לוחות אבנים, “Tablets hewn of stone.” Anyone who does not make his jaws hard as stone in order to study Torah, will not truly merit the Torah. Or; most death penalties decreed by the Torah involve the stoning of the victim. Still another interpretation: the Jewish people received the Tablets through the merit of Yaakov who has been described as אבן ישראל משם רועה, “from thence the shepherd, stone of Israel.” (Genesis 49,24) A further interpretation; it is due to the merit of the Temple.” Rabbi Shimon says it is because of the merit of the King Messiah. He bases himself on a verse in the Book of Daniel: 2,34, חזה הוית עד די אתגזרת אבן די לא בידין, “as you watched a stone was hewn without hands;” (compare Tanchuma, section 10 on our portion)

שני לוחות, “two Tablets;” they symbolised bride and groom, as well as the two respective groomsmen and bridesmaids, as well as heaven and earth, the written and oral law, the physical world and the spiritual world. Rabbi Chanina points out that the word luchot, is written defectively, both letters ו, being missing. This is to teach that each Tablet is considered as equally important as is its partner.

וארא והנה חטאת, “and behold, I saw you had sinned;” what precisely did Moses see? He observed that the letters engraved on the Tablets had flown off. This is why I grabbed the remains and smashed them before your eyes. This can be illustrated by a parable. A Roman or Greek officer was walking along the path, holding the king’s seal in his hands. When he was about to enter a certain country he had to cross a river and in the process the king’s seal with his authorisation fell into the water and when retrieved proved to have become illegible. What did he do? He tore up the paper and smashed the seal as they were no longer of any use to him. Moses’ situation when descending from Mount Sinai was similar to that of that officer, and that is why he smashed the Tablets.

וארא, “I saw;” another parable will illustrate what Moses meant. Moses saw the golden calf the people had made and as a result he broke the Tablets. Imagine a king who had become engaged to be married to a certain lady, having told her that he would send her the marriage certificate, ketuvah¸ after a certain period of time, using his best man as the messenger. By the time the document had been written and he had found his best man, he found out that the lady was not worthy to become his wife. What did he do? He tore up the marriage certificate. His reasoning was that it was in that lady’s interest instead of becoming an unfaithful wife after the marriage ceremony, to remain unmarried when her conduct was subject to a lesser penalty. The same happened with the relationship between G–d and Israel at that time. Israel had become betrothed to G–d at time of the revelation at Mount Sinai. The Tablets were meant to be the marriage document that He would give His people forty days later. When Moses saw how corrupt they had become in the interval, he decided that it was in their best interest to tear up the marriage document, i.e. the Tablets, so as to make their legal status less serious than if they had committed adultery after the wedding ceremony. (Tanchuma, section 11)

ואשליכם מעל שתי ידי, “I cast them out of my two hands;” this is what Kohelet 3,5 had in mind when he wrote: עת להשליך אבנים, “there is an appropriate time for throwing stones.” (instead of gathering them in)” He referred to the first set of Tablets. When he continued with: עת כנוס אבנים, “an appropriate time for gathering in stones,” he referred to the second set of Tablets.

ואתנפל לפני ה' כראשונה, “I threw myself down before the Lord as I had done the first time;” Moses refers to the first time he had thrown himself down after G–d had told him to desist from pleading so that He could proceed with wiping out the Jewish nation; (Deut. 9,14) He remained in that position until G–d had conceded that He would not wipe out the nation. This was reported as having taken place in Exodus 32,14, where we read וינחם ה' על הרעה, “the Lord renounced the evil,” i.e. punishment He had intended to subject the people to. He had not, at that stage, forgiven, any part of their sin. Now, Moses explains that he faced the problem of obtaining forgiveness for his people. He did so out of fear and dread. (verse 19) As a result of his persistence, G–d decided to pardon the sin which He had originally meant to punish with destruction of the people.

ואכות אותו טחון, ”I beat it into pieces grinding it into dust;” he ground it into dust so that no one could benefit from it.

ובתבערה, “and at Tav-eyrah;” here Moses refers to what happened in Numbers 11,1 we read ותבער בם אש ה', “and a fire from the Lord burned among them.” It consumed the people who had grumbled without spelling out their specific complaints.”

ובמסה, “and at massah u’mrivah,” compare Exodus 17,7, where Moses had called this location: מסה ומריבה, “trying and strife;”

ובקברות התאוה, “and at the graves of lusting;” a reference to Numbers 11,34, where thousands died from ravenously eating too many quails.

ומשנאתו אותם, “and because He hated them;” they reasoned that G–d may never have had the intention of giving them the land of Canaan, but He lured them into the desert out of His hatred for them, in order to let them perish in the desert.” This concept is also found in the Book of Hoseah 2,16, where the prophet speaks of G–d saying that He will punish the idol-worshipping Israelites precisely in such a manner: הנה אנכי מפתיה והולכתי המדבר והמתיה בצמא, “I will speak to her coaxingly and lead her into the wilderness and let her die through thirst. [The author misquoted parts of verses 8 and 16 in that chapter to arrive at this comparison. Ed.

והם עמך ונחלתך, “seeing that they (the Jewish people) are Your people and Your inheritance.” Moses was forced to remind G–d of this as G–d had said to him before He commanded him to go down from Mount Sinai with the two Tablets שחת עמך, “your people have become corrupted.” (Exodus 32,7)