The distinction made by Josephus and the Chaldee Paraphrast, separating the two prohibitions, was adopted by the following early writers: Origen (Hom. viii. in Exod.); Greg. Nazianzen (Carmina, Mosis Decalogus) Irenæus (lib. ii. c. xlii.); Ambrose (in Ep. ad Ephes. c. vi.).
The Jews divide the Decalogue thus:
1. I am....
2. Thou shalt not have....
3. Thou shalt not take....
But in the field of speculation, the Jews have followed a variety of systems for dissecting the Decalogue, as may be seen in Abarvanel in the Pericope "Jethro," and in Voisin's Proœmium ad Martini Pugionem Fidei.
The following authors may be consulted on the arguments which have been adduced to support their respective divisions by the Church of Rome and the Lutherans on the one side, and the Reformers or Calvinists and the Church of England on the other.
1. Church of Rome.—Gother's Papist Misrepresented; Godden's Catholics No Idolaters; Gotti Vera Ecclesia Christi.
2. Lutherans.—Salmuthi Theses; Winckelmanni Dissertatio, &c.; Crameri de distinguendo decalogo, &c.; Franzii Disputatio; Weimari Demonstratio; Opitii Dissertatio de usu accentuationis geminæ in genuina divisione decalogi; Dasdorfii Dissertatio de decalogo, ex fundamento accentuum examinato; Hackspanii Notæ Philologicæ in varia loca S. Scripturæ; Pfeifferi Opera (cent. 1.).
3. Reformers.—Sam. Bohlii vera divisio decalogi ex infallibili principio accentuationis.