- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Random House; Reprint edition (Mar 19 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385499876
- ISBN-13: 978-0385499873
- Product Dimensions: 23.3 x 15.5 x 1.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 236 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #877,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
The Nine Commandments is David Noel Freedman's daringly original reading of the early history of the Israelites. Freedman's thesis is as follows:
Hidden in the Bible is a previously unrecognized pattern of commandment violations that has gone undetected for over two thousand years. In the books spanning from Exodus to Kings the nation of Israel is presented as thoroughly defying its covenant with God by breaking each of the Ten Commandments, one by one, book by book, until there are none--leaving God with only one choice: the destruction of the nation.(The book is titled The Nine Commandments because the pattern it describes is of nine commandments being violated in nine books; Freedman argues that the remaining commandment, against covetousness, is implicitly broken in the perpetration of the other nine offences.) Furthermore, Freedman believes this pattern indicates the presence of a "Master Editor" who arranged these stories in this order so that readers would be discouraged from emulating Israel's rebelliousness. Freedman, a Professor of Hebrew Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and General Editor of the Anchor Bible series, backs up his ingenious and controversial claims with close textual readings and informs them with deep knowledge of the biblical texts. --Michael Joseph Gross --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
This book is the rare example of a scholar who manages to say something newAnew!Ain an utterly accessible and engaging book about the Bible. Freedman, the general editor of the Anchor Bible series, argues for a pattern of disobedience throughout the Old Testament: God gave the Ten Commandments, and then one by one, the Israelites broke them. Israelites broke the first two commandments ("You shall have no other gods before me" and "You shall not make for yourself an idol") by worshiping a golden calf instead of God. They subsequently took the Lord's name in vain, broke the Sabbath, shamed their parents, committed adultery and murder, and stole. The tenth commandmentA"You shall not covet"Alies at the heart, Freedman asserts, of the other nine; although it is never broken by itself, it is, in a sense, broken nine times. In other words, Achan stole because he coveted someone else's property (Joshua 7); David committed adultery because he coveted another's wife. Throughout the Old Testament, the people of Israel failed to uphold their half of their covenant with God. The "scarlet thread of commandment violations" ends with the exile of Israel. God, Freedman suggests in an important argument, did not abandon Israel; Israel abandoned him and his laws, and God responded. In the tradition of Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg and Robert Alter, Freedman merges two styles of biblical study, exploring the Bible both as theological text and as a work of literature. Freedman has produced a riveting book that will fundamentally change the way readers understand the Old Testament. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, and Easy to Read and Understand,
By
Ce commentaire est de: Nine Commandments The (Paperback)
Re: the omitted "10th" commandment -- it's no mystery that coveting was also the commandment that tripped up the Apostle Paul (see Romans 7). While breaking the other commandments would be known by outward acts of disobedience, the commandment against coveting was the commandment that preceded and underlay the breaking of the others, yet remained hidden within a man's soul (and sometimes even hidden from himself) until it manifested itself by the breaking of one of the other commandments. James also lays the blame for man's sins on coveting (James 4:1ff). Freedman is right to single out this commandment from the other nine, as it's the scarlet thread (Freedman's oft-used term for his thesis) that ties the other nine -- indeed, man's whole fallen nature, INCLUDING the cause of the Fall (Eve's desire/coveting of the forbidden fruit) -- together. Recognizing this leads one to the Apostle's cry (and solution) in Romans 7:24-25. Failing to recognize this leads to the abortive attempts at righteousness that the Apostle also describes in Romans 10:3.But back to the book: This is so well-written, so accessible, that the most ill-educated (biblically) layman or laywoman can read this with pleasure and understanding. Bravo, David Noel Freedman! Even if you don't agree with all of it, it's worth reading all of it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
High recommendations for this highly original work,
By A Customer
Ce commentaire est de: Nine Commandments The (Paperback)
It's rare to find a well-written, well-informed, highly-original book on any subject, much less the heavily-mined territory of Biblical Studies. Unlike Bloom's The Book of J, this book is actually written by a respected biblical scholar. The book explains many of the unusual word choices and locutions you encounter if you manage to read the whole thing, especially the differing order of commandments across the Old and New Testaments. Some of the discussion smacks of special pleading (can't make the commandment against covetousness fit your theory? must fit in as a 'background commandment' for the rest...). Overall, however, the author makes a very persuasive case for an outside editor who edited in references to the 10 commandments thruout the early books of the Old Testament. The author treats the subject matter with reverence and tact, and the 'editor theory' helps explain the remarkable cohesiveness and literary quality to a book compiled over a millenium. Nicely illustrated and written almost as a detective novel, this book is highly recommended. Plus, you now have only nine commandments to worry about (oops, forgot that covetousness one)!
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Master Weaver and the countdown to oblivion,
By
Ce commentaire est de: The Nine Commandments: Uncovering the Hidden Pattern of Crime and Punishment in the Hebrew Bible (Hardcover)
A theory so plausible and eloquently argued that you want to give yourself a V-8 forehead slap. Freedman looks at the Ten Commandments (yes, he addresses ALL ten of them) in relationship to the Primary History in the Bible (the nine books from Genesis through Kings, minus Ruth). Along the way he disburses some very interesting information that will enhance Bible readers' future experience with the Bible texts: he explains the practice of "the pairing of texts" in the Hebrew Bible, makes compelling points about Jeremiah's relationship to the Primary History, contrasts monotheism with henotheism and monolatry, and gives a fascinating explanation of how the Hebrew divining stones, the Urim and Thummim, probably worked.I've always felt Bible readers have made the mistake of elevating the Torah/Pentateuch at the expense of the rest of the Old Testament. Freedman's thesis seems to defend the integrity of the Hebrew Scriptures as a whole. He shows how the Israelites broke each of the Commandments they received in the wilderness. Not only broke them, but with minimal adjustments to sequencing, Freedman shows that they broke them in order. This breaking of the Commandments constitutes a "scarlet thread" that runs through the Primary History and that ultimately explains why the Israelites suffered defeat and exile at the hands of God's enemies. But there are ten commandments and only nine books in the Primary History. Which commandment does not get represented by a specfic sinful act in a book of its own is a mystery Freedman does not answer until the last chapter. The suspense makes this highly accessible scholarly work, a bit of a page-turner. If you read this book and enjoy it, you might also like the equally fascinating but more ambitious "Surpassing Wonder: The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds," by Donald Harman Akenson.
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