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http://www.beforeus.com Have the It’s
almost too stunning to ponder! Has
one of the two sets of the Ten Commandments, hewn by Moses and “engraved with
the finger of God”, been found? Several
weeks after their legendary Exodus from Egypt, according to the biblical account,
the Israelite nation was gathered to Mount Sinai to hear God’s eternal covenant
with them – the Ten Commandments. Moses
was also called up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments on stone tablets.
When Moses descended, he broke them at the foot of the mountain. Later he received
a replacement set to go inside the Ark of the Covenant. What
happened to the Ten Commandments of Moses – the first set? We
may wonder what happened to that first – the broken – set of tablets/ The
June 17, 1992 issue of the Shanghai “Liberation Daily” (Chinese official party
organ) published a news item, entitled, “A ‘Myth’ from the Gulf war”.
“The Sun”, a United states newspaper, also published a report on it.
The two sources contained points that differed, but they generally agreed
on the essential points. That two separate articles, with differing details, would
appear on two separate continents, was regarded by some as significant. They
both indicated that those first two inscribed tablets had been found. During
the Gulf war, heavy allied bombing of southern Iraq “caused a cavern about 100
feet deep to cave in,” explained Kurt Jenkins, a British archaeologist and one
of the first called to the scene. He and his colleagues found a variety of items
in the cavern, including, incredibly, the original tablets containing the Ten
Commandments. “We
just put everything on planes and flew them out of the country because we knew
the Iraqis would not allow us to properly excavate the site,” Jenkins said. The
site was close to the Euphrates River, about 80 miles north of the Kuwaiti border. Why
would the Ten Commandments be found in Iraq? Historically,
there would be a good possibility that the broken set of the tablets was later
recovered from the lower slopes of Mount Sinai by a faithful Israelite and taken
to the promised land of Canaan (Israel). Later, when the Jews were carried captive
to Babylon (now in Iraq) in 606, 597 and 586 BC), the broken set of tablets could
well have been taken by someone, in the hope of preserving them for posterity.
By the time when the captivity was drawing to a close, the Jews had been so successful
in business in Babylonia that their children and grandchildren, now so worldly-minded,
few of them were interested in returning to the desolated home of their forefathers.
Only a remnant returned. Overlooked, it was NOT later brought back to Judea. Forgotten,
it was ignored. When the town was flooded, a new village was built atop the old
one. This went on for 2,500 years, until recently. (Jews lived in these riverside
towns as well as in Babylon city.) This rebuilding as well as the continual river
deposition would account for it now being so far under the surface. According
to the Chinese report, it was personnel in the Western forces who recognised the
tablets for what they were. Ten
Commandments of Moses taken to U.S. “for analysis”? The
“Sun” article reported that exciting as the discovery was, scientists were stunned
by the way the words were inscribed on the tablets. “Although worn by centuries
of erosion,” said Jacob Arens, a physicist from the University of Jerusalem, “the
letters are clean with sharp edges. No stonecutter could have done such a perfect
job.” Arens
and other scientists from Europe and the United States subjected the tablets to
a variety of tests, including x-rays and computer analyses. “The letters were
definitely burned into the rock,” said Professor Ludwig Sales from Berlin university.
“I’m not ready to say it was a laser beam, but some sort of cutting ray was used
– something far beyond the skills of ancient Hebrews” (runaway slaves in the desert). Vance
Ferrell reported from the U.S. that a friend rang John Hopkins University sources
and the people there “appeared stunned that someone would have that information.
Throughout the conversation, it was obvious that a secret needed to be kept, and
they were surprised that the cat was out of the bag. At one point in the conversation,
I asked, ‘Do you have information on this?’ The answer was something like this:
‘Well, we have information.’ I replied, ‘Something in the affirmative or in the
negative?’ ‘Something in the affirmative,’ came the response.” How
big were the Tablets of The Ten Commandments? According
to “Encyclopedia Judaica”, they weighed 40 se’ah (selah) which equalled 913 grams,
that is about 2 pounds. This means they were quite small. The biblical record
states that when Moses brought them down the mountain, “the two tables of the
testimony were in his hand [singular]: the tables were written on both their sides;
on the one side and on the other were they written.” (Exodus 32:15,16) Notice,
according to the record he held them BOTH in his one hand; and they were engraved
front and back. That clears up two popular misconceptions. (Artists often portray
them as large, with one carried on each arm, and everything written on the front
side only.) Jonathan Gray
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