Exodus 34:1

1 And afterward God said, Hew to thee two tables of stone at the likeness of the former, and I shall write on those tables those words, which the tables, that thou brakest, had. (And afterward God said, Cut thou two stone tablets like the first ones, and I shall write on these tablets the same words which the first tablets had, that thou hast broken.)

Exodus 34:1 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 34:1

And the Lord said unto Moses
Out of the cloudy pillar, at the door of the tabernacle, where he had been conversing with him in the most friendly manner, as related in the preceding chapter:

hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first;
of the same form, and of the same dimensions, and it may be of the same sort of stone, which perhaps was marble, there being great plenty of that kind on Mount Sinai. Now Moses being ordered to hew these tables, whereas the former were the work of God himself, as well as the writing, shows that the law was to be the ministration of Moses, and be ordained in the hand of him as a mediator, who had been praying and interceding for the people; and as a token of the reconciliation made, the tables were to be renewed, yet with some difference, that there might be some remembrance of their crime, and of their loss by it, not having the law on tables of stone, which were the work of God, but which were the work of man:

and I will write upon [these] tables the words that were in the
first tables which thou brakest;
the writing of these was by the Lord himself, as the former, shows that the law itself was of God, though the tables were hewn by Moses, and that he would have it known and observed as such; and the same being written on these tables, as on the former, shows the unchangeableness of the law of God, as given to the people of Israel, that he would have nothing added to it, or taken from it; and the writing of it over again may have respect to the reinscribing it on the hearts of his people in regeneration, according to the tenor of the new covenant: the phrase, "which thou brakest", is not used as expressing any displeasure at Moses for that act of his, but to describe the former tables; and the breaking of them might not be the effect of passion, at least of any criminal passion, but of zeal for the glory of God, and the honour of his law, which was broken by the Israelites, and therefore unworthy of it; and might be according to the counsel of the divine will, and the secret direction of his providence.

Exodus 34:1 In-Context

1 And afterward God said, Hew to thee two tables of stone at the likeness of the former, and I shall write on those tables those words, which the tables, that thou brakest, had. (And afterward God said, Cut thou two stone tablets like the first ones, and I shall write on these tablets the same words which the first tablets had, that thou hast broken.)

2 Be thou ready in the morrowtide, that thou go up anon into the hill of Sinai; and thou shalt stand with me on the top of the hill; (Be thou ready in the morning, and come up at once onto Mount Sinai; and thou shalt stand with me on the top of the mountain;)

3 no man go up with thee, neither any man be seen by all the hill; and oxen and sheep be not fed against the hill. (no one shall come up with thee, nor shall anyone be seen on all the mountain; and no oxen or sheep shall be fed near the mountain.)

4 Therefore Moses hewed two tables of stone, (in) which manner the tables were before, and he rose by night, and went up into the hill of Sinai, as the Lord commanded to him; and he bare with him the tables. (And so Moses cut two stone tablets, like the first tablets, and he rose up early, and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord commanded to him; and he carried the tablets with him.)

5 And when the Lord had come down by a cloud, Moses stood with him, and called inwardly the name of the Lord; (And the Lord came down in a cloud, and Moses stood with him, and the Lord proclaimed his own name;)