The Luchot
The covenant code of Shemot 21-23 is not really the code of a Covenant. It lacks a section that says what will happen if the decrees are not kept. Although it has a verse in this direction (Shemot 23:21), it lacks a Tochachah. The law code of Devarim has such section. It is in truth the code of a Covenant.
The kernel of the book of Devarim is quite old. Probably, therefore, Devarim was originally written down on tablets. We imagine tablets written on one side with the introduction, on the other side with the law code, starting at Devarim 12:1. If many tablets were needed for the law code, the introduction was the same. Such was the purpose of the introduction, to be on the front side of each and every one of the tablets. Like the tablets described by Shemot 32:15, which were written on two sides. One side was for the Ten Commandments, the other side for the Covenant (Shemot 34:28).
But we have an alternative to the law code of Devarim. It is also a law code with a Tochachah, and it is also quite old. We imagine similar tablets, RJE's tablets, with on one side the introduction and on the other side the law code. And therefore, we can imagine... to have found the broken Luchot, the broken tablets, through archeology of the word. We found the broken Luchot in the P scroll. We identified them through D, which itself has the status of the second Luchot, written by man. But the broken Luchot, they are Divine (Shemot 32:16). After all, they have a signature that cannot be faked.
We cite from the introduction to the book of Devarim:
The kernel of the book of Devarim is quite old. Probably, therefore, Devarim was originally written down on tablets. We imagine tablets written on one side with the introduction, on the other side with the law code, starting at Devarim 12:1. If many tablets were needed for the law code, the introduction was the same. Such was the purpose of the introduction, to be on the front side of each and every one of the tablets. Like the tablets described by Shemot 32:15, which were written on two sides. One side was for the Ten Commandments, the other side for the Covenant (Shemot 34:28).
But we have an alternative to the law code of Devarim. It is also a law code with a Tochachah, and it is also quite old. We imagine similar tablets, RJE's tablets, with on one side the introduction and on the other side the law code. And therefore, we can imagine... to have found the broken Luchot, the broken tablets, through archeology of the word. We found the broken Luchot in the P scroll. We identified them through D, which itself has the status of the second Luchot, written by man. But the broken Luchot, they are Divine (Shemot 32:16). After all, they have a signature that cannot be faked.
We cite from the introduction to the book of Devarim:
And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
This is the level of the second Luchot, the level of Halachic man. High as it may seem, it is incomparable to the level of the first Luchot, the tablets of RJE. The difference is so great, that according to the second Luchot, the level of the first Luchot is unattainable in this world. But the Anshei Amanah do regain the first Luchot, through the study of Torah in truth, aiming for a level of existence that is much, much, higher than the level of Halachic man. This is the level of knowing the secrets of Hashem, the level of knowledge of The Truth.עַד-מָתַי, פְּתָיִם-- תְּאֵהֲבוּ-פֶתִי: וְלֵצִים--לָצוֹן, חָמְדוּ לָהֶם; וּכְסִילִים, יִשְׂנְאוּ-דָעַת