Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Shalom Ya'll,

In most Hebrew Bibles, the Ta`am `Elyon of the Ten Commandments (both in Ex. 
20 and in Deut. 5) unexpectedly combines what in the Jewish tradition are the 
first and second commandments (Ex. 20:2 "I am..." and 3 "You shall not 
have"). Since this is the way both BHS and the Koren have it, I assume that 
that's what's in the Leningrad Codex.

However in some newer editions, these two are separated. I would suspect that 
this would be based on the Aleppo, but we don't have the Aleppo for these 
sections of the Torah. 

Does anyone know the source of the Ta`am `Elyon of the Ten Commandments, and 
especially the source of what seem to be two different traditions regarding 
the division of the first two commandments ?

And for those who have no idea what I'm talking about: One of the functions 
of the "cantillation marks" in the MT is that of punctuation and syntax - 
roughly what is done by periods and commas in modern writing, but not quite 
the same. In the MT, the Ten Commandments are divided into 13 verses - Ex. 20 
2-14 (the English tradition divides the Hebrew vs. 13, which includes "Don't 
kill" through "Don't bear false witness" into 4 verses and thus has a total 
of 16). However, the MT also provides an alternate set of marks, in which 
each commandment is a single verse. This makes some, like the second and the 
Sabbath, quite long, by combining several "standard" verses, while in the 
case of "Don't kill" through "Don't bear false witness", each is a verse of 
its own. This "upper" marking is made for those occasions in which this 
section is read publicly, in order to make the divisions of the commandments 
clear to those who hear. In many prints (such as BHS) the two appear together 
- that is, each word has two or more marks. In many Jewish Bibles meant for 
use in the synagogue, the Ten Commandments are printed twice, one with each 
set of markings.
However, as I said, the "upper" marks in the many prints (including BHS etc.) 
actually combine vs. 2 with vss. 3-6, which are usually considered in the 
Jewish tradition to be two separate commandments. The only explanation I saw 
was that they are combined following the tradition that the Israelites 
actually heard these two in voice, God's but then sent Moses to get the rest 
(see the verses immediately following the Decalogue). However this seems like 
an afterthought. And, as I said, there does seem to be an alternative 
version, which does divide between them.

Any thoughts?

Yigal