Bible Summary:

God calls Moses up to the mountain. Moses reads the book of the covenant to the Israelites and they all agree to obey the commandments. Moses sacrifices animals and consecrates the people with the blood to seal God’s covenant. God calls Moses up Mount Sinai again to give him two stone tablets of all the laws for the people of Israel. Moses stays on the mountain for forty days and nights.

My Thoughts:

Book of the Covenant: According to this chapter of Exodus, Moses and the leaders had written a book of God’s laws – “the book of the covenant, in which the Lord’s commands were written.” This is the first reference in the Bible of writing in book form to pass on laws and knowledge.  This book likely included parts, if not all, of the books of Genesis and Exodus.

Stone Tablets: God would have known about the impermanence of the book, likely written on papyrus, so he created the stone tablets so the Israelites would remember his commandments for a long time.