“And the LORD said to Moses, Hew you two tables of stone like to the first: and I will write on these tables the words that were in the first tables, which you broke. So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.” So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.” (vv.1-4)
Here Moses (in his old age) is summoned once more to the top of Mt. Sinai, where the Law is to be delivered afresh to him. He is ordered to bring with him two tables of stone like the former ones which he broke because Israel broke the covenant. However, before the covenant could be formally reestablished, before Israel could be replaced in the position forfeited by the idolatry of the golden calf, it was necessary that the conditions (on which God consented to establish His covenant with them) be renewed (vv.12-26).
This second set of tablets was to do just that. Hewn by the hand of Moses, it would remind both him and the people of the hardness of their hearts and of their loss through it (not having the law on tables of stone written by the finger of God), but instead the work of man. These tablets we eventually placed into the ark of the covenant (Deuteronomy 10:5).
This reminds us all that something is always lost by sin....even when it is forgiven.
The Truth: And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.” (Exodus 34:10)
