Yitro - How many mitzvot in the "Decalogue"?

It is interesting that Christians have a slightly different 'Decalogue' (Ten Commandments) to the Jewish people. 

The Jewish #1 is "I am God", which Christians do not have. 

The Jewish #2 is "You shall have no other God before Me". 

From my limited research the Christians also split up their pesukim/sentences of their 10 commandments differently to the Jewish tradition. This is just a point of curiosity, but it also springboards into the following idea of how many mitzvot/commandments there are in the Torah.

Note that the first 2 commandments are in 'first person' - I and Me. But then the next 8 commandments are in third person (e.g. "Do not use God's name in vain"). This lends plausibility to the midrash that the first 2 commandments were given by God Himself directly to the Jewish people, and then as the midrash goes, the Jewish people were unable to withstand God's personal instruction and therefore the job for the 8 were given to Moses, thus being in the third person.

You will also note that each of the Jewish 10 Commandments listed in the Torah have an unusual gap, or pause, before and after each other which gives great emphasis to the Jewish masoretic tradition that these are the 10 commandments. 

For centuries there has been dispute over the number and particulars of the mitzvot in the 10 commandments. In fact there has been dispute over the 613 mitzvot said to be contained in the Torah - 248 negative and 365 positive - some say corresponding to the muscles and bones in the body respectively. Rambam noted that there are actually 15 primary commandments, not just 10. He is also the one to give the strongest case for 613 mitzvot in the Torah. However, this number 613 seems to have an element of randomness to it, as it not a number specifically mentioned in the Torah, neither is a source identified in midrash. Rather it is perhaps a subjective count by the best Jewish commentators throughout the millennia. Some say more, some say less, but all agree 613 is a fair approximation nonetheless.

Abarbanel gives a very interesting background to 613 mitzvot, found in the Meditations on the Torah by Jacobson.

Remember, the first 2 mitzvot of the 10 Commandments were given by God. The next 8 were from Moses on behalf of God.

In Deuteronomy 33,4 is the famous pasuk "Torah tzivah lanu Moshe...", which means the Torah was commanded (or taught) to us by Moshe. Children sing this phrase everyday in their morning prayers at Orthodox Jewish schools throughout the world. 

So what was commanded, or taught, to us by Moshe? The answer is of course "Torah". And the word Torah has a gematria (numerology) of 611. Therefore it can be inferred that Moses taught to us 611 of the mitzvot. 

How many laws were taught to us by God? The answer is 2. Those are the 2 at the beginning of the 10 commandments, and as mentioned, the only 2 taught directly to us specifically by God.

So... 

611 commandments from Moshe in the Torah

+ 2 from God in the 10 commandments

= 613 mitzvot in total.

Good Shabbos!