Moses and the tables of the Law

Unerstand the scene

WHAT YOU CAN SEE IN THIS PICTURE 

God has given His Law engraved on tables of stone to Moses. According to the biblical narrative, he gives them to him twice. The first time, Moses breaks them out of anger when he sees the people worship an idol, the Golden Calf. The second time Moses comes down from the mountain and presents them solemnly to the people so that they should keep them.

Moses is an old bearded man. Two rays of light radiate from his face while more often than not he has horns of gold or of light. This is due to an error of translation: the Hebrew “ray of light” has become “horn of gold” in Latin. Hence a Moses with two horns, for a long time portrayed so, especially in sculpture, where horns are easier to be represented than rays.

... AND IN OTHER PICTURES 

od remains concealed, but He sometimes manifests himself at the top of the mountain by his “glory”, that is to say by a bright light or, more traditionally, by holding out his hand towards Moses.

The tables of the Law are almost always represented as two flat slabs of stone joined side by side and rectangular with semi-circular tops.

To receive the Tables, Moses has an attitude of respect with his hands veiled and his sandals taken off. The people do not attend the scene or else only from a distance, separated by a fence.

If Moses is portrayed in anger and breaking the Tables, the scene takes place in the middle of the people dancing round the Golden Calf.

The biblical narrative

The Book of Exodus

After coming out of Egypt, the Hebrews walk towards the Promised Land. God, as a sign of alliance, wants to give them His Law.

And the LORD said to Moses, Come up to me into the mountain, and be there: and I will give you tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; (Exodus 24:12)

Moses goes into the cloud which is the sign of God’s presence and he stays there forty days. But the people, who do not see him come back, ask Aaron, his brother, to return to the cult of idols. He has a gold statue representing a calf melted and the people worship it. When Moses comes down: “as soon as he came near the camp, … he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger became hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them at the foot of the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire.” (Exodus 32:19-20)

Once His anger has calmed down, God accepts to give back new Tables: “And the LORD said to Moses, Cut two tables of stone like the first ones: and I will write on these tables the words that were on the first tables, which you broke. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you” (Exodus 34:1-3)

 “And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. And he wrote on the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.” (Exodus 34:28-29)

  Comment

For Jews, this is a founding scene since Moses receives the Torah, that is to say the Law that is at the basis of life. Moses is more than a prophet, he is the only man who has met God face to face.

For Christians, this is the revelation of the Only God and of the foundation of morals; Christ will be a new Moses coming to fulfil and not to abolish the Torah.

See similar pictures

Further developpements