Ever been so angry you could throw something?
Me too. That’s why I can relate to the story of Moses in the Bible.
When Moses threw the stone tablets, the Bible indicates that he was ANGRY. After all, there was the issue with the golden calf. That must have been infuriating.
But these tablets God had written with God’s own “finger” (Ex. 31:18). How could Moses be so rash? The story is puzzling, because God has to inscribe his law again.
Moses had just climbed down the mountain after a 40-day encounter with God when he throws the stone tablet. If a perfect reaction were possible, it should have been then, right?
Still, Moses still broke all the commandments, quite literally, when he threw them at the foot of the mountain.
What does it mean that the stone tablets had to be written twice? God’s perfect law was ruined in Moses’ hands. I think there’s a lesson here for us. God’s law is perfect, but in the hands of humans, it crumbles every time.
This story of Moses foreshadows that our flesh will never be able to hold God’s perfect law. We are destined to fail. I
Indeed, the law was only given to point us to a better covenant, one based on God’s perfection and not our own. Many centuries later, God would send Jesus and establish a new covenant, one based on faith and grace.
Photo credit: M. Pratter via Flickr.
