God’s Instructions on the Renewing of the Two Tablets
Exodus 34:1-5: Now the Lord said
to Moses, “Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I
will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you
shattered. So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai,
and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. And no man is to
come up with you, nor let any man be seen anywhere on the mountain; even the
flocks and the herds may not graze in front of that mountain.” So he cut out
two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning
and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took two
stone tablets in his hand. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there
with him as he called upon the name of the Lord.
You will remember that Moses broke the first set of tablets
of stone, the ones written with the finger of God (Exodus 32:19). He broke them
because Israel broke the covenant. What we have no record of, however, is who
made the original two tablets – was it God or was it Moses? The first time the word ‘tablets’ is
mentioned is in Exodus 24:12 when God says to Moses, “Come up to Me on the
mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets
with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.”
But here in chapter 34, Moses is instructed to “Cut out for (him-)self two
stone tablets like the former ones.” Was
there really a change and if so, why?
Both Matthew Henry and Robert Jamieson clearly detect the
change in process. It was Israel that broke the covenant, not God. God was
willing to reconcile with them but somehow, perhaps for purposes of remembrance
of what they had done, it was Moses as their leader that this time had to come
up with the raw material and God only had to retrace the original inscription.
Henry says when the law was first, both the tablets and the writing were the
work of God and intended to be written upon the heart of man. After these laws
were broken and marred by sin, God used the ‘ministry of man’ to set things
right. He ordered Moses to renew the tablets, but He would still write His laws
on them.
As I consider this change of process this time around, I
start to wonder about the implication of what God was indicating by having
Moses cut out the stone tablets. I believe that even as New Testament
Christians the moral law of the Old Testament (i.e. the Ten Commandments) must
be adhered to. As Henry says, while we are no longer under the curse of the
law, for Christ has redeemed us from it, yet we have not been freed from
following what God wrote on those tablets. [Think of it this way. A father
tells his son that he must obey the rules but because of his incredible love
for his son, he tells him that he will not be punished for not doing so. Does
that ethically free the son from following his father’s rules, especially if he
confesses to love his father?] That’s
what Matthew 5:19 is all about. In this
verse Jesus, as Henry writes, “in effect renew(ed) the tables, and made them
like the first, that is, reduced the law to its primitive sense and intention.”
Not to what the religious rulers of the day held them to be – a curse for us as
we could never hope to have kept them all perfectly.
It surprises me greatly that so many of our brothers and
sisters today want to completely forget about the law – especially when Jesus
talks so much about it. Henry continues,
“That
the best evidence of the pardon of sin and peace with God is the writing of the
law in the heart. The first token God gave of his reconciliation to Israel was
the renewing of the tables of the law; thus the first article of the new
covenant is, I will write my law in their heart (Heb. 8:10), and it follows (v. 12), for I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness.”
Let’s get off that bandwagon
of “no longer needing the Old Testament” and/or not having to pay attention or
to consider the Old Testament laws, especially the Ten Commandments.
Moses did exactly as God had
asked him to in cutting out the tablets he was to take to God. And we can make
some inferences about them. First, they were not extremely heavy as he was able
to carry them, up a mountain. The passage says he presented himself alone to
God. Henry reminds us that their dimensions were less than what would fit into
the ark of the covenant later. The
latter being a 1.25 yards long and 0.75 yards wide. They were not elaborate for
Moses had one day to get them cut. Their beauty was to be provided the next day
when God Himself would inscribe them.
As I studied this, I saw a
parallel between what was going on and what God really does with, in, and for
our lives. He was saying to Moses, “Look you shattered My Law which I gave you,
but I will replace it for you. Do this and then let me breathe life into those
stones again with My own finger.” Only for us, He does it with the life and
blood of His Own Son, Jesus Christ. Can you see the parallel there?
Then God tells Moses to be
ready “by morning”. Moses did not have a long time to think about it; the offer
was there for him to accept and to work on right away. The parallel continues for me as I realize
that “now is the day of salvation”, not later, not on our death bed, because
who knows if we will even have a chance to reflect on God’s gift “as we lie
dying”.
God wants Moses to go up to
the top of Mount Sinai and present himself to the Lord. While God reaches down
to call us, we need to move up to Him to accept His work of salvation for us.
We need to move away from the influence of the world and draw near to Him. And
we are to “present” our self as one who presents him- or herself before a king.
Only this is no ordinary liege; He is the Lord God Almighty, Ruler of rulers King
of kings.
And did you notice what else
God instructed Moses to do? He was to make this trip alone. No one, not even
Aaron could go with him. In fact, God wanted no one to be even visible on the
Holy Mountain when He was calling Moses to come to Him. Wait, that’s not all.
God said, “I don’t even want flocks and other herds on the Mountain grazing
that day.” No Moses, this is a trip that you have to make all by yourself. And
so it is with us when we have to make that decision trip to accept the free
gift of salvation that God offers us. There’s another parallel we can note
here. When God calls a man to come up to Him, that man (or woman) does not need
to go through a mediator or a priest. He/she can go directly – alone – just he/she
and God.
So Moses followed God’s
instructions precisely. He cut out two stone tablets, got up early and went up
to Mount Sinai alone. And there God met him. He descended in the cloud and met
with Moses as He had promised. And when Moses sensed that God was in the cloud
and present, the text says “he called upon the name of the Lord.”
Is your life shattered? God is giving you another chance.
Maybe for you it is more than the second or third or whatever number. That does
not matter. God is not counting. He
wants you up the Mountain alone to present yourself to Him and accept His gift
to you. And God is saying “Come now; this cannot wait, my child. You can’t go
on living a shattered life any longer.”
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