10 Commandments

The "10 Commandments" grid to the 13 tribes to reveal specific strength/weakness tendancies for each tribe. The way it works is to give Judah the opening thought of the passage, before the first commandment, and then split two commands that have a double "you will not" across four tribes. The result is a specific address to each tribe.

Gridding the 10 commandments to the 13 tribes does not change the fact that there are still 10 commandments. Scripture witnesses to the fact that there are 10.

5 Deuteronomy 4:13
¹³And he declared to you his contract, which he commanded you to perform, even 10 commandments; and he wrote them on 2 tablets of stone.

What's cool is to see how some commandments are shared by tribes and Judah receives the opening thought of the passage such that the 10 commandments reveal core characteristics of the 13 tribes. The following table explores, providing both renditions of the 10 commandments side by side for comparison. Notes follow the table.

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 children 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 children 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/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 on mapping

You may have noticed Exodus and Deuteronomy split the things one can covet in a different order. This matters since there are two "you will nots" that make up this commandment and those cause this command to be shared by Benjamin and Dan. The question this difference causes is whether Benjamin's tendancy is to covet his neighbor's wife or his neighbor's house? It makes more sense to me that Dan would covet his neighbor's house and land since he had so much trouble getting his land as recorded in the book of Joshua and Judges. However, I don't have a good strategy for saying the Deuteronomy passage is better than the Exodus one or understand why these would reverse in the first place. Maybe both tribes have both issues?

Observations

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 "you will 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 and of all words 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. So here Simeon is reminded to honor his parents (where "honor" probably means obey).

Levi being told not to kill is odd to me. He does receive the sacrifices at the altar, which is to kill animals, but that's a good thing so I'm not sure how that would relate.

Issachar is not to commit adultery, but I'm not sure how this relates. Needs more study.

Zebulun is not to steal. This needs to be understood better as well.

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." Beyond this general theme more study is needed to understand why this would be the issue Joseph needs to be aware of.

Benjamin is told not to covet. His apostle is Judah, who had his hand in the money bag, so the general space of coveting may be a decent match for Benjamin. However, depending up whether you use the Exodus passage or that found in Deuteronomy, what Benjamin was to not covet changes around. It might be that Benjamin is not to covet his neighbor's wife. Taken in a spiritual light, modern Israel is the only tribe that's not historically Christian and therefore married to Jesus. This command may be playing to this general space, though some confirmation is clearly needed to know if this is right.

Dan is also warned not to covet, and depending upon whether you use the Exodus or Deuteronomy passage he's told not to covet his neighbor's house and land. This makes sense given that Dan had trouble taking his territorial inheritance in ancient Israel and even his ultimate territorial inheritance was in the sea in the modern Netherlands.

Obviously there's more study needed here to settle a couple of these matches and find the significance of others. It's amazing though to see how such a central passage of Scripture puts flesh on the tribes who, as a result, become living examples to each of us individually of what these commands look like in play and how they are to be followed.

By Ryan Eaton
Posted Sunday, Joseph 26, 13000