Ex. 31 18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

Ex. 32 7 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed unto it, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. And the LORD repented of the evil which he said he would do unto his people.

15. And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand; tables that 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. 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 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 20 tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, 21 and made the children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people 22 unto thee, that thou hast brought a great sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger 23 of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on evil. For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us 24 up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off; so they gave it me: and I cast it into the fire, 25 and there came out this calf. And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose; for 26 Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies: then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoso is on the LORD’s side, let him come unto me. And all the sons of 27 Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, 28 and every man his neighbour. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and 29 there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. And Moses said, Consecrate yourselves to-day to the LORD, yea, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.

Repetition in Deuteronomy.

De. 9 10 And the LORD delivered unto me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in 11 the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the 12 tables of the covenant. And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a 13 molten image. Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, 14 behold, it is a stiffnecked people: let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they. 15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two 16 tables of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God; ye had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly 17 out of the way which the LORD had commanded you. And I took hold of the two tables, and 21 cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes. And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

Ex. 31:18. Communing with him on Mount Sinai. There Jehovah showed him (in a vision) a representation of the dwelling which he required, and of all the articles of furniture which were to be placed in it, and gave him the necessary instructions for its erec- tion. When he had completed his directions, he gave him two tables of stone, on which the ten words of the fundamental Law had been in- scribed by the finger of God. K.

Written with the finger of God. As the ten words were proclaimed by the voice, so they are here said to be written by the finger of God. But as they heard on that dread occasion “the voice of words, but saw no similitude,” so the engraving on stone implies no visible finger of God, but only the putting forth of his power for the production of an au- thentic and permanent copy of the moral Law.

M.—We must understand this to mean that the characters were formed by the secret virtue of God; nor is it a matter of wonder that a writing should have suddenly been brought into existence at the same will of God, whereby the waste and shapeless materials of the world, which they call chaos, were changed so as to be resplendent with elegance and beauty. Calv.

Informed by Jehovah of Israel’s Apostasy, Moses Intercedes for their Forgiveness.