Talk:Tablets of Stone

Confusion

This is confusing: it refers to the tablets being inscribed with the ten commandments, but Exodus 31:18 merely refers to "two tablets of the Testimony," and there are ten chapters' worth of additional commandments before that happens. Please clarify. - Montréalais 10:24, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)

• Hi, are you aware that there are a few references and descriptions of these Tablets of Stone involved here? In Hebrew (the language of the Hebrew Bible of course) a "stone" is an even (plural avanim). For example: Book of Exodus (24:12) says: "God said to Moses, 'Come up to Me, to the mountain, and remain there. I will give you the stone tablets (Luchot HaEven in Hebrew), the Torah and the commandment that I have written for [the people's] instruction.' [1], then again in the Book of Deuteronomy (4:13) "He announced to you His covenant, instructing you to keep the Ten Commandments, and He wrote them on two stone tablets (Luchot Avanim in Hebrew). [2] . And then Moses says, also in the Book of Deuteronomy (9:9) "I had climbed the mountain to get the stone tablets (Luchot HaAvanim in Hebrew) - tablets of the covenant that God had made with you. I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights without eating food or drinking water." [3] . So these three Primary source references should suffice to show that calling them the "Tablets of stone" is A-OK. 11:55, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)

That's not what I mean. That they're stone is fine, but I'm inquiring as to the scriptural justification of the belief that these stones contained only the Ten Commandments, rather than the books of the several chapters of the law that are mentioned in connection with them in Exodus. - Montréalais 07:14, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Ok then, it does EXPLICITLY say in the Book of Exodus (34:28) "[Moses] remained there with God [on the mountain] for 40 days and 40 nights without eating bread nor drinking water. [God] wrote the words of the covenant, consisting of the Ten Commandments, on the Tablets." [4] and in the Book of Deuteronomy (4:12-13) "Then God spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no image; there was only a voice. He announced to you His covenant, instructing you to keep the Ten Commandments, and He wrote them on two stone tablets." [5] , so as they say, "it --the Ten Commandments -- is written in stone". Hope this answers your question, if that's what it was. IZAK 07:56, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Yes, well, of course you are leaving out the fact that Ex 34:28 EXPLICITY ref to the "ritual 10 commandments", NOT the ten commandments that you have hypertexted to. Now, be careful how you cook your kid! I think your diritions is missplaced on such a tenuous purchase on the facts.

Using the letter P in the example concerning the miraculous properties of the tables is misleading, since they were not written in the Latin alphabet, but in Hebrew (the letter samech would have the same property, however). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.23.229.72 (talk) 17:13, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Shape

While there is Talmudic source for the tablets having rectangular shape, does anyone know a source for the iconic rounded-top shape? (Is there a way to request that a question be researched by those with interest in a topic?) JCSalomon (talk) 00:29, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

..."rectangles, with sharp corners ... so depicted in the 3rd century paintings at the Dura-Europos Synagogue..." The top portion of the fresco on the west wall (of what remains of the Dura-Europos Synagogue) reportedly showing Moses receiving the tablets appears to be missing, so there is no depiction of the tablets.--LarG (talk) 17:33, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

Wrong name in English

They're very well known in English as the "Tables of the Law". It strictly doesn't matter what the literal translation of this or that verse from the Bible actually reads like, the name "Tables of the Law" is deeply entrenched in the language. Let's get real, please! Arminden (talk) 23:56, 14 December 2015 (UTC)ArmindenArminden (talk) 23:56, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

The Ten Commandments are intended to make a law book out of the Pentateuch
The ten commandments are fashioned in the same manner the Egyptians used to establish a new god.
1. An image of the god is carved in stone
2. The stone is placed in an ark.
3. The ark is placed in a sanctuary.
Here the image is of the written law, carved in stone.
It differs from the Whm or standard of the Herald of the son of the Apis bull 
representing the legal standing of the divine rights of kings
which was also intended to go in the ark as the staff of Aaron
The 10 Commandments List, Short Form

   You shall have no other gods before Me. The original standard of the god is the staff of Moses
   You shall not make idols. The ten commandments and or the staff and the ark which contains them are idols
   You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. Moses refuses the calling offers Aaron to serve in his stead
   Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 
    “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. 
    The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which Christians never sanctify. 
    The Catholic Church correctly teaches that our Lord and His Apostles inculcated certain important duties of religion 
    which are not recorded by the inspired writers…We must, therefore, conclude that the Scriptures alone cannot be 
    a sufficient guide and rule of faith”" ( The Faith of Our Fathers, 1917, p. 89).
   Honor your father and your mother. Moses does not know his mother or his father
   You shall not murder. Moses murders an Egyptian
   You shall not commit adultery. Moses has two wives Zippurah and Keturah
   You shall not steal. Moses plunders the Egyptians
   You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Moses claims the people he leads were slaves
    They are actually foreign kings of the Hyksos with coats of many colors; skilled craftsman, diplomats, 
    census keepers, armed soldiers,priests, wealthy merchants with standing to speak to the Pharoah, 
    doctors, sorcerers, sailors, miners, goldsmiths,jewlers,They wear clothes of silk and scarlet leather, 
    carry many talents of gold and silver; drive before them herds of cattle and sheep
   You shall not covet. Moses and his crew of pirates and adventurers steal everythingthats not bolted down 
     including Hatshepset's fleet which they use to cross the Red Sea from Elim to Elat.

2604:6000:8747:5700:8C83:27B9:F388:E95B (talk) 10:42, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Who wrote the New Stone Tablets

It seems to me that NIV bible linked in the article implies that Moses wrote on the new set of tablets after the words of God, not God himself.

27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant — the Ten Commandments.

Note that God commands Moses to write down his words - to me it sounds like command to write on the tablets (it will make no sense to write it down on different media and make that the covenant, not the tables themself). Also "he" is lowercase, so it refers to Moses, not to God. --Dmitry Platonov (talk) 07:07, 13 August 2018 (UTC)

5+5 vs. 3+7

I can't cite a source off the top of my head, but I think this is worth mentioning (in the "Content" section). In some Christian artwork I see that there are 5 commandments on the one tablet and 5 on the other, but in other Christian artwork I see 3 on the one tablet and 7 on the other. This isn't just some obscure oddity that I've run into; many works of art go with 3+7 rather than 5+5. I don't know the history behind it, but I do know that 3+7 corresponds with the traditional Catholic numbering (3 commandments pertaining to love of God, and 7 to love of neighbor) and reflects the Augustinian numerology (3 symbolizes God while 7 signifies man if I recall correctly). The artists have deliberately composed their works in this manner, to convey the symbolism. Whereas I am not sure what 5+5 symbolizes, if anything. 73.133.224.40 (talk) 02:52, 10 June 2021 (UTC)