The Tables of the Law
Encyclopedia
The Tables of the Law is a 1944 novella
by German writer Thomas Mann
. It is a dramatic retelling of the Biblical
story of Moses
contained in the Book of Exodus, although some of the laws which Moses proscribes for his followers are taken from Leviticus
. It was the only story that Mann was ever commissioned to write, and he finished it in just eight weeks, beginning on January 18, 1943, and ending on March 13, 1943. Publisher Armin L. Robinson, believing the Ten Commandments
to be the basis on which civilization was founded, wanted to make a movie detailing the Nazi
's "desecration of the Mosaic Decalogue." Instead, he settled on a book, entitled The Ten Commandments: Ten Short Novels of Hitler's War Against the Moral Code, with ten authors, one for each commandment. Mann's novella, which he was paid $1000 to write, was originally meant to be the introduction to the volume, but Robinson liked it so much that he decided to make it the first story, under the heading "Thou Shalt Have No Other God Before Me
." It should also be noted that Mann considered his story to be greatly superior to that of his fellow contributors, and he considered the overall book a "failure".
suggests that Mann was not as fully devoted to Robinson's project as others. Wood begins by explaining that Robinson first wanted to put together the volume on the Ten Commandments when he heard that Adolf Hitler
had ranted against the idea of commandments one evening to two of his associates, Joseph Goebbels
and Julius Streicher
. Wood argues that in fact by having his character Moses present the commandments as a black-and-white ethical code, Mann was disagreeing with Moses, and expressing a position that was not necessarily opposed to Hitler's. Wood writes, "[Mann's story] disturbingly echoes and complicates rather than simply refutes Hitler's views. Mann had read his Nietzsche too - and had read a lot more Freud than Hitler had."
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
by German writer Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
. It is a dramatic retelling of the Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
story of Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
contained in the Book of Exodus, although some of the laws which Moses proscribes for his followers are taken from Leviticus
Leviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
. It was the only story that Mann was ever commissioned to write, and he finished it in just eight weeks, beginning on January 18, 1943, and ending on March 13, 1943. Publisher Armin L. Robinson, believing the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
to be the basis on which civilization was founded, wanted to make a movie detailing the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
's "desecration of the Mosaic Decalogue." Instead, he settled on a book, entitled The Ten Commandments: Ten Short Novels of Hitler's War Against the Moral Code, with ten authors, one for each commandment. Mann's novella, which he was paid $1000 to write, was originally meant to be the introduction to the volume, but Robinson liked it so much that he decided to make it the first story, under the heading "Thou Shalt Have No Other God Before Me
You shall have no other gods before me
You shall have no other gods before me is one of the Ten Commandments found in the Hebrew Bible .This commandment establishes the exclusive nature of the relationship between the nation of Israel and its national god, Yahweh the God of Israel, a covenant initiated by Yahweh after delivering the...
." It should also be noted that Mann considered his story to be greatly superior to that of his fellow contributors, and he considered the overall book a "failure".
Differences from the Bible Story
Mann's story, while broadly faithful to the account given in Exodus, differs from it in several important ways:- Instead of being the true son of AmramAmramIn the Book of Exodus, Amram Arabic عمران Imran, is the father of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam and the husband of Jochebed.-In the Bible:In addition to being married to Jochebed, Amram is also described in the Bible as having been related to Jochebed prior to the marriage, although the exact...
and JochebedJochebedAccording to the Torah, Jochebed was a daughter of Levi and mother of Aaron, Miriam and Moses. She was the wife of Amram, as well as his aunt. No details are given concerning her life. According to Jewish legend, Jochebed is buried in the Tomb of the Matriarchs, in Tiberias.-Birth of Moses:The...
