Deuteronomy 10: The Significance of the New Tablets
1 At that time Yahweh said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. 2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.’ 3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. 4 And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which Yahweh had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. 5 Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, just as Yahweh commanded me.
“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 God’s 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 is— ‘After 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 off— a figurative action, indicative of the same truth, that there was to be a removal of the people far away….The breaking of the tables by God’s mediator signifies to the people on God’s part the abrogation of the covenant, and that, so far as He is concerned, He is not their God any longer...” (J. Stratten)
“In Deuteronomy 10:1-5 Moses briefly relates the success of his earnest intercession.” (Keil & Delitzsch) Though Yahweh might have destroyed them at that time, He said to Moses, “Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain... And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke”— “Not only were the Ten Commandments promulgated, as a French writer says, ‘avec eclat,’ and the people warned to prepare for the solemn event (Exodus 19:10; Exodus 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 (Exodus 34:1).
They stand above the ceremonial law, as an abridgment of the duties of man, and are of lasting obligation.” (Canon Hutchings)
“And make yourself an ark of acacia wood”— which though “a wood of long endurance” (Geneva Study Bible), it was still just wood and thus subject to decay or destruction.— “and you shall put them [the new tablets] in the ark”— a safe place. In the latter days, the type would give way to the substance, that is Christ. “The ark was not mentioned at the first giving of the law, and the tablets were broken.
But the ark speaks of Christ, the only One in whom the law is safe from the danger of breakage.” (L. M. Grant) The Messiah of spiritual Israel said: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
“‘And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest,’ Though they were hewn by Moses, the writing on them was the Lord's; and the very same laws, in the same words, without any alteration or variation, were written by Him on these as on the former; partly to show the authenticity of them, that they were of God and not Moses, of a divine original and not human; and partly to show the invariableness of them, that no change had been made in them, though they had been broken by the people; of which Moses's breaking the tables was a representation: ‘and thou shall put them in the ark’; which being a type of Christ may signify the fulfilment of the law by Him, who is the end, the fulfilling end of the law for righteousness to every believer; and that as this was in his heart to fulfil it, so it is in his hand as a rule of faith and conversation to his people.” (John Gill) “Let us never cease to mourn for past folly, and pray the Lord [Jesus] to renew and restore to us a fair copy of His law, by writing it on our hearts.” (Jospeh Sutcliffe)
Deuteronomy10: Eleazer and the Levites to Follow Aaron
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 Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh 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; Yahweh is their inheritance, as Yahweh your God told them.
“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.’ Not only was the covenant restored, but also the institution and maintenance of the priesthood. Moses reminds the people of this gracious gift on the part of their God, by recalling to their memory the time when Aaron died and his son Eleazar was invested with the high priesthood in his stead.” (Albert Barnes)
Normally it was the firstborn who was groomed to take the place of the head of the house from the time of Adam. But Eleazer was the third of Aaron's four sons (Exodus 6:23). God knows the heart. “He was consecrated as a priest with his brothers and Aaron in the Sinai… When his brothers Nadab and Abihu were killed by God as they offered ‘unholy fire’ to the Lord (Lv 10:1-7), Eleazar and Ithamar took leading positions as Aaron's sons (Nm 3:1-4). Eleazar is described as ‘chief of the leaders of the Levites’ (Nm 3:32). Under his supervision were the sanctuary and its vessels (4:16; 16:37-39; 19:3-4). Eleazar was installed as high priest by Moses when Aaron died on Mt Hor (Nm 20:25-28; Dt 10:6). He was then considered Moses' assistant (Nm 26:1-3, 63; 27:2, 21). “ (Wm. Tyndale)
“From there they traveled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.” The sons of Levi indeed drank from the deep wells of that Living Water. “‘At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi...’ they having distinguished themselves by their zeal against the worshippers of the golden calf.” (Matthew Henry) They had succeeded in breaking the curse on the patriarch, Levi. He, along with Simeon in the day of their father, had executed vengeance on a tribe for the transgressions of a single man. So when Israel was pronouncing blessing, he said, “Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place. Let not my soul enter their council; let not my honor be united to their assembly; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.” (Genesis 49:5-7)
But because of the obedience of this generation, instead of being set apart for destruction, they were set apart to bless Israel. They were set apart by Yahweh to minister in holy things for season— “to carry the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to minister and to pronounce blessings in His name, as they still do today.”
“The service of the sanctuary would be better done by a select order of men. The firstborn of all Israel would have been too numerous for the work, and they could not have been spared from their duties at home. This smallest tribe was a figure of the church, which is a royal priesthood.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
The Levitical priesthood continued until it was changed to another, described to be after the order of the mysterious Melchizedek. This “priest of God most High” just appeared out of nowhere to bless father Abraham, giving him bread and wine, symbols of the body and blood of Messiah. And the patriarch gave tithe of the spoils of war to him. Jesus is described as a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek for He likewise appeared from Heaven to bless His people. (Hebrews 7:13-17) Thus in 70 ad, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed with the city putting a final end to the old sanctuary laws, as well as that priesthood.
