Exodus 31:18 - Exposition

When he had made an end of communing . Literally, "when he had finished speaking." Two tables . Rather, " the two tables"— i.e; the tables promised when he went up into the mount ( Exodus 24:12 ). Of stone . Stone was the ordinary material on which Egyptian documents were engraved, both at the time of the Exodus, and before and after. They were, however, for the most part, either inscribed upon the natural rock, or engraved on the walls of temples or tombs. Inscriptions upon slabs of stone are rare, more especially in the early times, and would scarcely have occurred to Moses himself. Written with the finger of God — i.e; "inscribed supernaturally"—not cut by any human hand. Compare Exodus 32:16 . It is idle to speculate on the exact mode of the Divine operation.