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Deuteronomy Ten
by Dr. Henry M. Morris
(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)
Deuteronomy 10:1 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.
Deuteronomy 10:2 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.
Deuteronomy 10:3 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.
Deuteronomy 10:4 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.
wrote on the tables. See note for Exodus 31:17; note for Deuteronomy 4:13; and note for Deuteronomy 9:10. Note also that the second writing was the same as the first. God's Word does not change.
according to the first writing. When God made the first “copy” of the Scriptures, He laid down the principle for all future copies. In so far as humanly possible, copies should be meticulously accurate “according to the first writing.” The later Jewish scribes and copyists labored diligently to conform to this principle. See also the note on Jeremiah 36:2.
Deuteronomy 10:5 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.
tables in the Ark. See Exodus 40:20 and Hebrews 9:4. Also in the Ark were a pot of manna (Exodus 16:33) and Aaron's rod that budded (Numbers 17:10).
Deuteronomy 10:6 And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead.
Mosera. According to Numbers 20:27-28 and 33:38, Aaron died on Mount Hor, which was apparently located in the district of Mosera.
Deuteronomy 10:7 From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.
Deuteronomy 10:8 At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.
Deuteronomy 10:9 Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him.
Deuteronomy 10:10 And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy thee.
Deuteronomy 10:11 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.
Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, 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,
Deuteronomy 10:13 To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
Deuteronomy 10:14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD'S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.
heaven of heavens. This is the first of at least six references in the Bible to “the heaven of heavens.” There is an atmospheric heaven and a starry heaven, but the “heaven of heavens” is the heaven where Christ after His resurrection “ascended up far above all heavens” (Ephesians 4:10). This heaven is where God's throne is. Wherever it is, it also belongs to God and is part of His creation.
Deuteronomy 10:15 Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
foreskin of your heart. The rite of circumcision was not merely physical; it implied a dedication of heart as well as body to the covenant of God. The Bible also speaks of an uncircumcised ear (Jeremiah 6:10) and uncircumcised lips (Exodus 6:12).
Deuteronomy 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:
Deuteronomy 10:18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
Deuteronomy 10:19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 10:20 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.
him shalt thou serve. The Lord Jesus referred to this verse in response to the temptation, when Satan promised Jesus all the world's kingdoms if He would only worship him instead of the Father.
Deuteronomy 10:21 He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.
Deuteronomy 10:22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.
stars of heaven. The stars that can be seen in the heaven without a telescope number no more than about five thousand, but Moses somehow knew that there were far more than that. Therefore he compared the two or three million Israelites to the great host of heaven.