PARASHAT KI TISA - 2 TABLETS OF STONE (SAPPHIRE STONE)

PARASHAT KI TISA - 2 TABLETS OF STONE (SAPPHIRE STONE)
Andre Widodo
© ORI

Shalom,

Next Shabbat on Parashat KI TISA

Shemot (Exodus) 31:18
And He gave unto Moshe, when He had made an end of speaking with him upon Mt. Sinai, two Luchot HaEdut (Tablets of the Testimony), Luchot Even (Tablets of Stone), written with the Etzba Elohim (Finger of G-d).

LUCHOT EVEN (TABLETS OF STONE) - THE MATERIAL
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Rashi said that 2 TABLETS OF STONE were made of blue sapphire stone as a symbol of the heavens and G-d's throne, written by the finger of G-d.

http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9895/jewish/Chapter-34.htm#showrashi=true&v=1

LUCHOT EVEN (TABLETS OF STONE) - THE WRITING
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The most common understanding tradition of Rabbi Chanina ben Gamliel, Jerusalem Talmud, Shekalim 6:1, is that the first five commandments were written on one tablet, and the other five commandments were on the second.

The Torah describes the writing as “written on both their sides; on one side and on the other were they written.”

Shemot (Exodus) 32:15
And Moshe turned, and went down from HaHar, and the two Luchot HaEdut were in his yad; the Luchot were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.

This means that the inscription was engraved through and through. As such, the words were clearly legible on one side and written in mirror writing on the other.

Others teach that the writing was miraculously legible on each side—in other words, although the letters were engraved all the way through, they could nevertheless be read from right to left on both sides. Rabbeinu Bechayei explains that this is because the Torah can be understood on two levels, one revealed and one hidden.

LUCHOT EVEN (TABLET STONE) - THE DIMENSION
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Tradition in Talmud Bava Batra 14a tells us that they were thick square blocks of stone, six handbreadths tall, six handbreadths wide, and three handbreadths deep. In modern measurements, that is about 18″ × 18″ × 9″. The sages of the Talmud demonstrate how tablets of this size—along with a few other relics—fit neatly into the Ark of the Covenant that Moses made as described in Exodus.

http://www.come-and-hear.com/bababathra/bababathra_14.html

Take a note that nowhere is there any mention of them having the rounded tops that are so common in the popular drawings of Moses and the tablets. This design appears to be the invention of non-Jewish artists.