Everyone knows what is written on the tablets in all those movies about Moses, right? The Ten Commandants, surely. And if not all ten (or fifteen or seventeen, depending on how you count commandments), then shortened versions of each, or abbreviations or just numbers…right? And if the letters aren’t inscribed with the characters used in the English alphabet, or with Arabic or Roman numerals, then they are written in some form of Hebrew…right?
Well, right-- or any combination of the above…usually. But not always. And when there are deviations from these norms, well—you’re usually not supposed to know about it. Now, however, you will. Or, that is, you will by the time you finish reading this entry!
* * *
When illustrator Barry Mosher wanted an authentic-looking model for the tablets he was creating for a beautifully engraved edition of the Bible, he selected the tablets that appeared in Cecil B. DeMille’s first film called The Ten Commandments (produced in 1923). Here they are:
If you think that ancient Hebrew looked very different from the Hebrew letters in use today, you would be correct. But if you would guess, as Mosher did, that the characters on these tablets are ancient Hebrew…you’d be wrong. The model for these characters can be found in the 1904 edition of The Jewish Encyclopedia. They are almost an exact copy of these:
Samaritan and Hebrew share some of the same roots, but branched off, taking their separate paths long ago. The Samaritan characters pictured here aren’t really all that ancient. According to the encyclopedia, they date from the 13th century of the Common Era-- "only" about 800 years ago.
Why were they selected? That is not known for certain. It could be because DeMille liked the way they looked. Or, might it have something to do with the fact that Samaritan characters have sometimes been associated with Freemasons—and DeMille was a Freemason? Well, though DeMille was certainly a member of the Freemasons, it is not known if that fact played a role in the selection of these particular characters.
* * *
DeMille decided to do it bigger and better when he produced and directed his next film by the same name in 1956. The stone for the tablets was quarried from a site thought by many to be the actual Mount Sinai. The characters and the text were selected by a consultant from the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute. Here was the result:
* * *
When Mel Brooks appears as Moses in The History of the World, Part 1 (1981), he carries three tablets with a total of fifteen commandments. He accidently drops one, which smashes to pieces--- leaving two tablets with but ten commandments. It’s a funny bit. But did the letters on that third tablet actually mean anything? The film’s production designer, the late Harold Michelson, once confided to me that they were jokes—five of them. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to recall what they said. He wondered if I could figure it out.
Unfortunately, DeMille’s tablets followed the custom of displaying only the first few words of each commandment. That means that most of the context is missing. The broken tablet displayed five truncated jokes, but what those jokes actually were is open to interpretation.
Here are some of the best guesses:
- Thou shalt not work/ Thou shalt not pass
- Thou shalt not make people laugh/ Thou shalt not laugh
- Thou shalt not buy/Thou shalt not clean/wipe
- Thou shalt not stay/Thou shalt not wear clothes/Thou shalt not lend/ Thou shalt not tolerate us
- Thou shalt not break
Comedian Soupy Sales donned the robe and beard as Moses in the 1994 production
of …and God Spoke. Here, he seems to be working on his tan—using the
tablets as a sun reflector! It appears as if ancient Hebrew characters are
inscribed on these tablets.
* * *
There are many other films in which the Tablets of Law appear, but do any of them have their own secrets? Some do, but I can’t tell you about them…or they wouldn’t be secret, would they?