Topical Bible: The Law of Moses: Tables of, Laid up in the Ark

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The Law of Moses, also known as the Mosaic Law, is a foundational component of the Old Testament, encompassing the commandments and ordinances given by God to the people of Israel through Moses. Central to this divine legislation are the Ten Commandments, which were inscribed by the finger of God on two stone tablets. These tablets hold significant theological and historical importance, as they represent the covenant between God and His chosen people.

The Giving of the Tablets

The narrative of the giving of the tablets is found in the Book of Exodus. After the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, they encamped at Mount Sinai, where God called Moses to ascend the mountain. There, God delivered the Ten Commandments, which are succinctly recorded in Exodus 20:1-17. The tablets themselves are described in Exodus 31:18: "When the LORD had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God" .

The Breaking and Renewal of the Tablets

The initial set of tablets was shattered by Moses upon witnessing the Israelites' idolatry with the golden calf (Exodus 32:19). This act symbolized the breaking of the covenant due to the people's sin. However, in His mercy, God instructed Moses to chisel out two new stone tablets, like the first ones, and ascend Mount Sinai again. There, God renewed the covenant and inscribed the commandments once more (Exodus 34:1-4).

The Tablets Laid up in the Ark

The Ark of the Covenant, a sacred chest constructed according to divine specifications, served as the repository for the stone tablets. This Ark was central to Israelite worship and symbolized God's presence among His people. In Deuteronomy 10:1-5, Moses recounts the placement of the tablets in the Ark: "At that time the LORD said to me, 'Chisel out two stone tablets like the originals, and come up to Me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke, and you are to place them in the ark.' So I made an ark of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the originals, and I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. And the LORD wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that He had spoken to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me. Then I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made, as the LORD had commanded me, and there they have remained" .

Significance of the Tablets in the Ark

The placement of the tablets within the Ark of the Covenant underscores their sacredness and the centrality of God's law in the life of Israel. The Ark, housed in the Holy of Holies within the Tabernacle (and later the Temple), was the focal point of divine worship and the manifestation of God's covenantal presence. The tablets served as a perpetual reminder of the divine law and the covenant relationship between God and His people.

The Ark, with the tablets inside, accompanied the Israelites throughout their wilderness journey and into the Promised Land, signifying God's guidance and faithfulness. The presence of the tablets in the Ark also prefigures the ultimate fulfillment of the law in Jesus Christ, who perfectly embodied and fulfilled the law's righteous requirements.

Torrey's Topical Textbook

Deuteronomy 10:5
And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

Library

Introduction
... of God, and within it an ark was placed, in which the two tables of the ... the moral
Law of God, were sharply distinguished from "the Law of Moses." The "Law ...
//christianbookshelf.org/pink/the law and the saint/introduction.htm

The Ark of his Covenant
... Remember what Moses said of old, "When the Most High divided to ... in, we should have
seen the law, the two tables of stone, which represent law fulfilled in ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 41 1895/the ark of his covenant.htm

How Solomon Removed the Ark into the Temple How He Made ...
... the ark contained nothing else but those two tables of stone ... which God had given
them by Moses, because by ... a betrayer of the ordinances of the law, and forget ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 4 how solomon removed.htm

Authorship of the Pentateuch.
... words of this law," which were to be written upon tables of stone ... If we suppose that
it was Moses' custom to write out the precepts of the law with the ...
/.../barrows/companion to the bible/chapter ix authorship of the.htm

The Scriptures
... of the Sibyls, but not the writings of Moses and the ... God wrote the two tables with
his own fingers; and if he ... The commandment is a lamp, and the law is light ...
//christianbookshelf.org/watson/a body of divinity/2 the scriptures.htm

The Charge to the Soldier of the Lord
... text based upon this: 'As I was with Moses, so I ... the presence of God, which contained
the tables of the ... The law, which is contained and incorporated in Him, is ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture f/the charge to the soldier.htm

Faustus Rejects the Old Testament Because it Leaves no Room for ...
... Well indeed mayest thou dislike the tables which contain such good precepts in
opposition to thy ... The same law which was given by Moses becomes through ...
/.../faustus rejects the old testament.htm

The Law Given, not to Retain a People for Itself, but to Keep ...
... whole law of Moses, and do away with both its Tables, imagining it ... is explained by
John the Baptist, when he says, "The law was given by Moses, but grace ...
/.../calvin/the institutes of the christian religion/chapter 7 the law given.htm

Place of Jesus in the History of the World.
... A "Law" or Thora, very anciently written on tables of stone, and which they attributed
to ... New texts, pretending to represent the true law of Moses, such as ...
//christianbookshelf.org/renan/the life of jesus/chapter i place of jesus.htm

Sources of the Pentateuch.
... by Professor Ladd in a series of tables [Footnote: The ... that Moses 'wrote' the
Deuteronomic law (Deuteronomy 31 ... These books of Moses are the treasury, indeed, of ...
/.../gladden/who wrote the bible/chapter iii sources of the.htm