Let's begin by deciphering some clues that Philo understood each tablet to correspond to a different power. Philo uses the cognate verb monarcheo ("rule as monarch") of God, as well as the noun monarchia ("monarchy"); for instance, speaking of the first five commandments, he explains that they concern the divine "monarchical principle by which the world is governed" (Decal. 51). The first commandment, located on the "superior set of five," treats "the monarchical principle by which the world is governed" (περὶ µοναρχίας, ᾗ µοναρχεῖται ὁ κόσµος)
A little later in the same treatise he returns to this subject:δέκα τοίνυν ὄντα διένειμεν εἰς δύο πεντάδας, ἃς δυσὶ στήλαις ἐνεχάραξε, καὶ ἡ μὲν προτέρα πεντὰς τὰ πρωτεῖα ἔλαχεν, ἡ δ᾿ ἑτέρα δευτερείων ἠξιοῦτο· καλαὶ δ᾿ ἀμφότεραι καὶ βιωφελεῖς, εὐρείας ὁδοὺς καὶ λεωφόρους ἑνὶ τέλει περατουμένας ἀναστέλλουσαι πρὸς ἄπταιστον ψυχῆς ἐφιεμένης ἀεὶ 51τοῦ βελτίστου πορείαν. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀμείνων πεντὰς τοιάδε ἦν· περὶ μοναρχίας, ᾗ μοναρχεῖται ὁ κόσμος· περὶ ξοάνων καὶ ἀγαλμάτων καὶ συνόλως ἀφιδρυμάτων χειροκμήτων· περὶ τοῦ μὴ λαμβάνειν ἐπὶ ματαίῳ θεοῦ πρόσρησιν· περὶ τοῦ τὴν ἱερὰν | [189]ἑβδόμην ἄγειν ἱεροπρεπῶς· περὶ γονέων τιμῆς καὶ ἰδίᾳ ἑκατέρου καὶ ἀμφοτέρων κοινῇ
We find that He divided the ten into two sets of five which He engraved on two tables, and the first five obtained the first place, while the other was awarded the second. Both are excellent and profitable for life; both open out broad highroads leading at the end to a single goal, roads along which a soul which ever desires the best can travel without stumbling. The superior set of five51 treats of the following matters: the monarchical principle by which the world is governed: idols of stone and wood and images in general made by human hands: the sin of taking the name of God in vain: the reverent observance of the sacred seventh day as befits its holiness: the duty of honouring parents, each separately and both in common.
But clearly the royal power is not the absolute god but only the god of this world. As we read in what again follows:Τέτταρα εἴδη πρότερον ὑπειπών, ἃ καὶ τῇ τάξει καὶ τῇ δυνάμει πρῶτα ἦν ὡς ἀληθῶς, τό τε περὶ μοναρχίας ᾗ μοναρχεῖται ὁ κόσμος, καὶ τὸ περὶ τοῦ μηδὲν ἀπεικόνισμα καὶ μίμημα δημιουργεῖν θεοῦ, καὶ τὸ περὶ τοῦ μὴ ψευδορκεῖν ἢ συνόλως μάτην ὀμνύναι, καὶ τὸ περὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἑβδόμης, ἅπερ σύμπαντα τείνει πρὸς εὐσέβειαν καὶ ὁσιότητα, μέτειμι ἐπὶ τὸ πέμπτον τὸ περὶ γονέων τιμῆς, ὅ, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς ἰδίᾳ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγοις 225ἔδειξα, μεθόριον ἀνθρωπείων τε καὶ θείων.
AgaIn my previous remarks I have sketched 224 the four divisions which both in order and importance stand undoubtedly first. They comprise the assertion of the absolute sovereignty by which the universe is governed, the prohibition against making any image or likeness of God and against perjury or vain swearing in general and the doctrine of the sacred seventh day, all of them tending to promote piety and religion. I now proceed to the fifth, which states the duty of honouring parents, a matter which, as I have shewn in the discussion devoted to this in particular,b stands on the border-line between the human and the divine.
