The second book of the Bible fast-forwards us from creation to the Exodus. God used Moses to lead His chosen people out of bondage. In the course of traversing the wilderness the people found themselves near Mount Sinai. God summoned Moses into the mount. After speaking to Moses about many details of the emerging national and religious life of His chosen people, God etched the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone. Exodus 31:18 describes the moment: “And He gave Moses, when He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written with the finger of God.” Later the two tablets are further described in Exodus 32:16: “The tablets were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.”
Ten Commandments
That engraved Word of God forbade the people to adopt other gods or to make a graven image of their God. Those commandments in rapid order forbade taking God’s name in vain while commanding them to keep the Sabbath holy, as well as declaring that they should honor their parents and refrain from murder, adultery, stealing and bearing false witness. The final word eliminated a covetous spirit (Ex. 20). In short, when we think of God’s Engraved Word, we are thinking about the Ten Commandments.
We have a common way of expressing a sure and abiding truth — we say it is etched in stone. God’s sure and abiding covenant word to Israel was indeed etched in stone. When Moses returned to the camp from Mount Sinai he found that in his absence the people had already engaged in breaking the first two of the Ten Commandments. They had collected trinkets of precious metals, melted the metal and fashioned images of imaginary gods. Moses’ reaction was dramatic and drastic. He threw the two tablets to the ground where they were as broken as the opening commandments about “other gods” and “graven images.” Even so, God gave His people another chance. After instructing Moses to hew out two new stone tablets, God again engraved His Ten Commandments (Ex. 34:1).
Instrument of revelation
This Engraved Word was an instrument of revelation. In it God set before His people His standard of perfection. The Engraved Word also was an instrument of condemnation. Against that standard, every generation found themselves coming up short. “Whatsoever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God” (Rom. 3:19). Romans 4:15 asserts that the law pronounces divine wrath upon the guilty: “The law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.” Divine wrath upon transgressors amounts to a sentence of death. Paul’s experience with the Commandments is found in Romans 7:11: “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.”
Serving as a kind of mirror in which people saw themselves falling short of God’s standard of perfection, the Engraved Word was preparatory for the sending of His Son. Despair over the inability to live up to God’s standard serves to drive sinners to the Savior, in whom forgiveness is found and sinners are made right in God’s sight. The Law of God that no one could live up to served as a schoolmaster or tutor to bring people to Christ (Gal. 3:24).
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