Exodus 31:18

_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._ Tables of stone written with the finger of God - containing the Ten Commandments (Exodus 24:12), called "tables of testimony, because God testified His will in them. The tenor of the language undoubtedly conveys the impression that these permanent records were a work of God's design and execution so special and so proper to Him as not to have been done by the agency of any creature. Some think that the expression implies that letters were then first given to men. But this is an error, for Moses wrote before these tables were given him (Exodus 24:4); and there is reason to believe that written records existed long prior to the Mosaic

18_And he gave unto Moses_. It must be observed, that, after the voice of God had been heard from the midst of the fire, and He had delivered the Ten Commandments, and the form of the tabernacle had been described, and the work had been already finished by the artificers, though its dedication had not yet taken place, Moses was again withdrawn from the sight and intercourse of men, that he might be taught apart by himself to be a faithful interpreter of the Law. For although God had briefly comprised in the Ten Commandments the sum of His doctrine, which might suffice for the rule of a pious and righteous life, still a clearer exposition was needed, such as Moses afterwards added. With this object he was taken up into the sanctuary (_adytum_) of heaven, as it were, in order that he might familiarly learn all things that concerned the full and complete understanding of the Ten Commandment...

18 The law was written in tables of stone, to show how lasting it is: to denote likewise the hardness of our hearts; one might more easily write on stone, than write any thing good on our corrupt natural hearts. It was written with the finger of God; by his will and power. God only can write his law in the heart: he gives a heart of flesh; then, by his Spirit, which is the finger of God, writes his will in the heart, 2 Corinthians 3:3....

Verse Exodus 31:18. _WHEN HE HAD MADE AN END OF COMMUNING_] When the forty days and forty nights were ended. _TWO TABLES OF TESTIMONY_] Exodus 34:1, Exodus 34:1. _TABLES OF STONE_] That the record might be _lasting_, because it was a testimony that referred to _future_ generations, and therefore the materials should be durable. _WRITTEN WITH THE FINGER OF GOD._] All the letters cut by God himself. Dr. Winder, in his History of Knowledge, thinks it probable that this was the first writing in _alphabetical_ characters ever exhibited to the world, though there might have been _marks_ or h

TWO TABLES OF TESTIMONY - See Exodus 25:16; Exodus 32:15. The tables of stone which represented the covenant between Yahweh and His people, and which, when covered with the mercy-seat were to give the sanctuary its significance, are now delivered to Moses in accordance with the promise in Exodus 24:12. The history of what relates to the construction of the sanctuary is here interrupted, and is taken up again in Exodus 35:1....

EXPOSITION THE TABLES OF TESTIMONY. It had been assumed, in the directions given for the construction of the ark, that God would give, in some material form, a document to be called "the testimony," which was to be laid up inside it (Exodus 25:16). It is not too much to say that the tabernacle, with its various appurtenances, was constructed for this purpose; the rest of the tabernacle was designed with a view to the holy of holies the holy of holies was designed as a receptacle for the ark—and the ark was designed as a receptacle for the tables of testimony. This section could, therefore, scarcely be concluded without some definite account of the document which was to give the ark and the tabernacle itself, its main significance....

AND HE GAVE UNTO MOSES, WHEN HE HAD MADE AN END OF COMMUNING WITH HIM ON MOUNT SINAI,.... After all those laws, orders, and instructions before related, which having done, he ceased to converse with him any longer in that manner he had, and at parting gave him TWO TABLES OF TESTIMONY; the two tables of the law, which is a testimony of the will of God, and contained the duty of the Israelites both towards God and man, and are reducible to these two, love to God, and love to our neighbour: five of the commands of the decalogue were written on one table, and five on the other; or it may be rather four on one table, the first being the largest, and containing the duty owing to God, and six on the other, which regard the duty of men one to another; so Orpheus the Heathen poet, speaking of the law of Moses, calls it διπλακα θεσμον s. "Tables of stone"; the Targum of Jonathan will have them to...

TABLES OF STONE (_ See Scofield) - (Exodus 20:4). _...

CHAPTER 31 THE WORKMEN AND THE SABBATH _ 1. The workmen called (Exodus 31:1)_ 2. The Sabbath law emphasized (Exodus 31:12) 3. Moses receives the tables of stone (Exodus 31:18) The call of the builders of the tabernacle follows the instructions. The plan and worship of the tabernacle was by divine appointment, only God could give such a plan foreshadowing the redemption work of His Son. To carry out this plan, the Lord called His own workmen by name and filled them with His Spirit, so that they could do the work in a manner which would please Him. “I have called; I have given; I have filled” are the words of Jehovah showing that He selected and qualified the two men to undertake the work. The

These two Chapter s form an appendix to Exodus 25-29. The golden incense altar finds no place in Exodus 25 or Exodus 26:33 or Leviticus 16 (where the annual rite of Exodus 30:10 is ignored). Instead we hear of censers in Leviticus 16:12 and Numbers 16:6 f., while the great altar in the court is called the altar, as if no other were recognised. Similarly Exodus 30:30, requiring the unction of Aaron's sons, betrays itself as later than the series of passages in which the High Priest alone receives it, being often indeed called the anointed priest. Hence these