It is important to note that in all of these passages the world ruler is not the absolute god. He is rather a god that can be comprehend or known by non-Jews as Philo writes:Τούτων μὲν δὴ πέρι τοσαῦτα· τρεπτέον δ᾿ ἐπὶ τοὺς κατὰ μέρος ἤδη νόμους καὶ πρώτους, ἀφ᾿ ὧν ἄρχεσθαι καλόν, τοὺς περὶ μοναρχίας ὁρισθέντας.[213] Τινὲς ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀστέρας ὑπέλαβον εἶναι θεοὺς αὐτοκράτορας, οἷς τὰς τῶν γινομένων ἁπάντων αἰτίας ἀνέθεσαν. Μωυσεῖ δ᾿ ὁ κόσμος ἔδοξεν εἶναι καὶ γενητὸς καὶ καθάπερ πόλις ἡ μεγίστη, ἄρχοντας ἔχουσα καὶ ὑπηκόους, ἄρχοντας μὲν τοὺς ἐν οὐρανῷ πάντας ὅσοι πλάνητες καὶ ἀπλανεῖς ἀστέρες, ὑπηκόους δὲ τὰς μετὰ σελήνην ἐν ἀέρι καὶ περιγείους φύσεις· 14τοὺς δὲ λεχθέντας ἄρχοντας οὐκ αὐτεξουσίους, ἀλλ᾿ ἑνὸς τοῦ πάντων πατρὸς ὑπάρχους, οὗ μιμουμένους τὴν ἐπιστασίαν κατορθοῦν πρυτανεύοντος1 κατὰ δίκην καὶ νόμον ἕκαστον τῶν γεγονότων· τοὺς δὲ μὴ βλέποντας τὸν ἐπιβεβηκότα ἡνίοχον τοῖς ὑπεζευγμένοις ὡς αὐτουργοῖς τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ γινομένων 15ἀνάψαι τὰς αἰτίας.
We must now turn12 to the particular laws, taking those first with which it is well to begin, namely those the subject of which is the sole sovereignty of God. Some have supposed that the sun and moon13 and the other stars were gods with absolute powers and ascribed to them the causation of all events. But Moses held that the universe was created and is in a sense the greatest of commonwealths, having magistrates and subjects; for magistrates, all the heavenly bodies, fixed or wandering; for subjects, such beings as exist below the moon, in the air or on the earth. The said magistrates, however, in his view14 have not unconditional powers, but are lieutenants of the one Father of All, and it is by copying the example of His government exercised according to law and justice over all created beings that they acquit themselves aright; but those who do not descry the Charioteer mounted above attribute the causation of all the events in the universe to the team that draw the chariot as though they were sole agents.
Perhaps the conclusion of the Decalogue helps demonstrate once and for all that Yahweh is second god, the ruler of the world:Ταύτην τὴν εὐγένειαν οὐ μόνον θεοφιλεῖς ἄνδρες ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναῖκες ἐζήλωσαν, ἀπομαθοῦσαι μὲν ἀμαθίαν τὴν σύντροφον περὶ τιμῆς τῶν χειροκμήτων, παιδευθεῖσαι δὲ τὴν περὶ μοναρχίας ἐπιστήμην, ᾗ[221] μοναρχεῖται ὁ κόσμος. Θάμαρ ἦν τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Παλαιστίνης Συρίας γύναιον, ἐν οἰκίᾳ καὶ πόλει τραφὲν πολυθέῳ γεμούσῃ ξοάνων καὶ ἀγαλμάτων καὶ συνόλως ἀφιδρυμάτων. ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ καθάπερ ἐκ σκότους βαθέος ἐδυνήθη βραχεῖαν αὐγὴν ἀληθείας ἰδεῖν, θανάτου κινδύνῳ πρὸς εὐσέβειαν ηὐτομόλησεν ὀλίγα φροντίσασα τοῦ ζῆν, εἰ μὴ μέλλοι καλῶς ζῆν· τὸ δὲ καλῶς ἀνέφερεν ἐπ' οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ τὴν θεραπείαν καὶ [222] ἱκεσίαν τοῦ ἑνὸς αἰτίου.
