Tablets of Stone
Symbolic of Heart of Stone
Malakim Aleph (1st Kings) 8:9
There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone which Moshe put there at Chorev, when YHWH made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
YHWH had carved out of the rock two identical stone tablets. The exact form of these tablets is not known today, but the tablets do symbolize something very important, namely the heart of the people. Please prayerfully consider what YHWH has to say about the hearts of His people.
Shemot (Exodus) 32:9
And YHWH said to Moshe, “I have seen this people, and, behold, they are a stiff-necked people.”
YHWH makes this proclamation several times throughout Scripture. The people He chose among all the peoples of the earth are very stubborn and self-willed people; they love to complain and see the bad side of everything. However, when finally convinced of something concerning YHWH, His chosen people will not be swayed and will follow YHWH with all their hearts. However, getting them to that place is nothing short of miraculous. It just so happens that YHWH predicted just such a thing through His prophets.
Yechezqel (Ezekiel) 36:26
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.”
Notice that, under the previous covenant, His people had a heart of stone. This corresponds directly to the commandments written upon tablets of stone.
Yechezqel (Ezekiel) 11:19-20
19 “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;
20 that they may walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances, and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their Elohim.”
In this passage, YHWH intimates that those with a heart of stone are not truly His people. People with a heart of stone may take upon themselves His name and even claim to walk in His commandments and ordinances, but if YHWH has not removed their heart of stone and given them a heart of flesh, then how can they truly walk in His Torah? They cannot, for to truly walk in His Torah means that one is walking in His Spirit. Furthermore, one cannot be walking in His Spirit unless he has Mashiach.
Matithyah (Matthew) 13:3-6
3 And He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went forth to sow;
4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the birds came and devoured them;
5 and others fell upon the rocky places, where they had not much earth; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth;
6 and when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.”
Yeshua taught upon this same principle of one having a heart of stone. He taught that if a person has a heart of stone, then when the truth of YHWH is sown into his heart, it will not endure. Please note that His talmidim did not quite understand this parable and asked for an explanation. Notice what Yeshua states in His explanation concerning those who have a heart of stone.
Matithyah (Matthew) 13:20-21
20 “And he that was sown upon the rocky places, this is he that hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it;
21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while; and when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, he immediately falls away.”
Notice that those who have a heart of stone receive the truth of YHWH with joy. Such a one as that hears His word and knows that it is true. He begins to walk in the truth he has heard. However, when persecution and tribulation arise, he falls away from that truth. Persecution and tribulation for the talmidim of Yeshua is not a question of if, but rather, it is only a matter of when.
Qorintyah Bet (2nd Corinthians) 3:3
being made manifest that you are an epistle of Mashiach, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living Elohim; not in tables of stone, but in tables that are hearts of flesh.
Shaul teaches this same truth in the above passage, clearly showing the correlation between the tablets of stone to the hearts of stone. This is contrasted with the fleshly heart that YHWH will place in His people with His Spirit. It will be with the presence of His Spirit that He will use one’s heart as a tablet of flesh and inscribe upon it His Torah commandments.
It will be at that point that a person will be able to walk in the fullness of His Torah because he will be walking according to what is in his heart and mind rather than trying to keep and observe something that is outside of him. YHWH will internalize His Torah in each and every one of His people.
Yechezqel (Ezekiel) 18:30-32
30 “Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says Adonai YHWH. “Return and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, which you have transgressed; and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit; for why will you die, house of Israel?
32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies,” says Adonai YHWH; “therefore you repent and live.”
Notice that YHWH explains that the gaining of a new heart takes two to accomplish it. It takes both the individual and YHWH to remove the heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. It will not happen unless each is doing his part.
Each person must repent and turn away from all his sin, transgressions, and iniquity. Then YHWH will come to him, forgive him, and cleanse him of all unrighteousness.
Ya’aqov (James) 4:8
Draw near to Elohim, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Each person must ever strive to draw nearer to YHWH Elohim through Yeshua our Mashiach. As one endeavors to come closer and closer to YHWH, the double mindedness will be rooted out. It is this double mindedness that YHWH can do nothing with. One needs to have a singleness of mind and heart towards YHWH. Each one needs to stop serving two masters and choose which one he is going to serve. If one is going to serve YHWH, then let him do so with a whole and complete heart, a heart of flesh.
Qorintyah Bet (2nd Corinthians) 5:17
Therefore if any man is in Mashiach, he is a new creature; the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.
Once an individual has a new heart and he has become a new creation in Mashiach, this does not mean that he has attained a mature status. Rather, it means that he has a lot of growing to do. One must grow up to become a mature man or woman in Mashiach. This takes time. It is when a person gets to that adolescent age in Mashiach that seems to cause a lot of difficulty between fellow talmidim of Yeshua. Just as a new follower of Mashiach was given grace and time to grow up to maturity, one needs to give grace and time for others to do the very same. One cannot rightfully expect others to be where he himself is at in his walk with Mashiach. One must remember that the other person is walking with Mashiach, not him. As such, each person needs to understand that the other will need to grow and mature in Mashiach just as he has done. So, while the other person is doing that, the body of Mashiach needs to watch over him and protect him and nurture him in the love of Mashiach. What each person needs to be very careful of not doing is placing burdens of his own making upon the growing individual. Doing this is sin and may cause that person to stumble. This is not good for the other person and it is not good for the individual doing it.
ABBA YHWH, please remove our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh, and then place Your Torah upon our hearts of flesh; in the name of Yeshua our Mashiach. Amein.
Shabbat Shalom
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
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