Rabbi Tachanah said: The tables (of the Law) were not created out of the earth but out of the heavens, the handicraft of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "And the tables, the work of God were they" (Ex. 32:16). They are the tables which were of old, "and the writing" was divine writing; that was the writing which was of old, "graven upon the tables." Do not read Charuth, "graven," but (read) Chêruth, "liberty."
When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: "Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first" (Ex. 34:1), a quarry of sapphires was created for Moses in the midst of his tent, and he cut them out (thence), as it is said, "And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first" (Ex. 34:4). Moses descended with the tables, and spent forty days on the mountain, sitting down before the Holy One, blessed be He, like a disciple who is sitting before his teacher, reading the Written Law, and repeating the Oral Law which he had learnt.