Esodo 34:1

1 E IL Signore disse a Mosè: Tagliati due tavole di pietra, simili alle primiere; e io scriverò in su quelle tavole la parole ch’erano in su le primiere che tu spezzasti.

Esodo 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.

Esodo 34:1 In-Context

1 E IL Signore disse a Mosè: Tagliati due tavole di pietra, simili alle primiere; e io scriverò in su quelle tavole la parole ch’erano in su le primiere che tu spezzasti.

2 E sii presto domattina, e sali la mattina in sul monte di Sinai, e presentati quivi davanti a me, in su la sommità del monte.

3 E non salga teco alcuno, nè anche si vegga alcuno in tutto il monte, nè anche pasturi alcun bestiame, minuto o grosso, dirincontro a questo monte.

4 Mosè adunque tagliò due tavole di pietra, simili alle primiere; e si levò la mattina seguente a buon’ora, e salì in sul monte di Sinai; come il Signore gli avea comandato; e prese in mano quelle due tavole di pietra.

5 E il Signore scese nella nuvola, e si fermò quivi con lui, e gridò: Il Nome del Signore.