With the Law written upon them by the Lord himself
II. I shall next consider what were put into the ark, two tables of stone
With the Law written upon them by the Lord himself
And may inquire into the matter, number, writing, and form of them.
1 st, The matter of them; they were of stone; of what stone is not said, nor is it of any great avail to know what it was. Some Jewish writers will have them, at least the first tables, to he of the sapphire stone, which is not probable; and what they ground it upon is not sufficient to support it, namely, Exodus 24:10 where the elders of Israel are said to see the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone: it is more probable these tables were marble slabs, since there was a great quantity of marble in those parts; and the rock at Sinai was a marble rock; granite marble of a reddish color, as appears at this day; and one of the paraphrasest expressly calls them two marble tables however, it is certain they were tables of stone, to which the apostle opposes the fleshly tables of the heart. (2 Corinthians 3:3) Now their being of stone may denote either,
1. The hardness of the heart of man, which is called a stony heart, (Ezekiel 36:26) and is as hard as a piece of the nether millstone; as hard as the adamant stone, which is the hardest of all stones: it is obdurate and obstinate, inflexible, and not subject to the law of God; nor can it be, without the powerful and efficacious grace of God is exerted on it, and makes it pliable, and bends it to it: without this men live and die in the hardness of their hearts, and after their hard and impenitent heart treasure up wrath against the day of wrath, and righteous judgment of God. Or rather these tables being of stone denote
2. The firmness, stability, and duration of the law, which is invariable, unalterable, unchangeable, and eternal: Concerning thy testimonies, says David, I have known of old, that thou hast founded them for ever; (Psalm 119:152) they were made to continue for ever; and they do, and will continue for ever, even as long as there is any use for them in the world; they are more unalterable and unchangeable than the laws of the Medes and Persians. The law is not destroyed by Christ., but. fulfilled by him; not a jot or tilde of it has failed, but all has been fulfilled: and whoever breaks, or teaches men to break, the least of the commandments of it, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, be reproved and chastised, if not punished for it. This must be understood, not with respect to the ministry of the law by Moses; as such as it has ceased, and the cessation of it as a ministry of his, was signified by the casting the tables out of his hands, and the breaking of them. The law was given by Moses, and as it was a ministration of his, it concerned the Jews only; it was given to him for them, and it was given by him to them, and to them only; and ceased as such when their church and civil state were at an end, and the gospel-dispensation took place; when grace and truth, the doctrine of grace and truth, came by Jesus Christ: (John 1:17) the law and the prophets, as ministered by Moses, and them, were until John, the forerunner of Christ, and Christ himself came, and ministered, and held forth both law and gospel in a different manner; wherefore, when Moses the giver of the law, and Elias the chief of the prophets, were with Christ when transfigured on the mount, a voice came from the excellent glory, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye HIM; (Matthew 17:5) not Moses nor Elias, but HIM, and HIM only. Moses was the lawgiver to the Jews, but Christ is the lawgiver to us Christians. The Jews boasted that they were the disciples of Moses, but our greatest glory is, that we are the disciples of Jesus: when we say, therefore, that the law is immutable and unalterable, it must be understood not of the ministry of it, but of the matter of it, and that as moral; for whatsoever of a ceremonial kind may be thought to be in it, there is a disannulling of that, because of the weakness and unprofitableness of it; but whatever is of a moral nature in both tables, is unchangeable and eternal; whatever was holy, just, and good, under the former dispensation, or in ages past, is so now. The first table of the law concerns the worship of the one true and living God, and the reverence that is due to his name; and though the time and place of worship, and the outward forms and rites of it are alterable things, yet worship itself, as it is of a moral and spiritual nature, and consists of acts of devotion to God, of prayer to him and praises of him, and lies in acts of faith in him, fear of him, and a reverential affection for him, and obedience to him, is the same in all ages, unchangeable and unalterable. The second table of the law respects our neighbors, and our conduct towards them; and whatever was injurious to their characters, persons and properties in former times, is so still, and ever will be, and to be carefully avoided; and particularly the firmness, the constancy, stability, and durableness of the law, are to be understood of it, as it is in the hands of Christ, the king and lawgiver in his house, where it abides firm and sure, unalterably fixed, and is held forth by him as a rule of walk to his people under the gospel-dispensation; so that they are not without law to God, but under the law to Christ. (1 Corinthians 9:21)
2 dly, The number of these tables deserves some notice, which are two, as containing the distinct duties which are owing both to God and man. Our Lord accordingly has reduced the several commandments on them to two general comprehensive ones, in answer to the question put by the scribe, Which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (40) Moreover to these two tables answer the tables of the heart and mind, on which the law is re-inscribed in regeneration and conversion: according to the promise in the covenant of grace, I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; (Hebrews 8:10) and though the mind and heart are in effect the same, yet they are distinctly mentioned, and as it should seem with reference to the two tables of the law; and the apostle, when he puts in contrast the tables of stone on which the law was written, and the fleshly tables of the heart on which the epistle of Christ is written, uses the plural number. (2 Corinthians 3:3)
3dly, The writing on them, what it was, and whose it was; what was written on the tables, were the Decalogue or the ten words; the same which the Lord spoke with an audible voice on mount Sinai, in the hearing of the children of' Israel; the same he wrote on two tables of stone, plainly and legibly, that they might he easily read, and that even he that ran might read them, and that they might remain and he read in after ages; for litera scripta manet; and that they might remain unalterable, as Pilate said, concerning the inscription he put on the cross of Christ, What I have written, I have written; (John 19:22) signifying that it should continue as it was, and not he altered; so what God has written, he has written, and it shall remain so without any alteration and this writing, both on the former tables and on these latter tables, were the Lord's own writing, written by the finger of God himself; Moses wrote nothing, he only brought the two tables hewed, but quite empty and destitute of any thing on them; what was written was by the Lord himself: so the re-inscription of them on the hearts of men in regeneration is the Lord's own work, according to his promise; they are the epistle of Christ, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; (2 Corinthians 3:3) it is not men nor ministers that inscribe these things on the fleshly tables of the heart, but the Lord himself; it is not by might or power of man, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts: and what was written on these renewed tables of stone, was exactly the same that was written on the former; the same laws in the same words and in the same letters. The law of God is the same, let it be where and when it will: the same law as moral was written on the heart of Adam in innocence: and the remains of the same law are to he observed by the Gentiles, since then do by nature the things contained in the law, which shew the work of the law written in their hearts: (Romans 2:14, 15) and the same is written again by the Spirit of God in the hearts of his people in conversion; and it is the same law which was in the heart of Christ, and he became subject to, and is the fulfilling end of, for righteousness to those that believe in him.
4thly, The form of them; they were slabs of marble, hewed and formed into tables by Moses; but the matter of them was still the same they were tables of stone, denoting the same things as before, and which have been observed, and the hewing of them by Moses may denote the greater polishing of the law, or the brighter edition of it by him; it is but a rough draught of it, which is found written on the hearts of the Gentiles; but the law as delivered to Moses and given forth by him, was such as no nation under the sun had, besides the Israelites; What nation is there so great, says Moses, that bath statutes and judgments so righteous, as all this law which I set before you this day? (Deuteronomy 4:8) The Psalmist David likewise takes notice of the distinguishing kindness of' God to Israel, in giving them his word, statutes, and judgments, which he did not to others and for which therefore they had reason to praise the Lord, and which he thus expresses: He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He bath not dealt so with any nation; and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 147:19, 20) And the apostle Paul enumerating the peculiar privileges of the children of Israel, reckons among them the giving of the law, and the service of God; (Romans 9:4) in the enjoyment of which they had the advantage and the preference to the nations of the world.