Some believe that the Ten Commandments are only a metaphor describing mankind's relationship with nature. That they were told, in various forms, again and again in different societies in different ways, beginning with the Egyptians. There are several that argue that their appearance in the Old Testament is evidence of this, as many of the ideas and symbolism in the Old Testament was drawn largely from Egyptian sources.

Still others believe that they are an engineered set of rules evolved and designed by various societies over time to keep society functioning relatively free from violence and chaos.

When mankind invented agriculture around ten thousand years ago, people stopped having to move consistently to chase after a source of food.  By being able to plant and consistently harvest food every year, societies naturally began to grow and flourish. With a large amount of people living together, for the first time, naturally a new set of rules needed to be developed.

Many historians and scholars agree that this environment was perfect, and that the Ten Commandments perfectly fit the bill to promote the peace and general welfare of the society. When looked at it from this perspective, it is now wonder that many different societies generated the same set of rules to keep the peace.

Don't kill, don't steal, don't lie, don't covet what isn't yours, obey your parents and your elders. These are perfect rules that have served society for thousand of years, despite whether their source is directly from heaven, or organically grown by the societies themselves.