DEUTERONOMY 10 COMMENTARY

EDITED BY GLENN PEASE

Tablets Like the First Ones

1 At that time the Lord said to me, Chisel out

two stone tablets like the first ones and come up

to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden

ark.[a]

BARNES, "These verses are closely connected with the preceding chapter, and state very briefly the results of the intercession of Moses recorded in Deu_9:25-29. The people are reminded that all their blessings and privileges, forfeited by apostasy as soon as bestowed, were only now their own by a new and most unmerited act of grace on the part of God, won from Him by the self-sacrificing mediation of Moses himself Deu_10:10.

Deu_10:1-5. The order for making the ark and tabernacle was evidently given before the apostasy of the people (Exo. 25ff); but the tables were not put in the ark until the completion and dedication of the tabernacle Exo. 40. But here as elsewhere (compare the Deu_9:1 note) Moses connects transactions closely related to each other and to his purpose without regard to the order of occurrence.

CLARKE, "Hew thee two tables of stone - See the notes on Exo_34:1.

GILL, "At that time the Lord said unto me,.... On the fortieth day, mentioned in the preceding chapter, as Aben Ezra, or at the end of forty days, as Jarchi; not of the first forty, for then were given him the first two tables of stone, with the law written on them, which he broke when he came down; but at the end of the second forty days, as some think, when he had fallen before the Lord, and entreated him for the people, and, as a token of his reconciliation to them, gave the following order:

hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, &c. Of the same sort of stone, of the same size and form with those God gave him in the mount the first time he was there, and which he broke in his descent from thence; they were the work of God, but these were to be hewed by Moses: the order seems to be given between the request Moses made to see the glory of the Lord, and the proclamation made of it, see Exo_34:1, and come up unto me into the mount; Mount Sinai; this was certainly the third

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time of his going up there, and where he continued forty days and nights; but whether he continued there so long the second time may be a matter of question, though he certainly did the third time; see Exo_32:30.

and make thee an ark of wood; Jarchi thinks this was not the ark Bezaleel made, but made after, and is that which went out to battle; and some take it to be a temporary ark, made for the present purpose till that was finished; but Aben Ezra is of opinion it is the same that Bezaleel made: and it may be said to be made by Moses, because he was not only ordered to make it, but it was by his orders and the direction he gave to Bezaleel that it was made; and this seems the more probable, because there the tables remained, Deu_10:5.

HENRY 1-5, "There were four things in and by which God showed himself reconciled to Israel and made them truly great and happy, and in which God's goodness took occasion from their badness to make him the more illustrious: -

I. He gave them his law, gave it to them in writing, as a standing pledge of his favour. Though the tables that were first written were broken, because Israel had broken the commandments, and God might justly break the covenant, yet when his anger was turned away the tables were renewed, Deu_10:1, Deu_10:2. Note, God's putting his law in our reconciliation to God and the best earnest of our happiness in him. Moses is told to hew the tables; for the law prepares the heart by conviction and humiliation for the grace of God, but it is only that grace that then writes the law in it. Moses made an ark of shittim-wood (Deu_10:3), a plain chest, the same, I suppose, in which the tables were afterwards preserved: but Bezaleel is said to make it (Exo_37:1), because he afterwards finished it up and overlaid it with gold. Or Moses is said to make it because, when he went up the second time into the mount, he ordered it to be made by Bezaleel against he came down. And it is observable that for this reason the ark was the first thing that God gave orders about, Exo_25:10. And this left an earnest to the congregation that the tables should not miscarry this second time, as they had done the first. God will send his law and gospel to those whose hearts are prepared as arks to receive them. Christ is the ark in which now our salvation is kept safely, that it may not be lost as it was in the first Adam, when he had it in his own hand. Observe, 1. What it was that God wrote on the two tables, the ten commandments (Deu_10:4), or ten words, intimating in how little a compass they were contained: they were not ten volumes, but ten words: it was the same with the first writing, and both the same that he spoke in the mount. The second edition needed no correction nor amendment, nor did what he wrote differ form what he spoke. The written word is as truly the word of God as that which he spoke to his servants the prophets. 2. What care was taken of it. These two tables, thus engraven, were faithfully laid up in the ark. And there they be, said Moses, pointing it is probable towards the sanctuary, Deu_10:5. That good thing which was committed to him he transmitted to them, and left it pure and entire in their hands; now let them look to it at their peril. Thus we may say to the rising generation, God has entrusted us with Bibles, sabbaths, sacraments, etc., as tokens of his presence and favour, and there they be; we lodge them with you, 2Ti_1:13, 2Ti_1:14.

JAMISON, Deu_10:1-22. Gods mercy in restoring the two Tables.At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like

unto the first It was when God had been pacified through the intercessions of Moses with the people who had so greatly offended Him by the worship of the golden calf. The obedient leader executed the orders he had received as to the preparation

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both of the hewn stones, and the ark or chest in which those sacred archives were to be laid.

CALVIN, 1.At that time the Lord said unto me He had had intercourse with the

people for some time, before he returned into the mount with the second tables;

and therefore he now begins to relate more fully what he had already mentioned

in the inverted order of time, i.e., that he stayed in the mount forty days to make

entreaty for them. And this also the repetition in the 10th verse more clearly

demonstrates, where he says, that he stayed in the mount according (393) to the

first days. But, although he there says that he was hearkened to when he

interceded in the mount, still he includes the prayers which he had previously

offered when he heard of the peoples revolt, and after he had broken the tables

and taken away Gods tabernacle, in which he prayed apart to obtain pardon for

their sin. What is also here said respecting the ark is not in its proper place; for it

was a part of the tabernacle, as we have elsewhere seen. It is, therefore, exacting

too much to require that the things which are related together, should be

referred to the same instant of time.

COFFMAN, "The paramount event in these words is that Moses' intercession

prevailed. God gave commandment to hew out other tables and wrote upon them

the ten commandments."[1] Since the tabernacle and all of its elaborate

furniture had not at this time been erected, some scholars have trouble with the

mention here of that ark, into which Moses was to place the tables. Several

plausible explanations of this are available, as follows:

(a) Alexander supposed that the placing of the tables in the ark did not occur

until LATER, after the tabernacle and its furnishing had been completed. He

wrote: "But, as all those things were closely connected, Moses mentions them

here together without regard to the chronology."[2] This is indeed a logical and

reasonable view, and it could certainly be correct.

(b) Jamieson, however, thought than in anticipation of the event of receiving the

new tables, Moses instructed Bezaleel to make the ark and have it ready when he

returned from the mount. "Most probably Moses gave these instructions to

Bezaleel BEFORE he ascended the mount, that upon his descent the ark might

be ready to receive the precious deposit."[3] This also is an adequate and

reasonable explanation. No one can prove that this is not exactly what happened.

(c) However, it appears to us that a better explanation is that this ark which

Moses individually himself prepared was a TEMPORARY ARK which served

until the more elaborate gold-crowned ark could be prepared later. The fact of

Moses being commanded directly, not merely to hew the tables, but to make the

ark (Deuteronomy 10:1) tells us that Moses himself, not Bezaleel, was to make

this one. It will be remembered that Moses' dwelling place, "his tent," was the

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substitute for the real "tent of meeting" during this period when the covenant

was broken and had not been renewed. Significantly, it stood outside the camp of

Israel, and not within it. (See Exodus 33:7ff and my comments in Vol. 2 of this

series of commentaries). Since the Scriptures declare plainly that Moses made

this ark, and that Bezaleel made the other one. This writer believes that there

were indeed two arks, this one mentioned here being a SUBSTITUTE until the

glorious one might be prepared later. It is mandatory to remember in

researching questions of this type that the Word of God gives only a summary of

all that was done, and that many of the details are hidden forever. Certainly, we

are justified in rejecting the arbitrary conclusions of critics who promptly make

a contradiction out of these verses, and from this, declare that "Deuteronomy

and Exodus are by `different authors,' Exodus by `P' and Deuteronomy by

`JE.'"[4]

"The purpose of these first five verses is, "To state in a comprehensive and

general way that God had mercifully reaffirmed the covenant with the rebellious

vassals, and Moses included the matter of the ark as a familiar and integral

element in the standard ratification procedure."[5] This very important

consideration is missed altogether by earlier writers. Wright, for example, could

see nothing in this except a purpose "to freshen the peoples' historical

memory."[6] The correspondence of this with "contemporary international

suzerainty treaties, the same being in accordance with the legal customs of that

era, etc."[7] is of very great significance, because it is also the basis of clearing up

the mystery of Deuteronomy 10:6,7, which have troubled scholars for a century.

