Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States

Cut Two Tablets of Stone


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Keraza Magazine issue 27-28 July 10, 2015

After Moses broke the two tablets of the covenant(after his anger was aroused against the children of Israel when he found them worshipping the calf), God ordered him to "cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke" (Exodus 34:1).If we accurately search into the Holy Bible, we find that this was not the case with the first two tablets, since "the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets" (Exodus 32:16). Here it becomes clear that the first set of tablets were made by God Himself (these Moses broke when he saw the people sinning), while the second set God ordered Moses to carve out first, before He writes on them.

The tablets resemble man. The first set of tablets, which were the work of God, resembles Adam, and His writing engraved on them resembles his creation in the image and likeness of God. As Moses broke the tablets because of the sin of the people, likewise the image was marred and corrupted by the fall of Adam. Yet, when God willed, in His love, to renew man and save him from his corruption, it was necessary for Moses to carve out the tablets by himself this time. Carving out the tablets is symbolic of man regaining Adam's first image before the fall. It is certainly easy for us to imagine the difficulty, effort, and time needed to carve out two tablets of stone, and also the precision needed for them to be "like the first ones." This is the toil of the negative struggle exerted to be free of all the passions of the old man, "bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5), and circumcising the heart from all world lusts. If this first carving process does not take place, the second step does not occur, which is, God personally writing on the tablets; grace will not descend, except on the hearts of the strugglers who carve out the stone of their hearts.

Moses is the man of God and His servant, through whom this carving process takes place, as a preparatory stage for God's carved writing on it. This was the very work of St. Peter and St. Paul, whose martyrdom we celebrate; it is the work of every apostle, bishop, priest, and servant of the Lord. A servant's mission is "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17), a call to repentance, struggle, and taking off the old man with all his works. This is not the end; the intended end is for Christ to be formed in the hearts of people, that is carving God's writing on the two tablets. This occurs by the work of the grace of the Holy Spirit in the hearts: "I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them" (Hebrews 10:16). For the apostles to fulfill this mission, they suffered great labor and effort. Why not when the stone is hard and disobedient and carving it is difficult? Yet, they never gave up; they had faith that God who granted them the honor of that apostolic calling is faithful to both the servants and the served.

Blessed are you, O pure apostles, who walked in the footsteps of Moses the man of God, carving the stone of the hearts! Blessed are all the carvers, the servants of God, who fulfill your mission, who seek your prayers on their behalf for God to help them as He helped you.

Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States


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