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When Moses is given the Ten Commandments they are apparently written on two tablets:
He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. - Deut. 4:13 (NIV)
Why are the Ten Commandments written on two tablets? Was there just not enough room to fit them on a single tablet? Are they divided 5/5 some way? Or are they perhaps duplicated (10/10)?
Dr. Meshulam Margaliot points out that Midrashic tradition is divided about what was written on which tablet. The options seem to be:
1–5 on one and 6–10 on the other. (This is the tradition interpretation that is most common in art and synagogue decoration.)
All 10 on each tablet.
Even numbered on one and odd on the other (as suggested by Mike Bull), does not seem to be a Jewish interpretation represented in the Midrash. The commandments have traditionally been paired 1 and 6, 2 and 7, etc.
The tablets themselves were likely to be fairly large1, so there would have been plenty of room to write all ten commandments on each one, if the Lord chose to do so. In fact, there was likely room for the commandments that follow the ones listed in Exodus 20 (and Deuteronomy 5). Therefore, there's no particular reason to split the commandments across the tablets at all.
We do, however know of a good reason to suspect both tablets contained the same text:
Having journeyed from Rephidim, they entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness. Israel encamped there in front of the mountain, and Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and declare to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine, but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel.”—Exodus 19:2-6 (NJPS)
God is entering into a suzerain/vassal agreement with Israel and the Ten Commandments were the terms and conditions of that treaty. As with other legal documents, both sides would get a copy of such an agreement. Clearly God's copy would be stored in the Ark of the Covenant, which was stored in the presence of God. Dr. Margaliot explains further:
But what about the Israelite's copy, on the second Tablet, where was that copy placed? Here we note a common practice in the ancient Near East. When a treaty was made between parties of unequal status, the lesser partner, or vassal, would place his copy of the pact in the temple of his god, the reason being that the vassal had then to take an oath in the name of his god to "the great king." (See Ez. 17:11-19. The reference here is to the king of the Hittites, who made treaties with the rulers of smaller kingdoms in northern Syria during the first half of the first millennium B.C.E. This custom, however, undoubtedly dates much further back.)
...
Since the Israelites had the status of vassal vis-à-vis G-d and were the lesser partners to the Covenant, it was reasonable for them to file their copy of the Pact in the Holy Ark of the Lord their G-d. Thus we conclude that both Tablets were placed together in the Ark in the Tabernacle, and later in Solomon's Temple: "There was nothing inside the Ark but the two tablets of stone which Moses placed there at Horeb, when the Lord made [a covenant] with the Israelites after their departure from the land of Egypt" (I Kings 8:9).
As Canaanites, the Hebrew people were surrounded by the great Egyptian and Hittite civilizations. As it turns out, copies of a peace treaty between those rivals have survived to this day:
Each copy has nearly identical language and binds each nation to various obligations. It was witnessed by each side's gods and contained blessings for keeping it and curses for breaking it. Very likely treaties similar to this one were the model (or type) of the covenant between God and His people.
Footnote:
According to the Babylonian Talmud:
The tablets were six handbreadths in length, six in breadth and three in thickness.—Bava Batra 14a.
That's wider and thicker than the props Cecil B. DeMille used, but about the same height.
Originally the tablets would have had squared-off tops; the rounded tablets mirror medieval wax tablets not ancient clay and stone tablets.
Firstly, they are "two witnesses" with a corroborated testimony (unlike the witnesses who accused Jesus, for instance). Because they agreed, those who swore to keep the Law could be punished, excommunicated, or executed for breaking it.