ELLICOTT, (1) At that time the Lord said unto me.The forty days of

intercession alluded to in the previous chapter followed this command (Exodus

34:28).

Hew thee two tables of stone . . . and make thee an ark.The command to make

the ark was given in the former period of forty days (Exodus 25:10); the

command to hew the two tables was given after Moses had seen the glory of God

(Exodus 33) from the cleft in the rock, but before the forty days spent in

intercession. Rashi, the Jewish commentator, thinks there were two arks: one to

go out to war, and the other to remain in the tabernacle. But there is no

foundation for this statement. There may, of course, have been a temporary

receptacle for the tables made by Moses (like the temporary tabernacle

mentioned in Exodus 33:7), to receive them until the completion of the ark which

Bezaleel was to make. This was not put in hand until after Moses descended with

the second pair of tables. (See Exodus 35 &c.)

CONSTABLE, Verses 1-11, God renewed the broken covenant with Israel

because of Moses' intercession, not because Israel deserved it. Moses made the

ark (Deuteronomy 10:3) in the sense that he directed Bezalel to make it (cf.

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Exodus 25:10; Exodus 37:1). "Ark" was a common English word for box, chest,

or basket in seventeenth-century England, and most modern English translations

still use this old word. Other evidences of God's grace were His appointment of

another high priest when Aaron died (Deuteronomy 10:6) and His provision of

water in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 10:7). Moserah (Deuteronomy 10:6;

Numbers 33:31) may be another name for Mt. Hor (Numbers 33:38), the district

in which Mt. Hor stood, or Moserah may not be a place name at all but a

common noun (Heb. mosera, "chastisement") indicating the reason for Aaron's

death rather than the site. [Note: See R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old

Testament, p. 511.] God also set apart the tribe of Levi as priests even though the

nation had failed in its calling as a kingdom of priests (Deuteronomy 10:8-9).

Furthermore He permitted the disobedient people to proceed on to the Promised

Land (Deuteronomy 10:11). Again the order of events is logical rather than

chronological.

Excessive self-reliance (ch. 8) and self-importance (Deuteronomy 9:1 to

Deuteronomy 10:11) would erode Israel's proper concept of God. The people

would regard God as less than He was. This is a violation of the third

commandment (Deuteronomy 5:11) that aims at keeping man's view of God's

reputation (name) consistent with His character.

LANGE, 1At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like

unto the first, and come up into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood 2 And

I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou

brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark 3 And I made an ark of shittim

[acacia] wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into

the mount, having [and] the two tables in mine hand 4 And he wrote on the

tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments [words] which the

Lord spake unto you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, in [at] the day of

the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me 5 And I turned myself and came

down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there

they be, as the Lord commanded me 6 And the children of Israel took their

journey from Beeroth [the wells] of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there

Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the

priests office [became priest] in his stead 7 From thence they journeyed unto

Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters 8 At that

time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the

Lord, to stand before [the face of] the Lord to minister unto him, and to bless in

his name, unto this day 9 Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his

brethren; the Lord [he] is his inheritance, according as the Lord thy God

promised him 10 And I stayed [stood] in the mount, according to the first time

[as the first days] forty days and forty nights; and the Lord hearkened unto me

at that time also, and [omit and] the Lord would not destroy thee 11 And the

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Lord said unto me, Arise, take thy journey [go to depart] before the people, that

they may go in and possess the land which I sware unto their fathers to give unto

them 12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but [than

only] to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to

serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart [with thy whole heart], and with all thy

soul 13 To keep the commandments [commandment] of the Lord, and his

statutes, which I command thee this day for 14 thy good? Behold,[FN1] the

heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lords thy God, the earth also [omit

also], with all that therein is. [Still] 15Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers

to love them, and he [omit he] chose their seed after them, 16even you above [out

of] all people, as it is this day. Circumcise therefore [And so circumcise] the

foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked 17 For the Lord your God is

God of gods [he is the God of gods] and [the] Lord of lords, a great God [the

God, the great] a [the] mighty, and a [the] terrible, which regardeth not persons,

nor taketh reward: 18He doth execute the judgment[FN2] of the fatherless and

widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving [to give] him food and raiment 19 Love

ye therefore [And so love ye] the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of

Egypt 20 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him 21

shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God,

that hath done for thee these great and terrible things [deeds] which thine eyes

have seen 22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with three-score and ten persons

[with seventy souls]; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of

heaven for multitude.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Deuteronomy 10:1-5. At that time ( Deuteronomy 10:1) is generally to be

understood of the time at Horeb, which is the fundamental reference in this

section ( Deuteronomy 9:8). This more general interpretation corresponds to the

whole method of the discourse, which is not chronological, but rhetorical, and

pre-supposes with respect to the more exact chronological sequences the

narrative in Exodus. According to this, the time fixed falls before the beginning

of the forty days and nights ( Exodus 34:1) thus before Deuteronomy 9:25;

Deuteronomy 9:18. All that lies between, was briefly hinted in Deuteronomy

9:19, since all there depends upon the close of the intercession of Moses, the

renewing of the covenant, the new tables of the law, and indeed as the result of

the Mosaic intercession. (That with the forty days the time, first below in the

camp, at last above on the mount, is intended (Knobel); as a round number

(Schultz), is as unnecessary as it is to explain in that time by the intercessory

prayer. Keil). The mention of the ark, whose preparation had been commanded,

Exodus 25:10, indeed before the first tables, declares already according to the

actual connection here, the grace to Israel in reference to the erection of the

sanctuary, as one enduring and realizing itself in the dwelling of Jehovah with

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Israel. Thus also in Deuteronomy 10:2, with which comp. Exodus 34:1. The

carrying out of that which was commanded, Exodus 25, and here merely

renewed with respect to the ark, Deuteronomy 10:3, involves no difficulty, for

Exodus 37:1 does not exclude the idea that Bezaleel applied himself to the

complicated work immediately upon the declaration of Moses. [And if this were

not Song of Solomon, the apparent diversities between the account in Exodus

and the statement here are all easily and naturally explained upon the

supposition that Moses groups events here with reference to the impression he

wished to make, and without reference to the order of time in which they

occurred. These very differences may be fairly urged as proofs of the Mosaic

authorship.A. G.] Deuteronomy 10:4. Comp. Deuteronomy 9:10. Deuteronomy

10:5 as Deuteronomy 9:15. And put, sq. ( Exodus 40:20), parallel to the solemn

utterance

PETT, Introductory.

Part 1 of the commentary contained the first speech of Moses which proclaimed

the recent history of Israel under the hand of Yahweh, demonstrating why they

had reason to be grateful to Him, and finishing with a reminder of how

gloriously and fearsomely the covenant had been given and an exhortation to

keep the covenant requirements and remember Who had given them. From

Deuteronomy 4:44 to Deuteronomy 29:1 this is followed by the central renewal of

the covenant in Moses second speech, commencing with a renewed description

of the giving of the covenant (Deuteronomy 5), followed by the basic principles

lying behind the covenant (chapters 5-11), more detailed regulations (chapters

12-26), the requirement that the covenant be recorded in writing at Shechem

(where Abraham first built an altar when entering the land and received his first

theophany in the land) as confirmed by all the elders (Deuteronomy 27:1-8), the

acknowledgement of it by the priesthood along with Moses as witnesses to it

(Deuteronomy 27:9-10), and the applying to it of curses and blessings (chapters

Deuteronomy 27:11 to Deuteronomy 29:1).

This section of the commentary will cover chapters 5-11, but these chapters must

be seen as part of the greater whole to Deuteronomy 29:1, as incorporated in the

whole book.

The Covenant Stipulations - the Basic Underlying Principles (chapters

Deuteronomy 4:45 to Deuteronomy 11:32).

This introductory section begins the second section of the book which consists

mainly of a proclamation of general basic principles related to the fulfilment of

the covenant (chapters 5-11). This is then followed by a detailed review of the

statutes and ordinances which have been spoken of previously, but with special

reference to their applicability to the people and mainly ignoring priestly activity

(chapters 12-26). It is popular Law. In this second section Moses once again

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makes clear the demands that Yahweh is making on His people as a response to

what He has done for them. But he will begin it by repeating, with minor

alterations, the covenant made at Horeb, at Mount Sinai. Thus he declares that

covenant in chapter 5 almost word for word, although slightly revised in order to

bring out new emphases. This is then followed chapter by chapter by the

requirements that Yahweh is laying on them as a response to His covenant love.

