Exodus 32:16

Exo 32:16 And the tables [were] the work of God, and the writing [was] the writing of God, graven upon the tables.

Ver. 16. The work of God.] The greater was the people’s loss, brought upon them by their sin.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32:16 These tablets were God’s work: The covenant was not merely a human agreement.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

All these repetitions show how excellent a thing they defrauded themselves of by their idolatry.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 16. The tables were the work of God] Because such a law could proceed from none but himself; God alone is the fountain and author of LAW, of what is right, just, holy, and good. See the meaning of the word LAW, Ex 12:49. See Clarke on Ex 12:49.

The writing was the writing of God] For as he is the sole author of law and justice, so he alone can write them on the heart of man. This is agreeable to the spirit of the new covenant which God had promised to make with men in the latter days: I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel - I will PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MINDS, AND WRITE THEM IN THEIR HEARTS, Jer 31:33; Heb 8:10; 2Co 3:3. That the writing of these tables was the writing of God, see proved at the conclusion of the last chapter.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(16) The tables were the work of God.—Rosenmüller supposes this to mean merely that the size and shape of the stones was prescribed to Moses by God; but the natural meaning of the words is that God Himself fashioned them. This was not the case with the second tables (Exo_34:1; Exo_34:4).

The writing was the writing of God.—See Note 3 on Exo_31:18.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. the work of God, &c.] See Exo_24:12, Exo_31:18 b.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when Joshua heard the noise of the people, as they shouted,.... Dancing about the calf: when Moses went up into the mount, Joshua went with him, and tarried in a lower part of the mount all the forty days until he returned, see Exo 24:13 though not so low as the bottom of the mount where the people were, nor so near it as to know what they did there, for of their affairs he seems to be entirely ignorant; nor so high as where Moses was, or, however, not in the cloud where he conversed with God, for of what passed between them he had no knowledge, until declared by Moses:

he said unto Moses, there is a noise of war in the camp; such a noise as soldiers make in an onset for battle; he supposed that some enemy was come upon and had attacked the people, and that this noise was the noise of the enemy, or of the Israelites, or both, just beginning the battle; or on the finishing of it on the account of victory on one side or the other; and as he was the general of the army, it must give him a concern that he should be absent at such a time.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

16. Work of God — They were miracles in stone, and so monumental witnesses of the supernatural origin of the commandments. See on Exo_31:18.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The tables were the work of God. Shaped, i.e. , by the same power by which the commandments were inscribed upon them; not, necessarily, of matter newly created for the purpose.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The writing of God - Very probably the first writing in the world.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

tables

(See Scofield "Exo 20:4").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

מעשה אלהים המה [THE TABLETS WERE] THE WORK OF GOD — This means what it literally implies: God Himself (Hebrew: in His glory) made them. Another explanation (taking מעשה in the sense of “occupation”) is: Just as a man says to his fellow, “All that Mr. So-and-so occupies himself with is only with such-and-such a work”, so is the delight of the Holy One, blessed be He, confined to the Torah alone (cf. Proverbs 8:31 the whole of which chapter is taken as a description of God’s relation to the Torah) (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 16).

חרות — The expressions חרת (which occurs only here in Scriptures) and חרט have the same meaning, both of them signifying engraving; entailler in old French

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND THE TABLETS WERE THE WORK OF G-D. It would have been proper for Scripture to mention everything connected with the work of the Tablets of the Law in the verse, And He gave unto Moses [… the two Tablets of the Testimony], as He said [there], written with the finger of G-d. It is, however, mentioned here in order to tell of their high distinction [that they were the work of G-d], thus stating that despite all this Moses did not hesitate to break them, because he was angered upon seeing that evil sight and he could not restrain himself from breaking them. Or the matter may be as our Rabbis have mentioned, that the writing vanished from the Tablets as he approached the border [of the camp] where the calf was, the place of defilement and transgression.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.