Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 32:15

"And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand; tables that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written." — Exodus 32:15 (ASV)

THE DESCENT OF MOSES FROM SINAI, AND THE SUPPRESSION OF THE IDOLATRY.

And Moses turned — that is, “returned,” or “set out on his return,” apparently without making any communication to Joshua, who was waiting for him not far off .

The two tables ... were in his hand. —In Deuteronomy 9:15 we read that the two tables were in his “two hands,” which is more exact, and more as we should have expected.

The tables were written on both their sides. —Babylonian tablets and Assyrian monoliths usually have writing on both sides, Egyptian monoliths rarely. It has been calculated that the 172 words of the Decalogue could easily have been inscribed in letters of a fair size on the four surfaces indicated, if the tablets were 27 inches long by 18 inches broad, and that two tablets of this size could readily have been conveyed in a man’s two hands (Keil).