In the Mount, Moses was directed to make a portable sanctuary on the model of actual arrangements which he was shown. “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it” (Exod. xxv. 8, 9). “And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the Mount” (Exod. xxvi. 30). “Hollow with boards shalt thou make it; as it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it” (Exod. xxvii. 8). The furniture included an ark or chest, which contained a vase and two stones, _i.e._ the standards of capacity and weight, and the “mercy seat” which was upon the ark (Exod. xxv. 17). There was also a standard of length, perhaps the rod of Aaron. The strict adherence to these standards was henceforth a matter of religious duty with the Israelites. “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have” (Lev. xix. 35, 36). These standards were of Babylonian origin, and confirm the presence in the Mount of strong Semitic influence. The ark further contained the two tables of testimony, which were cut in stone, but which were so brittle that they easily broke, whereupon Moses engaged to provide others (Exod. xxiv. 12; xxxii. 19; xxxiv. 1; Deut. x. 1). The commandments which they contained consisted, for the most part, of a prohibition that was followed by a precept. In this they resemble the commandments that have come out of Babylonia, which contain precepts such as these, “Thou shalt not slander, speak what is pure. Thou shalt not speak evil, speak kindly.”[106] The tablets were in the “writing of God” (Exod. xxxii. 16), which raises the question as to the language and script that were used. Moses, as we know, was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts vii. 22). He was certainly familiar with hieroglyphs, and the fact that the commandments were preserved in two texts that differ (Exod. xx; Deut. v.), suggests that they were written in a language that was not Hebrew. But the discovery of a primitive Semitic script at Serabit itself, puts a different complexion on the matter. The “writing of God” was possibly a Semitic script.