Ten Commandments
77
reverse, one to the side, so that
the next line could start all over again
in the opposite direction with letter no.
33.28)
§
11. The proportions of the tablets may
be inferred from the number
of letter-units, provided that every
letter was entered into a square of
the same area. Such an orderly arrange-
ment of letters is a reasonable
assumption, for networks of squares were
also used in Egypt when drawing
pictures or pictographs.29)
Hence the height of a tablet would be
fifteen letter-units, its width ten units
consisting of the five vertical lines plus
the five empty spaces, and its thickness one
unit because of the one letter on
its top. The thickness of the tablets may
be estimated
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28) The Sefer Yetzirah (chapter 1,
no. 5–8) describes the three-dimensional structure
of the 10 lines or Sefirot,
that were imagined to be
spheres, whence the Greek loan-word
sphaira. The prophet Ezekiel (1,
14) compares them to ploughing
animals (ke-Malmad ha-Bakar, correct for
ke-Mareh ha Barak) going out and
returning (Yatzo wa-Shov), and every
one had 4 directions (Ezekiel 1, 6),
– up and down the tablets, over
and sideways. In Hebrew the directions or
four corners of the earth are
called "wings" (Ezekiel 7, 2) and "faces"
(1. Kings 7, 25).
29) This is a well-known Egyptian
technique. The squares are visible on pictures
where the colors faded away.
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