Tables

"Tables" in Scripture most commonly refers to the stone tablets of the law given to Moses on Sinai (Ex. 31:18; 34:1–4; Deut. 10:1–5), also called the "tables of testimony." These two tablets, inscribed by the finger of God, were the physical documentation of the covenant between God and Israel and were kept in the ark of the covenant. The phrase "tables of the heart" appears in Proverbs (3:3; 7:3) and Jeremiah (17:1) — hearts as the surface on which instruction or sin is written. Paul contrasts Moses' stone tables with the "fleshy tables of the heart" written by the Spirit of the living God (2 Cor. 3:3). The "tables of the moneychangers" in the temple court were overturned by Jesus at his cleansing of the temple (Matt. 21:12; John 2:15).