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Line 2: {{for|funeral or commemorative tablets carved in stone|Stele}} {{Ten Commandments series}} According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], the '''Tablets of According to the biblical narrative, the first set of tablets, inscribed by the [[finger of God]], ({{bibleref2|Exodus|31:18|NIV}}) were smashed by Moses when he was enraged by the sight of the [[Children of Israel]] worshiping a [[golden calf]] ({{bibleref2|Exodus|32:19|NIV}}) and the second were later chiseled out by Moses and rewritten by God ({{bibleref2|Exodus|34:1|NIV}}). According to traditional teachings of [[Judaism]] in the [[Talmud]], the stones were made of blue [[sapphire]] as a symbolic reminder of the sky, the heavens, and ultimately of God's [[throne]]. Many [[Torah]] scholars, however, have opined that the biblical ''sapir'' was, in fact, [[lapis lazuli]] (see {{bibleref2|Exodus|24:10|NIV}}, 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 {{bibleref2|Exodus|24:12|NIV}}).<ref>See: Staples, W. E., "Lapis Lazuli", in ''The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible'', vol. 3, p. 72</ref> According to {{Bibleref2|Exodus|25:10–22}}, the tablets were stored in the [[Ark of the Covenant]]. [[Alan Millard]] and [[Daniel I. Block]] note parallels between this aspect of Israelite religion with the practice of other [[Ancient Near Eastern]] cultures whose treaty texts were preserved in their temples.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Reading the Law: Studies in Honour of Gordon J. Wenham |last=Millard |first=Alan R. |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-567-45454-6 |editor-last=McConville |editor-first=J. G. |page=264–265 |chapter=The Tablets in the Ark |editor-last2=Möller |editor-first2=Karl |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ipUKbxg6dkIC&pg=PA264}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Write That They May Read: Studies in Literacy and Textualization in the Ancient Near East and in the Hebrew Scriptures: Essays in Honour of Professor Alan R. Millard |last=Block |first=Daniel I. |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-7252-5210-3 |editor-last=Block |editor-first=Daniel I. |page=113 |chapter=For Whose Eyes? The Divine Origin and Function of the Two Tablets of the Israelite Covenant |editor-last2=Deuel |editor-first2=David C. |editor-last3=Collins |editor-first3=C. John |editor-last4=Lawrence |editor-first4=Paul J. N. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mSj4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA113}}</ref> Alternatively, [[Thomas Römer]] argued in 2015 that “clearly… the tablets of the law are a substitute for something else.”<ref name="Römer92"> Thomas Römer, ''The Invention of God'' (Harvard University Press, 2015), p. 92.</ref> He holds that “the original Ark contained a [[cult image|statue]] [i.e. a [[cult image]]] of [[Yahweh|Yhwh]]”,<ref>{{cite journal |title=The mysteries of the Ark of the Covenant |journal=Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology |url=https://www.academia.edu/99766658 |last=Römer |first=Thomas |issue=2 |volume=77 |pages=169–185 |doi=10.1080/0039338X.2023.2167861 |year=2023}}</ref>{{rp|4}} which he specifically identifies as “two [[Baetylus|betyles]] (sacred stones), or two [[cult image]] statues symbolizing Yhwh and his female companion [[Asherah|Ashera]] or a statue representing Yhwh alone.”<ref name="Römer92" />
==Appearance of the tablets== [[File:The10Commandments.png|thumb|A popular image of the tablets as rounded-off rectangles bears little relationship with religious traditions about their appearance. In this case, the [[Ten Commandments]] are represented by the first ten letters of the [[Hebrew alphabet]], which in Hebrew usage may be used [[gematria| interchangeably with the numbers 1–10]].]] In recent centuries, the tablets have been popularly described and depicted as round-topped rectangles, but this has little basis in religious tradition. According to rabbinic tradition, they were rectangles, with sharp corners,<ref>[[Bava Batra]] 14a.</ref> and indeed they are so depicted in the 3rd-century paintings at the [[Dura-Europos Synagogue]] and in Christian art throughout the 1st millennium CE,<ref>Except for a variant tradition where a [[scroll]] is shown, only known from Christian examples. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BUyGDWSsi4sC&dq=Dura-Europos+Moses+receiving+the+law&pg=PT37]</ref> drawing on Jewish traditions of [[iconography]].▼
▲In recent centuries the tablets have been popularly described and depicted as round-topped rectangles, but this has little basis in religious tradition. According to rabbinic tradition, they were rectangles, with sharp corners,<ref>[[Bava Batra]] 14a.</ref> and indeed they are so depicted in the 3rd-century paintings at the [[Dura-Europos Synagogue]] and in Christian art throughout the 1st millennium CE,<ref>Except for a variant tradition where a [[scroll]] is shown, only known from Christian examples. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BUyGDWSsi4sC&dq=Dura-Europos+Moses+receiving+the+law&pg=PT37]</ref> drawing on Jewish traditions of [[iconography]]. [[File:Meister der Bibel des Patrice Léon 001.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Rectangular tablets passed down by the [[Hand of God (art)|Hand of God]] in the 10th century [[Byzantine]] [[Leo Bible]].]] Depictions of round-topped tablets appear in the Middle Ages, following in size and shape contemporary hinged [[Wax tablet|writing-tablets]] for taking notes (with a stylus pressing on a layer of wax on the insides). For [[Michelangelo]] (1475–1564) and [[Andrea Mantegna]] (1431–1506) they still have sharp corners (see [[#Gallery| gallery]]), and are about the size found in rabbinic tradition. Later artists, such as [[Rembrandt]] (1606–1669), tended to combine the rounded shape with a larger size. 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.<ref>See [http://rchaimqoton.blogspot.com/ HaQoton, Reb Chaim] "[http://rchaimqoton.blogspot.co.il/2014/06/squared-vs-rounded-tablets.html Squared vs. Rounded Tablets]" (also available on [https://www.academia.edu/7237484/Squared_vs._Rounded_Tablets academia.edu])</ref> According to the Talmud, each tablet was square, six [[Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement| tefachim]] (approximately 50 centimeters, or 20 inches) wide and high, and more a thicker block than a tablet, at three tefachim (25 centimeters, 10 inches) thick,<ref>[[Bava Batra]] 14a.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/michelangelo-was-right-about-the-tablets/ |title=Michelangelo was right about tablets |website=[[The Times of Israel]] |quote=As detailed in the Talmud, the two tablets were eight tefahim wide and high—perfect squares, [...] — equal to about 24 centimeters or eight inches, and four tefahim deep, with sharp, not curved, corners.}}</ref> though they tend to be shown larger in art. (Other Rabbinic sources say they were rectangular rather than square, six tefachim high and three wide and deep.{{cn|date=June 2023}}) Also according to tradition, the words were not engraved on the surface, but rather were bored fully through the stone.{{cn|date=June 2023}} ==Christian replicas== Line 43 ⟶ 40: File:Moises.jpg|Sharp corners by [[Michelangelo]], c. 1513–1515 Philippe de Champaigne - Moses with the Ten Commandments - WGA04717.jpg|Moses with the Ten Commandments by [[Philippe de Champaigne]], 1648 File:Rabbi_Raphael_Evers.jpg|Example behind rabbi [[Raphael Evers]], son of [[Bloeme Evers-Emden]], friend with [[Anne Frank]]; most hebrew lines are incomplete. </gallery> | |||