פירוש על שמות 34:1

פסל לך HEW THEE — He showed him a quarry of sapphire in his tent and said to him: The chips (פסל = פסלת) shall be thine (לך). It was from this that Moses became so rich (cf. Midrash Tanchuma 3:9:29; Leviticus Rabbah 32:2).

Carve out two stone tablets. If the first tablets had not been broken, those who studied Torah would never forget what they had learned. The Divinely fashioned tablets paralleled the angelic level of the B’nei Yisrael themselves and the writing upon them symbolized the Divine word engraved upon their hearts. After the sin, however, just as the B’nei Yisrael returned to the level of ordinary human beings, so were the second tablets of human origin. Nevertheless, God commanded Moshe to carve them himself, knowing that in his saintliness he would prepare them properly to receive the holy script.