Exodus 31:18

This is the Hebrew word “edah,” or plural “eduht.” It occurs 22 times in the plural, and once in the singular. It is a solemn attestation—a declaration—of the will of God. And, I think this is neat, it implies the expert opinion of One who really knows. So, testimonies are commands that are themselves witnesses to God’s character, demonstrating His will. Testimonies are generally ordinances that reveal God’s standard of conduct.

In Exodus 31:18 it says, “Then He [God] made an end of speaking with him [Moses] on Mount Sinai. He gave Moses two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written with the Finger of God.” This is interesting because He is talking about the Ten Commandments. They were called “the testimony.” It is interesting when you plug these definitions back in. The Ten Commandments, under this definition of testimony, means that they are the expert opinion of the One who really knows; a solemn attestation and declaration of the will of God. It is almost as if He is swearing—testifying—that, “This is the right way to go. And, I should know,” because He is the most Expert Witness of all.

This is the image of testifying under oath; giving testimony when being called as a witness in a court of law; you are supposed to be giving an account—an attestation, a declaration—of what really is, what really happened. You are supposed to be an expert in that particular area of expertise. And so, this is God’s expert testimony that this is the way to go—this is the way to live.

Exodus 31:18

There must be something quite important about that, because now this is in three places already, he has told us—God Himself wrote on it what was on the tablets and where those were placed when God was done.

Even the selection of doing this on stone, as well as having God Himself doing the writing, is symbolic of the eternal and enduring character of what was written on those stones.