Hand, or Hands?

[Botz]

Hi Parpar...It is always interesting and uplifting to see where a simple and seemingly trivial and unimportant enquiry can lead us in the word of G-d...when you look at the hebrew version of the 10 commandments displayed in Synagogues, the full text of the Ten Commandments contains around 50 words...therefore about 25 words per tablet...therefore they do not have to be enormous pieces of stone. However it seems we do not know the extent of what was written on the stone tablets, and what Moses filled in with greater detail. I think it possible that while he was on Sinai in the presence of the L-rd, he absorbed by memory every detail given to him by G-d of all the subsidary instructions and recorded them later..Ex.24:4...there might also be more that wasn't recorded or is lost, and has been ressurected in part through the Oral Law. There is much more to be seen, but it would stray too far from the case in hand.

We are able to estimate that the size of the tablets could not exceed the dimensions of the container they were carried in, namely the Ark of the Covenant, and there had to remain room in the Ark for the other items it housed as well.

It is an amazing thing to think of G-d as a Scribe to His own Laws, and that the Hand of G-d actually carved out the letters on the stone (although regarding the second set I am uncertain). Also that somewhere out in the Sinai are fragments of these tablets, that if preserved still lie in the dust and among the rocks with G-ds hand-writing on them...as someone who has dealt in antiques and artifacts it would be perhaps be a greater discovery than the Ark itself, and each fragment worth millions...but if restored would be inestimable!

I always make the comparison to another place where G-d wrote, and often wonder if He was writing again, one of the commandments He wrote hundreds of years before...or demonstrating prophetically that He was the One with whom these commandments originated....it is a very moving, compassionate, merciful scene...and so so graphic.

1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them.

3The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court,

4they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.

5"Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?"

6They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.

7But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

8Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.

10Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?"

11She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either Go From now on sin no more."

[Guest parpar]

Hi Botz.

Thank you for your post in which you said,

"We are able to estimate that the size of the tablets could not exceed the dimensions of the container they were carried in, namely the Ark of the Covenant, and there had to remain room in the Ark for the other items it housed as well."

Yes that is true, but I don't think it helps much to establish the size of the tablets of the covenant; as it had to be big enough also to contain Aaron's rod that budded

Hbr 9:4 which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which [were] the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;

Now regarding your quotation below, we are not told just what it was that Jesus wrote, but could it I wonder be, "where is the man", in view of, "in the very act".

And also, Lev 20:10 'The man who commits adultery with [another] man's wife, [he] who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.

4they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.

But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.

Every blessing.

parpar.

Edited October 28, 2008 by parpar

[Guest parpar]

Reading again what I have posted above, I feel that I have not made myself clear.

If we conclude that a cubit was about 18", then the ark was about 45" long by 27" wide, although we do not know if these are external, or internal measurements.

If the were internal, then the tablets could have been almost that size, but not necessary so, as the dimensions were also intended to accommodate Aaron's rod.

Sorry for not making myself clear.

parpar.

[Teach]

Moses being a type of Christ, this picture of coming down the mount with the 2 tablets could signify or depict Jesus coming to His people with the fullness of the law. In the one hand the Old testament and in the other the New Teastament.

Whether this has any validity or not is entirely speculative, hence the word "could".

[Guest parpar]

Moses being a type of Christ, this picture of coming down the mount with the 2 tablets could signify or depict Jesus coming to His people with the fullness of the law. In the one hand the Old testament and in the other the New Teastament.

Whether this has any validity or not is entirely speculative, hence the word "could".

Hi Teach.

Thank you for your post which put me in mind of,

Rom 10:4 For Christ [is] the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Please let me know just what is your understanding of the word, "Law".

Thank you.

parpar.

[Botz]

Hi Botz.

Thank you for your post in which you said,

"We are able to estimate that the size of the tablets could not exceed the dimensions of the container they were carried in, namely the Ark of the Covenant, and there had to remain room in the Ark for the other items it housed as well."

Yes that is true, but I don't think it helps much to establish the size of the tablets of the covenant; as it had to be big enough also to contain Aaron's rod that budded

Er I thought it established what I said above...eg the tablets could not be bigger than their container with contents!

[Guest parpar]

Hi Botz.

Thank you for your post in which you said,

"We are able to estimate that the size of the tablets could not exceed the dimensions of the container they were carried in, namely the Ark of the Covenant, and there had to remain room in the Ark for the other items it housed as well."

Yes that is true, but I don't think it helps much to establish the size of the tablets of the covenant; as it had to be big enough also to contain Aaron's rod that budded

Er I thought it established what I said above...eg the tablets could not be bigger than their container with contents!

Hi once more Botz, and thank you for your post.

I wholeheartedly agree that the tablets could be no bigger than their container, that, however, is not the point I am trying to make.

If our understanding of the, "cubit", is correct, then the tablets could have been at least, 42" by 24", which in my opinion would have been far too large for Moses to have carried in two hands let alone one.

If in fact they were carried in one hand, then I conclude that they were more than likely to have been of the order of 7" by 4", or there about's.

The reason why the ark was two and a half cubits long was in order to accommodate the rod, and is not an indication of the size of the stone tablets.

I am sorry if I did not make this clear in my previous posts.

Every blessing.

parpar.