In 6-11 he first deals with the basic principles involved, and then in chapters

12-26 moves on to the specific detailed requirements. This is a pattern typical of

ancient treaty covenants.

Central to all the chapters are the ideas of how they must obey His

commandment, His statutes and His ordinances that He might bless them in all

they do (Deuteronomy 5:1; Deuteronomy 5:29; Deuteronomy 5:31-33;

Deuteronomy 6:1-3; Deuteronomy 6:6-8; Deuteronomy 6:17-18; Deuteronomy

6:24-25; Deuteronomy 7:11-12; Deuteronomy 8:1; Deuteronomy 8:6;

Deuteronomy 8:11; Deuteronomy 10:13; Deuteronomy 11:1; Deuteronomy 11:8;

Deuteronomy 11:13; Deuteronomy 11:22; Deuteronomy 11:27; Deuteronomy

11:32); of how the reason that they are being blessed is not for their own sakes,

but because of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Deuteronomy 6:10;

Deuteronomy 6:18; Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 7:13; Deuteronomy 8:1;

Deuteronomy 8:18; Deuteronomy 9:5; Deuteronomy 9:27; Deuteronomy 10:15;

Deuteronomy 11:9); of how they must remember Yahweh their God Who has

mightily delivered them from Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:6; Deuteronomy 5:15;

Deuteronomy 6:12; Deuteronomy 6:21-23; Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 7:15;

Deuteronomy 7:18; Deuteronomy 8:14; Deuteronomy 9:26); of how He is

bringing them into a good and prosperous land where they will enjoy great

blessings (Deuteronomy 6:10-11; Deuteronomy 6:18; Deuteronomy 7:13-16;

Deuteronomy 8:7-10; Deuteronomy 8:12-13; Deuteronomy 11:10-12;

Deuteronomy 11:14-15), and of how they must then beware of turning to false

gods and false religion once they enter the land, and must rather totally destroy

them (Deuteronomy 5:8-9; Deuteronomy 6:14-15; Deuteronomy 7:4-5;

Deuteronomy 7:25-26; Deuteronomy 8:19; Deuteronomy 9:12; Deuteronomy

9:16; Deuteronomy 11:16; Deuteronomy 11:28).

These are the general emphases, but each chapter also has a particular emphasis.

Deuteronomy 6 stresses their need to love Yahweh, their covenant

Overlord, with all their beings (Deuteronomy 6:5), to fear Him (Deuteronomy

6:2; Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 6:24), and to teach their children His

instruction, and warns them that when they are prospering in the land they must

not forget what He has done for them. Their Overlord is calling His subjects to

love and obedience.

Deuteronomy 7 confirms Yahwehs elective covenant love for them

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(Deuteronomy 7:7-8; Deuteronomy 7:13) as His holy people, chosen and

treasured (Deuteronomy 7:6), and promises them that because of that love He

will bless them wonderfully, delivering the promised land into their hands. Here

He reveals why they should love Him and respond to Him, because He has first

loved them, and chosen them to be the recipients of His love with all its great

benefits.

Deuteronomy 8 reminds them of how they must remember and not forget

the past (Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:5; Deuteronomy 8:11; Deuteronomy

8:14; Deuteronomy 8:18), especially how He has looked after them in the

wilderness, with the promise that He is bringing them to a good and prosperous

land, and that once He has done so they must beware of self-glorification. Here

the details of His watch over them are laid out demonstrating the practicality of

His love.

Deuteronomy 9 exhorts them on this basis to go forward and cross the

Jordan knowing that Yahweh goes before them, while reminding them that their

success will not be because of their own righteousness, a fact which he then

demonstrates from their past history, reminding them how right from the very

beginning they had broken Gods covenant that He had made with them. Here

He emphasises how gracious He has been to them even though they had not been

fully faithful to His covenant. While they do not deserve His goodness, He is

pouring it on them anyway.

Deuteronomy 10 stresses that God then graciously renewed that covenant

which they had broken so quickly, and goes on to describe the greatness and

uniqueness of Yahweh their covenant God and Overlord. They must recognise

how good He has been to His erring subjects and take note of the fullness of His

glory, lest they again break His covenant with them.

Deuteronomy 11 urges them to learn from the past and go forward on the

basis of it, repeats the promises and warnings of the previous chapters,

constrains them to remember His words, and bear them about with them and

teach them to their children, and promises the good things to come, and the

certainty of their possession of the land because Yahweh is with them. It finally

concludes the section with the reminder of the blessings and cursings, which will

be solemnly applied on Mounts Gerizim and Ebal, which are by the oaks of

Moreh, that is, at Shechem, and says that which of these will come on them will

depend on whether they faithfully respond to His covenant or not. This

conclusion prepares the way for Deuteronomy 27, although meanwhile being

first of all preceded by the detailed stipulations of chapters 12-26.

So throughout these chapters the covenant is constantly stressed, a covenant

which is the result of His love for their fathers and for them and is their

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guarantee of the future as long as their response to it is full and complete.

Chapter 10 The Renewing of the Covenant and The Priesthood and the Servants

of the Tabernacle.

The covenant having been broken we come now to the renewing of the broken

covenant, followed by the renewal of the priesthood and the replacing of the

firstborn sons of failed Israel with the Levites who had proved their worth. The

first part of the chapter is a miscellany of different activities importantly

involved in the renewing of the broken covenant and the provision for its

protection once renewed. It includes the renewing of the priesthood and the

appointment of the Levites, put together in no particular chronological order in

a typical speech approach. The purpose was to indicate that the renewed

covenant was finally prepared, sealed, delivered and put under the direct

protection of Yahweh with the priesthood renewed and new servants appointed

for the Tabernacle. he is concerned with what happened, not the order in which

it happened.

These activities had involved the command to cut two tablets of stone like the

first which had been broken; the command to make the Ark for the purpose of

receiving the covenant so that it was under Yahwehs watchful eye; the fulfilling

of these commands; Moses entry into the Mount (which was how Mount Sinai

was now spoken of); Yahweh rewriting the ten words of the covenant; and

Moses return to Israel and the placing of the tablets in the Ark. This was then

followed by the dedication of Eliezer to minister before it and the appointment of

the Levites as its protectors. As a result of these things all would now be secure

for the future. It was the factual fulfilment which was important. The chronology

of when these things took place was irrelevant.

The total disregard for chronology comes out in that in verse 1 the command to

make the ark comes after the entry into the mount while in Deuteronomy 10:3 it

comes before, and in Deuteronomy 10:5 Moses returns from the Mount while in

verse 10 he is still there. This is typical of a speech when information from

various sources is being briefly amassed because of its content, and commented

on, when it is the total picture that matters. This is then followed by an

exhortation, which includes a call to prepare their hearts and a description of the

greatness of Yahweh.

It will immediately be noted that in Deuteronomy 10:1-3 certain extracts from

Exodus 32:1-4 are included, some cited exactly, and some paraphrased, with

additional comments made as Moses now felt appropriate so as to introduce the

fact of the Ark. Exodus 32:1 reads as follows, with the words cited here in

Deuteronomy in italics. Cut yourself two tablets of stone like to the first, and I

will write on the tablets the words which were on the first tablets which you

broke --- and come up in the morning into Mount Sinai ---and he cut two tablets

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of stone like to the first --- and he went up into Mount Sinai --- and he took in his

hand two tablets of stone. (The words in italics are cited exactly in

Deuteronomy, but with change of person between he and I in the last phrases).

Verses 1-5

Chapter 10 The Renewing of the Covenant and The Priesthood and the Servants

of the Tabernacle.

The covenant having been broken we come now to the renewing of the broken

covenant, followed by the renewal of the priesthood and the replacing of the

firstborn sons of failed Israel with the Levites who had proved their worth. The

first part of the chapter is a miscellany of different activities importantly

involved in the renewing of the broken covenant and the provision for its

protection once renewed. It includes the renewing of the priesthood and the

appointment of the Levites, put together in no particular chronological order in

a typical speech approach. The purpose was to indicate that the renewed

covenant was finally prepared, sealed, delivered and put under the direct

protection of Yahweh with the priesthood renewed and new servants appointed

for the Tabernacle. he is concerned with what happened, not the order in which

it happened.

These activities had involved the command to cut two tablets of stone like the

first which had been broken; the command to make the Ark for the purpose of

receiving the covenant so that it was under Yahwehs watchful eye; the fulfilling

of these commands; Moses entry into the Mount (which was how Mount Sinai

was now spoken of); Yahweh rewriting the ten words of the covenant; and

Moses return to Israel and the placing of the tablets in the Ark. This was then

followed by the dedication of Eliezer to minister before it and the appointment of

the Levites as its protectors. As a result of these things all would now be secure

for the future. It was the factual fulfilment which was important. The chronology

of when these things took place was irrelevant.

