Deuteronomy 10

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]

2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.”

3 So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands.

4 The LORD wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me.

5 Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the LORD commanded me, and they are there now.

6 (The Israelites traveled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest.

7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams 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 and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today.

9 That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the LORD is their inheritance, as the LORD your God told them.)

10 Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the LORD listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you.

11 “Go,” the LORD said to me, “and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

Fear the LORD

12 And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

13 and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

14 To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.

15 Yet the LORD set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today.

16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.

17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.

18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.

19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.

20 Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.

21 He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.

22 Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

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Deuteronomy 10 Commentary

Chapter 10

God's mercies to Israel after their rebellion. (1-11) An exhortation to obedience. (12-22)

Verses 1-11 Moses reminded the Israelites of God's great mercy to them, notwithstanding their provocations. There were four things in and by which the Lord showed himself reconciled to Israel. God gave them his law. Thus God has intrusted us with Bibles, sabbaths, and sacraments, as tokens of his presence and favour. God led them forward toward Canaan. He appointed a standing ministry among them for holy things. And now, under the gospel, when the pouring forth of the Spirit is more plentiful and powerful, the succession is kept up by the Spirit's work on men's hearts, qualifying and making some willing for that work in every age. God accepted Moses as an advocate or intercessor for them, and therefore appointed him to be their prince and leader. Moses was a type of Christ, who ever lives, pleading for us, and has all power in heaven and in earth.

Verses 12-22 We are here taught our duty to God in our principles and our practices. We must fear the Lord our God. We must love him, and delight in communion with him. We must walk in the ways in which he has appointed us to walk. We must serve him with all our heart and soul. What we do in his service we must do cheerfully, and with good will. We must keep his commandments. There is true honour and pleasure in obedience. We must give honour to God; and to him we must cleave, as one we love and delight in, trust in, and from whom we have great expectations. We are here taught our duty to our neighbour. God's common gifts to mankind oblige us to honour all men. And those who have themselves been in distress, and have found mercy with God, should be ready to show kindness to those who are in the like distress. We are here taught our duty to ourselves. Circumcise your hearts. Cast away all corrupt affections and inclinations, which hinder you from fearing and loving God. By nature we do not love God. This is original sin, the source whence our wickedness proceeds; and the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be; so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God, Ro. 8:5-9 . Let us, without delay or reserve, come and cleave to our reconciled God in Jesus Christ, that we may love, serve, and obey him acceptably, and be daily changed into his image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord. Consider the greatness and glory of God; and his goodness and grace; these persuade us to our duty. Blessed Spirit! Oh for thy purifying, persevering, and renewing influences, that being called out of the state of strangers, such as our fathers were, we may be found among the number of the children of God, and that our lot may be among the saints.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 62

1. Exodus 25:10; Exodus 34:1-2
2. Exodus 25:16,21; Deuteronomy 4:13; 2 Chronicles 5:10; 2 Chronicles 6:11
3. Exodus 25:5,10; Exodus 37:1-9
4. Exodus 34:4
5. S Exodus 24:12; S Exodus 34:28
6. Exodus 20:1
7. S Deuteronomy 9:10
8. S Exodus 19:11; Exodus 34:29
9. S Exodus 25:10; S 1 Samuel 3:3; Exodus 40:20
10. S Exodus 25:21
11. 1 Kings 8:9
12. Numbers 33:30; Numbers 33:30-31,38
13. S Numbers 27:13
14. S Exodus 6:23
15. S Numbers 20:25-28
16. Numbers 33:32-34; Psalms 42:1; Song of Songs 5:12; Isaiah 32:2
17. S Numbers 3:6
18. S Numbers 10:33
19. S Numbers 16:9; Deuteronomy 18:5
20. S Genesis 48:20; Deuteronomy 21:5
21. 1 Chronicles 23:26
22. S Numbers 18:20; Deuteronomy 18:1-2; Ezekiel 44:28
23. S Exodus 33:17; Exodus 34:28; Dt 9:18-19,25
24. Micah 6:8
25. S Exodus 20:20
26. 1 Kings 2:3; 1 Kings 3:3; 1 Kings 9:4
27. Deuteronomy 5:33; Deuteronomy 6:13; Matthew 22:37; 1 Timothy 1:5
28. Deuteronomy 11:13; Deuteronomy 28:47; Psalms 100:2
29. S Deuteronomy 6:5; Psalms 119:2
30. S Deuteronomy 5:32
31. S Deuteronomy 4:2
32. Deuteronomy 5:33; Deuteronomy 6:24
33. Psalms 148:4; Isaiah 19:1; Habakkuk 3:8
34. Nehemiah 9:6; Job 35:5; Psalms 8:3; Psalms 89:11; Psalms 104:3
35. Deuteronomy 33:26
36. Psalms 115:16
37. 1 Kings 8:27
38. Exodus 19:5; Psalms 24:1; Acts 17:24
39. S Deuteronomy 4:37
40. Psalms 105:6; Psalms 135:4
41. S Numbers 14:8; Romans 11:28; 1 Peter 2:9
42. S Genesis 17:11; Jeremiah 4:4
43. S Leviticus 26:41; Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 32:39
44. S Exodus 32:9; S Deuteronomy 9:13; Deuteronomy 9:6
45. Joshua 22:22; Psalms 135:5; Psalms 136:2; Daniel 2:47; Daniel 11:36
46. Psalms 136:3; S 1 Timothy 6:15
47. S Deuteronomy 7:21
48. Deuteronomy 1:17; Malachi 2:9; Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9
49. S Exodus 23:8; S Leviticus 19:16
50. Ex 22:21,22-24; Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:33; Deuteronomy 27:19; Job 29:13; Psalms 94:6; Isaiah 10:2; Jeremiah 49:11; Psalms 68:5
51. S Numbers 10:32
52. Deuteronomy 7:12
53. S Exodus 22:21; S Deuteronomy 24:19
54. S Leviticus 19:34; Ezekiel 47:22-23
55. Matthew 4:10
56. Deuteronomy 11:22; Deuteronomy 13:4; Deuteronomy 30:20; Joshua 23:8; Ruth 1:14; 2 Kings 18:6; Psalms 119:31; Isaiah 38:3
57. S Exodus 20:7; Psalms 63:11
58. S Exodus 15:2; Jeremiah 17:14
59. 1 Samuel 12:24; Psalms 126:2
60. 2 Samuel 7:23; Psalms 106:21-22
61. S Genesis 34:30; S Genesis 46:26; Acts 7:14; Ge Genesis 46:26-27
62. S Genesis 12:2; S Numbers 10:36; Genesis 15:5; Deuteronomy 1:10

Footnotes 1

[a]. That is, a chest

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 10

In this chapter an account is given of an order to Moses to hew two tables of stone, on which the Lord would write the words that were on the first, and to make an ark and put them into it, all which was accordingly done, De 10:1-5 and of some of the journeys of the children of Israel, De 10:6,7 and of the separation of the tribe of Levi to the service of the sanctuary, De 10:8,9 and of Moses's stay in the mount forty days and nights, and his success there, and the direction he had to lead on the people of Israel towards Canaan's land, De 10:10,11 and who by various arguments are exhorted to fear the Lord, and serve him, and keep his commands, De 10:12-22.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible