How many Commandments were on each of Moses tablets?

How many Commandments were on each of Moses tablets?

Simply question, but it is complicated!

Artistic renditions of the Ten Commandments are in several ways and in various numbering systems from 5 and 5, 4 and 6, to 3 and 7. Occasionally artists will place all Ten Commandments one simply one tablet.

We know there are Ten Words. Yahweh wrote them with his finger on two tablets of stone (Exod 31:18; 34:1). But the church has never agreed on how to count to ten.

The Bible doesn’t give a decisive answer. There are twelve negative imperatives in Exodus 20:1–17, and one of the ten (“Honor thy father and mother”) doesn’t include any negatives. To make ten, Augustine combined the prohibition of images with the prohibition of idolatry and argued there were two commandments against coveting. Origen separated the prohibition of false gods from the command against images and counted only one command against coveting. Roman Catholics and Lutherans follow Augustine; Reformed churches follow Origen. I follow the Reformed numbering, with an Orthodox modification: Yahweh’s declaration “I am Yahweh your God” is part of the First Word, not a “preface” (as in Westminster Larger Catechism, q. 101). - Why is Counting the Ten Commandments so Difficult?

Some older renditions featuring the 3 and 7 numbering system seems to some (myself included) to possibly be the most accurate. The first three Commandments are the longest phrased Commandments out of the group, comprising of approximately 50% of the literary volume.

On top of that the first three Commandments deal with God; while the last seven Commandments deal with sins involving fellow human beings.

The three commandments on the first stone tablet are concerned with God. Nothing could be more important for the life of the believer, and so it is not surprising that these three precepts are interpreted as telling Christians and Jews not only how they should behave, but more importantly, as giving them knowledge of fundamental characteristics of the deity. Since God was the creator of the universe, this also tells believers something about the universe in which they live. Although the nature of God is the overarching theme of this chapter, we will approach the material by looking at each commandment in turn, rather than simply gathering together what they tell us as a whole. This will allow us to get a sense of how medieval commentators approached the Decalogue, which includes how they thought the precepts fitted together.

To make matters more confusing, we’re never told what was on each of the two stone tablets. Following Augustine, Caesarius of Arles said the first tablet contained three commandments; the second, seven. Origen and others divided the commandments into four and six. Perhaps all Ten Words were on both tablets, a double witness to Yahweh’s covenant with Israel. We can sort through some of these debates by paying close attention to the text of Exodus 20. Whatever the two tablets contained, literarily the Ten Words aren’t divided as 3 + 7 or 4 + 6, but in half, 5 + 5. - Source

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that three Commandments were written on the first tablet and seven on the second tablet.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us precisely what I have just said here:

The division and numbering of the commandments have varied in the course of history. The present catechism follows the division of the commandments established by St. Augustine, which has become traditional in the Catholic Church. It is also that of the Lutheran confessions. The Greek Fathers worked out a slightly different division, which is found in the Orthodox Churches and Reformed communities.

The ten commandments state what is required in the love of God and love of neighbor. The first three concern love of God, and the other seven love of neighbour.

As charity comprises the two commandments to which the Lord related the whole Law and the prophets . . . so the ten commandments were themselves given on two tablets. Three were written on one tablet and seven on the other (2066-2067).

How to Split the Ten Commandments