The total disregard for chronology comes out in that in Deuteronomy 10:1 the

command to make the ark comes after the entry into the mount while in

Deuteronomy 10:3 it comes before, and in Deuteronomy 10:5 Moses returns from

the Mount while in Deuteronomy 10:10 he is still there. This is typical of a speech

when information from various sources is being briefly amassed because of its

content, and commented on, when it is the total picture that matters. This is then

followed by an exhortation, which includes a call to prepare their hearts and a

description of the greatness of Yahweh.

It will immediately be noted that in Deuteronomy 10:1-3 certain extracts from

Exodus 32:1-4 are included, some cited exactly, and some paraphrased, with

additional comments made as Moses now felt appropriate so as to introduce the

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fact of the Ark. Exodus 32:1 reads as follows, with the words cited here in

Deuteronomy in italics. Cut yourself two tablets of stone like to the first, and I

will write on the tablets the words which were on the first tablets which you

broke --- and come up in the morning into Mount Sinai ---and he cut two tablets

of stone like to the first --- and he went up into Mount Sinai --- and he took in his

hand two tablets of stone. (The words in italics are cited exactly in

Deuteronomy, but with change of person between he and I in the last phrases).

The Re-establishing of the Covenant (Deuteronomy 10:1-5).

We may analyse this in the words of Moses as follows:

a At that time Yahweh said to me, Cut yourself two tablets of stone like to

the first, and come up to Me into the mount, and make yourself an ark of wood

(Deuteronomy 10:1).

b And I will write on the tablets the words which were on the first tablets

which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark (Deuteronomy 10:2).

c So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like to the

first,

c And I went up into the mount, having the two tablets in my hand

(Deuteronomy 10:3).

b And He wrote on the tablets, in accordance with the first writing, the ten

commandments, which Yahweh spoke to you all in the mount out of the midst of

the fire in the day of the gathering, and Yahweh gave them to me (Deuteronomy

10:4).

a And I turned and came down from the mount, and put the tablets in the

ark which I had made, and there they are as Yahweh commanded me

(Deuteronomy 10:5).

Note that in a he makes two tablets and a wooden chest as Yahweh tells him to,

and goes up into the Mount, and in the parallel he comes down from the Mount

and puts the tablets in the chest as Yahweh had commanded. In b Yahweh says

that He will write on the tablets what was on the first tablets, and in the parallel

He does so. In c he makes the chest and the two tablets, and in the parallel he

takes the two tablets which he has made up into the Mount.

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Deuteronomy 10:1-2

At that time Yahweh said to me, Cut yourself two tablets of stone like to the

first, and come up to me into the mount, and make yourself an ark of wood. And

I will write on the tablets the words which were on the first tablets which you

broke, and you shall put them in the ark.

Moses describes how Yahweh told him (at two different times here conjoined to

prevent the need for complicated explanations) to cut two tablets of stone

(Exodus 32:1) and to make an ark (chest) of wood (Exodus 25:10). This was so

that He might rewrite the ten words on the tablets, and so that Moses might put

them in the ark. In response to Moses intercession Yahweh was re-establishing

the covenant, and was writing it Himself as a personal assurance to both Moses

and Israel. Treaties that were made were always put in a sanctuary, often in a

chest, in order that they might be watched over by the gods. Here the covenant

was to be watched over by the cherubim.

PULPIT, "At that time. When Moses thus interceded, God commanded him to

prepare two new tables of stone, and to construct an ark in which to keep them

(cf. Exodus 34:1, etc.). Directions had been given for the construction of the ark

before the apostasy of the people, and it was not made till after the tabernacle

had been erected, nor were the tables placed in it till the tabernacle had been

consecrated (cf. Exodus 25:10, etc.; Exodus 40:20). But as the things themselves

were closely connected, Moses mentions them here together, without regard to

chronological order.

PULPIT 1-5, "HOMILETICS

Deuteronomy 10:1-5, Deuteronomy 10:10, Deuteronomy 10:11

The results of the intercessory prayer of Moses.

In these verses we have a very brief statement of the results of the pleading of

Moses for Israel with God, which can only be duly appreciated when set side by

side with the fuller account in Exodus 33:1-23; Exodus 34:1-35. It is clear, even

from the few words here given us, that the Lord's wrath was turned away, that

the covenant and the covenant promise were again renewed. But we must at least

indicate the points of detail ere we can gather up the sublime teachings of the

whole.

I. THE RESULTS OF THE INTERCESSION OF MOSES.

1. Generally. "The Lord repented," etc. (Exodus 32:14). The passage in Numbers

23:19 is by no means contrary to this. It means that there is no fickleness nor

falseness in the Divine promises, and that the fulfillment of them is not subject to

human caprice; which is gloriously true, and in perfect harmony with the before-

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named words. These do not denote a change in the mind of God, but rather a

change in the Divine acts. God's promises are, in an important sense, conditional,

and his threatenings too. If we reject the promise and fail to rely upon it, it will

not be fulfilled in our case; so, if we repent and turn from sin, the threatenings

will cease to apply to us. The virtual withdrawal of promise or threatening is

called "repenting," not because God changes his will, but because he varies his

action. God may plan and effect a change without ever changing a plan.

2. In detail.

(a), Exodus 33:7; the tabernacle of Moses, where he would hear the causes of the

people, and maintain the mediatorship, was removed from within the camp to

the outside of it. Still, mercy and judgment were blended, for the pillar of cloud

did not forsake them.

(b), Exodus 32:34, Exodus 32:35; this is very obscure; but it at least means that,

though they were forgiven, yet they were chastised. In after times, the Jews were

wont to say that never any trouble came upon them without an ounce of the dust

of the golden calf in it. The intercession of Moses, though it secured inestimable

blessings, yet did not avail to remove all reminders of their sin, or to make things

as though it had not been.

(a) They should not be consumed, still, only an angel should go with them

(Exodus 33:2, Exodus 33:3).

(b) The Divine presence should go with them (Exodus 32:12-14).

(a) Though the tabernacle is out of the camp, yet communication with Jehovah is

still maintained (Exodus 33:9).

(b) The old promise is renewed (Exodus 33:12-14). "Rest!" Rest in God. What

less, what more, could they desire?

(c) There was a formal renewal of the covenant (Deuteronomy 10:1-5).

(d) Jehovah grants a new disclosure of his glory. The recent exhibition of the

frailty of man might well have crushed Moses if he had not been sustained by a

new vision of God. And what a vision! What a declaration! Nowhere else on

earth had a Name so glorious then been proclaimed (Exodus 34:6-9).

(e) The long-continued communion with God illumed the face of Moses (Exodus

34:29-35). Was this supernatural or miraculous? Supernatural? Yes.

Miraculous? No. We believe intensely in the religion of the face (see Acts 6:15;

vide a lecture by Joseph Cook, of Boston, on 'The Solar Light'). Moses was full of

the Holy Ghost. The luster without was but the index of the light within. He had

gone in unto God to plead for others, and he was rewarded openly, by bringing

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down from the mount a radiance that told with whom he had been! If our faces

were oftener directed towards God in intercessory prayer, they would certainly

beam with new light, and men would take knowledge of us that we had been with

Jesus.

II. THE LESSONS TAUGHT BY THIS NARRATIVE.

1. We see here the abounding mercy of Godhow slow he is to anger, how ready

to forgive. We can imagine, indeed, an objector interposing here, and saying,

"Precisely the reverse. The fact of the severity of God's judgments being abated,

removed, and even exchanged for mercy, just in response to the intercession of

Moses, seems to make Moses appear more merciful than God." Perhaps it seems

so at first, but it only seems. And even the seeming ceases when we look all

round. For was it not the same God whom Israel had offended, who had given

them Moses, who taught him to pray, and who sustained his pleading power? So

that the lines of judgment and of mercy have a common meeting-point in the

same hand. Besides, we must never forget that the Great Father adapts himself

in the methods of his teaching to the capacities of the child in learning. And even

the severity of the judicial sentence comes out of mercy. When will men learn the

profound truth in Psalms 62:12? The greatest mercy which can be. shown to a

people is to educate them in righteousness. How constantly are men making the

mistake of regarding suffering as the grievance rather than sin! as if it were not

the sin which is the people's bane, and the suffering consequent on it which is

really their guard, that they may learn to dread the sin which brings such sorrow

with it. And if the Great Lord, over and above the merciful threatenings which

show the evil of sin in his sight, provides Israel with such an intercessor as

Moses, and if by virtue of his pleas will withhold the dreaded stroke, and for the

uplifted arm of justice will show the directing and sheltering hand,both the

one act and the other are joint illustrations of that glorious Name, the Lord thy

God! There is no schism in the manifestation of that Name. The terror and the

kindness perfectly accord, and it is only our defective sight which makes them

appear inharmonious in hue. The very God who guards Law by the holiest

sanctions, has provided also in his government for the efficacy of interceding

prayer! "He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy."

