First there is the oral Torah as communicated by Hashem to Moshe and then passed on to the people. This follows from the initial ascent up Sinai wherein Moshe descends and passes on the information.
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Shemos 24:3. So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances, and all the people answered in unison and said, "All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do."
The people after hearing these words of Torah assent to their duties in relationship to Torah.
Shemos 24:4. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and he arose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and twelve monuments for the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now Moshe has the written document of Torah set out before him after which he makes the altar and the monuments.
All of this takes place prior to the actual inscription in stone up on the mountain. The people have heard the Torah and now have a record for all time of its sayings. When Moshe goes up the mountain and inscribes the Torah it is almost as though he has a certificate of real estate that once signed by both parties now has to be sealed in the county clerk's office to be made a part of the permanent record.
This is similar operation to the way that Consciousness processes its information. First there is the revelation on high which is then passed on through orally via our conscious thoughts. Then once we have this highest idea we may then attempt to ground it as in the altars that Moshe places for the twelve tribes. Following the grounding of the idea the connection is established and its certainty (of the idea) is reinforced on high. (inscribed now within our deepest thoughts)
Shemos 24:7. And he took the Book of the Covenant and read it within the hearing of the people, and they said, "All that the Lord spoke we will do and we will hear."
Following the animal sacrifices which is a further evidence of the grounding even to the deepest level of the blood sprinkled on the altar Moshe reads from the Book of the Covenant. There you have it. The people have the Torah.
There however, seems to be something of a time break here. It is almost as though this Book of the Covenant were always there and then due to the sudden elevation of the people from their deliverance from Egypt they are now able to comprehend it and with a free will assent to its demands.
What the Covenant does is presuppose the existence of this book when the Covenant is first mentioned to Abraham. It is a document both oral and written although perhaps it was only an oral tradition until Moshe writes it down.
Within Consciousness the Covenant signifies the agreement we have to constantly seek our higher source with the understanding that as we do so this higher source comes closer to us in the same steps to come and meet us where we are. When we are studying these words of Torah we always must keep in mind both their local significance and their universal meanings for us to awaken those higher centers of awareness accessible to us. May it always be so. B"H.
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