The Stone Tablets of the Law Covenant

“The ark of the covenant,” mentioned at Heb 9:4, contained two tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments were written. These commandments were the ten laws that served as the foundation of the Law covenant between God and the nation of Israel. Jehovah himself wrote the Ten Commandments on the front and back of the tablets before he gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai. (Ex 31:18; 32:15) When Moses returned to the camp of Israel and saw the people practicing calf worship, he angrily threw the two original tablets to the ground, shattering them. (Ex 32:19) So God instructed Moses to carve two new tablets, on which Jehovah again wrote the Ten Commandments. (De 10:1, 2) The Ten Commandments as well as the rest of the Law covenant were replaced in 33 C.E. by the new covenant between Jehovah and the nation of spiritual Israel. Jehovah writes his laws figuratively on the hearts of those in the new covenant. (Heb 8:10, 13) But the principles underlying the Ten Commandments still apply to Jehovah’s people.​—Ro 13:8-10.