Some have tried to fit the ten words to the five-fold Covenant pattern found everywhere in the Torah (and beyond) but the best solution I have found is the one from Moshe Kline at www.chaver.com, a Jewish scholar who follows the "scroll" division of the commandments (as Augustine). This means that our first two are combined into one, and our last is divided into two. If we read the laws as the warp and weft in fabric, we have "Adamic" laws as 1 3 5 7 9 (odd numbers) and "Evian" laws as 2 4 6 8 10 (even numbers, multiples of two - the Bride always "multiplies":
Adam/Priest/Head - - - - - - - - - - - - Eve/People/Body
False Words from gods - - - - - - - - - - - - False words to God
Working the Land (Sabbath) - - - - - - - - - - - -Honoring Parents in the Land
Murder - - - - - - - - - - - - Harlotry
Theft (false blessings) - - - - - - - - - - - -Legal Witness (false curses)
Coveting House - - - - - - - - - - - -Coveting Household
So the structure works from above to beside to below (from God down to offspring, past to future), and it follows the fivefold Covenant pattern:
Transcendence (God)
Hierarchy (Man - these are the curses on Adam and Eve, land and womb)
Ethics (Sacrificial Law - notice that murder and adultery are strange knife and strange fire)
Sanctions (Blessings and curses when called to account by God)
Succession (offspring and the future - Adam as shelter - a tree of righteousness)
Then, left to right it is Adam - Eve - Adam - Eve, etc.
Finally, the words were written with the FINGER of God. Ten Words is ten fingers, two human hands, instruments of righteousness or unrighteousness. When Jesus broke bread, He would have used all ten fingers to tear it, picturing His imminent death under the curse of the Law.
"And Moses threw the tablets out of his hands..."
If the Adam/Eve priest/people idea is strange, it is simply the totus Christus. Also, the High Priest made two approaches to the Most Holy on the Day of Atonement, once for the priesthood and once for the people. We also see this in Abraham, who entered the land to sacrifice Isaac (firstfruits/priesthood) and then again to bury Sarah (offspring/people). It's everywhere - check it out in Daniel 7. We also see it in Jesus ascending into the cloud as "head" then four decades later returning "in like manner" for the sacrificial "body," the martyrs, fulfilling the vision in Daniel 7.
There's more in my book on Covenant structure.
Let's not complicate the why of this. Remember how Jesus said that I give you 2 new commandments? One was to Love God and the other was to love people. He also stated that on these 2 hang all the law. In summary, He was simply saying, if you love me, obey these 4.(1st Tablet) If you love others obey these 6.(2nd Tablet)
To me, there were two tablets which God wrote on. The first tablet contained the rules of worshipping him; the second tablet contained the rules of man's relationship to man. The first tablet is very Holy. The second tablet are laws or rules between men and required by God. Therefore, we do not want to merge our relationship with God and have it on equal terms with our relationship to each other. Now, do I have factual information on this No, I just know that God is Holy. Hebrew writers won't even use vowels in reference to God's name. God Holiness needs to be held up.
In Exodus 32:15, we are made to understand that the tablets were two pieces but also written on both sides. The same method is reported of the scroll in Revelation 5:1. written within and on the back. Deuteronomy 19:15 clearifies the issue of establishing a matter on two or three witnesses but not one. As such, when Moses was setting up blessings and curses before Israel, he called on heaven and earth (two witnesses) as witnesses (Deut 30:19). This is concluded with the two witnesses of Revelation 11 and Zech 4:14, who are the two olive trees and the two lampstands (the Word of God) standing before God. Therefore, its more than obvious that each tablet of stone written on both sides was more than enough to contain all the Ten Commandments, probably the first ones that concern God on one side and those that concern man on the other. And this being a testimony of the two witnesses on both parties (God and man), ought to be in a pair. Indeed, the law and the prophets will stand to judge the world (Mathew 5:17-19; John 5:45), till all is fulfilled.
Could the two tablets allude to Yahweh and Asherah? https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/tools/image-gallery/y/yahweh-asherah-stele
There seems to be linguistic evidence that the two tables each contained the same thing:
...By the circumstance that "luḥot" is written defectively without "waw," , not , the fact is indicated that the two tablets were perfectly equal...
http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14189-tables-of-the-law
The reason both copies were placed in the ark/box is that the ark then becomes the repository of both copies so they can be compared that they agree with one another.
