Who received the ten commandments from God?

God's instructions to Moses being complete, He then gave to him two tables of stone on which were written with the finger of God the ten commandments for Israel.

The chapter, and this section of the book, concludes by the record of the giving the two tables of testimony. "And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." (v. 18.) It is necessary to recall that all the instructions from chapter 24 to this point were given in the mount. Moses had been alone with the Lord. The Lord had been "communing with him" concerning the revelation of His mind for the people. Having ended, He gave him the two tables of stone, containing the terms of the covenant which He had made with His people. Moses has described this elsewhere. He says, "The Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone, written with the finger of God: and on them was written according to all the words which the Lord spake with you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant." (Deut. 9:10-11) It appears therefore that the contents of the two tables were the ten "words," or commandments, spoken in Exodus 20, but now written by the finger of God — the commandments which Israel undertook to keep as the condition of blessing. They abandoned the ground of grace on which they had been put after they had crossed the Red Sea, and of themselves, and for themselves, on God's proposal, undertook the responsibility of obedience. Moses had been forty days and forty nights in the mount, during which he neither ate nor drank (see Deut. 9:9), being as it were in a state above nature, in order to be able to become the channel of God's communications for His people. The flesh must not intrude, must indeed be set aside, and in some sort nature also, if we would hear the voice of God. The reader will not fail to remember the case of Elijah (1 Kings 19:8), and also that of our blessed Lord — both of whom, like Moses, fasted forty days and forty nights. But as has been remarked by another, "The Lord Jesus must in all things have the pre-eminence. Moses, naturally far off, is separated from his natural state in order to draw near unto God. Christ was naturally near, and more than near; He separated Himself from nature to meet the adversary on behalf of man." This contrast is most significant, and shows plainly that the most devoted of the servants of God can be no more than a shadow of (typifying even by contrast) the excellency of Christ. (Compare also the case of the apostle John in Rev. 1:10.)

"After the tenor of these words," the Lord made a covenant with Moses and with Israel. (v. 27.) The words "with thee" are significant. It shows how that the place of Israel had been made dependent upon the mediator, and indicates consequently the position into which Moses had been brought. For the second time he had been forty days and forty nights — in a state above nature — in the presence of God. He did neither eat bread, nor drink water. God thus sustained His servant in His own presence, and enabled him to listen to His voice and receive His words. In fine, he received once again two tables of testimony on which God had written the ten commandments, and descending from the mount, returned to the people.

Let me illustrate what I mean. When Moses was summoned to the mountain-top he received the law engraved upon two tables of stone, "written with the finger of God" (Ex. 31:18). Without employing any human instrument whatever, God Himself had written the words. "And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables" (Ex. 32:16).

It is freely allowed that the ten words have a specific character of the deepest moment for man on earth, as distinguished from what was judicial and ceremonial. Hence Moses says, "These words Jehovah spake to all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them to me."

Next follows the account of their fear before God's solemn words, their promise to obey, and the mediatorial place which the people desired and God sanctioned for Moses.

After the provision of water from the smitten rock at Rephidim, Amalek came out in power to oppose the people's progress, and was defeated. To Sinai then Israel came, no further opposition being offered to their advance. There they heard what was new to them, God speaking to them directly out of the fire. God then declared, directly from Himself, the covenant which He commanded them to perform, even the ten commandments (Deut. 4:12-13). Fitting it was that they should have direct from His mouth those ten words (Deut. 10:4). He thus talked with them face to face (Deut. 5:4). After that He communicated to Moses in the mount His will to dwell among them: "Let them make Me a sanctuary: that I may dwell among them" (Ex. 25:8).

The ten commandments, as spoken by Jehovah Himself in the ears of the people, are expressly said to be the "words of the covenant." "Write thou these words," He says to Moses, "for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. … and he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." It is very evident, therefore, that the ten commandments are not formally addressed to any other than Israel, the covenant-people.

Now the law was added for a number of years, only for a limited time, “until the seed came.”Who is the seed? Christ is, as we have seen. The law was fulfilled in the death of Christ and so it was given for a limited time only and then it was fulfilled. Some more details are then given about the character of the law in order for us to see the difference between it and the system of grace. Firstly the law was ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator. God gave the law to angels so they were mediators; then the angels gave it through the hand of Moses, and so Moses was the mediator on behalf of the people. So there was a great distance between God and the people. Is there a great distance between God and us under grace? No, we are sons, so very close to God. This shows a difference in character. This has nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Himself as the Mediator between God and man in 1 Timothy 2, which is connected with Him as the Sacrifice as we have seen earlier.

Now we come to still another argument. The law was "appointed through angels in the hand of a mediator." This mediator was Moses. It is plain that a mediator is not a mediator of one; there must be two parties if there is a mediator. As Job says, "Neither is there any daysman (mediator) betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both." Job 9:33. Moses received the law from God's hand and gave it into the hands of the people. He stood between God and man. In order to enjoy the results of blessing from the law, each of these parties must keep their part in the covenant. God is faithful; and He surely will keep His part. But alas, even before Moses came down from Mount Sinai, the people had broken their part of the covenant and made a golden calf. The covenant contained the clause: "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." Ex. 20:3. Indeed this was the first clause of the covenant. God promised blessing, IF man (Israel) was obedient. But man immediately disobeyed.

One between two. The law was ordained by angels in the hands of a mediator, because Moses was a go-between, i.e., as between the people and God.