Ten Commandments Original Hebrew Concept, German Scholar States

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

The Decalogue in its original Hebrew form was definitely the work of one historic personage, of Moses the Jewish Law Giver, all theories of the German Bible critics to the contrary notwithstanding, declared Professor Paul Votz of the University of Tuebingen in a lecture he delivered before the British Society for the Study of the Old Testament at its annual meeting at Oxford today.

Moses’ idea of the Deity is clearly distinguished in four ways from the Egyptian, Babylonian or the other primitive religions. His insistence on the Oneness of the Divine, Power, the prohibition of images of the Deity, the emphasis on the ethical obedience and the elimination of priestly mediation or worship through nature are the distinct differences between the Mosaic religion and those that preceded it, he stated. These Mosaic ideas were quickly overlaid with a mass of traditional accretion and primitive custom, but it was partially cleared again under the Deuteronomic revival in the time of King Osiah, Professor Volz stated.