“And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The writing of the covenant words is the founding act of Scripture — Moses writes what God spoke, preserving it against the distortion of oral tradition. The twelve pillars represent the twelve tribes who are entering the covenant: every tribe is represented in the covenant ceremony, not merely the leaders. Early morning obedience mirrors the manna-gathering discipline — Moses gets up early to complete the covenant ceremony before the day's demands arrive. Jeremiah 31:33 promises a new covenant written not on tablets of stone but on human hearts — the progression from written stone to written heart is the trajectory from Sinai to the new covenant.
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