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on the one side and the other were they written. And the tables were THE WORK
OF GOD, and the writing was THE WRITING OF GOD, graven upon the tables."
4.
Exod. 34: 1, 28 (also Deut. 10: 1-14).--"And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee
two tables of stone like unto the first; and I WILL WRITE upon these tables the
words that were in the first tables, which thou breakest . . . . . And he was there with
the Lord forty days and nights: he did neither eat bread nor drink water. And HE
WROTE upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments."
5.
Deut. 4: 13.--"And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you
to perform, even ten commandments: and HE WROTE them upon two tables of
stone."
6.
Deut. 5: 22.--"These words (i.e. the ten commandments quoted in verses 6-21) the
Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the
cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice; and He added no more. And
HE WROTE them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me."
7.
Deut. 9: 9, 10.--"When I was gone up into the Mount to RECEIVE the tables of
stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you . . . . . the Lord
DELIVERED unto me two tables of stone WRITTEN WITH THE FINGER OF
GOD."
Here are seven separate passages of Scripture. One makes promise of the bestowal of
the tables, three record the receiving of them, and three more rehearse the fact years after
the event.
The testimony is clear and complete.
The ten commandments which formed the "covenant" between Israel and the Lord
were written by none other than God Himself. The remaining commandments, statutes
and judgments, all spring from these basic commandments and were given to Moses
during the forty days, commencing with the law given in the Mount. We may therefore
declare that God has not only spoken, but He has written, and thereby made it plain to all
His people that He will communicate in written word His will for them. In the language
of Paul in I Cor. 15: 3 the reader will doubtless perceive a reflection of Deut. 9: 9, 10:
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received."
Worship.
This section, as we have seen, begins and ends in worship, and what is true of
this small section is true of the whole age-purpose. The somewhat veiled story of
Ezek. 28: revolves around the thought of worship. The temptation of the Lord in
Matt. 4: reaches its climax in worship. The Beast, at the last, enables Satan to attain his
end--worship (Rev. xiii). The times of the Gentiles begin and end with false worship
(Dan. 3:, Rev. 13:). Worship is the goal of the mystery of iniquity (II Thess. 2: 4), and
the word "godliness" in the phrase "the mystery of godliness" (I Tim. 3: 16) is "good or
accepted worship" (eusebeia). The Gentile apostacy was connected with worship
(Rom. 1: 21-23) at the beginning, and will be so at the end--"a form of worship"
(II Tim. 3: 5). The last of all gospels stresses worship (Rev. 14: 7).
The first and all-embracing term of the covenant of Sinai was: "Thou shalt have no
other gods before Me" (Exod. 20: 3), and the first step in transgression is the making of