following typical ANE covenant making practice, the document was duplicated so that each party would have a witness to its responsibilities for covenant faithfulness.
• The words would not have been numbered with Roman numerals. For that matter, they probably were not numbered at all. In fact, different traditions divide up the ten words differently (see chart below).
  

Chris Heard breaks down other fallacies in the new ABC mini-series, Ten Commandments (here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).  Also see my comments on the covenant document below.