--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The first book ever written in an…" description: "\"The first book ever written in an alphabet was the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament. And the most important passage was the Ten Commandments. The firs..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/806/leonard-shlain-31041_alphabet_the-first-book-ever-written-in-an-alphab_1328171.png" --- # The first book ever written in an alphabet was the Hebrew… ![“The first book ever written in an alphabet was the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament. And the most important passage was the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is the most revolutionary sentence ever written. It states: "I am the Lord thy God there is no other." The second prohibits us from…” quote by Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/806/leonard-shlain-31041_alphabet_the-first-book-ever-written-in-an-alphab_1328171.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/806/leonard-shlain-31041_alphabet_the-first-book-ever-written-in-an-alphab_1328171.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/806/leonard-shlain-31041_alphabet_the-first-book-ever-written-in-an-alphab_1328171.png) > “The first book ever written in an alphabet was the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament. And the most important passage was the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is the most revolutionary sentence ever written. It states: "I am the Lord thy God there is no other." The second prohibits us from making images. Thus, there is a profound rejection of any goddess influence and a ban of representative art.” [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote highlights the Hebrew Bible as the first alphabetic text, emphasizing the Ten Commandments, especially the monotheistic claim and prohibition of images, as revolutionary cultural shifts. **In simple terms:** The Hebrew Bible introduced alphabetic writing and the Ten Commandments changed religious thought. Key Takeaway Recognize how early texts shape belief and art. Themes religion language culture iconoclasm Mood reflective inquisitive Type historical theological cultural When to use this quote - theology studies - art history - education curricula - interfaith dialogue Key Concepts monotheism iconoclasm alphabetic literacy Questions to Reflect On - How do foundational texts influence modern values? - What are the effects of banning images in societies? A Different Perspective The claim about being the first alphabetic book is debated; other cultures had early scripts. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alphabet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alphabet/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Bible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bible/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Commandments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/commandments/) [Goddess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goddess/) [Hebrew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hebrew/) [Hebrew bible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hebrew-bible/) [Influence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/influence/) [Judaism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/judaism/) [Lord](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lord/) [Old testament](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-testament/) [Profound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profound/) [Rejection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rejection/) [Representatives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/representatives/) [Revolutionary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolutionary/) [Ten commandments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ten-commandments/) [Testament](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/testament/) ## Related quotes > [“Henotheism is the view that there are other gods, but there is only one God who is to be worshipped. 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If a good deal of the work of writing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lester-l-grabbe/much-of-the-persian-period-is-blank-for-jewish-history-however-you/) [Lester L. Grabbe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lester-l-grabbe/) > [When you come to the New Testament you can't even swing a cat without hitting three demons and two spirits. And magic becomes something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-moore-cross/when-you-come-to-the-new-testament-you-can-t-even-swing-a-cat-without/) [Frank Moore Cross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-moore-cross/) > [“There are indeed moral universals — the Hebrew Bible calls them ‘the covenant with Noah’ and they form the basis of modern codes of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-sacks/there-are-indeed-moral-universals-the-hebrew-bible-calls-them-the/) [Jonathan Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-sacks/) > [The essence of the Hebrew Bible, transmitted by Christianity, is separation: between life and death, nature and God, good and evil, man and woman,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-prager/the-essence-of-the-hebrew-bible-transmitted-by-christianity-is/) [Dennis Prager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-prager/) > [“Only 8000 different words appear in the Hebrew Bible, compared to the 20,000 or more that the average adult needs to know in most languages.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lane-greene/only-8000-different-words-appear-in-the-hebrew-bible-compared-to-the/) [Robert Lane Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-lane-greene/) > [Sophia - a mystical female presence whose appearance is only fleeting in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament - was clearly once a household…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bettany-hughes/sophia-a-mystical-female-presence-whose-appearance-is-only-fleeting/) [Bettany Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bettany-hughes/) > [Around A.D. 930, the sages in Tiberias assembled all 24 holy books and completed the writing of the codex, the first definitive Tanakh, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronen-bergman/around-a-d-930-the-sages-in-tiberias-assembled-all-24-holy-books-and/) [Ronen Bergman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronen-bergman/) > [The market economy is deeply congruent with the values set out in the Hebrew Bible. Material prosperity is a divine blessing. Poverty crushes the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-sacks/the-market-economy-is-deeply-congruent-with-the-values-set-out-in-the/) [Jonathan Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-sacks/) > [“Despite two millennia of Christian apologetics, the fact is that belief in a dying and rising messiah simply did not exist in Judaism. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reza-aslan/despite-two-millennia-of-christian-apologetics-the-fact-is-that/) [Reza Aslan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reza-aslan/) ## More by Leonard Shlain > [Revolutionary art and visionary physics are both investigations into the nature of reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/revolutionary-art-and-visionary-physics-are-both-investigations-into/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) > [While their methods differ radically, artists and physicists share the desire to investigate the ways the interlocking pieces of reality fit together. 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But if you look up from it, and start watching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/when-you-read-a-book-you-generate-beta-waves-irrespective-of-the-book/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) > [Democrtitus, in the fifth century B.C. had declared that all the world was composed of only two elements: atomes and the void. This reduction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/democrtitus-in-the-fifth-century-b-c-had-declared-that-all-the-world/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) > [“In the Old Testament, guilt enters the world by way of a bite from a fruit.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/in-the-old-testament-guilt-enters-the-world-by-way-of-a-bite-from-a/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) > [“The right brain is better than the left in perceiving space and making judgments as to balance, harmony, and the composition of gestalts, from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/the-right-brain-is-better-than-the-left-in-perceiving-space-and/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) > [I suggest that a culture adopting an alphabet would denigrate right hemispheric values because the alphabet is a left hemispheric mode of reception. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/i-suggest-that-a-culture-adopting-an-alphabet-would-denigrate-right/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) > [Language was such a profoundly new evolutionary innovation that our brains had to be completely redesigned in order to handle it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/language-was-such-a-profoundly-new-evolutionary-innovation-that-our/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) > [Revolutionary art anticipates visionary physics. 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We receive multiple layers of meaning within a very short compact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/images-are-so-prevalent-that-we-get-most-of-our-information-from-them/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) > [When the time comes to change a paradigm--to renounce one bedrock truth and adopt another--the artist and physicist are most likely to be in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/when-the-time-comes-to-change-a-paradigm-to-renounce-one-bedrock/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) > [“The Talmud expresses subtle relationship in an apocryphal story of a dialogue between God and Abraham. God begins by chiding Abraham: „If it wasn´t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/the-talmud-expresses-subtle-relationship-in-an-apocryphal-story-of-a/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) [Explore all 17 Leonard Shlain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) ## More Alphabet quotes > [“In American terms, the accomplishment of Genghis Khan might be understood if the United States, instead of being created by a group of educated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-weatherford/in-american-terms-the-accomplishment-of-genghis-khan-might-be/) [Jack Weatherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-weatherford/) > [Flowers are the alphabet of angels, whereby they write on the hills and fields mysterious truths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/flowers-are-the-alphabet-of-angels-whereby-they-write-on-the-hills/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [I have thought that wild flowers might be the alphabet of angels, — whereby they write on hills and fields mysterious truths, which it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/i-have-thought-that-wild-flowers-might-be-the-alphabet-of-angels/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [The WPA was one of the most productive elements of FDR's alphabet soup of agencies because it put people to work building roads, bridges,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/the-wpa-was-one-of-the-most-productive-elements-of-fdr-s-alphabet/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [My alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz. It s the letter I use to spell yuzz a ma tuzz. You ll be sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-seuss/my-alphabet-starts-with-this-letter-called-yuzz-it-s-the-letter-i-use/) [Dr. Seuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-seuss/) > [I cannot find it in me to fear a man who took ten years a learning of his alphabet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-i/i-cannot-find-it-in-me-to-fear-a-man-who-took-ten-years-a-learning-of/) [Elizabeth I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-i/) > [Why' is the only question that bothers people enough to have an entire letter of the alphabet named after it. The alphabet does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/why-is-the-only-question-that-bothers-people-enough-to-have-an-entire/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [I used to have a little saying I used when people said, 'What are your priorities?' I'd give them a bit of government alphabet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-hayden/i-used-to-have-a-little-saying-i-used-when-people-said-what-are-your/) [Michael Hayden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-hayden/) > [All I want is that Americans still be able to read the alphabet in a hundred years. I am not very ambitious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/all-i-want-is-that-americans-still-be-able-to-read-the-alphabet-in-a/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [The visual power of the phonetic alphabet is the translate other languages into itself is part of its power to invade right hemisphere (oral)…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/the-visual-power-of-the-phonetic-alphabet-is-the-translate-other/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Architecture is the alphabet of giants; it is the largest set of symbols ever made to meet the eyes of men. 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Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) [Browse all 336 Alphabet quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alphabet/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The first book ever written in an alphabet was the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament. And the most important passage was the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is the most revolutionary sentence ever written. It states: \"I am the Lord thy God there is no other.\" The second prohibits us from making images. 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