Supposed contradiction and verses:
Who wrote the second set of 10 Commandments? One verse says God, another says Moses.
God did it:
Exodus 34:1
And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.
Moses did it:
Exodus 34:27-28
27 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
Answer:
In everything we know about God, He is not a liar, only truth is in Him. He states in verse 1 that He would write the second set of 10 Commandments because Moses had broken the first set He wrote on. Yet, how many times, have you heard someone teach or speak about the second set and say, “God wrote on the first set, but Moses had to write the second ones.”? The confusion comes from verses 27-28. Let’s first look at yet another verse that verifies that it is God who wrote the second set of 10 Commandments, also known as the Decalogue.
Deuteronomy 10:1-2
1 At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.
2 And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.
3 And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.
4 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.
5 And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.
So what is with the confusion in Exodus 34:27-28? Notice their similarity to Deuteronomy 10:4. The answer comes from understanding that Exodus 34:28 is two different thoughts. Contrary to pictures and paintings by people who were not there, writing was on both sides of the tablets. Moses was there 40 days and nights fasting and learning the Commandments, statues, and covenant with Israel. But what of verse 28 that seems to say that Moses wrote the 10 Commandments the second time? If you look at the Hebrew scrolls, there are no chapters, verses, etc. It reads as one long chapter. There are, however, thought separators, and that is what occurs here. English translators used a period to separate the thoughts instead of a new verse. The he in, “And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” is actually, “He”, which is God. It conveys the same truth found in Deuteronomy 10:4, that God wrote the second set of 10 Commandments, not Moses.
Now what is different about this second time versus the first is where the tables come from. The first tables, God supplied:
Exodus 24:12
And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.
The second set, Moses had to make to take up to the Lord, for God to write on:
Exodus 34:1
And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.
Sadly, this verse in itself shows clearly who wrote this, yet many who don’t read the scriptures for themselves, but rather listen to conversations, have picked up the first part of the verse out of context and related that Moses wrote the second set on 10 Commandments, when that’s not what it says at all. We must study to shew ourselves approved (2nd Timothy 2:15).