This nobleness has been an object of desire not only to God-loving men, but likewise to women, who have discarded the ignorance in which they have been bred up, which taught them to honour, as deities, creatures made with hands, and have learnt instead that knowledge of there being only one supreme Ruler of the universe, by whom the whole world is governed and regulated; (221) for Tamar was a woman from Syria Palestina, who had been bred up in her own native city, which was devoted to the worship of many gods, being full of statues, and images, and, in short, of idols of every kind and description. But when she, emerging, as it were, out of profound darkness, was able to see a slight beam of truth, she then, at the risk of her life, exerted all her energies to arrive at piety, caring little for life if she could not live virtuously; and living virtuously was exactly identical with living for the service of and in constant supplication to the one true God.
Clearly Philo has stolen this motif from the Greek poets where Δίκη, the Divine Justice or Law, is ever sitting on the right hand of Jove and sharing his throne. Hesiod tells us that she watches and judges 'gift-eating' or 'bribe-swallowing' lords who use their judicial prerogatives to exploit the peasantry by means of 'crooked' judgments. Dike ̄, Hesiod warns, will make sure that the crooked lords get their come-uppance. The poet, to be sure, is not calling for a peasant revolt, but he is certainly doing something of great conceptual significance. He is proposing a concept of justice that stands apart from the jurisdiction of the lords, a standard against which they and their judgments can and must themselves be judged.The first table of five, then, is completed in these commandments, exhibiting a comprehensive character; but of the special and particular laws the number is very great. Of the second table, the first commandment is that against adulterers, under which many other commands are conveyed by implication, such as that against seducers, that against practisers of unnatural crimes, that against all who live in debauchery, that against all men who indulge in illicit and incontinent connections; (169) but the lawgiver has set down all the different species of such intemperance, not for the sake of exhibiting its manifold, and diverse, and ever-changing varieties, but in order to cause those who live in an unseemly manner to show most evident signs of depression and shame, drinking in with their ears all the reproaches heaped together which they incur, and which may well make them blush. (170) The second brief commandment, the prohibition of slaying men, is that under which are implied all those necessary and most universally advantageous laws, relating to acts of violence, to insults, to assaults, to wounds, to mutilation. (171) The third, that which forbids stealing, is the one under cover of which are enacted all the regulations which have been laid down, respecting the repudiation of debts, and those who deny what has been deposited with them, and who form unhallowed partnerships, and indulge in shameless acts of rapine, and, in short, in any kind of covetousness by which some person are induced, either openly or secretly to appropriate the possessions of others. (172) The fourth, that which is concerning the duty of not bearing false witness, is one under which many other prohibitions are conveyed, such as that of not deceiving, of not bringing false accusations, of not co-operating with those who are committing sin, of not making a pretence of good faith a cloak for faithlessness; for all which objects suitable laws have been enacted. (173) The fifth is that which cuts off desire, the fountain of all iniquity, from which flow all the most unlawful actions, whether of individuals or of states, whether important or trivial, whether sacred or profane, whether they relate to one's life and soul, or to what are called external things; for, as I have said before, nothing ever escapes desire, but, like a fire in a wood, it proceeds onward, consuming and destroying everything; (174) and there are a great many subordinate sins, which are prohibited likewise under this commandment, for the sake of correcting those persons who cheerfully receive admonitions, and of chastising those stubborn people who devote their whole lives to the indulgence of passion.
