exodus

What was written on the stone tablets?

The wikipedia page, and most other depictions of the tablets are that they are of the ten commandments. When I read Exodus, it seems at least to me a little less clear as to what exactly was written, i.e. they have the law and the commandment.

(Ex. 24:12) Now the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.”

(Ex. 31:18) When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.

Which makes it seem to me that perhaps not just Exodus 19:1–9 was on the tablets, but perhaps all the “laws”, i.e. 20:1-17 and maybe even 20:22–23:33 were written on the tablets.

So my question is what was written on the tablets? Is there evidence that makes it clear what exactly was written on the tablets? (i.e. internal evidence within Exodus or the Torah, the hebrew language, etc..)

There does appear to be at least some Jewish schools of thought that believe this verse implies more than just the ten commandments were on the tablets:

Teachings and commandments. הַתּוֹרָה וְהַמִּצְוָה (ha-Torah v’ha-mitzvah). The expression seems too large for the Decalogue, hence Rashi explains that God’s inscription on the tablets comprised all 613 mitzvot of tradition. The 19th-century scholar Meir Lev ben Yechiel Michael (Malbim) took this phrase as the title of his popular Torah commentary. [Torah][1]

There does also appear to be some debate that weight of stone would limit the size, and hence the number of words that could fit on a tablet.

[1]: Torah: a modern commentary

Is mount horeb the same as mount Sinai?

Psalms 106:19 (NKJV)

19 They made a calf in Horeb, And worshiped the molded image.

Exodus 18:31 (NKJV)

18 And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testim…

Did the Exodus JUST Happen again?

Ed Lane [02/25/2015 10:07 AM]YES Glenda Loftis [02/26/2015 3:23 AM]Glenda Loftis liked this on Facebook. Ginger Thornsberry Brockman [02/26/2015 3:23 AM]Ginger Thornsberry Brockman liked…

Is God still at war with Amalek?

After they are defeated by the Israelites at Rephidim, God promises unending judgement on Amalek in Exodus 17:

14Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.15And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.ESV

The reason for the judgement and the form of the judgement are given in slightly more detail in Deuteronomy 25:

17“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, 18how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. 19Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget. ESV

What I find difficult to understand is how ‘the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation’ if their memory has been blotted out from under heaven. Am I missing the Hebrew idiom here? Is one or other of the statements not to be taken literally, and if so, which one?