Yet, for this season: “A settled ministry is a great blessing to a people, and a special token of God's favour. And, since the particular priests could not continue by reason of death, God showed his care of the people in securing a succession, which Moses takes notice of here, Deuteronomy 10:6. When Aaron died, the priesthood did not die with him, but Eleazar his son ministered in his stead, and took care of the ark, in which the tables of stone, those precious stones, were deposited, that they should suffer no damage there they be, and he has the custody of them. Under the law, a succession in the ministry was kept up, by an entail of the office on a certain tribe and family. But now, under the gospel, when the effusion of the Spirit is more plentiful and powerful, the succession is kept up by the Spirit's operation on men's hearts, qualifying men for, and inclining men to, that work, some in every age, that the name of Israel may not be blotted out.” (Mathew Henry)
“‘That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; Yahweh is their inheritance, as Yahweh your God told them.’ But Yahweh was not the inheritance for all Levites. They were all called to the path of duty. Yet, they were not protected from God’s wrath while on the path of disobedience to His laws. In Numbers 16:1-3, for example, “Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, ‘You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?’” Then the guilty were destroyed in their midst.
Deuteronomy10: What Does the Lord Require of Us?
10 “As at the first time, I stayed in the mountain forty days and forty nights; Yahweh also heard me at that time, and Yahweh chose not to destroy you. 11 Then Yahweh said to me, ‘Arise, begin your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’ 12 And now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of Yahweh and His statutes which I command you today for your good?
“As at the first time,” when I had received the first set tablets from Yahweh, “‘I stayed [again] in the mountain forty days and forty nights [when receiving the second set];’ Yahweh also heard me at that time, and Yahweh chose not to destroy you’ though He had threatened it, and their sin had deserved it.” (John Gill) “‘Then Yahweh said to me, ‘Arise, begin your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’ The covenant relation being now fully reestablished, the children of Israel were to take possession of the covenant land as soon as possible.” (Paul E. Kretzmann)
Moses is still relating Yahweh’s prior dealings with Israel. But now he begins the appeal to the current generation. “‘And now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you,’ for all these favours bestowed upon them, the forgiveness of their sins, and a fresh intimation of their possession of the land of Canaan, and the renewal of the promise of it made to their fathers.” (John Gill)—“Beneficium postulat officium;
mercy calls for duty.” (John Trapp)
“When we have received mercy from God it becomes us to enquire what returns we shall make to Him.” (Matthew Henry) The answer is always the same for He changes not. What does He require “‘but to fear Yahweh your God’; for it is only by His mercy that you have not already been consumed in His wrath—‘to walk in all His ways’ — “to go when He tells us, and to take the way He has prepared for us.” (T. Davies) He wants us to travel the lonely highway of holiness and salvation. “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:10)— “and to love Him, to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul,’ scorning a mere ceremonial service, a congregational purity.“ (Joseph Sutcliffe)
“and to keep the commandments of Yahweh— the blessed moral code, even the covenant itself— which the people had transgressed but which Yahweh had renewed with Israel as signified by the second set of the tablets.—‘“and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” The ceremonial law had been but a “shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things.” They could never with those same sacrifices, “which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” (Hebrew 10:1-4) It was indeed for their good.
“Moses now, in the latter time, begins to reveal secrets. He gave Israel long space in which to kill animals and offer them by fire: he utterly wearied out the people by such impotent ritual, and when they themselves began to turn their very weariness into a kind of religious hope that surely something brighter would presently be revealed, Moses spake these words… what has he been meaning all this time,—
‘but 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 and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?’” (The People's Bible)
Trust and obey, brethren, something even better is coming. "’Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.’ The lowly disciple, who finds his meat and his drink in doing the will of his beloved Lord and Master, possesses a peace which the world can neither give nor take away. True, he may be misunderstood and misinterpreted; he may be dubbed narrow and bigoted, and such-like; but none-of these things move him. One approving smile from his Lord is more than ample recompense for all the reproach that men can heap upon him. He knows how to estimate at their proper worth the thoughts of men; they are to him as the chaff which the wind driveth away. The deep utterance of his heart, as he moves steadily along the sacred path of obedience, is
‘Let me my feebleness recline
On that eternal love of Thine,
And human thoughts forget;
Child-like attend what Thou wilt say
Go forth and serve Thee while 'tis day,
Nor leave Thy sweet retreat.’” (C. H. Mackintosh)
Deuteronomy10: Circumcision of the Heart
14 Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to Yahweh your God, also the earth with all that is in it. 15 Yahweh delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. 16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. 17 For Yahweh your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear Yahweh your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.
“‘Indeed heaven and the highest heavens’—Not the air and sky only, the visible heaven, but the third heaven, whereof no natural knowledge can be had, nor any help by human arts, geometry, optics, etc.” (John Trapp) — “‘belong to Yahweh your God, also the earth with all that is in it.”— everything seen and unseen. “Yahweh delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.” He will dispense gifts—earthly, as well as heavenly, unto all that have the faith, even the obedience of Abraham.
“This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.’” (Genesis 17:10) This was the portal through which a man set out on the journey too keep covenant with Yahweh. By design, it was performed on the eighth day of life for the Israeli man-child. He was then obliged to jeep the whole law (Galatians 5:3). Likewise, they were to seek strangers to enter into this covenant at any age- whosoever will come.
But the external was not ending in conversion. So, Moses beckoned, “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, be stiff-necked no longer for Yahweh your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, “- הגבר האל hael haggibbor, the mighty God; this is the very title that is given to our blessed Lord and Savior, Isaiah 9:6.” (Adam Clarke)— “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”— “God of gods and Lord of lords”— compare— “King of kings and Lord of lords.” “King indicates supreme authority and lord means one who governs the conduct of others. Jesus was given these two titles because He had overcome all who opposed Him.” (E.M. Zerr)
This name He always had, “but He now comes forth openly to manifest it; therefore this name is said to be ‘written on His vesture and on His thigh’, that all might take notice of it…” (Matthew Poole)— “and partly for permanency, to show that as long as Himself lasts, which is forever, so long shall His kingdom and dominion over all [living] endure.” (William Burkitt) “The Lord Jesus Christ is King of Saints, {Rev. 15:3} King of Sion, {Psa. 149:1-2} and King of Nations, {Jer. 10:7-10} the only potentate. {1 Tim. 6:15} And He shall be King in all the earth, {Zechariah 14:9} And the Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of Christ and His saints. {Rev. 11:15; Dan. 7:27-28}” (Hanserd Knollys' Commentary)
“Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.” according to early church creeds.
Baptism by faith is likewise the first good work of the Christian, our obligation to perform. “The grounds on which circumcision was imposed as essential by the Law are the same as those on which Baptism is required in the Gospel. The latter in the New Testament is strictly analogous to the former under the Old; compare Colossians 2:11-12.” (Albert Barnes) “Let us not refuse the wholesome word ‘obligation,’ as though it had a legal ring about it. Far from it!” (C.H. Mackintosh)
“‘Who shows no partiality; nor takes a bribe.’ He will render under each according to their works. (Psalm 62:12; Romans 2:6) As the impartial and incorruptible Judge, God executes the judgment of the fatherless and widow, vindicates the right of the defenseless (Psalms 68:6; Psalms 146:9); and as the God of the whole earth, he loveth the stranger, helpless, and all that may be oppressed, and giveth him food and raiment. Following Him, Israel, as His people, were to be benevolent to the stranger, inasmuch as they themselves had been strangers in Egypt, and knew by experience what it was to be a stranger (cf. Exodus 22:20; Le 19:33, 34). They were to love the stranger as God loves him, by relieving his necessities (cf. James 2:15, James 2:16).” (Pulpit Commentaries)
“In both Jewish and Christian economy special kindness was to be shown to the stranger. The stranger’s claim does not rest upon any doctrine of abstract right, but upon the disadvantage of his position.... It is impossible to befriend him without risk. Nothing is known of his history or his character. Why did he leave the place where he was known? If he couldn’t succeed there, why should he expect to succeed here? The very fact that he had to come among strangers and start life afresh is a reason for caution and reserve. All this is true. Why should you trouble about him? Yet you must trouble. And the simple reason is, that his strangeness places him at a terrible disadvantage. In the Old Testament he is always classed with the widow and the orphan.” (S. Chadwick)
21 He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.
“Larks sing as they mount, so should we ..., while we are winging our way to heaven. Our thanksgiving is not a swallow which is gone with the summer. The birds within our bosom sing all the year round, and on such a day as this their song is doubly welcome. The fire of gratitude will help to warm us--heap on the big logs of loving memories.
No cold shall freeze the genial current of our soul; our praise shall flow on when brooks and rivers are bound in ice. Let us see who among us can best rejoice in the Lord in all weathers.” (Biblical Illustrator)
22 Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.
Sands refers to physical descendants and the stars to the spiritual. He has always looked for spiritual Israelites. “And now, from so small a beginning, they were multiplied to more than 600,000 souls; and this indeed in the space of forty years, for the 603,000 which came out of Egypt were at this time all dead but Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. How easily can God increase and multiply, and how easily diminish and bring low! In all things, because of His unlimited power, He can do whatsoever He will; and He will do whatsoever is right.” (Clarke)... seeing the heart.