, Moses is portrayed as the son of the pharaoh's daughter and a passing Hebrew laborer. Sitting in her garden, the pharaoh's daughter sees the laborer and is overcome with desire. She orders him brought to her, and after having sex with him, she has him killed. It is only so as not to arise the suspicion of her father that she places Moses in the care of his Biblical parents. Moses' half-Hebrew ethnicity plays an important role in the book, as Mann uses it to explain why GodGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
chose him for his task. - Moses' lack of speaking ability is portrayed as deriving from his peripatetic lifestyle growing up. Mann writes, "[Moses] wasn't really at home in any language and when speaking would cast about in three: Aramaic Syro-Chaldean, which his father's blood kin spoke and which he had learned form his parents, had been overlaid by Egyptian, which he had had to acquire at school, and in addition Midianite Arabic, which he had spoken for many years in the desert."
- Many of Moses' miracles are given a secular explanation, and God's supernatural powers are never explicitly validated; at times Mann merely refers to certain occurrences as mysterious. For example, in explaining the miracle of turning a rod into a snake, Mann writes, "AaronAaronIn the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites...
was accomplished in certain sleights-of-hand, which they hoped would make an impression at court to the glory of YahwehYahweh (Canaanite deity)The hypothesis of a Canaanite deity named Yahweh or Yahwi is accepted by some Ancient Near Eastern scholars, although no direct evidence from archeology has been found. The name Yahwi may possibly be found in some male Amorite names...
. He could make a cobra stiff as a rod by pressing on its neck; but if he then cast the rod to the ground, it would curl and 'transform itself into a serpent'." - Mann stipulates that Moses took a mistress while in the desert. She is simply referred to as "the EthiopianEthiopiaEthiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
," but is said to be from KushKingdom of KushThe native name of the Kingdom was likely kaš, recorded in Egyptian as .The name Kash is probably connected to Cush in the Hebrew Bible , son of Ham ....
. There is some textual evidence in the Bible for this, as Moses is described to have had an Ethiopian or Kushite wife, depending on the translation, in , but this may simply refer to his wife ZipporahZipporahZipporah or Tzipora is mentioned in the Book of Exodus as the wife of Moses, and the daughter of Reuel/Jethro, the priest or prince of Midian...
. - JoshuaJoshuaJoshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua...
, portrayed as Moses' most loyal follower, visits Moses when he is on Mount SinaiBiblical Mount SinaiThe Biblical Mount Sinai is the mountain at which the Book of Exodus states that the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God...
and brings him food. - Moses is not given the tablets containing the Ten Commandments by God. Instead, God tells him the laws, and Moses inscribes them in stone himself. This proves problematic as he does not want to write the Commandments in a written language which is inextricably linked to its (non-Hebrew) spoken counterpart. Instead, he invents a new system of writing (presumably HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
) which he describes as alphabetic, and inscribes the laws in this new script. - Moses coats the lettering in his own blood, "pierc[ing] his strong arm with the graver and carefully smear[ing] the dripping blood into the letters so that they gleamed reddish in the stone."
- Just as in the Bible story, the first tablets break and Moses is forced to write them again. However, instead of merely dropping them, he smashes them in anger in an effort to destroy the golden calfGolden calfAccording to the Hebrew Bible, the golden calf was an idol made by Aaron to satisfy the Israelites during Moses' absence, when he went up to Mount Sinai...
.
Interpretation
In his afterword to the book, Michael WoodMichael Wood (academic)
Michael Wood born in Lincoln, England, is the Charles Barnwell Straut Class of 1923 Professor of English and Professor of comparative literature at Princeton University. He is an alumnus of St John's College, Cambridge....
suggests that Mann was not as fully devoted to Robinson's project as others. Wood begins by explaining that Robinson first wanted to put together the volume on the Ten Commandments when he heard that Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
had ranted against the idea of commandments one evening to two of his associates, Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
and Julius Streicher
Julius Streicher
Julius Streicher was a prominent Nazi prior to World War II. He was the founder and publisher of Der Stürmer newspaper, which became a central element of the Nazi propaganda machine...
. Wood argues that in fact by having his character Moses present the commandments as a black-and-white ethical code, Mann was disagreeing with Moses, and expressing a position that was not necessarily opposed to Hitler's. Wood writes, "[Mann's story] disturbingly echoes and complicates rather than simply refutes Hitler's views. Mann had read his Nietzsche too - and had read a lot more Freud than Hitler had."