2. This mediatorship of Moses is but one illustration of the working of a

permanent law, that God wills to be approached by his saints in prayer on behalf

of others. It were well if some were to collate the intercessory prayers in the

Bible, and the passages which bear on the theme of pleading for others. The

Apostle Paul understood the blessedness of intercessory prayer. He himself rose

to a glorious height in this sublime act, and yet he declares his own dependence

on and appreciation of the prayers of the saints. Nor do we at all understand the

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priesthood of believers, till we regard this as one of its special privileges,

functions, and duties. Let those who "profess and call themselves Christians" see

to this. Let them rise to this high and holy service. Let them enter into their

closets, fall on their knees, and pour out before God petitions for all. We

sometimes ask whether the yearning spirit of intercession is dying out amongst

us (Joel 2:16-18).

3. This Divine law, of the power of intercession, has its supreme illustration in a

greater than Moses (Hebrews 7:25), even in him, of whom in so many respects

Moses was a type. Human mediation may achieve much, but ah! even the men

who plead most with God for others do feel most their need of One to plead for

them! There, there, at the Father's throne, is One who, having given himself a

ransom for many, does present his own work as the ground on which the coming

sinner may be forgiven, accepted, and saved.

4. There are three things which no intercession, either of saints on earth or of a

Savior in heaven, can secure. Why? Because in the nature of things they are

impossible, and therefore for them no holy one can intercede.

BI, "Two tables of stone.

The tables of stone-What do they symbolise

These were made before any part of the tabernacle furniture. Their history heralds forth their transcendant importance. No compend of moral truth may pretend to compare with them, for glory and grandeur of origin; for simplicity and completeness of adaptation to mans necessities, or for sublime exhibitions of the Divine perfections. Such an illustrious transcript of the moral attributes of God and His claims upon the supreme adoration of men, and of their obligations to one another, is sought for in vain among the records of human wisdom. Who but Jehovah Himself can reveal the perfections of His own being? Whose right is it to dictate law to the moral universe, if not its Author? But Jehovah exists as the Elohimthe plurality of persons in the essential unity. Has the issuance of these ten words any special reference to this personality? Certainly; the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. All that man knows truly of the Divine perfections, he knows through the teachings of the second person in the Elohimthe Divine Loges, by whom the world was made and without whom was not anything made that was made. It was the voice of the Word, afterwards made fleshthe same Word which said Let there be light, and there was light, that thundered from the summit of the burning mountain these ten words, and afterwards delivered them to Moses along the ranks of angels. This will be evident upon a comparison of a few Scriptures (Psa_68:17-18; Psa_68:20; Eph_4:1-32; Deu_33:2). The entire system of ceremonial observances is evangelicalall relate to the Gospel scheme of salvation. For unto us, says Paul (Heb_4:2) was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them. As to the kind of stone used, we are left even more in the dark than as to the wood, and therefore infer it to be a matter of no consequence. Only this is plain, that they were fragile, being shattered to pieces when thrown from Moses hands. Nor have we anything specific as to their size, unless it be that Moses seems to have carried them down the mount (Exo_32:19), in his own hands, whence we may infer they were not very thick, and they could not have been more than forty-two or three inches long, and twenty-six wide. The first suggestion of a symbolical meaning is durability. Engraving on stone

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intimates permanency. Job, in his sorrows, exclaims (Job_19:23), Oh, that my words were now written! oh, that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and laid in the rock forever. Then he proceeds to express his faith in the living Redeemer, and his hope in a glorious resurrection: truths these, which he wished to perpetuate forever. The first tables represented the law of God as written in the heart of man at his creation: or, we may say, human raceAdam, with the law created in him. The breaking of the tables sets forth the fall of man and the utter defacement of Gods law and image. The replacement of the tables by Moses, and the rewriting of the law upon them, by the power of the great Redeemer, forcibly illustrates His entire work of restoring man to the full dominion of the holy law, or, in other words, the restoration of the law to its ruling power over him; or may we not say the second Adam, the pattern of all the redeemed. The bringing of man under the power of law, the protection of the law from violence and profanation, and the security of its rightful dominion, is the grand idea herein set forth. All around it is encased within its golden enclosure. The casket indeed is precious, costly, and beautiful, but the jewels it contains are the priceless treasure. In connection, however, with the remarks above, that the ceremonial ordinances are Gospel ordinances, it is important to distinguish them from the legal matter of the old covenant. The ten words and the various applications of their principles throughout the Pentateuch, are quite different from the sacrifices, the lustrations, the incense burnings, the cities of refuge, etc. The former are legal, and whenever separated from the latter become a law of worksthe very covenant made with Adam. But the latter, coalescing with and qualifying and pointing out the way of fulfilling the former, transmute the whole into the new covenant, or true Gospel, which was revealed to Adam before his expulsion from Paradise. (George Juntem, D. D.)

The new tables

I. The breaking of the tables. The tables themselves were in every respect most remarkable. Mark, first, that they were the tables of the covenant. God said: These are My commands, keep them, and I am your God, I will be a glory in the midst of you, and a wall of fire round about you; break My commands, disobey My will, there is an infraction of the covenant, and the safety is departed, the glory gone. Sin was the violation of the covenant; sin was the overturning and the breaking to pieces of the covenant. The sin being committed, the transgression having taken place, the covenant was at an end. This is indicated by God in the fact that Moses breaks the tables of the law, because Moses in this matter acts as mediator for God; he is invested with the Divine authority, and ordered to do what he did in that capacity and in Gods name. It is said that he was in great anger, his anger waxed hot; but it was a holy and a justifiable anger, caused by great and elevated zeal for truth and for God, and so no censure is pronounced upon it. This act of breaking the tables resembled figurative actions performed by Hebrew prophets in later times. It is like Jeremiah breaking the bottle, and saying to the elders of the Jews, Even so shall this people and this city be broken. Or when he is commanded to take a girdle, and to go with it to the river Euphrates, and to put it in a damp place until it becomes rotten and worthless: then it isAfter that manner you shall be carried captive into Babylon. Ezekiel, in like manner, is ordered to take the goods of his house, his stuff, and to remove it upon his shoulders from one dwelling to another afar offa figurative action, indicative of the same truth, that there was to be a removal of the people far away. And we have one instance in the New Testament where Pauls girdle is taken: Thus shall the man be bound, it was said by Agabus, that owneth this girdle. It was a customary mode of instruction, ordained on the part of God to be

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used by His prophets and the teachers of the Hebrew people; and I suppose this act of Moses breaking the tables is the most striking and exemplary instance, as it stands at the head and is apparently the first. The breaking of the tables by Gods mediator signifies to the people on Gods part the abrogation of the covenant, and that, so far as He is concerned, He is not their God any longer, and will hide His face from them. Precisely the same in essence, I think, it is with another memorable instance recorded in the New Testament. When Christ died, when He said upon the Cross, It is finished, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and God said, Let us go hence; this is no longer My house; this people is no longer My people. As there had been violation of the covenant by sin, there is repudiation of the covenant on the part of God. Finally, I think it intimates that the covenant upon the same principle should never be renewed, for the tables were broken in pieces. It was not simply in two pieces; they were probably smashed together in Moses hand before they were dashed upon the ground; they were broken into shivers, so that the parts could not be brought together again. It was one offence which occasioned the expulsion from the gardenit is one offence which occasions the breaking of the tables of the covenant; and if there be one transgression in any moral agent, innocence is gone, guilt is come, and justification by the law is henceforth and forever an utter and profound impossibility.

