Why 2 Stone Tablets?

Introduction

Moses holding two stone tablets

Source: https://frted.wordpress.com/2018/07/02/st-gregory-nazianzus-the-10-commandments/ 

Recently I was asked the question: why are the law and commandments written on 2 stone tablets? Since then I’ve asked other people this question and received the answer I gave, an answer I now think is incorrect, and worse, limits our understanding of what God is doing in that moment, and what He has done through Jesus.

This short study is going to look again at why there are 2 stone tablets and what that really means.

The Tablets

Let’s start with the answer I gave, the answer I have received when asking others. I had always thought there were two stone tablets for purely practical reasons; there were 5 commandments on each tablet. Beyond that I’ve honestly not given it much further thought. That is until one of my tutors at the Leeds School of Theology asked the question and provided a different, more powerful answer. We will get to the answer shortly, first, thanks Theo for bringing this up.

Before we dive into the answer we should review the references telling us there were two stone tablets.

“When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave the two stone tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God”

Exodus 31: 18

These first two end up broken, Exodus 32: 19, so Moses asks for another two. Exodus 34 tells us that this time Moses provided the tablets and carried them up and down Mount Sinai.

So we know there were two stone tablets, but we still don’t know why. One thing we do know, from Exodus 32: 15 is that these were inscribed on both sides, so perhaps there is enough space for all the commandments on one tablet. Bringing us back to the question of why were there two tablets?

Why Two?

Let’s look first at what these tablets are called; “tablets of the Testimony’. The Hebrew word for Testimony is e.dut. This is the same word used in Exodus 31: 7 to refer to what we typically call the ark of the covenant, or the ark of testimony. This is starting to lead us to a better answer to our question.

If we then look at Exodus 34: 10 we see even more clearly what is going on.

“Then the LORD said “I am making a covenant with you….”

Exodus 34: 10a

The commandments are not just a set of rules. They are the terms of a covenant, the strongest form of contract, between God and His chosen people.

“Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.”

Exodus 25: 21

We know that the ark was placed in the Holy of Holies, the place where God chose to dwell among His people. 

When a covenantal contract was made, like contracts today, each party would keep a copy. In keeping a copy they were being bound to the terms and committing to uphold those terms. 

So we have two tablets because there needed to be two copies of the contract, not because one tablet didn’t have enough space.

What we see in this story is God making the covenant, setting the terms and then, by keeping both copies in the ark, promising to be faithful to both sides of the contract. God knows the Israelites cannot keep their side, and so in grace commits to keeping it for them.

Enter Jesus

What does this all mean for us? We need to look at Jesus. God sets out the standard in the Old Testament law, and Jesus came to fulfil the law and the prophets. 

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.”

Matthew 5: 17

Jesus is the ultimate fulfilment of the Testimony. As fully man and fully God He is the only one who can fulfil both sides of the contract. Jesus lived the perfect life, He meets the standard set out for us. Then, in an act of perfect obedience to God, He goes to the cross. In that moment He receives all that our disobedience deserved. The Law and the prophets are fulfilled. Jesus is not placed in the ark, rather as He is placed in the tomb we see again that God is upholding both sides of the contract. The resurrection and ascension show that God is upholding His side perfectly too, they speak to us of the hope we now have because Jesus has fulfilled the Law and the Prophets.

In Jesus God holds both sides of the contract, and the Law is perfectly fulfilled - all the terms of the contract are met in Jesus. The result is that now God will be our God and we who believe will be His people.

“They will be my people, and I will be their God”

Jeremiah 32: 38

From our starting question, one perhaps we’ve never really thought about beyond the purely practical, we see that there is real meaning and power behind there being two stone tablets.