XXXIII. (175) I have now spoken in this manner, at sufficient length, concerning the second table of five commandments, which make up the whole number of ten, which God himself promulgated with the dignity befitting their holy character; for it was suitable to his own nature to promulgate in his own person the heads and principles of all particular laws, but to send forth the particular and special laws by the most perfect of the prophets, whom he selected for his preeminent excellence, and filled with his divine spirit, and then appointed to be the interpreter of his holy oracles. (176) After having explained these matters, let us now proceed to relate the cause for which God, having pronounced these ten commandments or laws, in simple injunctions and prohibitions, appointed no punishment for those who should violate them, as lawgivers usually do. The reason is this: he was God, and being so he was at once the good Lord, the cause of good alone, and of no evil; (177) therefore, thinking it most appropriate to his own nature to deliver saving commands unalloyed, and partaking of no punishment, so that no one yielding to a foolish counsellor might accidentally choose what is best, but might do so from wise consideration and of his own deliberate purpose, he did not think fit to give his oracles to mankind in connection with any denunciation of punishment; not because he meant to give immunity to transgressors, but because he knew that justice was sitting by him, and surveying all human affairs, and that she would never rest, as being by nature a hater of evil and looking upon the chastisement of sinners as her own most appropriate task. (178) For it is proper for all the ministers and lieutenants of God, just as for generals in war, to put in practice severe punishments against those deserters, who forsake the ranks of the just one; but it becomes the great King, that general safety should be ascribed to him, as preserving the universe in peace, and giving at all times, to all people, in all riches and abundance, all the blessings of peace: for, in truth, God is the president of peace, but his subordinate ministers are the chiefs of war.
But the point still certain is that Philo understands that the first tablet inscribed with the first five commandments represents Yahweh's rules. While he does not specifically identify the second set of commandments with the second power, this will become clearer when we take a closer look. Kensky notes that the pattern of two powers pervades the Pentateuch:
Kensky ignored Philo as preceding the rabbinic conception but still it is at least a recognition - perhaps intuitively - of what also appears in Philo - namely that the two powers somehow correspond to the two tablets.Only an understanding of the divine courtroom as a deeply ingrained feature of the religious imagination of ancient Israel can reveal the importance of these texts. One such example occurs on Mount Sinai. Having displayed extraordinary boldness before God, advocating for Israel after the Golden Calf, Moses insists that God show him his ways, so that he may know him (Ex 33:13). The request to know "your ways" is nothing less than a desire to penetrate the workings of the divine mind, to understand the process of divine decision making, to perceive how God functions. After some negotiation, God acquiesces, and makes the following proclamation to Moses: "YHWH, YHWH, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, full of hesed and truth. Bearing hesed for thousands, bearing iniquity, and transgression, and sin. But he shall surely not wipe clean, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, to the third and fourth generation" (Ex 34:6-7). These attributes become central in later rabbinic depictions of the divine courtroom, as they are figured as full fledged beings, the Attribute(s) of Mercy and the Attribute(s) of Justice, arguing it out for preeminence before God in the divine judicial system. It is not an accident that Moses has the two tablets of stone when he receives this revelation. The attributes are intricately bound up with the covenant, taken as representing a promise from God that he will continue to function in this manner with relation to the people of Israel. https://books.google.com/books?id=SJxhm ... MQ6AEIKTAA
I can't locate a specifically ancient witness to this idea but the Zohar emphasizes that all of the Ten Words could be seen on the right tablet and were given by God's right hand (Deut. 33.2), and hence this shows that the left, the side of power/justice, corresponding to Geburah, the fifth sephirah, is incorporated within and tempered by the right, the side of mercy corresponding to Hesed, the fourth sephirah.
The Zohar invokes the rabbinic tradition that the Torah was written with black fire on white fire to make a similar point: the black fire represents power (Geburah) and the white fire mercy (Hesed), and thus the left and right were united, with justice tempered by mercy.Because from these two tablets, Moses gave the Torah to Yisrael, NAMELY BlNAH AND MALCHUT. THE RIGHT TABLET IS BlNAH, AND THE LEFT IS MALCHUT, CORRESPONDING TO THE TWO eyes.