Why did Moses shatter the tablets?
The commentators do not suppose that Moses smashed the tablets in a fit of rage; even in anger a person would not break a priceless heavenly object.
Was it simply the shock of the moment that caused him to drop them (Rashbam)? Or was it a deliberate act, to jolt Israel out of its stupor and confront the people with the gravity of what they had done (Abravanel)?
I am fond of the interpretation of Rav Meir Simcha Hacohen of Dvinsk, the “Meshech Chochmah”, who suggests that since the golden calf was a tangible focal point to represent God, had Moses then given them the divine tablets of the law, the people would have turned to worshipping them! Moses smashed the tablets to demonstrate that no object is divine; only God’s law is sacred.
But is this correct? Are the tablets equivalent to the calf? Well, yes, and no.
“The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets” (Exodus 32:15).
“Aaron took [the gold], fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it into a molten calf” (Exodus 32:4)
Two objects that were engraved. They seem similar, but there is a vast difference. The golden calf – a young bull – was a symbol of strength, fertility and power in the Ancient Near East. Its image evoked power and vitality; the gold suggested bounty and purity. This made it an evocative embodiment of God – and that is precisely why it is forbidden. We never cast God in a physical form.
But the tablets were engraved with writing, with text. Text is not imposing; it does not radiate power and vitality. Its power lies in the ideas it contains; it must be read and considered, internalised and absorbed. The content of those divine words was not an image but a relationship, a set of instructions and laws for meaningful national living. At Sinai, “God spoke to you from the midst of the fire, but while you heard the sound of words, you saw no image” (Deuteronomy 4:12).
Moses destroyed the tablets to demonstrate that the covenant had been abrogated. He wanted the people to appreciate the severity of their actions. But when the moment was right, as we read in chapter 34, the tablets – the embodiment of the relationship, the terms of the covenant – were re-issued. If the calf is the problem, the text – words that the Jewish people have been studying ever since – is the solution.
Image: Moses about to smash the tablets, Rembrandt (Wikimedia Commons)
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