Christian tradition holds that the Ten Commandments (the “Decalogue”) were delivered by Moses around 1400 BC or thereabouts. Yet many biblical scholars argue that the evidence points to a much later origin. Below is further sources and expert commentary, followed by expanded background material.
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Christian tradition places the Ten Commandments in the age of Moses, roughly 1400 BC (give or take a century). However, biblical scholarship views this as highly unlikely.
1. The archaeological and epigraphic record offers little to no evidence of a distinct Israelite community, in the sense portrayed in the Exodus narrative, prior to around 1200 BC.
2. At the supposed time of Moses, Hebrew writing (in the form used later in the Israelite tradition) either did not yet exist or was extremely limited in use.
3. Archaeological study and historical records do not substantiate a large-scale enslavement of Israelites in Egypt, a dramatic mass exodus, followed by a swift military conquest of Canaan during the era traditionally assigned to Joshua, Caleb and Moses.
4. Within the Hebrew Bible itself there are three distinct versions of the Decalogue (for example in Exodus 20; Exodus 34; Deuteronomy 5), which suggests the text was not the fixed early-Sinai revelation that tradition assumes.
If the Ten Commandments were not composed circa 1400 BC, when were they written? According to recent research (notably by Yonatan Adler), the wider observance of laws associated with the Torah (including prohibitions on graven images or certain dietary laws) only became evident in Judea by the mid-second century BC, under the Hasmonean era.
Adler’s method, for instance, looks at when practices such as ritual purity (immersions, chalk vessels), avoidance of figurative imagery, and dietary habits begin to show up reliably in the material record of Judean society. He argues that such elements do not become widespread until the second century BC.
In short: rather than a Mosaic revelation in the Late Bronze Age, key elements of what we think of as Yahwistic legal-religious practice may have been constructed or at least institutionalised in the Hellenistic/Hasmonean period (ca 2nd century BC). Adler’s book gives a careful survey of the evidence.
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Expert Quotes
“The archaeological evidence for observance of the laws of the Torah in the daily lives of ordinary Judeans seems to situate the origins of Judaism around the middle of the second century BCE.” — Yonatan Adler (as summarised)
“Scholars have proposed a range of dates and contexts for the origins of the Decalogue.” — Summary from Wikipedia on the Ten Commandments, noting scholarly options for the date of its composition.
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Background on Yonatan Adler
Yonatan Adler is Associate Professor in Archaeology at Ariel University (Israel), and heads its Institute of Archaeology.
His research focuses on the origins of Judaism as a lived practice, especially ritual purity, law, and the material culture of Judea.
In his recent work The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological‑Historical Reappraisal (Yale University Press, 2022) he asks: When did the ancestors of today’s Jews first come to know about the regulations of the Torah, regard them as authoritative law, and put them into daily practice?
Adler ends up arguing that though the textual tradition of the Torah may have begun earlier, the widespread societal adoption of these laws in Judea only really emerges after the Persian period, into the Hellenistic era (i.e., mid-2nd century BC).
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Why Scholars Consider a “Late Origin” for the Decalogue
Here are several interlocking reasons:
1. Three Versions in the Biblical Text
As noted above, the Decalogue appears in at least three different places (Exodus 20; Exodus 34; Deuteronomy 5), with variant wording and emphases. The presence of multiple versions suggests the text was fluid and subject to revision, not a pristine Sinai revelation fixed circa 1400 BC.
2. Lack of Early Material Evidence for Torah-Law Observance
Archaeological indicators of explicit Torah-law observance (immersion pools, chalk vessels indicating ritual purity, prohibition of figurative art, dietary restrictions) are weak or absent for much of the First Temple, Babylonian and early Second Temple periods, but become clearer in the Hasmonean era. This suggests the normative “Torah way of life” only solidified relatively late.
3. Challenges of Historical Context
The traditional dating of the Decalogue (in the Late Bronze Age) bumps against historical-archaeological problems: the absence of conclusive evidence for a mass exodus from Egypt, no clear evidence of Hebrew writing of the required sophistication around 1400 BC, and limited evidence for a large Israelite polity at that time. These factors make some scholars sceptical of the traditional date. (See, e.g., survey discussions.)
4. Literary and Comparative Issues
Some scholars view the Decalogue as part of a broader ancient Near Eastern treaty form or legal typology, and date its composition to a later editorial context (even exilic or post-exilic). For example, in The Ten Commandments: A Short History of an Ancient Text, scholar Michael D. Coogan places the text in one of three possible dating schemes: early, monarchic, or post-exilic.
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Implications
If the Decalogue and Torah-law observance were institutionalised later than tradition holds (say, 3rd–2nd century BC rather than 15th century BC), several implications follow:
The narrative of Sinai as a single, foundational moment needs to be reconsidered in light of the data.
The relevance of Moses as the law-giver may be more symbolic/literary than historical (or at least, the form of “Mosaic” law as we have it may reflect later developments).
The idea that the Ten Commandments are the unaltered, divinely given core of Israelite religion becomes harder to sustain without nuance.
For Christian tradition, the moral authority of the Decalogue remains, but its historical-critical background invites reflection on how the text came to be, when and why it was solidified in the Jewish community.
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