(16) The tables were the work of God.--Rosenmller 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 (Exodus 34:1; Exodus 34:4).

The writing was the writing of God.--See Note 3 on Exodus 31:18.

Verse 16. - 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.

32:15-20 What a change it is, to come down from the mount of communion with God, to converse with a wicked world. In God we see nothing but what is pure and pleasing; in the world nothing but what is sinful and provoking. That it might appear an idol is nothing in the world, Moses ground the calf to dust. Mixing this powder with their drink, signified that the backslider in heart should be filled with his own ways.And the tables were the work of God,.... And not of angels or men; the stones were made and formed by God into the shape they were:

and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables; the letters in which the law was written were of his framing, devising, and engraving; and this was to show that this law was his own, and contained his mind and will; and to give the greater dignity and authority to it, and to deter men from breaking it.