10 Commandments

The "10 Commandments" map to the 13 tribes. The map is possible when the opening thought for the commandments is given to the first tribe and the commandments with a double "thou shalt not" (2 & 10) are shared. The following table explores.

Tribe	Commandment	Scripture
Judah	Opening	2 Exodus 20:2 ²I am Yahvah your god, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of servitude. 5 Deuteronomy 5:6 ⁶I am Yahvah your god, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude.
Reuben	1	2 Exodus 20:3 ³You will have no other gods except me. 5 Deuteronomy 5:7 ⁷You will have no other gods besides me.
Gad	2	2 Exodus 20:4 ⁴You will not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the skies above or that is in the land beneath or that is in the water under the land; 5 Deuteronomy 5:8 ⁸You will not make for yourself any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in the skies above, or that is on the land beneath, or that is in the waters under the land;
Asher	2	2 Exodus 20:5-6 ⁵you will not worship them nor serve them; for I, Yahvah, your god, am a zealous god, visiting the offenses of the fathers on their sons to the 3rd and 4th generations of those who hate me; ⁶and showing mercy to 1,000s of generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 5 Deuteronomy 5:9-10 ⁹you will not worship them, nor serve them; for I, Yahvah, your god, am a zealous god, visiting the iniquities of the fathers on the sons to the 3rd and 4th generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰but showing mercy to 1,000s of generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Naphtali	3	2 Exodus 20:7 ⁷You will not take a false oath in the name of Yahvah your god; for Yahvah will not declare him innocent who takes an oath in his name falsely. 5 Deuteronomy 5:11 ¹¹You will not take an oath by the name of Yahvah your god in vain; for Yahvah will not hold him guiltless who takes an oath by his name in vain.
Manasseh	4	2 Exodus 20:8-11 ⁸Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. ⁹6 days you will labor and do all your work; ¹⁰but the 7th day is a sabbath to Yahvah your god; in it you will not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor the traveler who lives in your towns; ¹¹for in 6 days Yahvah made the skies and land, the seas, and everything that is in them, and rested on the 7th day; therefore Yahvah blessed the sabbath day and sanctified it. 5 Deuteronomy 5:12-15 ¹²Keep the sabbath day and sanctify it, as Yahvah your god has commanded you. ¹³6 days you will labor, and do all your work; ¹⁴but the 7th day is the sabbath to Yahvah your god; in it you will not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor the temporary resident that is in your towns; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. ¹⁵And remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and that Yahvah your god brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; therefore Yahvah your god has commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
Simeon	5	2 Exodus 20:12 ¹²Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long on the land which Yahvah your god gives you. 5 Deuteronomy 5:16 ¹⁶Honor your father and your mother, as Yahvah your god has commanded you; that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which Yahvah your god gives you.
Levi	6	2 Exodus 20:13 ¹³You will not kill. 5 Deuteronomy 5:17 ¹⁷You will not kill.
Issachar	7	2 Exodus 20:14 ¹⁴You will not commit adultery. 5 Deuteronomy 5:18 ¹⁸You will not commit adultery.
Zebulun	8	2 Exodus 20:15 ¹⁵You will not steal. 5 Deuteronomy 5:19 ¹⁹You will not steal.
Joseph	9	2 Exodus 20:16 ¹⁶You will not bear false witness against your neighbor. 5 Deuteronomy 5:20 ²⁰You will not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Benjamin	10	2 Exodus 20:17 ¹⁷You will not covet your neighbor's house. You will not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. 5 Deuteronomy 5:21 ²¹You will not covet your neighbor's wife. You will not covet your neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his vineyard, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
Dan	10	2 Exodus 20:17 ¹⁷You will not covet your neighbor's house. You will not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. 5 Deuteronomy 5:21 ²¹You will not covet your neighbor's wife. You will not covet your neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his vineyard, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

Notes

Judah as the opening thought needs more study.

Reuben needs more study.

Gad and Asher share the second commandment about abstaining from idols. The command has a double "thou shalt not" so it's a natural command to split across two tribes. Gad and Asher are brothers, born to Zilpah. Gad is a raider whose tendancy is to seek treasure, like gold and silver. He's told not to make idols, presumably of gold and silver. Asher's feet would be bathed in oil, as per Deuteronomy 33, and he's not to bow to idols (as in bow to their feet). So this commandment is a good fit with these two tribes.

Naphtali is the tribe with "goodly words" as per Jacob's blessing in Genesis 49. The German language is a manifestation of this design in modern times. Here he's told not to misuse God's name. In other words, don't misuse language in general, but especially God's name.

Manasseh lands on the command to keep the Sabbath, which is six days of work and one of rest. Manasseh is tribe number six so this seems to confirm the general map. Manasseh is also the double portion holder, so he gets more text here than the other tribes.

Simeon made a mistake when he didn't obey his father Jacob and attacked Shechem, putting everyone to the sword. Here Simeon is reminded to honor his parents (where "honor" probably means obey).

Levi was not to be counted in the army because he was not to go to war. In modern times we see that Levi is neutral, as Switzerland, but even here, in the 10 commandments, he's told not to kill. A good match.

Issachar is not to commit adultery, but where adultery means breaking a contract or being unfaithful, even in business. Issachar's holiday is Tabernacles, which is really a trade fair, or more specifically, a time for "supporting the growth of contracts" in business when you look at the letter by letter spelling of tabernacles. It is wrong to be unfaithful to one's spouse, and that may be part of what's in view in this command, but it likely has this wider application in mind given the way it maps to Issachar.

Zebulun is not to steal. Elsewhere in the tribal grid Zebulun maps to Jephthah, the guy who hangs out with thieves. Also Zebulun aligns with the prerequisite for elders that says not to be into "filthy profit." The verbage is odd, but given the grid we can postulate what's really being said is elders must not be people who make money by robbery.

Joseph is not to give false testimony against his neighbor. In that Joseph is two tribes in one, and Ephraim is a "community of nations," this command seems to play to community directly when it says "neighbor." Joseph also must confess the sins of the nation on the head of the atonement scapegoat, so this theme of speaking for the whole community or neighbors in court or before a judge is a good fit.

Benjamin and Dan are told not to covet, but it's difficult to say what exactly each tends to covet because the two "thou shalt nots" are reversed in Deuteronomy (or Exodus).

In general I would think Benjamin is not to covet his neighbor's wife. The reason being, Benjamin is the one tribe not rightly married, in that modern Israel is the one nation in the whole set without a Christian history. Israel, or the Jews more broadly, have yet to acknowledge Jesus as a group, as a tribe. Whereas their neighbors, Joseph and the other tribes, have all wedded to Jesus to some degree in history and display a Christian tradition (aside from how riddled with problems such traditions are and how much idolatry is present within). I think of the end of Judges, where the Benjamites rapped the Ephraimite's concubine as an example in scripture where Benjamin needs to be reminded not to covet his neighbor's wife.

Dan, on the other hand, should not covet his neighbor's land, because Dan of all tribes had the most difficulty taking land.

By Ryan Eaton
Posted Monday, Manasseh 22, 13002