Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy 9:17/אור החיים על דברים ט׳:י״ז

1 ואתפש בשני הלחות ואשלכם, "and I took hold of the two Tablets and I flung them, etc." Why did Moses have to mention that "he took hold" of something which was already in his hands? Perhaps as long as the Israelites had not yet been guilty of sin the Tablets were suspended in the air slightly above Moses' hands so that he could not actually touch them. This may be what is meant when we were told in verse 16: "and the two Tablets of the covenant "were above my two hands." Moses had not said that the two Tablets were "in his hands." They seemed to carry themselves. Once Moses espied the golden calf, the Tablets lost their holiness so that Moses had to "take hold of them" with his hands.