Deuteronomy 10. New Tablets of Stone

New Tablets of Stone

 “At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. ² And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’ ³ So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. ⁴ And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments  that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. And there they are, as the Lord commanded me.”

• God tells Moses to carve two new stone tablets like the first ones (which Moses broke out of anger seeing Israel sin).
  • See Exodus 34
  • They were not given ‘new laws’, simply restating the original laws of the covenant.
• Moses also builds an ark to hold them
  • This could be the ark built in Exodus 35 by Bezalel and Oholiab
  • Others have suggested he had a temporary one built.

⁶ (The people of Israel journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried. And his son Eleazar ministered as priest in his place. ⁷ From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water. ⁸ At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day. ⁹ Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God said to him.)

• Brief travel notes and the Levites
  • Mentions the journey of Israel, Aaron’s death, and Eleazar becoming high priest.
    • The travel journey mentioned here is in a different order of Numbers 33
    • These locations would probably be between the #s 11 and 14 on map below, but we are unsure of their exact locations
    • Numbers 20 and 33 say that Aaron died at Mt. Hor, where now it says he died at Moserah. Perhaps Moserah was an area that included Mt. Hor
  • The Levites are set apart to carry the ark and serve the Lord, and they will not receive land because the Lord is their inheritance.

¹⁰ “I myself stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you. ¹¹ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go on your journey at the head of the people, so that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them.’

• Israel was spared by God, and He kept His covenant to them.

Circumcise Your Heart

¹² “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? ¹⁴ Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. ¹⁵ Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. ¹⁶ Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. 

• A call to Israel:
  • Fear the Lord
  • walk in His ways
  • love Him
  • serve Him
  • keep His commands.
• Verse 16: Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. Now isn’t that a verse! God wants not just outward transformation but inward as well.

¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. ¹⁸ He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. ²¹ He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. ²² Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

• God is the God of gods, shows no partiality, and loves the foreigner.
• Israel is reminded of God’s multiplying them from 70 people to a great nation.
  • Genesis 15:5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Deuteronomy 10:22