II. The renewing of the tables. I suppose there is a mystery in itthat there is more intended than first meets the eye. Moses, you observe, is commanded to prepare fresh tables, and to come up to the mount with them in his hand. He is represented as doing this according to the Divine commandment; and, that you may understand the mystery and see the point distinctly which I am attempting to open to you, will you mark first the things that preceded the writing of the Ten Commandments again upon the tables which Moses brought. They were these. The sin of the people was forgiven; Moses interceded on their behalf, and God said, I have pardoned them at thy word. Before the law is rewritten God takes the tables out of Moses hand to do that work; He forgives the iniquity of His people; and I suppose that act of indemnity, that forgiveness on the part of God, was in connection with the ulterior and remoter sacrifice to be made for sin by the Son of God, when He should come in the flesh; and when He did come in the flesh He is said to have declared the justice of Deity, in the remission of sin. The Hebrew believers are especially said to have received the redemption of the antecedent ages, the forgiveness of their transgressions which they had committed under the old covenant, when Christ died, and they became established in the everlasting inheritance in consequence of that great truth and principle: and so sin, I think, has ever been remitted of God. God affirms His sovereign rightHis right to condemn the guilty, His right to reprieve them according to His own infinite and glorious will. Here is forgiveness of sin and the affirmation of grace. Here is the promise of His presence. Moses said, If Thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence; God says, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. You will find this in the chapter which precedes the account of the rewriting of the law by the Divine finger upon the tables of stone. Then there is the showing of Godhead. Moses said, I beseech Thee, show me Thy face; and that remarkable vision in the cleft of the rock, Moses being put into it by God, and God passing by, him, I think the same may be said of it as was said in after ages respecting Isaiahs vision in, the sixth chapter of his prophecyThese things said Moses, when he saw Christs glory and spake of Him. Then there is the proclamation of the Divine nameThe Lord, the Lord God, pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin; and when that announcement is made it is said, Moses bowed down and worshipped. Then, will you mark, here is the forgiveness of sin, affirmation of the Divine grace, promise of the Divine presence, showing of Christs glory, proclamation of that amazing name, antecedently to the rewriting of the tables?which proves, I

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think, that the rewriting of the law was not the going back to the old covenant, or making a second trial of that principle in relation to the Israelites, but that it was upon altogether different principlesthe principles which are enumeratedfree forgiveness, revelation of Christ, His presence in the midst of His people, His name full of mercy and love. And see the effect of this: He writes the law a second time; and upon these principles it is said, Well, go and be obedient. For it strikes me that that is the great truth which comes out in the Gospel revelation and economynot that we are to obey the law, and then make our appeal to Gods grace and mercy, but that God, manifesting His grace and mercy in a free and overflowing salvation, then says, Let My law be rewritten; go and obey it. Secondly, what was done with the second tables? The commands were unaltered; what was written on the tables was exactly the same; but what was done with the second tables? They were not exalted, like the brazen serpent, upon a pole: they were not used as a banner, floating before the eyes of the people as they advanced to their respective encampmentsthey were not, as Job desired his words might be, written with an iron pen, and graven upon a rock forever; none of these things was done, and nothing resembling them: they were put into the ark, the chest of which we read so much, and which was, I suppose, the very first article prepared by Moses under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. That chest represented, I think, Christ. The law, never kept by angels, never kept by man in his innocence, nor by man in his restoration, nor by any moral beings in the universe, as the law was kept by Gods own Son; the law, then, was put into the ark. Christ obeyed not only for Himself in person, but as the Surety and Representative of His people; He is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. As I put the finger of faith on His person and on His life, I feel that He obeyed the law and kept the law for me. The law is in Christ fulfilled, and fulfilled for them whose cause He espoused and whose interests He had undertaken. Mark another thing. The lid upon that sacred chest was a plate of pure gold, upon which the blood of the sacrifice was to be sprinkled according to the Divine command. In order to the fulfilment of law, the rendering to law and justice everything that can be required, there are but two things. The first is, perfect obedience. If there be perfect obedience, the law is satisfied; but if the law be broken, the next thing is the penalty; and if the penalty is fulfilled, the law is satisfied and asks no more. Penalty and obedience, the only two things with which the law is conversant. We say that in Christ the penalty was paid: we say that the iniquities of man were transferred to Christ, and that He suffered for himthat we have redemption through His blood. So I come to the blood of Christ for the expiation of my sins, put the finger of faith on His sacrifice, and feel that I am secure. Mark once more: upon this lid was the mercy seator, it constituted the mercy seat; and God said to Moses, Come to the Mercy seat, and to all the people, Come to the Mercy seat. Through that every communication was made from them to God, and from God to them; and from that hour to thisor to the clays of Daniel and the captivitythey turned their faces when they prayed towards Gods presence, exalted and enthroned in grace and in mercy there. It betokened the great principlefaithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness; answering prayer in the exercise of consummate rectitude and justice, as well as of clemency, condescension, mercy, and grace. One thing more I notice; and that is, that upon either end of this plate of pure gold was the cherubic figure, in reference to which the Apostle Peter says, which things the angels desire to look into, to the intent that to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places may be made manifest by the Church the manifold wisdom of God. I infer, from all I have said, that the renewal of the writing of the tables is not the renewal of the old covenant, but a representation of Gods mercy and grace in Christ Jesus, as antecedent to the law being rewritten, and written upon the hearts and upon the consciences of men. I only note, further, what followed. After the rewriting by Gods own finger Moses

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came down. How did he come down? With the glory upon his face, so that they could not steadfastly look upon him; and the apostle says it intimated that there were things intended which the Jews had not the capacity at that time to understand. It was not proper that they should know them. The veiling of Moses face intimated the veiling of certain profound principles which were to have a future and after manifestation. Thus in the same way, I think, the breaking of the tables and the renewing of them intimates that the law never would be fulfilled but in Christ, and that it could not be safely enforced upon manat least, it could produce nothing but condemnationirrespectively of Christ and the obedience which He has already rendered. But what followed besides? The completion of the tabernacle in all its parts and proportions, the ordination of priests, the crossing the Jordan, the entering into the promised landof which things we cannot now speak; but it comes out, I think, in most beautiful conclusion, that if these matters preceded the rewriting of the tables, and the tables then written were placed in the peculiar circumstances which the passage represents, and if such things transpired when this was done, then it is not the old covenant of works, but the new covenant of grace, mercy, and salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ; and so the law is a schoolmaster, bringing unto Christ. (J. Stratten.)

The tables of the law

1. In the next verse it is said that Moses made an ark of shittim wood before going up into the mount with the two tables in his hand; whereas, according to the Book of Exodus (Exo_37:1), Bezaleel is said to have made the ark. Those who seek to trace contradictions in the Scriptures, or variety of authorship, of course, point out this discrepancy. The obvious remark that one may be said to do what he directs another to do is probably a sufficient reply to this difficulty.

2. It is not, however, with the ark, but with the tables of the law, we are now concerned.

3. The delivery of the law, on the fiftieth day, according to the Jews, after the Exodusan event celebrated by the Feast of Pentecostreminds us of the contrast between the circumstances under which the old and the new law were promulgated. The thick cloud, the darkness, the thunder, the lightning, filled the Israelites with alarm. How very different are the approaches to God in the New Testament! (Heb_12:18-24.) But the same moral law is binding in both; and it is to this fact, Gods condescension in writing a second time the words of the Decalogue, our thoughts are invited in the lesson. Let us consider some reasons for keeping the Ten Commandments; and then, how we are to obey them.

I. Reasons for keeping the commandments.

1. They come from God. This may be said of the whole law, ceremonial and judiciary, as well as moral. But surely there is a difference. Not only were the Ten Commandments promulgated, as a French writer says, avec eclat, and the people warned to prepare for the solemn event (Exo_19:10; Exo_19:15), but they were given directly by God. The first tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven on the tables. The second tables were the work of man, but the writing was still the writing of God (Exo_34:1). They stand above the ceremonial law, as an abridgment of the duties of man, and are of lasting obligation.

2. They agree with the law written in mans heart. They are in full accord with our moral intuitions. The Divine Law was not a brand new code of ethics, but it was

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necessary, if man was to attain to a supernatural end. Moreover, mans moral sense was liable to be tampered with and impaired, so as at last to give an uncertain judgment: neither was it able to discern clearly always between good and evil; nor did it reach into the sphere of thought and motive. If man had been entirely dependent upon a written law, its promulgation would not have been delayed till the time of Moses. It is altogether a mistake to suppose that the Decalogue made murder, theft, adultery, and the like sinful. It forbade them because they were sinful. It fixed mans moral intuitions so that they could not be dragged down by human passion and selfishness. It made them clearer and more distinct. It clothed them with a new sanction and authority.

3. We find, when we examine the period before the law was given, a sense of the evil of the actions which it forbids. Jacob said, Put away the strange gods that are among you. This is an anticipation of the First Commandment. Perhaps the previous observance of the Sabbath may be gathered from Exo_16:23. So the Sixth Commandment was already in force (Gen_9:6). Sins against purity were abhorred (Gen_34:31; Gen_38:24), showing that the Seventh Commandment was no novelty. Josephs brethren were shocked at being charged with stealing the cup (Gen_44:7). The sin of coveting thy neighbours wife was evidently recognised by Abimelech as a great sin with regard to Sarah (Gen_20:9). All these statementsand there are others before the giving of the laware witnesses to the moral light which God has given to man, irrespective of external guidance or enactment.

