The Nine Commandments : Uncovering the Hidden Pattern of Crime and Punishment in the Hebrew Bible [Hardcover]

David Noel Freedman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2000

In a book certain to be as controversial as Harold Bloom's The Book of J and Elaine Pagels's The Gnostic Gospels, David Noel Freedman delves into the Old Testament and reveals a pattern of defiance of the Covenant with God that inexorably led to the downfall of the nation of Israel, the destruction of the Temple, and the banishment of survivors from the Promised Land. Book by book, from Exodus to Kings, Freedman charts the violation of the first nine Commandments one by one-from the sin of apostasy (the worship of the golden calf, Exodus 32) to murder (the death of a concubine, Judges, 19:25-26) to false testimony (Jezebel's charges against her neighbor, Naboth, I Kings 21). Because covetousness, Freedman shows, lies behind all the crimes committed, each act implicitly breaks the Tenth Commandment as well.

In a powerful and persuasive argument, Freedman asserts that this hidden trail of sins betrays the hand of a master editor, who skillfully wove into Israel's history a message to a community in their Babylonian exile that their fate is not the result of God's abandoning them, but a consequence of their abandonment of God. With wit and insight, The Nine Commandments boldly challenges previous scholarship and conventional beliefs.

David Noel Freedman has been General Editor and a contributing coauthor of the Anchor Bible series since its inception in 1956. He is a professor in Hebrew Bible at the University of California, San Diego, and lives in La Jolla, California.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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 2,000 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 offenses.) 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

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (November 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385499868
• ISBN-13: 978-0385499866
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Master Weaver and the countdown to oblivion, August 4, 2001

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Charles S. Houser (Binghamton, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm not convinced..., February 10, 2006

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Rob (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Nine Commandments: Uncovering the Hidden Pattern of Crime and Punishment in the Hebrew Bible (Paperback)

No bones about it, this book is well-written. Freedman gives a quick review on the development of Hebrew monotheism out of the older Canaanite polytheism, and then proceeds onto his argument. The argument is well-written and at least superficially persuasive, but after thinking about it I'm not sure I'm convinced. Freedman makes too many assumptions about the "symmetry" of the Ten Commandments that have no precedent in the text itself; in his discussion of the symmetry of the Bible as a whole I was afraid he was getting dangerously close to numerology or such similar pseudoscience, but thankfully, as befits his reputation, he stuck to accepted methods of analysis in the end. But sticking to accepted standards does not make your argument air-tight: as Freedman himself admits, there are many exceptions to his "rule," which he dismisses, but which I find personally to be damaging to his thesis. The fact that he has to make covetousness a "background commandment" is, as has been noted, special pleading, as is the placing of the first two violations in Exodus, with none in Genesis (none that he counts anyway; in reality there are many in Genesis). This means that the nine commandments are broken in eight books instead of nine. His rearrangement of the order of commandments 6-8 is not as solidly based as he claims either, and there is actually no breaking of the fifth commandment (the example Freedman gives is in reality a law, not an actual event, but he makes an excuse for this as well). Overall, I think the "patterns" Freedman claims to detect are just coincidence, but this is a great book to read none-the-less because it is honest, scholarly, and novel.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, January 8, 2001

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"tolk" (La Jolla, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Nine Commandments : Uncovering the Hidden Pattern of Crime and Punishment in the Hebrew Bible (Hardcover)

David Noel Freedman does it again with this enoyable book. The title makes it sound more radical than it really is. What Professor Freedman does it take note of an interesting pattern that concerns the Ten Commandments and can be found in the Bible's "Primary History" (Genesis-2 Kings). His manner of presentation is easy to understand and interesting. Plus, there are a number of photos and illustrations and fascinating excurses. Highly recommended.