The Oldest Ten Commandments Tablet Heads to Auction
A remarkable piece of religious history is headed to auction: the oldest-known stone tablet featuring the Ten Commandments inscription. The 1,500-year-old marble slab, dating from 300-500 CE, is expected to fetch between $1 million and $2 million at Sotheby’s upcoming December 18 auction.
The tablet, which stands two feet tall and weighs 115 pounds, was discovered in 1913 during railway construction along Israel’s southern coast, near ancient synagogues, mosques, and churches. The artifact features 20 lines of text written in Paleo-Hebrew script, an ancient alphabet that fell out of use among Judeans but was preserved by the Samaritan people.
“We understood how powerful the object was, and we were really thrilled to be able to offer it for sale to the public,” says Sharon Liberman Mintz, Sotheby’s international senior specialist of Judaica, books and manuscripts. “This is really one-of-a-kind. It’s one of the most important historic artifacts that I’ve ever handled.”
The Ten Commandments appear twice in the Hebrew Bible: in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. These foundational texts establish the core principles of Judaic and Christian moral law, including prohibitions against murder, theft, and false witness, as well as commandments to honor one’s parents and observe the Sabbath.
Interestingly, this Samaritan version differs from the traditional biblical text. It omits the third commandment (“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain”) and instead includes a directive to worship at Mount Gerizim in the present-day West Bank – a site sacred to the Samaritans rather than Jerusalem’s Mount Zion. The tablet also begins with a dedication “in the name of Korach.”
The artifact’s journey is as remarkable as its content. After its discovery, it was initially used as a paving stone at a private residence, where foot traffic damaged some of the inscription. As David Michaels, director of ancient coins for Heritage Auctions, explained in 2016, “Some of the letters of the central part of the inscription are blurred—but still readable under proper lighting—either from the conditions of its burial or foot traffic while it was resting in the courtyard.”
The tablet’s true significance wasn’t recognized until 1943, when municipal archaeologist Y. Kaplan purchased it and identified it as a rare “Samaritan Decalogue.” Kaplan later collaborated with future Israeli president Yitzhak Ben-Zvi on a scholarly article about the tablet in 1947. The artifact subsequently passed through several hands, including antiquities dealer Robert Deutsch and Rabbi Saul Deutsch’s Living Torah Museum in Brooklyn, before its last sale in 2016 for $850,000.
“This remarkable tablet is not only a vastly important historic artifact, but a tangible link to the beliefs that helped shape Western civilization,” notes Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts. “To encounter this shared piece of cultural heritage is to journey through millennia and connect with cultures and faiths told through one of humanity’s earliest and most enduring moral codes.”
The tablet provides unique insights into the Samaritan people, who share ancestry with modern-day Jewish people but separated at least two thousand years ago. Today, this community numbers less than 1,000 and holds both Israeli and Palestinian citizenship, maintaining their distinct religious traditions and sacred texts.
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