4. The moral law did not make sin to be sin, though it added to its malice; but it clearly revealed the amount of human transgression, which was veiled in a mist before. It was like a clinical thermometer which measures the height of the fever, which might have been unknown before. It reveals the temperature of the patient, and so the seriousness or lightness of the case. By the law, says the apostle, is the knowledge of sin (Rom_3:20).

5. Further, obedience to the moral law of God is necessary for salvation. If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments (Mat_19:16-17). St. Paul declares the same (Rom_13:8-9). Again, Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God (1Co_7:19) St John the same (1Jn_3:22; 1Jn_3:24).

II. How are we to keep the commandments?

1. With the help of Divine grace. The law cast light upon the sinful principle in man, and by his inability to overcome it, aroused the sense of need and longing for a Saviour. Moses gave the law without the Spirit, says a commentator, but Christ gave both. Whilst on the one hand we realise that we can do nothing without grace; on the other, we must remember that we can do everything with it.

2. We have to keep all the commandments. Not nine out of ten. The commandments are not isolated precepts, so that the violation of one does not touch another. They form, if I may say so, an organic body of moral truth, as the Creed an organic body of dogmatic truth. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (Jas_2:10).

3. Christians have to read the commandments in the light of the Sermon on the Mount, and so to see how deeply they cut. They not only touch the outward action, but thought and motive.

III. Lessons:

1. To seek by meditation upon the law of God to know how much that law

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demands of us as Christians.

2. To examine the conscience by the Ten Commandments, so as to discover, by the help of the Holy Spirit, wherein we have broken themin thought, word, deed, or omission.

3. They are the way of life. (Canon Hutchings, M. A.)

K&D 1-5, "In Deu_10:1-5 Moses briefly relates the success of his earnest intercession. At that time, of his intercession, God commanded him to hew out new tables, and prepare an ark in which to keep them (cf. Exo_34:1.). Here again Moses links together such things as were substantially connected, without strictly confining himself to the chronological order, which was already well known from the historical account, inasmuch as this was not required by the general object of his address. God had already given directions for the preparation of the ark of the covenant, before the apostasy of the nation (Exo_25:10.); but it was not made till after the tabernacle had been built, and the tables were only deposited in the ark when the tabernacle was consecrated (Exo_40:20).

SIMEON, "THE REPLACING OF THE TWO TABLES OF THE COVENANT

Deuteronomy 10:1-2. At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood: and I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

THOSE to whom the modes of communication which are common in eastern countries are but little known, feel a jealousy respecting every thing that is figurative and emblematical. But even in the New Testament there is much that is hidden under figures. The whole life of our blessed Saviour is justly considered as an example: but it is rarely considered that in all its principal events it was also emblematical of what is spiritually experienced in the heart of the believer: the circumcision of Christ representing the circumcision of our hearts; the baptism, also, and the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Christ, marking our death unto sin, and our new birth unto righteousness. If then in the New Testament, where truth is exhibited so plainly, there are many things revealed in shadows, we may well expect to find much that is figurative in the Old Testament, where the whole system of religion was veiled under types and figures. The circumstances before us, we do not hesitate to say, have a hidden meaning, which, when brought forth, will be highly instructive. But in exploring the mysteries that are hid under these shadows, there is need of the utmost sobriety, that we impose not on Scripture any other sense than that which God himself designed it to convey. However some may gratify themselves with exercising their ingenuity on the sacred writings, and please themselves with their own fanciful interpretations of Gods blessed word, I dare not proceed in that unhallowed course: I would put off my shoes, when I come upon this holy ground; and be content to leave untouched what I do not understand, and what God has not enabled me to explain, with a good hope at least that I express only the mind of his Spirit. With this reverential awe upon my mind, I will endeavour, as God shall help me, to set before you what I conceive to be contained in the passage which we have just read. In it we notice,

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I. The breaking of the two tables of the law

God, after he had published by an audible voice the law of the Ten Commandments, wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them to Moses upon Mount Horeb, that they might serve as a memorial of what all who entered into covenant with him were bound to perform. But when Moses, on descending from the mount, found that the whole people of Israel were worshipping the golden calf, he was filled with righteous indignation, and brake the two tables in pieces before their eyes [Note: Deuteronomy 9:10; Deuteronomy 9:15-17.]. Now this action of his imported,

1. That the covenant which God had made with them was utterly dissolved

[Repeatedly are the two tables called the tables of the covenant [Note: Deuteronomy 9:9; Deuteronomy 9:11; Deuteronomy 9:15.]; because they contained the terms on which the Israelites were ultimately to find acceptance before God. But their idolatry was a direct violation of the very first precept of the decalogue, or rather an utter subversion of the whole: and as they had thus broken the covenant on their part, Moses by breaking the two tables declared it to be annulled on Gods part. God now disclaimed all connexion with them; and by calling them thy people, that is, Moses people, he disowned them for his; and threatened to blot out their name from under heaven. All this was intimated, I say, by Moses, in this significant action. A similar mode of expressing the same idea was adopted by Jehovah in the days of the Prophet Zechariah. He took two staves, one to represent the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; and the other, the ten tribes. These he brake, the one after the other, in order to shew that as they were disjoined from each other, so they should henceforth be separated from him also, and that his covenant with them both was dissolved [Note: Zechariah 11:7; Zechariah 11:10; Zechariah 11:14.]. Thus far then, we apprehend, the import of this expressive action is clear.

The further light which I shall endeavour to throw upon it, though not so clear to a superficial observer, will to a well-instructed mind approve itself to be both just and important.]

It further imports then,

2. That that mode of covenanting with God was from that time for ever closed

[This, I grant, does not at first sight appear; though it may be inferred from the very circumstance of the same law being afterwards given in a different way. This mode of conveying such instruction repeatedly occurs in the Holy Scriptures. The Prophet Jeremiah tells the Jews that God would make a new covenant with them; from whence St. Paul infers that the covenant under which they lived, was old, and ready to vanish away [Note: Jeremiah 31:31 with Hebrews 8:13.]. The Prophet Haggai speaks of God shaking once more the heavens and the earth: and this St. Paul interprets as an utter removal of the Jewish dispensation, that the things which could not be shaken, the Christian dispensation, might remain [Note: Haggai 2:6 with Hebrews 12:26-27.]. Now if these apparently incidental words conveyed so much, what must have been intended by that action, an action which, in point of singularity, yields not to any within the whole compass of the sacred records?

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But is this view of the subject confirmed by any further evidence? I answer, Yes; it is agreeable to the whole scope of the inspired volume. Throughout the New Testament we have this truth continually and most forcibly inculcated, that the law, having been once broken, can never justify: that, whilst under it, we are, and ever must be, under a curse: and therefore we must be dead to it, and renounce all hope of acceptance by it. And the breaking of the tables before their eyes was in effect like the driving of our first parents out of Paradise, and the preventing of their return to it by the menaces of a flaming sword. The tree of life which was to them in their state of innocence a pledge of eternal life, was no longer such when they had fallen: and therefore God in mercy prohibited their access to it, in order that they might be shut up to that way of reconciliation which God had provided for them in the promised seed. And thus did Moses by this significant action cut off from the Jews all hope of return to God by that covenant which they had broken, and shut them up to that other, and better, covenant, which God was about to shadow forth to them.]

But the chief mystery lies in,

II. The manner in which they were replaced

Moses, having by his intercession obtained forgiveness for the people, was ordered to prepare tables of stone similar to those which he had broken, and to carry them up to the mount, that God might write upon them with his own finger a fresh copy of the law. He was ordered also to make an ark, in which to deposit the tables when so inscribed. Now what was the scope and intent of these directions? Truly they were of pre-eminent importance, and were intended to convey the most valuable instruction. Mark,

1. The renewing of the tables which had been broken

[This intimated that God was reconciled towards them, and was still willing to take them as his people, and to give himself to them as their God. The very first words of the Law thus given said to them, I am the Lord thy God. So that on this part of the subject it is unnecessary to dwell.]

