The Tables of Stone

Publishing Committee · Rochester, N. Y. · Dec 9, 1852

The Tables of Stone.

THE Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me into the mount, and be there, and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written, that thou mayest teach them." God had previously spoken the ten commandments in the hearing of all the people, [Ex. xx,] but now Moses is called up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, on which Jehovah engraved them with his finger. And Moses rose up and his minister, Joshua; and went up into the mount of God. But before Moses, who "was faithful in all his house as a servant," ascended the mount, he said to the elders of Israel, "Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you; and behold Aaron and Hur are with you, if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto you."

"And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights." Read Ex. xxiv, 12—18; also, xxxiv, 28; Deut. ix, 9.

This forty days of Moses' tarry in the mount, was that God might give to him the laws of the Jewish nation, and the ceremonies of their religion, which Moses wrote in a book, called the book of the law, and also called the book of the covenant.

At the close of the forty days, God gave to Moses the tables of stone to bring down from the mount.—"And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." Ex. xxxi, 18.

But while Moses delayed so long in the mount, the people said to Aaron, "Up, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what has become of him." And with their ear-rings, Aaron made a golden calf, and they worshiped it.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves." Ex. xxxii, 7.

"And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand, the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables." Verses 15, 16.

"And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, there is a noise of war in the camp. And he said, it is not the voice of them that shout for the mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of them that sing do I hear.

And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing, and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and break them beneath the mount."—Verses 17—20.

Who wrote on the Second Tables of Stone?

IT is said that Moses wrote on the second tables of stone; but this we will show to be a mistake.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first; and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest." Ex. xxxiv, 1.

This text is sufficient to show that God wrote on the second tables of stone, as well as the first. The first "tables were the work of God," [Chap. xxxii, 16,] that is, God prepared them before he wrote on them. But the second tables were hewed by Moses, and God wrote on them as he promised to do. "I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest."

Moses went up into Mount Sinai as the Lord commanded him, with the two tables of stone in his hand. And as the Lord descended in a cloud, and passed by Moses, he made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. There the Lord made a covenant with Moses, and with all Israel, which may be read in Ex. xxxiv, 10—26.

Now read verse 27th. "And the Lord said unto Moses, write thou these words; for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee, and with Israel." Some suppose that the words that Moses is here commanded to write, are the ten commandments, and this is their text to prove that Moses wrote on the second tables of stone; but the words which he was commanded to write, are evidently the words of the covenant, recorded in verses 10—26.

Read verse 28th. "And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread nor drink water. And he [God] wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." It may be said that the words "he wrote," in this verse do not refer to God, but to Moses. For positive proof that they refer to God, we present God's promise, which we have before quoted. "I will write upon these tables," &c. Ex. xxxiv, 1. But if this is not considered sufficient, we present Deut. x, 1—4.

"At that time the Lord said unto me, hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.—And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. And I made an ark of shittimwood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in my hand. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them unto me."

In verse 4, Moses says, "And he wrote on the tables," &c. The word "he," most certainly refers to God. Thus the point is for ever settled.