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Sure, historically the "Ten Commandments" play almost no role in the development of legal traditions of the ancient and modern world.
Ancient Israel and Judah where Polytheistic and ancestral worship during the Early iron age. Eventually the area was controlled by the Babylonians and their influence greatly inspired many of the ideas in the books that would eventually become the Torah.
However we don't see any complete work that resembles the Torah until the area is well into Persian control. At the end of Persian control is the Hellenistic period, between 163 bce to 6 ce with the romans taking over about 60 bce. During the Hellenistic period we see a Jewish kingdom with a much greater emphasis of doing things as presented in the Torah. However archeology digs in the area during the Hellenistic period uncovered that small idols and statues of gods or goddesses who were presumably worshiped. This would violate the first two commandments.
It would be interesting to note, how the story of the Ten Commandments was taught emphasis was not put on the commandments themselves. But great emphasis was placed on what happens if you disobey god, for it pitted neighbor against neighbor, father against son, and husband against wife. Leviticus would of been the meat and potatoes Jewish law based on the bible.
Now Romans did take over the area. And Roman legal traditions go back all the way to the Greek in 620 bce. So the Roman system would not of been influenced by the early Jewish Bible.
The rise of Christianity put an end for a long time to the Ten Commandments having any importance in society. Early Christians believed that the Jewish Bible was overruled by Jesus' teachings. Then again early Christians did not agree on much. It was not until the 4th century that we see a complied Christian bible. However the church still believed that Jesus' New Covenant overruled many of the commandments. Why teach that disobeying god would mean your children are punished for generations. When he is now a forgiving god. This trend would continue until the 1600s.
As for governments and law, Roman legal tradition completely influenced Europe even well after the fall of Rome. When Rome fell, Pagan kings pooped up as well as Christan ones. They tend to use heavy roman influence coming up with their monarchies. The church spend allot of time cementing its power by convincing people that Kings where placed in their positions by god, and their power over people extend from the divine. This meant that the church had some influence over the Kingdoms of Europe. And how the Pagan kings became Christan ones. From surviving art from this period we see very little of Mosses and the commandments. This would reflect very little importance on the commandments. Depictions of the commandments in Jewish art did not pop up until the early 1300 ce.
The King James bible changed the face of religion on the planet. The Catholic church was on the decline, as Kings noticed they really don't need to listen to the Pope. The British empire was expanding bringing there way of law to other countries. And the American Colonies where founded during this time. All this change, and space allowed new sects of Christians to pop up and interpret the bible in their own way. Then go somewhere to worship in peace, or in most cases enforce worship in peace. However did they turn to the Ten Commandment as a basis, no records exist to show that. Even the Old Testament loving puritans put no emphasis on the commandments.
The founding of america was in direct opposition to the commandments.
Now, why are the commandments a big deal. In the 1950s the Fraternal Order of Eagles put up Ten Commandment memorials everywhere. The 1950s was a time of religious renewal in America. In 1954 the words 'under god' where added to the pledge of allegiance. Before that the earliest known public display of the commandments was made in 1935.
When the Commandments where put up in large numbers all over the place, people thought they where important. And this backwards idea that they where always important started to take hold. The mentality went something like this.
"God Wrote the bible, so the idea that people should not kill, steal and lie came from god. So all the laws ever created that say we should not do those things was because god wrote the bible and the bible is moral authority for mankind."
Remember its the 50s. And that logic prevails even today, even when we no for certain that people had laws saying we should not lie, steal or kill. A thousand years before the idea of Monotheism.
So in summary.
- There is no historical evidence where legal tradition was influenced by the commandments. It appears that the exact opposite is true.
- There is no evidence that people created laws based directly on the commandments. In more recent periods.
- The idea of a historical significance to the Commandments was manufactured in the 1950s
Ancient Israel and Judah where Polytheistic and ancestral worship during the Early iron age. Eventually the area was controlled by the Babylonians and their influence greatly inspired many of the ideas in the books that would eventually become the Torah.
However we don't see any complete work that resembles the Torah until the area is well into Persian control. At the end of Persian control is the Hellenistic period, between 163 bce to 6 ce with the romans taking over about 60 bce. During the Hellenistic period we see a Jewish kingdom with a much greater emphasis of doing things as presented in the Torah. However archeology digs in the area during the Hellenistic period uncovered that small idols and statues of gods or goddesses who were presumably worshiped. This would violate the first two commandments.
It would be interesting to note, how the story of the Ten Commandments was taught emphasis was not put on the commandments themselves. But great emphasis was placed on what happens if you disobey god, for it pitted neighbor against neighbor, father against son, and husband against wife. Leviticus would of been the meat and potatoes Jewish law based on the bible.
Now Romans did take over the area. And Roman legal traditions go back all the way to the Greek in 620 bce. So the Roman system would not of been influenced by the early Jewish Bible.
The rise of Christianity put an end for a long time to the Ten Commandments having any importance in society. Early Christians believed that the Jewish Bible was overruled by Jesus' teachings. Then again early Christians did not agree on much. It was not until the 4th century that we see a complied Christian bible. However the church still believed that Jesus' New Covenant overruled many of the commandments. Why teach that disobeying god would mean your children are punished for generations. When he is now a forgiving god. This trend would continue until the 1600s.
As for governments and law, Roman legal tradition completely influenced Europe even well after the fall of Rome. When Rome fell, Pagan kings pooped up as well as Christan ones. They tend to use heavy roman influence coming up with their monarchies. The church spend allot of time cementing its power by convincing people that Kings where placed in their positions by god, and their power over people extend from the divine. This meant that the church had some influence over the Kingdoms of Europe. And how the Pagan kings became Christan ones. From surviving art from this period we see very little of Mosses and the commandments. This would reflect very little importance on the commandments. Depictions of the commandments in Jewish art did not pop up until the early 1300 ce.
The King James bible changed the face of religion on the planet. The Catholic church was on the decline, as Kings noticed they really don't need to listen to the Pope. The British empire was expanding bringing there way of law to other countries. And the American Colonies where founded during this time. All this change, and space allowed new sects of Christians to pop up and interpret the bible in their own way. Then go somewhere to worship in peace, or in most cases enforce worship in peace. However did they turn to the Ten Commandment as a basis, no records exist to show that. Even the Old Testament loving puritans put no emphasis on the commandments.
The founding of america was in direct opposition to the commandments.
Now, why are the commandments a big deal. In the 1950s the Fraternal Order of Eagles put up Ten Commandment memorials everywhere. The 1950s was a time of religious renewal in America. In 1954 the words 'under god' where added to the pledge of allegiance. Before that the earliest known public display of the commandments was made in 1935.
When the Commandments where put up in large numbers all over the place, people thought they where important. And this backwards idea that they where always important started to take hold. The mentality went something like this.
"God Wrote the bible, so the idea that people should not kill, steal and lie came from god. So all the laws ever created that say we should not do those things was because god wrote the bible and the bible is moral authority for mankind."
Remember its the 50s. And that logic prevails even today, even when we no for certain that people had laws saying we should not lie, steal or kill. A thousand years before the idea of Monotheism.
So in summary.
- There is no historical evidence where legal tradition was influenced by the commandments. It appears that the exact opposite is true.
- There is no evidence that people created laws based directly on the commandments. In more recent periods.
- The idea of a historical significance to the Commandments was manufactured in the 1950s
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