Here are two mahogany drop leaf tables; the more circular of the two being a sort of pie crust table and the other, a gate leg table.
I have been unable to find any specific maker information about either table as of yet, but the craftsmen left several clues to the tables’ ages in some of their techniques.
For example, here is a mortise (rectangular or square slot) that was made by first drilling out the bulk of the waste and then paring down the sides with a chisel to create a crisp and clean mortise.
Here is a closeup of the checked (cracked) shellac with the detail of the mahogany beneath.
These two tables share a video and a post because they were refinished simultaneously for the same customer. However, about 3400 years ago, there was much ado over two other very important tables.
The King James Bible speaks about two stone tables that Moses was commanded to give to the Israelites. If you are not familiar with the King James Bible, you might know these as the two “tablets” upon which, God wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger.
(Exodus 24:12-13) “¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. {13} And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.”
(Exodus 31:18) “¶ And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”
(Exodus 32:16) “And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.”
While Moses was up on the mountain, however, the people grew impatient. He had been up there for so long that the people thought that something must have happened to him. They took all of their golden earrings from out of their ears, gathered them up and brought them to Moses’ brother Aaron. They melted it all down and made a golden calf, built it an altar and made offerings before it. (Exodus 32:1-6)
God saw what the people had done and was furious and was going to destroy them all, but Moses reminded God of His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Israel (Jacob) to multiply the people into a great nation and convinced God to withhold His wrath. Instead, Moses stood among his people and called for those who were still on the Lord’s side to come and stand with him. Then Moses had everyone who persisted in the idolatry killed. Three thousand were killed that day. (Exodus 32:7-29)
In the midst of that chaos, Moses, in his anger, broke the tables that God had given him:
(Exodus 32:19-20) “¶ And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. {20} And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.”
Moses spoke with God again and was called back to the mountain and God would write his commandments on two new tables. It’s interesting to note that Moses went up empty handed the first time, but since he broke the first set of tables, God required him to hew out two new stone tables himself to replace the ones he broke in anger.
(Exodus 34:1) “And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.”
(Exodus 34:28) “And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.”
While Moses was with God in the mount, God walked past Moses and allowed him to look upon Him as He passed by. When Moses came down again, he wasn’t even aware that the skin on his own face was shining. God is so magnificently beautiful, that just looking upon the back of Him caused Moses to radiate. It actually frightened the people and Moses chose to wear a veil on his face until the glowing subsided.
(Exodus 34:29) “¶ And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.”
The people now had a formal, written law and a covenant with God. However, about 1400 years later, a new covenant would be created and God would no longer use stone tables on which to write His law. He would write His law into our very hearts; the tables of our hearts.
(2 Corinthians 3:3) “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”
(Hebrews 10:16-17) “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; {17} And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
When you believe on Jesus Christ, your sins and your iniquities will be forgotten! Because Christ accepted responsibility for all of our sins, when God looks at us, He sees us as guiltless as His Son.
Sincerely and respectfully,
Mr. Stafford
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