2. The putting of them, when so renewed, into an ark

[Christ is that ark into which the law was put. To him it was committed, in order that he might fulfil it for us. He was made under the law for this express end [Note: Galatians 4:4-5.]: and he has fulfilled it in all its parts; enduring all its penalties, and obeying all its precepts [Note: Galatians 3:13-14; Philippians 2:8.]. This he was appointed of God to do: the law was put into his heart on purpose that he might do it [Note: Psalms 40:8.]: and having done it, he is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth [Note: Romans 10:4.]. Hence we are enabled to view the law without fear, and to hear it without trembling. Now we can contemplate its utmost requirements, and see that it has been satisfied in its highest demands. We can now even found our hopes upon it; not as obeyed by us; but as obeyed by our surety and substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ; by whose obedience it has been more magnified than it has ever been dishonoured by our disobedience. It is no longer now a ministration of death and condemnation [Note: 2 Corinthians 3:7; 2 Corinthians 3:9.], but a source of life to those who plead the sacrifice and obedience of Jesus

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Christ. In this view the law itself, no less than the prophets, bears, testimony to Christ [Note: Romans 3:21-22.], and declares that, through his righteousness, God can be a just God, and yet a Saviour [Note: Isaiah 45:21.], just, and yet the justifier of all them that believe [Note: Romans 3:26.]. This is the great mystery which the angels so much admire, and which they are ever endeavouring to look into [Note: Carefully compare Exodus 25:17-20 with 1 Peter 1:12.].

If it appear strange that so much should be intimated in so small a matter, let us only consider what we know assuredly to have been intimated in an occurrence equally insignificant, which took place at the very same time. When Moses came down with these tables in his hand, his face shined so bright that the people were unable to approach him; and he was constrained to put a vail upon his face in order that they might have access to him to hear his instructions [Note: Exodus 34:29-35.]. This denoted their incapacity to comprehend the law, till Christ should come to remove the veil from their hearts [Note: 2 Corinthians 3:13-16.]. And precisely in the same manner the putting of the law into the ark denoted the incapacity of man to receive it at it is in itself, and the necessity of viewing it only as fulfilled in Christ. Through the law itself which denounces such curses [Note: Galatians 2:19.], and through the body of Christ which sustained those curses [Note: Romans 7:4.], we must be dead to the law, and have no hope whatever towards God but in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ [Note: Galatians 2:15-16; Philippians 3:9.], who, in consequence of obeying its precepts and enduring its penalties, is to be called by every child of man, The Lord our Righteousness.]

3. The preparing the tables on which the law was written

[The first tables were prepared by God himself: but, when they were broken, and to be renewed, Moses was ordered to prepare the tables, and carry them up to the mount, that they might there have the law inscribed upon them by God himself. Commentators have suggested that this was intended to intimate, that though God alone could write the law on the heart, means were to be used for that end by people for themselves, and by ministers in their behalf. But I rather gather from it a deeper and more important lesson, namely, that notwithstanding the law was fulfilled for us by Christ, we must seek to have it inscribed on our stony hearts; and that, if we go up with them to the mount of God from time to time for that end, God will write his law there. I the rather believe this to be the true meaning, because our deadness to the law as a covenant of works is continually associated with a delight in it as a rule of life [Note: See Galatians 2:19 and Romans 7:4 before cited.]; and because the writing of the law upon our hearts is the great distinguishing promise of the New Covenant [Note: Jeremiah 31:31-33 with Hebrews 8:8-10.]. In this view the direction respecting the tables is very instructive, seeing that it unites what can never be separated, a hope in Christ as the only Saviour of the world, and a purifying of the heart as he is pure [Note: 1 John 3:3.].]

Improvement

1. Let us be thankful that the law is given to us in this mitigated form

[The law is the same as ever: not a jot or tittle of it was altered, or ever can be: it is as immutable as God himself [Note: Matthew 5:17-18.]. But as given on Mount Sinai, it was a fiery law; and so terrible, that the people could not endure it; and even

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Moses himself said, I exceedingly fear and quake [Note: Hebrews 12:19-21.]. But in the ark, Christ Jesus, its terrors are abated: yea, to those who believe in him, it has no terror at all: its demands are satisfied in their behalf, and its penalties sustained: and, on it, as fulfilled in him, they found their claims of everlasting life [Note: Isaiah 45:24.]. It must never be forgotten, that the mercy-seat was of the same dimensions with the ark; and to all who are in Christ Jesus does the mercy of God extend [Note: Exodus 25:10; Exodus 25:21-22. Mark the promise in ver. 22.]. If we look to the law as fulfilled in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, we have nothing to fear: we are no longer under the law, but under grace [Note: Romans 6:14.]: and there is no condemnation to us [Note: Romans 8:1.]. Only let us rely on him as having effected every thing for us [Note: Romans 8:34.], and all that he possesses shall be ours [Note: 1 Corinthians 3:21-23.].]

2. Let us seek to have it visibly written upon our hearts

[None but God can write it there: our stony hearts are harder than adamant. Nevertheless, if we go up to God in the holy mount, he will take away from us the heart of stone, and give us a heart of flesh [Note: Ezekiel 36:26.]: and then on the fleshly tables of our heart will he write his perfect law [Note: 2 Corinthians 3:2-3.]. O blessed privilege! Beloved Brethren, let us covet it, and seek it night and day. Only think, what a change will take place in you when this is wrought! What a lustre will be diffused over your very countenance [Note: Exodus 34:29-30.]! Yes verily, all who then behold you shall take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus, and confess, that God is with you of a truth. Despair not, any of you: though ye have turned from God to the basest idolatry, yet has your great Advocate and Intercessor prevailed for you to remove the curses of the broken law, and to restore you to the favour of your offended God. Bring me up, says God, your hearts of stone, and I will so inscribe my law upon them, that ye shall never more depart from me, nor will I ever more depart from you [Note: Jeremiah 32:38-41.]. Brethren, obey the call without delay: lose not a single hour. Hasten into the presence of your God; and there abide with him, till he has granted your request. So shall ye be Gods people, and he shall be your God, for ever and ever [Note: Jeremiah 32:38-41.].]

C. H. MACKINTOSH, "Verses 1-22

"At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood: and I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brokest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made? and there they be, as the Lord commanded me." (Vers. 1-5.)

The beloved and revered servant of God seemed never to weary of rehearsing in the ears of the people, the interesting, momentous and significant sentences of the past. To him they were ever fresh, ever precious. His heart delighted in them. They could never lose their charm in his eyes; he found in them an exhaustless treasury for his own heart, and a mighty moral lever wherewith to move the heart of Israel.

We are constantly reminded, in these powerful and deeply affecting addresses, of the inspired apostle's words to his beloved Philippians, "To write the same things to you,

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to me is not grievous, but for you it is safe. "The poor restless, fickle, vagrant heart might long for some new theme; but the faithful apostle found his deep and unfailing delight in unfolding and dwelling upon those precious subjects which clustered, in rich luxuriance, around the Person and the cross of his adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He had found in Christ all he needed, for time and eternity. The glory of His Person had completely eclipsed all the glories of earth and of nature. He could say, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." (Philippians 3:7-8.)

This is the language of a true Christian, of one who had found a perfectly absorbing and commanding object in Christ. What could the world offer to such an one? What could it do for him? Did he want its riches, its honours, its distinctions, its pleasures? He counted them all as dung. How was this? Because he had found Christ. He had seen an object in Him which so riveted his heart that to win Him, and know more of Him, and be found in Him was the one ruling desire of his soul. If any one had talked to Paul about something new, what would have been his answer? If any one had suggested to him the thought of getting on in the world or of seeking to make money, what would have been his reply? simply this, " I have found my ALL in Christ; I want no more. I have found in Him 'unsearchable riches' 'durable riches and righteousness.' In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. What do I want of this world's riches, its wisdom or its learning? These things all pass away like the vapours of the morning; and even while they last, are wholly inadequate to satisfy the desires and aspirations of an immortal spirit. Christ is an eternal object, heaven's centre, the delight of the heart of God; He shall satisfy me throughout the countless ages of that bright eternity which is before me; and surely if He can satisfy me for ever, He can satisfy me now. Shall I turn to the wretched rubbish of this world, its pursuits, its pleasures, its amusements, its theatres, its concerts, its riches or its honours to supplement my portion in Christ? God forbid! All such things would be simply an intolerable nuisance to me. Christ is my all, and in all, now and for ever!"

Such, we may well believe, would have been the distinctly pronounced reply of the blessed apostle; such was the distinct reply of his whole life; and such, beloved Christian reader, should be ours also. How truly deplorable, how deeply humbling to find a Christian turning to the world for enjoyment, recreation or pastime! It simply proves that he has not found a satisfying portion in Christ. We may set it down as a fixed principle that