While, as mentioned above, rabbinic tradition teaches that the tablets were squared, according to some authorities, the Rabbis themselves approved of rounded depictions of the tablets in replicas so that the replicas would not exactly match the historical tablets. Later artists such as Rembrandt tended to combine the rounded shape with the larger size. For Michelangelo and Andrea Mantegna they still have sharp corners (see gallery), and are about the size found in rabbinic tradition. The rounded tablets appear in the Middle Ages, following in size and shape contemporary hinged writing tablets for taking notes (with a stylus on a layer of wax on the insides). Rectangular tablets passed down by the Hand of God in the 10th century Byzantine Leo Bible.

Īccording to Exodus 25:10–22 the tablets were stored in the Ark of the Covenant. Many Torah scholars, however, have opined that the biblical sapir was, in fact, lapis lazuli (see Exodus 24:10, lapis lazuli is a possible alternate rendering of 'sapphire' the stone pavement under God's feet when the intention to craft the tablets of the covenant is disclosed Exodus 24:12). According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tablets of the Law as they are widely known in English, or Tablets of Stone, Stone Tablets, or Tablets of Testimony (in Hebrew: לוחות הברית Luchot HaBrit – 'the tablets the covenant') in the Exodus 34:1, were the two stone tablets (steles) inscribed with the Ten Commandments when Moses ascended biblical Mount Sinai as written in the Book of Exodus.Īccording to the biblical narrative the first set of tablets, inscribed by the finger of God, ( Exodus 31:18) were smashed by Moses when he was enraged by the sight of the Children of Israel worshipping a golden calf ( Exodus 32:19) and the second were later chiseled out by Moses and rewritten by God ( Exodus 34:1).Īccording to traditional teachings of Judaism in the Talmud, they were made of blue sapphire stone as a symbolic reminder of the sky, the heavens, and ultimately of God's throne.

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